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- What kind of group is Swarm-it! designed for?
- How is Swarm-it! charged?
- Who pays for the messages?
- How is Swarm-it! different from sending a text message to a group from your phone?
- How is Swarm-it! different from sending a text message to a group from the web?
- Could a business or organisation use swarm-it?
- What is the swarmteams engine?
- Do I have to have a mobile phone to use Swarm-it!?
- Do I need the internet or email to use Swarm-it!?
- What is the cost of using Swarm-it!?
1. What kind of group is Swarm-it! designed for?
“Taking care of the 3 most important groups in your life”
Everybody has at least 3 really important groups in their lives that they would like to communicate better with:
- FAMILY
- FRIENDS
- COLLEAGUES (Work or School or University)
Each of these groups has certain things in common:
- They are all somewhere else – out and about
- They are not “your groups” – they are peer groups – everybody relates to everybody not just to you
- You don’t always know how to contact them – it might be mobile phone but cannot guarantee it
- Things constantly come up that the group needs to know about – you want to send with a single communication – not multiple emails, SMS, IM…
- Each member has a preferred way to communicate – e.g. some people don’t like sending texts its too fiddly
- Often somebody in the group knows the answer but nobody knows who it is
Swarm-it! is designed as a multi-channel messaging service for these kind of groups
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2. How is Swarm-it! charged?
It is totally free to participate in a Swarm set-up by another person (The Swarm Owner). There will be external SMS costs for any SMS received or sent as explained under “3. Who pays for the messages”.
If you wish to create your own swarms then you will need to take out a subscription to swarm-it! This allows you to broadcast an agreed amount of SMS messages per month to swarms.
This also allows you to broadcast to swarms you are just a member of provided the swarm owner has authorised you to do this.
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3. Who pays for the messages?
3.1 Broadcasts from phones
From the mobile phone Swarm-it! works by the user sending a single message to the swarm-it! server which then gets broadcast to the whole group.
The broadcasting user is charged by their own mobile operator for a single text message to send the message to the server - you should check with your operator re their pricing plan and roaming policy re outgoing messages.
Swarm-it! then takes responsibility for the subsequent group broadcast and this is paid for by your swarm-it subscription.
A swarm owner can decide whether to pay for all broadcasts made to their swarms by any swarm member or just pay for the broadcasts they make themselves. In this latter situation a swarm user will have to take out a separate Swarm-it! subscription if they wish to broadcast to this group. They can, of course, always reply without a Swarm-it! subscription.
3.2 Broadcasts from the Web
These do not incur the initial cost of an SMS message to the server but otherwise are the same as broadcasts from phones
3.3 Replies from Phones
All Swarm-it! broadcasts can be replied to by other Swarm-it! users whether they have taken out a Swarm-it! subscription or not.
Mobile Telecoms operators typically do not charge users to receive incoming text messages (such as Swarm-it! broadcasts) unless the user is roaming outside the home region – you should check with your operator re their pricing plan and roaming policy re incoming messages.
The replying user is charged by their own mobile operator for a single text message to send the message to the server – you should check with your operator re their pricing plan and roaming policy re outgoing messages.
3.4 Replies from the Web
These are totally free and incur no external costs.
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4. How is Swarm-it! different from sending a text message to a group from your phone?
Some mobile phones allow you to send a text message to a group of contacts which are stored on your phone. Swarm-it! allows every member of a group to do this without having to set up contacts on their mobile phone. This also means that the contact list is always up to date and complete.
The Swarm-it! approach means you are sending one message to the Swarm-it! server which takes care of distributing all group messages which can have a big cost advantage if you are texting outside your home zone.
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5. How is Swarm-it! different from sending a text message to a group from the web?
Some services allow you to broadcast bulk text messages to a distribution list.
Swarm-it! allows every member of your group to do this. Swarm-it! also allows the members of the group to reply to these text messages and neatly organises their replies on a web messageboard.
The Swarm-it! member invitation process ensures that all Swarm-it! users have agreed to accept SMS messages before they can be broadcast to. This stops the application being used for SPAM Messaging.
This way you and your group can easily see who has replied and who has not.
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6. Could a business or organisation use swarm-it?
Swarm-it! is designed to provide Swarm Messaging to individuals and small businesses
Swarm-pro! is the corporate strength Swarm Messaging application for businesses and organisations.
For more information on Swarm-pro!
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7. What is the swarmteams engine?
Swarm-it! is an application written using the Swarmteams Engine aka Swarm-api!
The Swarmteams Engine provides APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) which software developers can use to create complete Swarm Messaging Applications from scratch and to incorporate Swarm Messaging into their existing applications.
For more information on the SwarmTeams Engine.
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8. Do I have to have a mobile phone to use Swarm-it!?
Yes – you need to have a mobile phone to use Swarm-it!
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9. Do I need the internet or email to use Swarm-it!?
Yes to be a Swarm Owner. No to be a Swarm User.
You need access to the internet to set-up swarms and invite members to join them (Swarm Owners). The people you invite to join your swarms do not need access to the internet or email – they can join and participate in your swarms fully through their mobile phones (Swarm Users).
If Swarm Owners and Swarm Users have emails and Instant Message Accounts they can fully use these with Swarm-it! too but the minimum they require is a mobile phone.
If a Swarm User wishes to convert to a Swarm Owner they will need internet access.
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10. What is the cost of using Swarm-it!?
A Swarm-it! subscription allows you to broadcast an agreed amount of SMS messages plus unlimited emails and Instant Messages.
Subscription starts at $10 for 100 SMS messages which is 10 cents per broadcast message.
New users are given 50 free messages.
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