1. What are Google SMS Channels? Google SMS Channels is a service that enables channels/groups on SMS. It's a free service that enables you to get premium content published by Google publishing partners, Google popular products (Google News, Blogger and Google Groups) and websites with RSS/Atom support for free. SMS Channels allows you to create your own channel(s) to publish content that other users can subscribe to. You can also create groups over SMS to communicate with your friends, family, and co-workers.
2. Do I pay anything for using the service?
No, you don't pay anything to send or receive messages using
Google SMS Channels. When you post a message to your channel, all the members of your channel get the message forwarded for free. SMS tariff charges may apply when you configure the service or publish to a channel using a mobile phone.
3. How much am I charged when I send a message to multiple users through my channel from my mobile?
You will be charged the standard tariff charged by your mobile operator when you send a message. The message is treated as a single message even though your message might be reaching multiple users.
4. How do I use SMS Channels?
You can use the service by going to the
Google SMS Channels site or via your mobile phone. On the web you can sign up using your Google account. You'll need to input your phone number while signing up. We'll send a verification code via SMS to your phone. You'll need to input the verification code you received to complete the sign up process.
On SMS you can just send REGISTER to 9870807070 to sign up for the service. You will receive
a reply "You've accepted the Terms of Service at
http://labs.google.co.in/smschannels/termsofuse. To subscribe, reply ON channel name. eg. ON GoogleNews. For more commands reply HELP"
The website as well as SMS commands on the phone allow you to configure settings, create and subscribe to channels and even view past messages on a channel (keep reading for detailed instructions).
5. What is the verification code?
To make sure we do not send messages to anyone who has not registered to our service, we need you to verify your phone number while signing up with SMS Channels service from the web front end. We send the verification code via SMS to the phone number you have entered. You'll need to type in the verification code on our web front end to complete the sign up process.
6. How do I receive the verification code?
After you sign in to our web front end using your Google account you can input your phone number to receive the verification code via SMS.
7. How long will it take for the verification code to be sent?
Usually it takes few minutes to receive the verification code. However, network delays may cause the verification code to be delivered at a later time.
8. What do I do if I haven't received the verification code?
You will need to send an email to indialabs+smschannels@google.com with your mobile number and a preferred time where we can call you and help you with the verification code.
9. Can I use this service even if I do not have an Indian number?
No, this service is currently available to users in India and requires an Indian mobile number. We are working towards making this service available to international numbers.
10. Will I receive messages if I am on International roaming?
This is dependent on your service provider.
11. What is the nickname? How do I set my nickname?
Nickname is the name we'll use to refer to you when you invite someone to a channel. Your nickname will appear in the invite SMS. You can set your nickname while signing up for the service.
12. How do I change my nickname?
You can go to the 'settings' page to change your nickname at any time.
To search on the website, enter your keyword in the search box on the
Browse channels page and click 'Search'
To search using your phone, SMS 'SEARCH ' to 9870807070. For example, send the following SMS to 9870807070 to search for channels that contain the keywords "hyderabad weather" in channel's title or description.:
SEARCH hyderabad weather
You'll be sent up to 3 channels matching your keyword(s) over SMS.
To see more channels, you can reply 'MORE
'.
14. What are 'Editor's picks'? How can I find 'Editor's Picks'?
Editor's Picks are channels selected by our editors based on quality of content, popularity of a channel and various other criteria. You can find 'Editor's picks' by going to 'Narrow by Category' on the left side of the main page and clicking 'Editor's Picks.'
15. What do I need to do for my channel to show in Editors Pick?
You do not need to do anything. Our Editors review content from time to time and will promote your channel to the Editors pick section once it meets certain criteria.
16. How do I subscribe to a channel?
To subscribe to a channel, click the 'Subscribe' button below the channel description on the
Browse channels page or on the Channels detail page. You can also click the 'Accept invitation' button below the channel description to subscribe to a channel that you've been invited to.
To subscribe using your phone, SMS 'ON
' to 9870807070. is the name of the channel. For example, if you wanted to subscribe to the
GoogleNews channel, you will need to send the following SMS to 9870807070:
ON GoogleNews
You'll receive a confirmation message and the last message posted on the channel to confirm your subscription.
17. How do I find out the channels that I have subscribed to?
Go to the
My Channels tab. This tab lists three kinds of channels a)
Invited - the channels you've been invited to join by other members. b)
Created - the channels you created. c)
Subscribed - the channels that you have subscribed to.
18. Can someone else subscribe me to a channel?
No. Only you can subscribe to a channel using your phone or the website. Your friends/contacts can invite you to join a channel but you have to accept their invitation using the phone or website to join a channel. By default you are subscribed to channels that you create.
19. Can I accept the invitation to a channel Online?
Yes, you can accept invitations to channels online. To accept invitations online: login to your account and click on the 'My Channels' tab. You can then click on the 'Accept invitation' button below the channel description to subscribe to a channel that you've been invited to.
20. Can I see what messages I have posted via mobile on my Channel when I login?
Yes, you can see all messages that have been posted to a channel online.
