Others: We have backup computers.

TextPower: Most messaging services have built their systems for “entertainment-grade” capability. There’s little or no redundancy, certainly no geographic redundancy, no redundant DNS servers or any of the other safeguards that TextPower has built into its system. Our multi-redundant system is geo-dispersed in two regions of the country and each has multiple Internet links, We’ve built our system to withstand the rigors of industrial-strength demands because our customers have mission-critical needs.

Others: We’ll get back up as soon as the carrier gets around to it.

TextPower: Surprisingly this can happen for a number of reasons ranging from the aggregator handling that code failing to illicit activity by one their customers prompting one or more carriers to cut off access to their system. TextPower has two shared short codes running on two different aggregators and a sophisticated “hot swap” system that moves traffic from one code to the other in the event of an outage. More importantly, however, TextPower closely monitors all of its customers’ traffic to ensure that it is in full compliance with all carrier regulations.

Others: Oops, sorry. You might get an error report from us but maybe not.

TextPower: There are a lot of reasons why messages don’t get delivered. The difference between our system and others is that we have encoded the logic to actually try to figure out why… and then to correct it. For example, the most common problem in a non-deliverable message is that the carrier has been sent (or noted by the mobile user) incorrectly. When we see that error message we search the national database to see which carrier is correct and then we resend the message. It doesn’t always fix the problem, but it’s a lot better than not attempting to fix it at all.

Others: We can’t be responsible for what other people send out over our short codes. If our code gets blocked we’ll do whatever we can to reactivate it quickly.

TextPower: We take carrier compliance requirements very seriously. Our message-creation process has templates built-in that add the appropriate language to all necessary welcome, help and stop messages, we ensure that each of our customers has created the necessary reply messages to comply fully with carrier compliance.

Others: There are APIs for you to use.

TextPower: We offer a variety of access methods including application-specific, web-based “apps” designed for simplified use as well as APIs. For complex interactions with our system (and there are many) we provide a sophisticated, feature-rich SOAP interface that allows creation of applications by your development team that controls our system at a highly granular level.

Others: We’ll have to get back to you.

TextPower: Text messaging isn’t always one-way (referred to in the industry as “mobile terminated” – meaning sent to a mobile device). We recognize that and have created a web-based app to display mobile-originated messages in the same way that you would see an Instant Message or “chat”. Our Communicator app is ideal for conducting two-way dialogs between mobile users and an office, radio station or anyone at a computer.

Others: You’ll need to purchase a dedicated short code. It’s expensive (up to $5000 to set it up and $1000/month) and lengthy (up to 16 weeks) to get approved by the carriers but if a shared code won’t work then this will be your solution.

TextPower: To begin with, our interfaces and software capabilities are so robust that it’s unlikely you won’t be able to do what you need on a shared short code with us. However, it does happen from time to time and we can also provide you with a dedicated short code. There’s a solution that we’ve invented, though, called the Virtual Dedicated Short Code™ that provides 99% of the capability of a dedicated short code at the price of a shared short code.

Others: Kind of. If you use our API you can probably figure something out but we don’t really specialize in that.

TextPower: Yes, we do. It’s called “Express” and allows someone – a PBX operator, for example – to send a quick message to a group of people with a couple of clicks. One of the largest hotels in the U.S. is using it for exactly that purpose to inform their executives of important occurrences around the hotel that require their immediate attention.

Others: You can pick them out one at a time to send messages. We suggest you keep a list.

TextPower: That’s easy – use our “tagging” function. You can assign one, or many, tags to a single number and make it simple to send a message to that entire list of tagged numbers. You can send the same message out to mobile numbers with a specific tag, or to mobile numbers having one of many tags, very easily and quickly.

Others: We just carry the message – you’ll have to figure out the rest.

TextPower: Our sophisticated interface is already doing many things that other text messaging companies never imagined messaging could be used for. If you can think of something you want a message to do we have the system to do it.

Others: Yes.

TextPower: Yes. The difference is that we’ll actually allow you to test the system before you sign up. We’ll provide you with a test event for a vote or poll, or enough messages for you to send to a group for you to see how easy it is. We’re confident that once you see how reliable and flexible our service is that our very competitive pricing will be just one more difference between us and the others.

Others: We’re all fresh out of school with lots of energy.

TextPower: Well, we’ve been out of school a long time. Our team has a combined experience greater than almost all of the other companies in the messaging business combined. We’ve seen it all and handled the toughest situations. We don’t panic, we know what can happen and are prepared for it in advance and we have built long-term relationships with our customers and suppliers. If experience is as important to you as software or pricing, TextPower will be the only real choice.