Twilio Minutes For The Holidays

Twilio is an platform that lets developers create service much like Voxeo and client IfByPhone.

Today they whipped up a "calling card" script using their API and turned it into a Pay As You Go calling plan.

This is great for temporary housing companies and hostels where end points can be installed, but where only the user knows the code. Once you run out of Twilio credit, its gone.

Comments

[DanielleMORRILL]

Thanks for blogging about this little app I made. I agree that the user would need to know the code right now, but I could certainly see someone creating a simple little web interface where the customer logs in, sets up their number and the IVR menu through a form, and their payment method.

I was thinking incremental billing - where their credit card is charged each time their balance reaches $10, or once 30 days has elapsed, whichever comes first. They could also set up prepaid if that was preferred for security reasons. By adding Paypal, this could enable people to make purchases from anywhere in the world (Twilio is limited to U.S. billing addresses right now).

Some other features I think would be good to add:
* a pin code, so that no just anyone who calls into the number can use it
* a way to add new people to the calling list from the IVR menu
* a way to check rates and spending from the IVR menu
* a way to gift other people with custom calling cards (a viral feature)
* a web based dashboard of minutes/spend

Fun app though - the reaction when I whipped it up was very satisfying, so I'm definitely going to make calling cards for some of my friends who are visiting the U.S. over the holidays.

Merry Xmas!
-danielle @ Twilio