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SMS Text Messages Sent En Masse Thanks to Betwext

Categories: SMS
By: , IntoMobile
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 2:03 PM

Betwext has just launched a new SMS text message service that allows you to send a single message to multiple recipients. They’re calling it n SMS chat room, but if you were to take on an e-mail analogy, this would be like adding CC: and Reply All features to SMS.  Those registered with Betwext would build mailing lists of people, who, when replying, would send messages out to everyone else on the list. This is accomplished by funneling everything through a single dedicated number that handles all of the deliveries.

At first blush, I had trouble figuring out why folks just wouldn’t get a Twitter account and opt-in for device updates from particular people. As a bonus, that’s free, and Betwext is a subscription service. Part of the convenience of Betwext is that you don’t have to convince your friends on getting in on some newfangled social networking fad – SMS messaging is built into whatever phone they happen to be using, and odds are good that they’ll already be used to sending SMS messages. There’s also no proprietary software client, so there’s no hassle setting up.  Even if most phones natively allow you to blast out messages to multiple recipients, those recipients don’t have the luxury of seeing who else was on the list, so replies remain fragmented and nobody is on the same page.

Neat, if niche idea. Pricing ranges from $9 to $180 per month for 200 and 5000 messages, respectively.  Find out more at betwext.com.

About The Author

Simon Sage

Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.

  • Robert

    Betwext is a great service so far. I’m using the Free trial for first month, it has no contracts and is dead easy to use. Warning that you should be sure to have unlimited texting with your provider (and tell your group) as it is highly addictive.

  • Martijn Brouns

    Interesting service! Did check this out. Some flaws:
    - Works only in US
    - Group initiator pays on three levels:
    (1) for own messages, (2) for all other group members
    (3) to carrier for sent received messages
    - You need a credit card (sorry teenagers)
    - Text that were not delivered by the operator are still being
    billed to the user’s account (no QoS guaranteed)
    There are better ways to do this! I’d be happy to discuss. Ping me on twitter. My account is mbrouns.

  • David

    Very interesting service that oddly enough fills a void in the texting world.

    On the PLUS side

    1. In our case my business pays the monthly fee (this was an easy sell as the group communication makes us more efficient)
    2. All 10 of us in the company get this for free since the initiator (our business) pays for the service. Nice perk for us!
    3. The commands are easy to use. For example you can silence yourself from the group and then get the messages later.

    Potential Flaws

    1. If you are the initiator everyone else gains from your subscription (l guess it’s like buying coffee for the group every month – you have to want to be the hero/giver of the group).
    2. It’s free for the first month but you may need more credits with a bigger group like ours
    3. If you use it a lot like we do you’ll want to be sure your team knows that it is going to increase the number of texts they go through per month (unlimited plan with carrier is the safest bet here)…then again I guess you can always opt out.

    Do any other services do this? I Can’t find any competitors to Betwext so let me know.