Messaging system that works on older text phones, PCs, in addition to feature and smart phones

[E.S. Rosenberg]

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned XMPP yet..
Also for newer phones and the type of communication you want (one-way
broadcast) there's cell broadcast if the providers/government are
willing to cooperate.

In the end of the day though you'd be looking at a system that mixes
multiple different communication methods that has at least SMS
capabilities.

And don't underestimate cell/smart phone penetration in the 3rd world,
it is far far higher then computer penetration, and in Africa they are
using cellphones to pay these days, leaps and bounds ahead of us...

Regards,
Eliyahu - אליהו

2013/10/10 Micha Feigin <michf at post.tau.ac.il>:
> On 10-Oct-13 9:08, geoffrey mendelson wrote:
>
> On 10/10/2013 3:50 PM, Steve G. wrote:
>
> Suppose I wanted to change venue to a more developed country, where the
> income level allows people to use unlimited SMS, would that have made any
> difference?
>
> In other words, is there a messaging system, OSS or not, that can be used
> both on phone and computers? I suppose Skype might be one, but it really is
> more of a phone system and not messaging tool.
>
> Email is not a solution, as you messages, in my mind, are not uniquely
> visible. Twitter is even more so - it is a broadcast tool more than anything
> else. I want individual and group conversations, but with the ability to
> view the web pages and videos that are sent on a normal size screen.
>
>
> The problem that I see is that you simply can't do it. People with dumb
> phones are limited to what they can receive, people with computers and smart
> phones are somewhat less.
>
> There are MANY instant message clients for both computers and phones, SKYPE
> is one of the few that runs on all of them.
>
> Dumb phones are limited to SMS's, so a combined system is needed.
>
> On the other hand, if you look at the thread that followed my asking about
> an iPod replacement, I found a suitable smartphone for your needs for 549
> NIS. ($135). That's a lot of money to give to a lot of people, but you may
> be able to get a lower price if you buy many. There are also the cheap
> Chinese Android phones, which are a lot cheaper if you buy them by the case
> directly from China.
>
> But then you need to buy them a cellular data plan.
>
> Geoff.
>
>
> I've been told that if you are interested in designing your own android
> phone you can do it for something like 35$ a piece in (not too) large
> numbers. I know somebody who's done it for some project. But that discussion
> is a bit off topic.
>
> Something similar to skype that is a bit more instant message oriented and
> less talk oriented is google hangouts (previously google talk). You are
> limited to google accounts though (although it would be the same with any
> other messaging system other than sms and email). I think that you can
> archive messages as emails if you use that system.
>
> I still think that you would get more devices to support email than any
> other test messaging system other than sms. I don't understand what by
> messages not being uniquely visible though. You can send them to a specific
> person or a group. If you add read receipts you can even tell if people
> opened the message. You have timestamps and from field on each email and can
> group them into discussions, etc. And if you are using a data plan then they
> would be as immediate as text messaging programs, especially if you use a
> service that supports push notifications (gmail and android applications do)
>
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