Robodialing and Robotexting for fun and profit

Everyone has been getting robocalls and robotexts. Most of these are scammers. Sometimes there is a legitimate use for them. This uses Plivo PHLO to robocall or robotext for personal profit.

One example of needing an robocaller or robotexter is phone alerts based on an email subject, sender, or domain. Another is for in-stock alert for an exclusive item drop. The inspiration for this project came from COVID vaccines.

When the COVID vaccine was first released, the online appointment processes were not ready. For the county I live in, you had to call a phone number and schedule an appointment with a human. https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/coronavirus/2020/12/29/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-vaccination-jacksonville-residents-set-begin-wednesday/4075240001/

When this was announced, it was obvious that the phone lines would be constantly busy. Having family and friends that were 65 and over, I looked for a way to automate the process of calling the number until there was an answer.

Plivo made this very easy with PHLO. A PHLO was made that takes an API call, dials a number, and forwards the call if there is an answer.

When the API is called, you can use the return code to find out if the call was successful. You could then set a wait period and keep trying until it is successful. Keep in mind, each call costs money, so you may want to wait at least a second or two before trying again.

Please note, this is just for demonstration purposes. Check with your local laws before attempting.