Next 2 us

Next2.us SMS social network for USA and Kenya

All Next2.us SMS commands are ready for testing in Kenya and the United States.  Next2.us allows users to exchange text messages between Kenya and the USA using Next2.us' SMS text messaging service.

Photograph by http://www.flickr.com/photos/dougww under Creative Commons License

Next2.us allows people to connect around place and topic(s) using inexpensive mobile phones and SMS text messaging.  We have just released the service in Kenya.  Below is a pdf file that provides the country codes to send and receive text messages and a description of the service SMS commands and features.

Download Next2 SMS Brochure

We appreciate help in testing the service. Report problems by email to help@hungrygarden.com or text message "4 brip" using Next2.us

SMS text messaging between USA and Kenya now possible with Next2.us

Text messaging between USA and Kenya is now possible using Next2.us SMS text messaging service.  Photograph by http://www.flickr.com/photos/gcbb/ under Creative Common License

Today we are please to report we were able to successfully send a SMS text message between a mobile phone in the USA and a simple mobile phone in Kenya using Next2.us new SMS text messaging service.  The Kenya user was able to reply to the text message and the reply message was successfully received as a new text message on the mobile phone in the United States.

The short code in Kenya is 5557 with a KSH 5 rate to send a text message.  Its free to receive text messages from 5557.  

We are in the process of translating the Next2.us SMS commands into Swahili.

United States users use short code 95495 with keyword "next2" at the beginning of each text.  There is no charge to USA users; although text rates may apply according to the text messaging plan your have with your mobile operator.

A list of Next2.us SMS commands may be found here.

We are looking for users to help us test the new service.  This is the initial release of the service so errors may be encountered.  Please report any errors by email to help@hungrygarden.com or by text message to http://m.next2.us/brip  

We appreciate your help in testing this new SMS service.

To get started

 Step 1.  First you need to register your mobile phone number with the Next2.us service by sending a SMS message to your country short code.

The text message needs to start with your country keyword followed by the Next2 reg command (or use the word anza in Kenya) followed by the name you want for your Next2 account and your location.  Next2 will respond by sms text message confirming your account name and giving you a password that works at http://m.next2.us.

Step 2. Second, you need to know the Next2 user name of the person you want to text.  Then just create a new text message using your country keyword followed by 4 then user name followed your text message and send it to your country short code.  (like this Next2 4 brip message.)  

That's it.  You can now send text messages from simple low-end mobile phones between USA and Kenya.

If you are in Kenya and want to test it with a USA user you can text (after registering your mobile phone by SMS) "kenya 4 brip message"  The brip will reply to you by text message.

 A list of ALL Next2.us SMS commands instructions and country short codes and country keywords may be found here.

 

Next2 #sms commands in Swahili

We are working on translating Next2.us SMS commands into Swahili.  As I am not a fluent in Swahili, I would appreciate any comments on the translation as provided below.  I am using Google Translate to do the translation.  

We are currently testing register and unregister by SMS in Kenya.  Both the English and Swahili command will work.  The SMS service responds to each command by replying with a new text message to the customer.  Below are the SMS commands as well as the reply text message.

SMS in English	SMS in Swahili	Response in English	Response in Swahili
reg	anza	welcome to next2us Your username: X and password: Y to stop text unreg	Karibu Next2us Jina Lako: X na  Password: Y. Tuma acha ilikukomesha huduma.
unreg	acha	Your mobile is unregistered successfully	Umefaulu kuikomesha huduma ya hii kwa rununu yako.

 

Please use the comments below for suggestions. Asante!  

Testing begins of new geosocial sms network for Kenya

We are ready to begin initial testing of a new sms service that connects people around place and topics in Kenya.  We hope to be in alpha release by February 2, 2011 (2/2/11).  The service works by sending SMS commands to a short code in Kenya.  The SMS commands may be in English or in Swahili.

We are looking for Kenyans with mobile phones that may want to help us test the new service.  The intial test we are running is to see of our server can send a SMS message to a mobile phone in Kenya.

If you would like to participate please email me your Kenya mobile phone number to help@hungrygarden.com  or follow me on twitter @hungrygarden and then send me a tweet so I can follow you so you can direct message me your Kenya mobile phone number.