Month: March 2007

BT launch 21st Century Phone Network API

BT have recently launched an API for their 21CN network called Web21C. The API allows developers to access various BT network functions via a HTTPS interface. Amongt other things you can place calls, send text messages, geo-locate mobiles (currently only BT mobiles).

During the beta phase, usage limits per account are as follows:

  • SMS Text Messages – 10 international messages / day. 160 Characters / message
  • Standard Voice Calls – 10 international calls of 2 mins / day.
  • Conference Calls – 10 international calls (upto 4 participants max) of 2 mins / day.
  • Location – 10 requests / day.
  • Presence – Logged out after 8 hours. 100 requests / day.
  • Authentication – 100 requests / day
  • Information About Me – 100 requests / day.

That’s pretty generous of BT if you think about it, as they are giving you up to 40 minutes of international calls per day!

They have also built 7 test virtual phones (sip addresses), that you can use for your testing, which have been affectionately named after the seven dwarfs:

  • Happy – Connects and disconnects after 60 seconds – sip:happy-random_number@mockphones.nat.bt.com:5660
  • Bashful – Connects and disconnects after 3 seconds – sip:bashful-3000-random_number@mockphones.nat.bt.com:5660
  • Grumpy – Always gives a busy signal – sip:busyphone-random_number@mockphones.nat.bt.com:5660
  • Dopey – Never connects, gives service unavailable message – sip:brokenphone-random_number@mockphones.nat.bt.com:5660
  • Doc – Connects after 10 seconds and disconnects after 3 seconds – sip:doc-10000-3000-random_number@mockphones.nat.bt.com:5660
  • Sneezy – Connects and disconnects after 10 seconds – sip:sneezy-10000-random_number@mockphones.nat.bt.com:5660
  • Sleepy – Never connects and after 60 seconds becomes unavailable – sip:noanswerphone-random_number@mockphones.nat.bt.com:5660

The random number can be any number between 100 and 10000000.