21. I don't want to be spammed by a lot of messages during busy hours. How can I control the number of messages I receive? Can I specify when I receive the messages?
You can specify the maximum number of messages along with the time interval when you wish to receive them in a day. To specify these on the website, click the
Settings link.
To do so using your phone, SMS '"PREF
"' to 9870807070.
to be specified in hh:mm:am(or pm)format.
For example, to limit the number of messages to 5 per day and to only receive them between 10:00am and 6:00pm , send the following SMS to 9870807070:
PREF 5 10:00:am 6:00:pm
If the number of messages posted across your subscribed channels exceeds the maximum limit, you'll receive an alert along with instructions to retrieve the extra messages, if you'd like.Note: Operator-related fluctuations in delivery times of messages are beyond our control
22. How do I unsubscribe from a channel?
To unsubscribe from a channel, go to the
My Channels tab on the web front end. For the channel you'd like to unsubscribe from, simply click the 'Unsubscribe' button.
To unsubscribe using your phone, SMS 'OFF
', to 9870807070 where is the name of the channel. For example, send the following SMS to 9870807070 to unsubscribe from
GoogleNews channel: OFF GoogleNew
23. Can I send messages to a channel?
You can only send messages to a channel under the following conditions:
To send a message to a channel through your phone reply to the message as send to 9870807070
24. How do I invite others to a channel?
You can invite friends to a channel created or subscribed by you.
To invite someone you need to know his/her phone number.
To invite from the website, click the 'invite others' link for the channel and enter the phone number (or a list of up to 5 phone numbers separated by commas) of the people you wish to invite to join the channel. This is applicable only for Public Channels.
To invite through your phone, simply send an SMS with the format 'invite
' to 9870807070.
We'll send an SMS to the number specified by you and the receiver needs to respond with 'ON {channel name}' message to complete the subscription.
25. I received an invite to a channel. What do I need to do?
Someone you know has probably invited you to join their channel. You can use the service by going to the
Google SMS Channels site or via your mobile phone. On the web you can sign up using your Google account. You'll need to input your phone number while signing up. We'll send a verification code via SMS to your phone. You'll need to input the verification code you received to complete the sign up process.
26. How do I create a channel? What are the different ways to publish content to a channel?
To create a channel on the website, click the
Create channel link on the right hand side on the main page.
You need to specify following information to create a channel:
Name: Name of the channel.
Description: A brief description of channel in less than 100 characters
Category: Channel category.
Location: If a channel is specific to a city, you can specify the city name
Source (optional): You can get your channel updates from Blogger or Google Groups or Google News or RSS/Atom feeds from any supporting web site. This field is optional. You can post messages via the web front end or the phone with or without a source selection.
Blogger: Enter the blog name that you want to use as a source for channel posts/updates. For example: To get updates from the Official Google Blog (
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/ ), enter googleblog in the text box after selecting Blogger as the source.
Google Groups: Enter the Google group name that you want to use as a source for channel posts/updates.For example: To get updates from Google Maps Group (http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Maps), enter Google-Maps in the text box after selecting Google Groups as the source.
Google News: Enter one or more keywords of interest for Google News based updates for the entered keywords. For example: to get Google News based updates for keywords "global warming", enter global warming in the text box after selecting Google News as the source.
RSS/Atom feed: Enter the RSS/Atom URL address in the text box. For example: to get Google News RSS based updates, enter the RSS feed URL "
http://news.google.com/?output=rss in the text box.
You can preview your channel content by clicking on the 'preview' button. The content should appear inside the image of the phone on the right.
Allow publishing by: This stores the preference around who can publish posts to the channel. By default, only the channel creator is allowed to publish to a channel. You can also select the "Any subscriber" option that permits publishing by any subscriber of the channel (not just the creator).
Who can subscribe: By default, a created channel is open for subscription by any registered user and hence is also referred to as a public channel. If you want to allow subscription to your channel only via invitations sent by you, you can select "By invitation only" option. Note: "By invitation only" channels are also referred to as private channels because they do not appear in search results. No one can join a private channel on their own.
To create a channel using phone, send the following SMS to 9870807070:
'CREATE '
For example you can create a channel for traffic information in Bangalore with the following command: CREATE TrafficBangalore traffic information for Bangalore.
This will create a "public" channel (anyone can subscribe to a public channel) with name TrafficBangalore.
You can change the properties by using the MODIFY command as below:
To make the channel "private" (only allow people to subscribe by invitation by the owner) send
the following SMS to 9870807070:
'MODIFY PRI'
To make a channel "public", send the following SMS to 9870807070:
'MODIFY PUB'
To make channel publish privilege limited (only the owner can publish), send the following SMS to 9870807070:
'MODIFY PRISEND'
To allow all subscribers to publish to a channel send the following SMS to 9870807070:
'MODIFY PUBSEND'
Please note you are automatically subscribed to every channel that you create.
27. How do I contact the channel owner?
Sorry, but at this point in time, the functionality to contact the channel owner does not exist.
