Integration with vBulletin - Text Messaging (SMS) for vBulletin 4.0

June 2014: I just realized that this thing was still around after getting a random PM about it - I may have some short-term plans to redo this, but for now I'm pulling the files because it's been so long and I have no idea if anything still works. At one point I bought a vB Suite license for 4.1 (at the time, I have no idea where vB is at now) so I'll poke around and see if it'll be practical to update this.

Original description text still below.

Text Messaging for vBulletin does what it implies - adds text messaging functions to your forums! Users can set up their cell phone number and sign up for notifications of a new private message or visitor message received. The forum will send them a text message in close to real time, letting them know about their new message wherever they might be.

Updated 2-15-2010 6:30AM GMT to add support for T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile.

This is being brought back from when I retired it in 2008 from vB 3.7, I think it was. It's been redesigned from scratch to be more reliable, as well as compatible with vB 4.0. It is not yet compatible with vBulletin 3.8 - I'll be working on downgrading it within the next week or so.

This version supports Alltel, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Verizion cell phone numbers. It is a light version of a bigger modification - you can learn more about the full version here. Please note that I will only answer question or otherwise discuss the full version modification via my website.

Features:
- Compatible with Alltel, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Verizon cell phones
- Allows users to receive text messages when they receive a new PM or visitor message
- PIN verification ensures number ownership and saves forum resources
- Users can be reached by your forum wherever they are, any time of day
- Nearly fully phrased (including the text of the text messages), making translation easy

Live Demo:
A live demo can be found on my Demonstration Forums at this link. Please note that registration is required to set up text messaging, as there's no way to store your user info as a guest, obviously.

Screenshots:
Attached to this post. Also, I thought the picture with my phone turned out cool. And as for the 2016 date, it's an HTC phone plagued by a Windows Mobile date display glitch... haha.

Support:
I will provide support whenever I can - I've been pretty good about it lately. Please click Install before asking for support.

I also appreciate it when you support me by purchasing the full versions of the free products you get a lot of use out of.

[robwoelich]

This post is designed to answer common questions and troubleshoot issues. It should contain the extent of my knowledge and/or ability to help you with the Text Messaging modification, so if myself or someone else has directed you here, please take the time to read what I've put together for you.

Please note that as per Paul M, all discussion of the full/"commercial" version of this modification is to be kept to private message or my website. His post stating such can be seen here.



General FAQ About the Product and the Texting Process

Q: How does the modification work?
A: The modification can send texts to your users from your forum at no charge to the forum, and generally no charge to the user (though this depends on their cell phone company). Sending texts, for all practical purposes, is basically done by email as far as your forums are concerned. Emails are translated by the cell phone companies, who then turn them into texts and get them to the user. That's the long and short of it.

Q: Is there any cost associated with this modification?
A: Not to you as the forum owner to use the system and send the texts. And more often than not, there is also no cost to the user to receive texts, but that depends entirely on the user's cell phone plan and not by me. For example, if the user has to pay (according to their contact) to receive texts, they have to pay for them regardless of whether the text is received from your forum or from another cell phone. And while most users should know if that's the case and they don't get free texting, a disclaimer is made anyway during the text messaging setup process.

Q: Something something full version something?
A: I will no longer discuss the full version modification here on vBulletin.org, but don't think that means I don't want to talk to you about it or I don't care what you think. Contact me by PM or on my website and I'll talk to you about it all you want. This decision/policy has been backed by Paul M.

Q: Why are there so few companies? / Your previous modification had a ton more companies?
A: This is a simple two-part answer.

• Only settings for companies that are verified to be working are being included in this version.
• Support for more companies is being added on a regular basis as I can continue to verify that there are no issues with those companies and with the modification itself.

Please have patience as I verify new company entries and add them to the modification. I'm not withholding them because I'm mean, rather I'm trying to control the use and release of the modification and expand it slowly so I don't release something that's broken to hundreds or thousands of people at once.

Q: Can you add my company, _____?
A: You can send me a message on my website requesting for me to do so (don't PM me here, they pile up and I don't have a good way to organize/manage them), but please read the above answer first.

