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Twilio has an incredible API

callinwith.us

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Re: Twilio has an incredible API

#51

Post by tomjen3 »

patio11 wrote: post #29
dickeytk wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trouble is offsetting the twilio bill. Getting money is the hardest UX problem ever, so I just decided to skip it as long as I can afford it haha

Trouble is offsetting the twilio bill. This is the least hard problem in startup-dom, because Twilio lets you solve Serious Problems for Serious Businesses and they are ecstatic to pay money for them. (P.S. In case it isn't obvious, don't charge based on what you're paying for Twilio. Underlying phone service: cheap. Application logic: expensive.) There are a lot of one-week Twilio applications worth 5 or 6 figures t…

The problem is that you then have to

A) Find those businesses

B) Sell it to them

I suspect B) is the most difficult, especially for programmers who may not have a deep network into fortune 500s.

I also have a feeling that if you could sketch out a way to do B) in a blog post you may write the most valuable post ever made.

Re: Twilio has an incredible API

#54

Post by suking »

We us twilio for call tracking - any one know how much a local phone number cost if you buy in bulk outside of twilio? We're at 50 cents a number since we're over 1k, but still pretty expensive...

Re: Twilio has an incredible API

#56

Post by rebel19 »

hopeless wrote: post #35
dickeytk wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do like that they don't charge dev rates, but it does cost 3x as much in production. And twilio works great with ruby, callinwith.us is a rails app. Although if I needed international support I guess that would be an issue. Being a naive American has some perks though.

You missed that point: with Tropo you don't need "an app", you can do it all as a Ruby/js/java/etc script hosted by Tropo. It's obviously limited in scope but very useful for small apps

And keep in mind that the interface for Tropo and Adhearsion are very similar so if you need to expand beyond using Twillio or Tropo it gives you a lot of options with less pain...you can also use Adhearsion with Tropo as you are transitioning an app.

Re: Twilio has an incredible API

#57

Post by mcherm »

Murkin wrote: post #34
aymeric wrote: post #7

I wish Twilio was available in the rest of the world though...

Appears like they do have Voice (and closed SMS beta). What I don't understand is why it costs 2x-4x more than a regular phone contract gives you. One day America's companies will discover that outside its borders there are, literally, billions of people.. imagine that.

To support just ONE country requires one set of lawyers. Supporting the second country DOUBLES the number of lawyers required, while adding only a fraction the number of customers. Once you scale it up "most of the world" the economies of scale kick in and the lawyers aren't so expensive anymore.

Of course, "lawyers" here is shorthand for several things. Complying with local law, handling local language, dealing with local customs, etc. "Lawyers" is a convenient shorthand because it points out that some of the things actually MUST be dealt with. Google doesn't prohibit the use of their payment system because they dislike having customers outside the current limited list of countries, they do so because they aren't smart enough to figure out how to handle every country!

Re: Twilio has an incredible API

#58

Post by dmor »

Murkin wrote: post #34
aymeric wrote: post #7

I wish Twilio was available in the rest of the world though...

Appears like they do have Voice (and closed SMS beta). What I don't understand is why it costs 2x-4x more than a regular phone contract gives you. One day America's companies will discover that outside its borders there are, literally, billions of people.. imagine that.

We hear you, not only are there billions of people - there are literally MILLIONS of software developers globally, and we can't wait to serve them at Twilio. International support is one of our top requests and we're listening and working to bring Twilio to more customers every day.

Here's what we've currently got - Ability to dial out from Twilio US and Canadian numbers to International destinations - UK phone numbers w/ voice API in beta - International SMS in beta

For either one, just email help@twilio.com

Our full international FAQ is here: http://www.twilio.com/faq/international

Re: Twilio has an incredible API

#59

Post by johns »

corin_ wrote: post #43
hopeless wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry but a year after I chose Tropo over Twilio, Tropo still wins: Twilio : "Twilio does not offer phone numbers from outside the US and Canada, and you can’t port international numbers to Twilio." http://www.twilio.com/faq/international Tropo : "We offer local numbers in the US and 40 other countries - here's the full list of available countries, note that these are also free for developer accounts" https://www.tro…

That's my issue with Twilio too, I need UK inbound not just outbound - calling US numbers from the UK is (apart from with VoIP phones) pretty expensive.

Get UK inbound voice numbers here http://www.twilio.com/uk-voice Current wait time is ~1-3 business days for getting into the beta.

Re: Twilio has an incredible API

#60

Post by cjoh »

antoncohen wrote: post #45
dangrossman wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from old cluttered websites, what's wrong with sites like that? Does the website really matter if all you use it for is to get the number to start a conference call, for free?

>Aside from old cluttered websites, what's wrong with sites like that? Does the website really matter if all you use it for is to get the number to start a conference call, for free? Everything is wrong with them, they are a scam, it's called "traffic pumping" [1]. Google Voice and other VoIP providers will block calls to those numbers. Free conference call services like freeconferencecall.com have local US numbers i…

How is this a scam? FreeConferenceCall.com isn't lying to anybody. It seems like it's taking advantage of a regulation to charge telecom companies rather than consumers for a free service.

With poor customer service, really anti-consumer behavior in Washington, all benefiting in part by government granted and supported monopolies, I have a hard time feeling sorry for large national telecom companies having to give some of their money to local carriers in Iowa, and the companies smart enough to partner up with them.

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