[TESTING] Sending SMS with bitcoin

[MagicalTux]

Hi,

I'm testing a service I put together quickly: for 0.50 BTC you can send a SMS anywhere in the world.

I implemented a small "wallet" where you can load & unload bitcoins easily (without any fee, of course) and a really limited interface (you'll soon see how bad I am at design).

NB: Loading coins to the wallet will wait for 3 confirmations (~30 min).

URL: http://smsz.net/

Missing features:

• View status of previously sent SMS, including transfer status
• Change password/email page
• Longer messages (will bill 0.5BTC * ceil(length_of_message / 160))
• Ability to send messages coming from your own phone number (you put your phone number, pay 0.5BTC, receive a code by SMS you then enter on the site and voila)
• Phone number book
• When entering the destination phone number, the input should be prefixed of country list with number prefix (need to find a database with country iso code -> country phone code list)
• Feature for payments (generate payment urls compatible with mobile phones?)

Anyway before spending more time on that, some feedback would be welcome.

Remember to enter numbers in international format (+<country_code>.<phone_number>)!! Even if you make a mistake in the number, the SMS will be sent to the gateway and you'll be billed anyway.


Oh and if you are interested in sending large amount of SMS I can put together an API too

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I'm testing a service I put together quickly: for 0.50 BTC you can send a SMS anywhere in the world.

I implemented a small "wallet" where you can load & unload bitcoins easily (without any fee, of course) and a really limited interface (you'll soon see how bad I am at design).

NB: Loading coins to the wallet will wait for 6 confirmations (~1 hour).

URL: http://smsz.net/

Missing features:

• View status of previously sent SMS, including transfer status
• Change password/email page
• Longer messages (will bill 0.5BTC * ceil(length_of_message / 160))
• Ability to send messages coming from your own phone number (you put your phone number, pay 0.5BTC, receive a code by SMS you then enter on the site and voila)
• Phone number book

Anyway before spending more time on that, some feedback would be welcome.

Remember to enter numbers in international format (+<country_code>.<phone_number>)!! Even if you make a mistake in the number, the SMS will be sent to the gateway and you'll be billed anyway.


Oh and if you are interested in sending large amount of SMS I can put together an API too

Now I can send a twitter message with bitcoin 

[MagicalTux]

Now I can send a twitter message with bitcoin 

Mh, I think there are easier ways to do that with a computer

[Anonymous]

Now I can send a twitter message with bitcoin 

Mh, I think there are easier ways to do that with a computer

An astronaut recently could have chosen to check into foursquare using his computer but instead chose to do it in space

[mpkomara]

i can't understand the international format you wish me to use, neither on this forum nor on the website.  what kind of example is +1.0000000000?

[MagicalTux]

i can't understand the international format you wish me to use, neither on this forum nor on the website.  what kind of example is +1.0000000000?

The format is +<country_code>.<number>

So if you live in France, it'd be: +33.612341234 or in US: +1.1231231234 or in Japan: +81.8012341234

I guess I could change the phone number input to use a dropdown box per country for the prefix, would probably help.

[bit-numismatist]

Good beginning, but I would like to see such feature like sending e-mail to sms. Is it possible?

[MagicalTux]

Good beginning, but I would like to see such feature like sending e-mail to sms. Is it possible?

It is possible, I'd have to find a "good" way to make sure the SMS is indeed from you. For example a special email (your login @smsz.net) with a special keyword in the subject followed by the destination phone number, and the SMS itself in the body of the mail.

How does that sound?

[Anonymous]

How hard would it be to create a service outlined in this thread-and send bitcoins by sms?

http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1739.msg21368#msg21368


Since you already have btc in your sms wallet if you received a qr coded bitcoin address could you route a bitcoin payment to the address it gives you?

[MagicalTux]

How hard would it be to create a service outlined in this thread-and send bitcoins by sms?

http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1739.msg21368#msg21368


Since you already have btc in your sms wallet if you received a qr coded bitcoin address could you route a bitcoin payment to the address it gives you?

This shouldn't be hard, however you would only be able to pay with bitcoins already in your wallet (if not, you'd have to transfer more bitcoins first, which would take one hour to clear).