Companies will be added at the rate of approximately two per week, for as long as I have a supply of ones that can be verified to work. After that, I may request volunteers to help test companies I can't verify myself. Keep an eye on the thread and/or modification description if you're interested in helping with that.

Q: Can I change the email / "from" address that appears on the texts?
A: Not really, because how the "from" field on a text message is handled depends on the cell phone company. Some companies show the "from" email as set in the email headers, others show the email address associated with a hosting account, and others just display a random number. These have all been observed regardless of what has been set in email headers in the past.

Since the companies all process the messages differently, there isn't really a way to standardize how the "from" address appears. To help avoid user confusion, I have included your forum title in every message sent out.



Quick Troubleshooting and Problems/Solutions

P: Can't "turn on" texting in usergroups/usergroup permissions:
S: Upload the bitfield XML to /includes/xml/ before you import the product XML.

P: No menu option to set up texting in the User CP:
S: Verify texting is turned on in Admin CP > vBulletin Options > Text Messaging Options. Your User CP templates may have also been modified and are missing the template hook at the bottom of the menu, or another modification is using that template hook incorrectly (YAFB has been known to do this).

Compare your User CP templates to the default ones, or in the case of YAFB, set the User CP Menu plugin to execute after YAFB's (usually execution order 6 or higher).

P: Not receiving the confirmation PIN:
S: Incorrect cell phone number, number format, and/or company selected. Ensure you have selected the proper company, and in the case of U.S. numbers, entered the 10 digit number without spaces or additional characters (1234567890). Alternatively, user is not able to receive text messages as per their contract or has disabled texting.

P: Clicking the "resend PIN" link causes 500 / Internal Server Error:
S: At the bottom of the User CP Text Messaging Options plugin (the very bottom lines), change mail( ... ) to vbmail( ... ), leaving whatever's between the ( ) intact.

P: Not receiving texts, but receiving the confirmation PIN:
S: Verify usergroup has texting permissions (including secondary usergroups), and verify texting is enabled in User CP > Edit Options (both globally, and for each notification type, i.e. private messaging).

P: Anything else:
S: Post it and I'll look into it, and then it will probably end up here.

[cory_booth]

Woot!

Awesome!

[TimberFloorAu]

Good Work Rob.

Cannot see what the paid version covers in terms of Country and Carriers

Also little unclear as to what a license covers, if I have 8000 members and 10% of those want to use this system, am I right in thinking the paid version costs me 800 x $2.50 per month ?

[ahmedipa]

very good mod

[edytwinky]

Sucks Sprints not involved on this

[robwoelich]

Originally Posted by TimberFloorAu

Good Work Rob.

Cannot see what the paid version covers in terms of Country and Carriers

Also little unclear as to what a license covers, if I have 8000 members and 10% of those want to use this system, am I right in thinking the paid version costs me 800 x $2.50 per month ?

You can see the full list of current countries and carriers on my demo forum if you go through the process of setting up your own number there. Leave the search box blank and it will return a list of all cell phone providers in all countries.

For the licensing, you'd be correct. The idea behind the user licenses, though, is that you'd have enough users who would actually purchase paid subscriptions to support that. So in your example, your licensing fees would be 800 x $2.50, but your income would be the same at $5/subscription. Obviously the per user license is not going to be the best solution for all forums, which is why the other full version option is one reasonable price regardless of the number of users.

This probably isn't the best place to discuss full version licensing, though... I'd be happy to talk more about it via PM or via my website.

[ToNetU]

why you force us to register to your forum just to see the full list of current countries and carriers!!!
please put it here and share it with us! i don't want to register! just to see if i like it or not

[TimberFloorAu]

THe free version comes with 2 , he has mentioned that. So no need for you to register anywhere

[robwoelich]

Originally Posted by ToNetU

why you force us to register to your forum just to see the full list of current countries and carriers!!!
please put it here and share it with us! i don't want to register! just to see if i like it or not

The only reason you'd need to register on my demo forum is if you're considering purchasing one of the full version products. And I would recommend doing so if that were the case, as it would be silly to not thoroughly test out the text messaging system as it's installed on my forum before purchasing it. :up:

This free product includes two companies. They are listed in the modification description.