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Twilio looks better from afar

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Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#11

Post by ChuckMcM »

Interesting (if painful) space. I've played with the Twilio API and for what we wanted (SMS to any phone, ability to dial/talk to a phone and take a response) it seems to be fine.

That my 'phone' service doesn't offer this as part of the package is what I find actually broken. For years and years the answer the question "How can I use my phone?" was "Pick it up, dial, talk." which was fine when it was a person to person communication device. But when it become a 'computer to person' communication device it needed a computer friendly API. Had the phone companies provided that, folks like Voxeo and Twilio and eFax wouldn't exist.

Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#12

Post by galenward »

pratfall wrote: post #2

I friggin hate Twilio, and I kick myself for ever getting suckered into using it. I'm down to a single account and a single line in, but I need to port it off, and Google doesn't care to port Twilio numbers off to GV. If Twilio could do something other than drop calls to PSTN (I mean here, make a fuggin VoIP call), I'd be singing a totally different song, but it's a one-trick pony.

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Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#13

Post by ericdykstra »

pla3rhat3r wrote: post #4

Still waiting to find the connection in the article about how Twilio is like the worst girlfriend you've ever had. Just seems like a jaded bias article from a competitor. :-/

Twilio is losing money, talent, and you can't even provision a phone with it. You know, just like the worst girlfriend you ever had.

Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#14

Post by josephlord »

I'm looking at Twillio for a possible future project and this just prompted me to look at Voxeo which I hadn't heard of. The Voxeo website just doesn't work for me like the Twilio one does, it lacks an pricing information (that I could find quickly) and even the developer section is mostly buzzword filled non-information. The Twilio site gives you pricing information up front and the developer pages show you the APIs and give some examples so that you can really see what can be done with it.

This doesn't necessarily mean that Twilio will survive or not have to raise prices but they make me want to use it more than Voxeo even if it has the same capabilities.

I really do hate sites that hide the pricing and documentation or require registration to get them although maybe A-B testing shows that gives better results.

Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#15

Post by jdupree »

josephlord wrote: post #14

I'm looking at Twillio for a possible future project and this just prompted me to look at Voxeo which I hadn't heard of. The Voxeo website just doesn't work for me like the Twilio one does, it lacks an pricing information (that I could find quickly) and even the developer section is mostly buzzword filled non-information. The Twilio site gives you pricing information up front and the developer pages show you the APIs…

Were you looking at voxeo.com or tropo.com? tropo.com is the site for the developer API similar to Twilio, and has a documentation and pricing page linked right on the front page.

Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#17

Post by oldgregg »

I really want to like twilio but it's MADNESS that you can't terminate calls over the internet. So you're saying EVERYONE in the company has to have skype numbers just so we can terminate calls?! I would love it if twilio client actually worked but the sound quality makes it worthless. Hopefully WebRTC will fix that but who knows how many more years that will be. Please please, just bite the bullet and build a desktop app that has decent sound quality, supports multiple accounts and can punch through firewalls. It's stunning to me that Google Voice, Skype, and Twilio are so poor at serving business customers.

Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#18

Post by robbiet480 »

oldgregg wrote: post #17

I really want to like twilio but it's MADNESS that you can't terminate calls over the internet. So you're saying EVERYONE in the company has to have skype numbers just so we can terminate calls?! I would love it if twilio client actually worked but the sound quality makes it worthless. Hopefully WebRTC will fix that but who knows how many more years that will be. Please please, just bite the bullet and build a deskto…

Twilio just added SIP support in beta. Also, they do have Twilio Client which would let you accept calls and make them via browser

Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#19

Post by josh2600 »

robbiet480 wrote: post #16

Yet another terrible assassination piece by Johnny Diggz, the CEO of Tropo, a quickly failing Twilio competitor. He has been a real dick since the early days and spreads lies and rumors about Twilio.

They're not all lies per se. Tropo/Voxeo also isn't failing :/, they just won Deutsche Telekom's Euro business.

Voxeo doesn't always have the best marketing team, but they do have a lot of technical expertise. Their CTO Jose is one of the funniest people I've ever seen on a panel and he's a delight to converse with.

I don't think any of the metaphors at play here hit the nail on the head.

Voxeo is a large, lumbering enterprise fighting its way into the Carrier world by virtue of erosion. Twilio is the nimble web-focused startup burning the candle at both ends trying to fight the night away.

It's not yet clear which strategy will prevail, but I don't think the mudslinging is the right course either.

Disclaimer: I'm the community manager at 2600hz, which is innovating on the application switching layer of voice communications. We're also full open-source.

Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#20

Post by robbiet480 »

josh2600 wrote: post #19
robbiet480 wrote: post #16

Yet another terrible assassination piece by Johnny Diggz, the CEO of Tropo, a quickly failing Twilio competitor. He has been a real dick since the early days and spreads lies and rumors about Twilio.

They're not all lies per se. Tropo/Voxeo also isn't failing :/, they just won Deutsche Telekom's Euro business. Voxeo doesn't always have the best marketing team, but they do have a lot of technical expertise. Their CTO Jose is one of the funniest people I've ever seen on a panel and he's a delight to converse with. I don't think any of the metaphors at play here hit the nail on the head. Voxeo is a large, lumbering…

I say "Tropo is failing" and I mean that their adoption rate is much lower then Twilio is. I'm sure Voxeo has tons of money to throw at Tropo until they run out.

I haven't heard of 2600hz before, great name. I'll check it out!

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