Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit | superlucy's commentslogin

I've been looking at something like this to pick up. Didn't know that this was released until today, but there seems to be a lot of people who are using http://framerjs.com/. Seems like the FB team was using Framer until they developed their own. Check the Product Hunt post: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/framer


Great stuff @scottybowl! You can test the system live by signing up and getting a free number at https://manage.plivo.com/accounts/register/


thx for the strategy... I developed something similar while playing, but this explains it much more explicitly. :)


awesome build


@notastartup,

Answers in line:

>Did the quality of leads improve due to the open source version?

We are speculating that our quality of leads improved because the conversion to paying customers increased. However, we are still watching our cohorts carefully to make sure that all the users get a good experience and continue to use Plivo.

>Does the open source version create urgency/needs payoff?

We definitely think that this has paid off. It's really increased our mindshare in the open source community and the connection to users have been very positive.

>Can you say that the open source version of your product acted as a marketing channel? ex. get users to eventually paying for your paid or pro version?

The short answer is yes. Although, VoiceChatAPI is only one of many things you can build with Plivo, it has definitely shown a lot of people the possibilities and that has got people interested in using us for other things.

>Do you think the open source version will end up cannibalizing your own paid product?

No. The open source version is an unique offering and there will always be businesses who would want to pay more for a more full-featured service. Users who want to host themselves, should have access and those who want more have the option as well.

>Where are you hosting your pages and web api?

It's on Heroku.

>If you would do it again, what would you do differently?

We would've done this much earlier.


Thank you very much for the answers.

What can I do to get similar level of traffic to my open source project?


@sparky You're correct, we are very aware of that risk, so we do have an algorithm in place to deter people from abusing the system. With that said, most users would not get to that limit with regular use while developing.


Indeed we are in the same space as Twilio. However, we do have quite a number of differences. On the technical side, we have dedicated hardware for our media, which means that our call qualities are consistently great and drastically increases the number calls which can happen concurrently on our box. Our framework is also written on FreeSwitch, an open-source telephony platform. On the non-technical side offer 24/7 chat support at no extra cost and competitive pricing that just gets better with higher volumes. :)


Definitely like that you guys have your own hardware termination vs where Twilio is just terminating to Level3's gear.


Thanks for the confidence. We think that decoding/encoding of audio on dedicated hardware works best for call quality and we are really focussed on doing that.


Yes, you can definitely do that. However, the your caller ID will be that of the phone number assigned to you. Upgraded accounts will have the ability to customize their caller ID.


OK, is pricing the same for sending SMS with the trial? Sorry I'm having a hard time figuring out what is free.


the price for sending out an SMS is technically the same for the trial account, but you won't be paying for it :)


@tehwebguy Yes, that's right. We want you to use Plivo to the fullest.


Wait, so I can use this API to send free SMS messages? The limitation is that I'm locked down to 1 phone #?


Much appreciated :)


Free trial is for life :)


Awesome! Thanks for this!


Anytime!


Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: