Freedom Fone

Announcements

Cellphones for Women in Developing Nations Aid Ascent from Poverty
This week – Concept presentations to Partner Organizations
This week – Freedom Fone overview, setting up FrontlineSMS, FrontlineSync
Next week, 4/13 – Open Discussion, Prototype Development

Partner Organization Pages

Let’s take a minute to review the Partner Organization Pages.

Are the contacts correct?
Send me a link to your unified Vision Document to share with your Partner Organization on their partner page. This is a great way to collect comments.
How else can we use these pages to engage our Partner Organizations?

Design Notebooks

Let’s take a few minutes to share some of your Design Notebook entries from last week about alternatives to Twilio in your Partner Organization’s region.

Freedom Fone Overview

What is Freedom Fone?

Freedom Fone is a voice content & messaging management system that uses FreeSwitch and a CakePHP front end to manage IVR and SMS messages.

What Features Does Freedom Fone Support?

With Freedom Phone, you can create cell phone Polls, Voice Menus, and Leave-a-message applications. Much of what you built using Twilio can be constructed within the GUI Freedom Fone interface – in particular the recorded IVR applications.

Freedom Fone Demonstration

Let’s take a few minutes to try out an example Freedom Fone Voice Menu and walk through the GUI interface.

For more info on installing, configuring and using Freedom Fone, check out the User Guide.

FrontlineSMS Setup Walkthrough

Download FrontlineSMS
Connect a compatible cellular device/service
- 3G Modem
- Android Phone using FrontlineSync
- Android Phone using SMSsync
- SMPP Server

FrontlineSync

FrontlineSync is an Android app that allows you to sync your SMS messages from your Android phone to FrontlineSMS.

Let’s check out the FrontlineSync Overview on FrontlineSMS.

To set it up:

(IMPORTANT) Clear your phone’s SMS history
Launch FrontlineSMS
Use the Settings menu to navigate to Connections
Click on the Connect to a Mobile Network button
Select the FrontlineSync radio button & Next
Click Next
Click Create
Download the FrontlineSync Android app to your phone
Follow the configuration steps

Once configured and connected, you can configure your Android phone to send and receive SMS messages for FrontlineSMS.

IMPORTANT NOTE – FrontlineSync will sync ALL messages between your phone and FrontlineSMS, so the phone should be dedicated to the service you’re setting up. Clear your SMS history before setting it up, otherwise you might spam everyone in your existing history.

Assignment

Partner Organization Concept Presentations

Please present your project concepts from your Vision Documents to your Partner Organizations before we meet next week.
Next week we’ll post your Vision Documents to your project pages and then share those pages with your Partner Organizations.

Reading

Cellphones for Women in Developing Nations Aid Ascent from Poverty

Design Notebook

Create a new page in your Design Notebook and label it “Partner Organization Feedback” and today’s date.
Make note of the feedback your team receives when you present your concept to your Partner Organization
Create another page in your Design Notebook and label it “Cellphones & Poverty” and today’s date.
Describe how the service you are developing with your Partner Organization might help alleviate poverty in their community.

*Assignments are due before class begins on Mondays. Be prepared to present your work in class for discussion.