28. How do I add additional information from RSS feeds in addition to the title?
We support extraction of title, body, and both title and body for RSS feeds. By default we pick up only the title. If you want only the body of your RSS to show up in messages, then check the box that says body on the manage channel page. If you want the title and body of your feed to appear, then check both the boxes (title and body) on the manage channel page under data source RSS/Atom feeds.
29. I've created a channel using a RSS feed, but I get no messages. What do I do?
This could be because there are no new posts on the channel. Please check the source RSS feed to make sure there are regular posts. If the feed is working fine and you're still having difficulties, please post a message to the
discussion group to request help.
30. How do I control who can subscribe to the channels I create?
When you create a channel, select 'By invitation only' in the 'Who can subscribe' option. Once you select this option, no one can subscribe to this channel unless explicitly invited by you. If you select 'Any user,' anyone can subscribe to it.
If you've already created a channel, you can always change its settings. Just click the 'My Channel' tab to see a list of all the channels you've created. Next to each channel you own you'll see a 'Manage Channel' button. Click the button to change channel settings.
31. How do I find out the channels that I've created?
Go to the
My Channels tab. This tab lists three kinds of channels: a) the ones you're subscribed to, b) the ones you created, and c) the ones that you've been invited to join by other members of a channel.
32. How do I delete a channel?
You can only delete the channels that you create.
On the website, you'll see a 'Delete channel' button below the channels that you created.
To delete a channel using phone, send the following SMS to 9870807070:
'DELETE
'
Please be aware that once you delete a channel you can't 'undo' it.
33. SMS Commands
Almost everything that you can do on the website can be done over SMS. Detailed in the table below is the list of SMS commands and what they do.
create : Create channel with optional description .By default anyone can join & all subscribers can send.To change properties, use MODIFY
modify : Change channel properties as:PRI: Only invited user can join PUB: Everyone can join and Publish
delete : Delete a channel that you created
on : Start receiving messages posted on channel
off : Stop receiving messages posted on channel
register : Register with SMS Channels service from your phone
send : Send message to channel Message is forwarded to all subscribers
poke poke #numberpoke : Retrieve nth last message of channel or message in the channel satisfying given query
invite : Send invitation to
to join channel
prefpref prefpref : Retrieve current maximum_number_of_messages and time settingsSet maximum_number_of_messages and message receiving start and end times
ch on ch create ch send : Receive list of channels you have joinedReceive list of channels you have createdReceive list of channels to which you can publish
search : Retrieve list of channels satisfying in name or description
more : Retrieve more channels from this query
about : Learn more about this product from google
tos : Get link to online Terms of service
help : See list of important supported commandsGet information about a channelGet help about a command
34. How can I report abuse or spam in a channel?
You can report abuse by clicking the 'report as inappropriate' button online next to a channel. You can also report violation of policy by simply replying the 'flag ' on SMS to a message you received from the channel.
35. I have suggestions for product improvements or I've found a bug. How do I let you know? 36. Do you have APIs that I can create to add cool features?
No, unfortunately at this time we do not support any APIs. We will work to add this in the future.
37. Troubleshooting
I've created a channel using a RSS feed, but I get no messages. What do I do? This could be because there are no new posts on the channel. Check the source RSS feed to make sure there are regular posts. If the feed is working fine and you're still having difficulties, please post a message to the Google SMS Channels
Discussion Group to request help.
I've registered to SMS Channels, but I receive too many messages per day. What do I do? By default you should receive only 10 messages per day across all the channels. You can change this setting by going to the
Settings page. If you are receiving too many messages please check the settings and input the appropriate number of messages that you would like to receive per day.
I'm a registered user, but I don't receive any messages. What do I do? Please make sure that you are subscribed to at least a few channels that are posting messages. If you still do not receive messages, please post a message to the Google SMS Channels
Discussion Group to request help.
I sent a message to a channel I created and it did not get published for a long time. Usually messages are delivered within minutes. However, there is no guarantee that a message will get delivered within a reasonable time limit or will get delivered at all. Sometimes issues with SMS Aggregators or Telecom Operators could prevent us from delivering your message on time.
I've created a channel, but I don't see it in 'My Channels' tab: Sometimes it may take a while before the channel you created appears in 'My Channels' tab. Please be patient and check back in later.
I receive the same message more than once: This can happen at times due to issues with the SMS Aggregator or Telecom Operator. Send in an email to indialabs+smschannels@google.com with your mobile number, the Channel name, the time you received the original message, the time you received the duplicate message, the contents of the message.
I am unable to subscribe to or create additional channels: There is a limit to the number of channels you can be subscribed to or create.
I receive the following error message when I try to post to a channel "Post failed: Too may posts on this channel in last 24 hrs": This will happen when you have reached the maximum limit of messages you can send a day. When this happens, just post 24 hours from the time you sent your first message.
I receive the error message "You seem to be having problems with the verification code. Please contact us so that we may assist you.": You may receive this error message due to Operator issues. When you encounter this error, send an email to indialabs+smschannels@google.com with your mobile number
