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Hello all,

I'm looking for some recommendations on 'renting' a SMS processing gateway.

Basically, (without going into the full details) i want my clients to be able to send a formatted txt from their mobile (generic technology) to a SMS gateway (via a service number). I then would like this gateway to run a http (or https) command to populate a database located within our domain. The end game is that this txt creates a request that initiates a workflow.

Now, I don't yet have a full requirements spec other than the fact that we will have to use a mobile to initiate the workflow as access to the internet will not always be guaranteed (we are operating in some of the most remote and hostile environments on old mother earth!!).

Has anyone used any sms service that is both simple and inexpensive and more importantly, isn't tied to a contract that involves requiring 000's of txts per month (this will at most have 10-20 txts per day, so not a money spinner for the mobile/gateway owner).

We will be implementing the domain side in .net and are comfortable in that technology. So whether the http message is xml/json or simple querystring parameters, we're not concerned. The main concern is that we have recommendations for a robust service gateway that receives messages and runs the http command in any format that we specify.

Looking fwd to suggestions and thoughts.

[update] - our preferred service provider would be UK based as the operation would be very much driven by UK daylight hours

+2  A: 

Check out Clickatell (no affiliation). It has a excellent API and is realtively inexpensive. The quality of text messages sent worldwide is very high in my experience (very high % get through).

Tom Gullen
tom - had a quick look at that. the two way option 'kinda' maybe ok. forgot to add (and will update question) uk based option preferred due to support in daylight hours
jim
tom - actually, this does look quite good (the two way option). i might sign up for a trial on that...
jim
South African timezone is reasonably similar to UK, I never had trouble with phoning them when I needed to and they are prompt with email.
Tom Gullen
+1 excellent tom - i've emailled them now with my full requirement
jim
No problem. A few years ago I did a lot of research on it, and Clickatell even though not necesserially the cheapest (but still cheap compared to the market), had the best policy (texts dont dissapear from inactivity, high quality service, good privacy policy etc). A word of caution though is I did this years ago so there may be better alternatives out there, have a look! The market is swamped in scams and bad resellers though so be careful.
Tom Gullen
I use Clickatell for an SMS Broadcast service for a local volunteer emergency service with good results (the callback and reporting functionality is excellent, and even with me being based in Australia, their support has been prompt and effective). They do offer a two-way service, which would satisfy the needs here, but as Tom says, it is somewhat expensive (you buy a number, and then they also charge you something like 3 times the cost of an outbound message for each message received and processed). But, if you have the budget and the need, I would strongly recommend them.
Lucanos