Sending an SMS myself

Question

Hi,

I'm taking shots in the dark here. I'd like to create a web service where eventually I send an SMS by using my own hardware. I'm not sure what I need in order to send an SMS myself. I don't want to use any of the existing SMS send services out there, I need to be able to send these SMS myself.

It looks like there's one opensource project in particular that deals with this, "Kannel":

http://www.kannel.org/

what I don't understand is, do I need to get a GSM modem to be able to send SMS? Do SMS gateways (like Kannel) eventually need to get to a GSM modem to send messages, or is there some other hardware you need to be able to actually send the messages?

Thanks

Answer 1

Just find an online SMS Gateway. These Gateway providers are your best bet since they have handled all the heavy lifting for you. Just utilize their API and you should be able to do whatever you want. Some of these gateways are free and some are not. I've included a short list below.

https://www.clickatell.com/pricing/message_cost.php

http://www.zeepmobile.com/

(Carrier based SMS transit) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_carriers_providing_SMS_transit

I'm sure there are a ton more, but this will get you started.

Answer 2

You always need a GSM modem to send the SMS unless you use a provider that handles this for you (but they usually want money for this).

Answer 3

If you want to setup your own Hardware infrastructure, you have to get GSM Modem, A Sim card and use it to send SMS.

Other option, which I recommend, is to use SMS getways and use

• SMPP protocol
• XML or HTTP Apis

In later, you dont have to create any infrastructure and the starting cost will be very low compared to GSM Modem. You can get up and running in a day.

Note : to reduce the SMS costs, you should choose different getways for different countries. In India you can easily find getways who provides SMS at merely 3 paise

Answer 4

You will have to download an API that handles the sending and recieving of messages for you. I once used this in one project where i had my GSM Phone connected to my computer thru one of the COM ports. Configured the API to communicate thru the COM Port to listen to any incoming text messages also send messages thru my GSM Phone. Here is a great link to the resources i used for that project. I hope this will help. http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/SMS.aspx

Answer 5

I have created my own solution to send sms, works only for Pakistan though but you may get an idea, basically it uses external service.

http://sarfraznawaz.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/send-sms-to-any-network-in-pakistan-for-free/