Emergency Text Messaging Part 2: Who should I choose?(A comparison analysis of four services)

This day and age it seems like everyone has a cell phone, many schools are beginning to tap into that technology, and use text messaging to inform students when needed.

Since the Tragedy at Virginia Tech, many schools are trying to get an emergency contact system in place.  What better method than text messaging.  Individuals usually carry their cell phones around with them, and a text message can deliver an immediate detailed message.

Many companies offer features that allow organizations, and clubs on a college campus to sent out updates, announce meetings, or advertise upcoming events.

This comparison analysis will compare and contrast some of the top text messaging services.

The Services

E2Campus

Costs $1 per user per year, is a good deal for smaller campuses, but can get pricey with a large population.

Offers unlimited groups. Which can include emergencies, events, sports teams, and can even include different campuses of a college.

Allows for unlimited group admins

Access to the E2Campus application is available from your PC, mobile phone, or a PDA

 
Informz

Has a one time setup fee of $300

Annual Licensing fee is $2,000

Text messages can be purchased in blocks, and range between 6 and 8 cents depending on how many blocks you purchase.

 

With all the setup fees this product can get pricey, It may be efficient for a larger campus to afford this, but may be way out of the budget of a smaller school.

Gives you the option to purchase a dedicated short code for $14,000 a year, which means you will get your own 5 digit number to be texted.

For $1200 a month you can purchase a custom vanity code, which allows you to chose a short code so it is easier to remember.

 

Mobile Campus

Offers a free service, but will spam you with text message advertisements which will burn out the medium very quickly, and may result in negative effect on text message alerts from your students.

 

Jyngle

Offers two services.  The Standard "Free" service is designed for smaller groups.  The standard service does have a banner at the bottom of the text which says"Powered by Jyngle".  This banner is designed to spread the word of the service, but a representative at Jyngle informs me that it may be used for ad space in the future.  Still for being free I would not complain about the tiny ad at the bottom of the message.

The second service Jyngle offers is the Enterprise service.  This is a pay per message service, and does not contain the banner at the bottom of the message.  The rates for this service are $0.03 per voice message and $0.06 per SMS.  Jyngle offers the Enterprise Service to schools for free for emergency use.

Pricing Comparison

This chart compares pricing of the four services.

This chart compares each service prices based on the size of a student population.  Note Informz block pricing is based upon 10 texts per student.

There are other services available which I was unable to acquire the pricing for.  Some of these include

Rave

clearTXT

PromoTXT

If you have any experiences dealing with any of the vendors mentioned, or any vendor not listed above please share them.

Comments

[Bob Bentz]

Advanced Telecom Services, providers of PromoTXT, typically charge $400 per month for database maintenance plus .05 per text message. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance to you.