Simplicity Rules

I’m excited to introduce Text WifiPDX, a service to find nearby WiFi hotspots (in Portland):

Three easy steps
1. Create your message in the format Wifi <address>
2. Send the text to 41411
3. Wait for the quick response

This is a feature that has been complete for well over a year. When my hard-wired WiFi brain isn’t working, I’ve been able to text in and find hotspots. The problem was finding the right texting number.

Short codes are a long shot

To get a number like 41411, I would have had to go through the short code bureacracy. It’s a lot of money and even getting a short code doesn’t insure that I’d be able to have my short code usable by every mobile provider.

I first found a site that provided keywords with 2-way SMS. I sent a message with my keyword (wifi) to a UK telephone number. Then, it forwarded my message to a web page, returning the reply in a text message. It was exactly what I wanted and worked as a personal proof of concept. I’d have never asked the public to text the UK, so it wasn’t a real solution.

Then my friend John and I worked on getting an open source SMS gateway working. For awhile, John had it running in his San Francisco apartment. With a 503 number, this might have worked fine.

TextMarks to the rescue

Luckily I waited, because John found TextMarks, a site that provides the same service as my original UK site, but with a short code, 41411.

Check it out, Portlanders, and let me know what you think.