Why still SMS in 2019?
- There are people with a dumb phone, not a smart phone.
- Some services (e.g. banks) insist on SMS TAN or verification, despite security and convenience penalties.
- Sometimes there is only GSM available, but no mobile data.
- Least common denominator for mobile texting.
Why not use SMS with a phone?
- There are good reasons not to own or use a mobile phone at all.
- SMS roaming might be expensive in the case of travelling.
Opposite use case:
- Only dumb phone available or no data connection present.
- But post-SMS communication is needed.
sms4you to the rescue!
- sms4you is a gateway between SMS and XMPP for a single user, the phone number is used as id.
- Only a USB modem for GSM/UMTS/LTE and a computer with Internet connection is needed.
- XMPP can be used from almost any device, even via a web browser.
- SIM stays at home, tracking becomes pointless.
Why not use an existing gateway?
- soprani.ca a.k.a. JMP.chat offer a very nice gateway between telephony and XMPP, including SMS.
- Unfortunately, they have trunk phone numbers, that are not accepted for TANs by most banks.
- People complain about costly text messages to Canadian phone numbers.
- For privacy or similar reasons, self-hosting might be preferred.
How does it work?
- sms4you is implemented as XMPP server component.
- Tested with Prosody, should work with any XMPP server.
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