I could make a simple service to allow sending bitcoins from one wallet to another (or transform bitcoins into an encrypted QR code a merchant could then redeem instantly online, verifying it in the process). I could make this an android/iphone app by using PhoneGap

Now the problem is to find merchants with QR code readers (or webcam able to focus on close objects + appropriate QR-decoding soft) ready to sell stuff for bitcoins

[jgarzik]

Now the problem is to find merchants with QR code readers (or webcam able to focus on close objects + appropriate QR-decoding soft) ready to sell stuff for bitcoins

The merchants will be the ones with QR-codes listed on products; customers snap a picture with their mobile to add to a shopping cart, or initiate payment.

[MagicalTux]

Now the problem is to find merchants with QR code readers (or webcam able to focus on close objects + appropriate QR-decoding soft) ready to sell stuff for bitcoins

The merchants will be the ones with QR-codes listed on products; customers snap a picture with their mobile to add to a shopping cart, or initiate payment.

Well then that's easy.

I was thinking of doing something anyway... Didn't plan to put that in the SMS site however

[Anonymous]

Now the problem is to find merchants with QR code readers (or webcam able to focus on close objects + appropriate QR-decoding soft) ready to sell stuff for bitcoins

The merchants will be the ones with QR-codes listed on products; customers snap a picture with their mobile to add to a shopping cart, or initiate payment.

Well then that's easy.

I was thinking of doing something anyway... Didn't plan to put that in the SMS site however

Cool. I see such a thing as similar to carrying change in your pockets not a large wad of cash like a gangster. 

[mimarob]

Wow it worked, i'm very impressed!

I can't for the life of me understand how the payments made their way to my sms account. 

First I made a registration with my email and a username / password.

Then, since I had the bitcoin client on another computer, I made a payment to the bitcoin address at smsz.net

How could smsz know how to credit my specific account? 

[mimarob]

I read up today and found out that the US seem to have blocked the non-number caller-id's (such as BITCOIN, SANTACLAUS etc.) unless you pay a huge subscription fee.

Will this application work in the US? Anyone over there tried it? please do!


Another thing that most similar sms-services have is the number of the sms-sender. In fact many services demand that you validate your phone number in the same way as you did here with the email. Only allowing a verified sender number would also reduce the risk of someone using the service for spamming.

www.clickatell.com offers you to send any number as your originator, then the application writer can chose to mask this for its subscribers, but it seems they need to charge a lot for this to work in the US.

[Mike Hearn]

Pretty cool stuff. Just a suggestion - to make it easier/quicker to sign up (which is critical for these things) you could allow logins via Facebook/Google accounts. You could also just use a BitCoin address as the login. Like, if I'm new to the site, I press a button and you give me a fresh, personal address to send coins to. Then simply knowing that address is effectively the username and password.

I guess the risk with that is, if somebody watches the block chain and figures out that you own the address, they could spend other peoples SMS credits. You'd have to ensure that after you spend the coins sent to you, the addresses are invalidated.

I'm also curious why you wait for 3 blocks. Do you think the risk is really so high? For such small amounts you should really be able to just wait until a transaction is received and accepted by your node, the risk at that point is really low already.

[fabianhjr]

How could smsz know how to credit my specific account? 

It generates an address exclusively for each client. That means that you could share that address and have other people pay for you.

[mimarob]

gosh, that simple, not the thing you would normally do with paypal :-)

[JackSparrow]

My wallet balance on smsZ.net is "-1.00" and I can't send sms anymore.

I think there has to be something wrong with the calculation.


Recent Activity:

Code:

Date                                  	Type  	Amount	Balance	Info
Fri 01 Apr 2011 05:30:00 AM JST 	in    	+4.00 	4.00   	(confirmed funds)
Fri 01 Apr 2011 05:58:02 AM JST 	spent 	-0.50 	3.50   	Target phone number invalid!
Fri 01 Apr 2011 05:58:03 AM JST 	earned 	+0.50 	4.00    (refund for unsent message)
Fri 01 Apr 2011 05:59:07 AM JST 	spent 	-0.50 	3.50  	SMS sent (xxx)
Fri 01 Apr 2011 06:01:08 AM JST 	spent 	-0.50 	3.00   	SMS sent (xxx)

So the balance should be +3.00.

Any recommendations?

[MagicalTux]

EDIT: I see your problem, should be better~