MMS Gateway Provider with PHP API, URL Callbacks, etc.

Question

Hello All,

Similar questions have been asked a few times, but I was unable to find the answer I needed in those other questions, so here goes.

I am looking into integrating MMS messaging into a website and I seem to be hitting a wall when it comes to which provider to use. SMS only gateways seem to be prevalent, but MMS gateways with a useful APIs looks to be a different story.

Specifically I need the following:

• A good PHP based API -OR- a navigable HTTP Post structure so I can CURL to them
• Ability to both send and receive MMS messages through the gateway
• Direct URL callbacks so that my server can be updated in real time instead of polling for updates
• Global reach (I know this one is tenuous at best but I need as many providers in as many countries as possible)
• Cost, while not a HUGE factor is important in testing.. I need to be able to trial the system to be sure it works. I would like this to be under a few hundred bucks.

So far I have looked into:

• OpenMarket - no URL callbacks that I could find
• GlobalSMS - they aren't even able to successfully send an SMS to my iPhone in the US, so I'm not trusting them with my global MMS FAIL
• Clickatell - They require a $1,700 US short code (which takes 2-3 months to set up) in order to even test their system against a US phone. FAIL
• Mogreet.com - US only mobile messaging, though looks like an easy integration for the US market

Any insight or further advise would be very helpful. We are also looking into Mbuni and NowSMS to send them directly through a GPRS modem on our servers, but I have a feeling the gateway will be the way we have to go in the end.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give, I'm relatively new to mobile messaging integrations, so some good advise here is welcome!

Answer 1

separate response per poster's request

I'm surprised that Clickatel have a shortcode purchase requirement just for testing, but it could well be the case if they did have 10 free smses for those purposes. They are probably guiding you towards a shortcode purchase because you also want to receive MMS/SMS. You need one in each country you want to receive SMS/MMS in. I'm going to ask about this a bit more tomorrow at the office as I know we use their services but purely for bulk SMS, not MMS.

On a sidenote, you can also look at mblox who are pretty big globally. TeliaSonera are a big player too.

In any case, as you've noticed yourself, MMS solutions are less prevalent than SMS ones. That's because its usage is much lower and is trickier to properly implement. Not to mention that successful delivery can depend on handset capabilities.

This may not suit your requirements fully, but if you're going for delivery of pictures/ringtones/etc via MMS, what about sending a custom web link in a simple SMS for them to download over their mobile internet connection? At the very least it will be simpler to setup and make succesful delivery tracking easier since it's HTTP. This ofcourse assumes the end user will have an internet connection, and that data charges will be cheaper than MMS reception. It also doesn't fulfill your requirement of receiving MMS.

Answer 2

I looked at more than a dozen providers and a lot of them say that MMS isn't supported by many networks, so they send "WAP links" instead. Here's a few that will handle MMS in one way or another:

http://www.eztexting.com/marketing-features/wap-link.html

http://www.celltrust.com/support/CellTrust-Support-SMS-Gateway.html

http://www.redcoal.com/sms-api-gateway-mms.aspx

http://www.ipipi.com/

Answer 3

I would look into OpenMarket/MX Telecom. I know OpenMarket does MMS and recently acquired MX Telecom (Global connection). They offer an integration guide which should be enough to write your own api to interface with their platform as well as a developers account for testing before going into a live production.