SMS Gateway service provider with PHP API

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+5 Q:

SMS Gateway service provider with PHP API

I am looking for an SMS Gateway service provider with a PHP API that allows me to:

Send out SMS messages (including small binaries) to mobile phones
Receive SMS messages from mobile phones
Send reverse billing SMS text to mobile phone
Messages can be sent/received to/from mobiles globally (or at least most countries)
Allow bulk sending of text messages

Ideally, the API should be relatively straightforward an easy to use. Last but not the least, the service should provide good value for money (i.e. it should be inexpensive or relatively inexpensive for the features it provides).

I am (currently) based in the United Kingdom (I dont know if this is relevant in the choise of SMS service provider).

I would ideally like a recommendation from someone who is currently using (or has succesfully used) such a service.

+5 A:

Unfortunately, when it comes to SMS, there is no such thing as "simple". Depending on which country you want to operate in, it can be easier or harder. For example, handling SMS in the U.S. is probably the most annoying thing I've ever come across. Every carrier (and there's at least 15-20 that you'll care about (even more, but many of them are too small to bother with)) have different rules for what you can and cannot do, different rules for opting in to services and charging and so on.

We've used mBlox for SMS and while they are pretty good, they can only hide all these differences so well. In the end, I've had to write custom code for every single carrier that we support.

mBlox also support the U.K. and a few other places (we are based in Australia and use them for SMS in Australia and the U.S.). They also have a fairly simple Web Services based interface that should be usable from PHP.

Now, if you're not doing premium services, then it's not so bad, but it can still be a PITA.

Dean Harding 2010-03-27 11:02:01

Thanks codeca (I voted up your answer), I had never heard of mBlox before. I'll look into what they have to offer. I am also looking at Clickatel which looks quite interesting - do you have any experience with Clickatel?

Stick it to THE MAN 2010-03-27 12:24:47

We've done clickatel before, but their service is not particularly reliable (i.e. you don't really know if the messages have arrived, some times they got delayed by several *hours*, etc). At least with mblox you get delivery notifications and stuff. Of course, you do pay extra for that, so I guess it just depends on your budget.

Dean Harding 2010-03-27 12:29:03

codeka: (Eeek! - several hours?!). Looks like mBox is a better bet then (I havent checked their API and prices yet though). Thanks for the info. I will wait a little while and see if there is any more input before accepting the final answer. Thanks for your input thus far.

Stick it to THE MAN 2010-03-27 16:07:25

codeka: I wonder if you could please clarify your previous statement: "We've used mBlox for SMS and while they are pretty good, they can only hide all these differences so well. In the end, I've had to write custom code for every single carrier that we support.". Reading the first sentence of that statement, it is not clear why you had to write custom code for every carrier you support (I thought using a company like mBox will allow a developer to write to a unified interface?).

Stick it to THE MAN 2010-03-29 11:03:01

The *interface* is the same, but the process of handling premium messages is different for different carriers. If you'd not doing premium messages, then it's *much* simpler.

Dean Harding 2010-03-29 19:10:06

I've used mBlox for bulk and premium MT messages and they are pretty good. I've also used MiG (http://www.migcan.com) who have a nice API that supports sending binary payloads.

Alex K. 2010-03-30 10:02:21

+2 A:

We have been using Clickatell's service for notifying hotels and customers on a booking systen we have developed, and we are very happy with it. You may want to check it out.

Spiros 2010-03-27 13:13:17

Ups, just noticed the comment on the above question, you may ignore the suggestion, however you may keep the note that we had no problems with them up to now.

Spiros 2010-03-27 13:14:52

Spiros: thanks for your input (I have voted up your answer, as it was helpful)

Stick it to THE MAN 2010-03-27 16:05:29

I should probably also say that most of the problems we had with clickatel were when we were doing fairly large volumes at once. If you're just doing one or two messages a time, then they might be OK.

Dean Harding 2010-03-27 23:40:49

What codeka says might be, we bever send more than 30-40 messages per hour at worst, so don't take my word for large volumes.

Spiros 2010-03-28 09:11:42

Check out Twilio.com. I recently used their PHP library and SMS API for my site and it was painless.

Garret Heaton 2010-04-27 20:49:13

@garret: thanks (this is the OP here - but I lost my account details). I had a look at Twilio, but it seems heavily slanted towards the US. I am based in Europe, can I still use Twillio?

skyeagle 2010-05-23 14:05:24

I believe so, check out their FAQ on the topic: http://www.twilio.com/faq/international

Garret Heaton 2010-05-25 18:20:19

www.openmarket.com (also they acquired MXTelecom)

Phill Pafford 2010-05-21 14:55:55

ansaurus

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SMS Gateway service provider with PHP API

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