Mobile is everywhere. More than 3.2 billion people have mobile phones worldwide, and they send more than 22 billion SMS each and every day, from Soweto to Soho.
Mobile messaging is increasingly used as a professional tool, but the market is complicated. Coordinating messages with the people you care about, whether they are staff, customers, fans or friends, can be challenging without the right set of tools. FrontlineSMS is a revolutionary service that makes it easy to connect to nearly anyone you need to reach, anywhere you find yourself.
FrontlineSMS is a desktop software created to lower barriers to positive social change using mobile technology. By leveraging basic tools already available to most organizations, including those in ‘last-mile’ settings — computers and low-cost modems — FrontlineSMS enables instantaneous two-way communication to any mobile handset. It’s easy to implement, simple to operate, and best of all, the software is free; you only pay for the messages you send.
The award-winning open-source software has been downloaded over 100,000 times since its first prototype in 2005, and helps organizations all over the world overcome communications barriers. What you communicate is up to you.
How NGOs are using Frontline SMS
Frontline SMS users have continued to define the product by applying our tools in creative ways, driving the development of new features, and innovating for positive social change. Their tools have been applied to improve disaster response, human rights monitoring, community radio outreach, health care provision, education, and agriculture amongst others.
Frontline SMS users demonstrate that mobile messaging amplifies the impact of their work. Businesses, governments, and non-profit organizations increasingly use SMS to engage with communities, coordinate staff, or collect information. Their tools aim to simplify and professionalize mobile messaging, so that our users can share and gather information quickly.
Strengthening Participatory Organization uses FrontlineSMS in Pakistan to improve service delivery after floods: When monsoons flooded southern Pakistan in 2011, the Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO) quickly implemented a disaster relief project to distribute food items and shelter. The organisation used Frontline SMS to effectively communicate with different groups and individuals to improve services in the aftermath of disaster.
FrontlineSMS and Oro Verde: Market Price information via SMS in Colombia – The Oro Verde Program, a social enterprise committed to supporting mining communities in Colombia, used Frontline SMS to ensure miners have access to current gold prices. The pilot project has demonstrated the potential of SMS in improving the way market prices are communicated to miners; both in terms of efficiency, and the utility of the information shared.
Institute for Reproductive Health use FrontlineSMS for Rapid Prototype – Georgetown University’s Institute for Reproductive Health (IRH), a global organization dedicated to improving reproductive health worldwide, used FrontlineSMS to provide a rapid prototype of a new mHealth service. This service — called CycleTel™ — empowers women by providing them with accessible reproductive health information through SMS.
Plan International Create SMS Helpline to Tackle Violence Against Children in Benin- Plan International, a global organization dedicated to improving the lives of children around the world, integrated FrontlineSMS into their work in Benin. Plan International’s use of FrontlineSMS for violence tracking was piloted in Benin, and this case study demonstrates the role FrontlineSMS software played, and lessons learned from the pilot. This program has now expanded to include ‘Zemidjan’, or ‘Zem’, the motorcycle riders that are common in Benin. Zem are trained to report violence against children through SMS sent to Plan Benin’s FrontlineSMS installation. This is then mapped using tools from Ushahidi and passed on to government officials.
What Do I Need to Get Started?
You need a working computer running Windows, MacOS, or Linux (beta). FrontlineSMS Version 2 runs in your browser, but does not require the Internet. Frontline SMS supports Chrome, Firefox (v 3.5 or later), Safari, and Internet Explorer (v 8 or later). For best results, please update your browser when you install FrontlineSMS.
Download and install the latest version of FrontlineSMS on the computer you want to use.
You need EITHER a compatible mobile phone or modem, with sufficient credit on it to send and receive text messages. You can see a detailed list of which items are readily compatible below. Frontline SMS recommend modems, as they tend to be more reliable. Remember, the software is free, but you’ll still pay local, standard messaging rates from your SIM card to send messages,
OR an Internet connection and an account with one of Frontline SMS’s web-based aggregators.
Connections
FrontlineSMS does not require the Internet to work, but does need to be connected to a mobile network. You can ensure this either by connecting the computer to a modem or phone, or through one of the two web-based services we support, Clickatell and IntelliSMS.
FrontlineSMS needs to be connected to a mobile network. They recommend using a GSM modem connected to your computer via Serial, USB or Bluetooth. GSM modems are more commonly used to browse the Internet and send and receive email from a computer, all through your mobile network. GSM modems come in different shapes and sizes, but typically standard a typical “dongle” sticking out from your computer.
It is possible to use FrontlineSMS with a low-end mobile phone, but they recommend GSM modems because they are much easier to set up, are becoming increasingly affordable, and have a much higher capacity for sending and receiving messages reliably.
Although FrontlineSMS was originally developed to allow group text messaging in places without reliable Internet access, you can also send messages through the internet, when it is available. Messages sent this way are generally faster and can be cheaper than sending through an attached mobile phone or modem, but you do need to set up an account and buy messages in advance using a credit card. FrontlineSMS currently comes with support for the Clickatell and IntelliSMS messaging services.
Support
The Frontline SMS user community has grown into a group of thousands of individuals and organizations exploring the cutting edge of mobile technologies in some of the most interesting and complex contexts in the world. There are active user conversations on our forum, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and in-person meet-ups all over the world who you can contact for advice and support. If you wish to contact Frontline SMS directly you can email – support@frontlinesms.com.
Find out more at www.frontlinesms.com
Does your organisation communicate using SMS? Could Frontline SMS benefit your work? Let us know in the comments.
