Canadian SMS

[palmbardier]

What's the hold-up for allowing Canadian users to integrate via SMS?

[pb]

That's something we can look into. We use a service called Twilio to handle SMS messages, and when we set it up they were US-only. They offer numbers in other countries now so we can take a look and see if it's cost-prohibitive.

[pb]

ok, we have a Canadian number ready for testing: 604-757-2674. (Those last four digits are 2MPG which might help you remember if you like MPG better than L/100km. Setting a Fuelly contact in your phone is probably the best way to remember though.)

We haven't tried this out because we're not in Canada. If you're in Canada and you'd like to test this, enter you phone number into your profile here and then take a look at our SMS format. Let us know if it doesn't work.

We also got a UK number: 20 3322 2674. We haven't tried that one either, so if you're in the UK and would like to try it, give it a shot.

And I have to throw out this warning (!): you'll be charged whatever your carrier charges for text messages. So just be aware that you might be paying for a few texts that don't work if you test this out right now.

[BlackX]

Tested 3 times on a road trip this past weekend the Canadian number is functioning and works great thank you!

James

[pb]

Great, thanks for the confirmation that it's working.

[stevecat]

Tried the UK number and it doesn't seemed to have worked ;-( Msg seems to have been delivered but not showing on my bill (yet). Had to put a 0 in front of the number (normal first digit), when I tried as given received non delivery reports.

[pb]

Thanks for trying it. Did you use +44 before the number? The full UK number as Twilio lists it +44 20 3322 2674. I assumed the +44 was just like the US +1. (You only need the +1 when you're making a long-distance call from a land line, and mobile phones never need it.) Maybe it's completely different in the UK and that +44 is required. I don't know.

[stevecat]

Have tried using +44 203 322 2674 (We prefix our numbers with 0 then the area code. Mobile numbers start with 07).

This is a fixedline/landline number. The sms is shown as being delivered, my phone account shows the transaction, however it does not seem to get to my profile.

Looking on the Twilio website it looks like the phone numbers are also used for voice applications. I tried voice calling the number and was told that was an incorrect number (doesn't exist) - not sure if that is a red herring.

As our numbers are 11 digits due to the leading 0, I was not able to put the full number in my profile - I dropped off the leading 0. Not sure how my number would be presented to you, a possibility this could be a problem?

Are you able to check activity logs to see if my msgs have actually reached you? Can you pick up my number from my profile or would you like me to email/pm it to you?

[MMUK]

Just to confirm what Steve is saying re: UK phone numbers:

Number within the UK 020 3322 2674

Number from outside the UK +44 20 3322 2674

Where 20 = the area code for London, 3322 2674 is the number within london. +44 is the international dialing code for the UK, and 0 is the number used to prefix national dialling within the UK.

For historical reasons the number is normally formatted (0)xxx xxx xxxx although this is technically incorrect for London.

[pb]

Not sure how my number would be presented to you, a possibility this could be a problem?

Yep, that's the problem. Checking the error logs I'm seeing that Twilio is sending me a "from" number that is longer than we expect. (It includes the +44.)

I just added a rule for UK numbers so I think we should be set to accept them now.

Are you able to check activity logs to see if my msgs have actually reached you?

Yes, I see your message hit Twilio so that part is working. (Also noticed that your message is slightly off. It should be MPG: [miles/km] [price] [gallons/litres]. Looks like you have fuel volume and price switched around.)

Thanks again for testing this out and helping us get this running. I appreciate it.