With Winlink’s most recent forms package update the “RRI Quick Welfare Message” has been updated (3.0.5) to integrate the RRI SMS Gateway service.
The RRI SMS Gateway enables a Winlink user to send a short message to a cellular phone as a SMS message without needing to know the underlying carrier of the recipient. The previous form version required the sender to know who the provider was in order to route the message to the carrier’s email-to-SMS gateway. Previously Winlink users would need internet connectivity to lookup a phone number using a website such as freecarrierlookup.com to know where to send the message. The RRI SMS Gateway provides this service so the offline radio operator only needs a phone number. The service has been in development for two years with a near perfect success rate and is part of the “I AM SAFE” program. It is unique to other SMS services in that it does not require an opt-in from the recipient which would be impossible for health and welfare messaging.
Recently AT&T announced it was retiring (June 17th) the legacy service that all carriers provide, namely their email-to-sms messaging gateway. Staying ahead of this change RRI has developed a manual relay for the service. If a cell phone number is entered in the form and does not have a supported carrier gateway, is a landline, or otherwise malformed, the SMS Gateway will relay the mesage to an operator to manually deliver as a SMS or voice call.
Work is underway for a new method of service that is not reliant on the carrier’s gateways, and to inject the messages directly as SMS message.
Further information on the service can be found at: https://radiorelay.org/sms/
Information on the I AM SAFE program can be found here: https://radiorelay.org/iamsafe/