SMS gateway

An SMS gateway or MMS gateway allows a computer to send or receive Short Message Service (SMS) or Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) transmissions to or from a telecommunications network. Most messages are eventually routed into the mobile phone networks. Many SMS gateways support media conversion from email and other formats.

Gateway types

Several mobile telephone network operators have true fixed-wire SMS services. These are based on extensions to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) SMS standards and allow messaging between any mix of fixed and mobile equipment. These use frequency-shift keying to transfer the message between the terminal and the Short Message Service Center (SMSC). Terminals are usually based on Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT), but wired handsets and wired text-only (no voice) devices exist. Messages are received by the terminal recognising that the Caller ID is that of the SMSC and going off-hook silently to receive the message.

Implementations

GSM gateway appliance

A direct-to-mobile gateway is a device which has built-in wireless GSM connectivity. It allows SMS text messages to be sent and/or received by email, from Web pages or from other software applications by acquiring a unique identifier from the mobile phone's Subscriber Identity Module, or "SIM card". Direct-to-mobile gateways are different from SMS aggregators, because they are installed on an organization's own network and connect to a local mobile network.

The connection to the mobile network is made by acquiring a SIM card number from the mobile operator and installing it in the gateway. Typically, direct-to-mobile gateway appliances are used for hundreds to thousands of text messages per month. More modern appliances now offer the capability of send up to 100,000 messages each day. Several vendors that have historically provided GSM Gateway equipment for voice also have SMS capability. Some are more primitive than others. The more capable devices are designed with SIM management to regulate the number of SMS messages per SIM, ODBC to connect to a database, and HTTP interfaces to interact with third party applications.

Regulation

GSM gateway equipment is covered by the Wireless Telegraphy Act in the UK and can legally be used by any business to send SMS to their own customers or prospects when using their own gateway equipment. In Canada, SMS gateway providers are regulated by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA/txt.ca). In India it is regulated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). In Pakistan it is regulated by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority(PTA).

Direct-to-SMSC

A direct-to-short message service center (SMSC) gateway is a software application, or a component within a software application, that connects directly to a mobile operator's SMSC via the Internet or direct leased line connections. The Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP) protocol is typically used to convey SMS between an application and the SMSC. Direct-to-SMSC gateways are used by SMS aggregators to provide SMS services to their clients and large businesses who can justify such use. They are typically employed for high volume messaging and require a contract directly with a mobile operator.

Direct-to-SMS gateway

An SMS gateway typically sits between the end user who needs to send/receive SMS and a mobile network's SMSC. Such gateways provide their customers with a choice of protocols, including HTTP, SMTP, Short Message Peer-to-Peer and Web Services. Providers of SMS gateway services include SMS aggregators and mobile operators. SMS gateways are also available as part of messaging services such as AOL, ICQ and others.

In order to send/receive message with mobile subscribers, an SMS gateway connects with (i) mobile network SMSCs and/or (ii) other SMS gateways. It is therefore possible that an SMS gateway has a combination of connections with mobile network SMSCs and connections with other SMS gateways in order to provide its services. However, there is the increasing potential for delivery problems with SMS the greater the number of SMS gateways in the delivery chain.

AOL Instant Messenger

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) version 5.2 and above had support for sending SMS messages for free.[1] AIM was shut down on December 15, 2017.[2]

ICQ

ICQ also has support for sending SMS messages at no cost.[3]

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook 2007 has native support for sending SMS messages worldwide via the Outlook Mobile Service.[4] There are also plug-ins for Microsoft Outlook that add this functionality. This uses the SMS gateways of aggregators or of mobile operators.

Skype

Skype has support for sending SMS messages. SMS sent through Skype can be configured to appear as originating from the Skype user's cellphone.

SMS aggregators

Twilio and other aggregators enable software developers to send and receive SMS messages through HTTP REST, Short Message Peer-to-Peer, SMTP and Web Services APIs.

Windows Live Messenger

MSN Messenger (Windows Live Messenger) 7.0 and up had support for SMS messages. Service finally closed October 2014.[5]

Yahoo! Messenger

Yahoo! Messenger, accessible through a dedicated client application, or through a Web site (mail.yahoo.com) had support for SMS messages,[6] although Yahoo! Messenger was shut down on July 17, 2018.[7]

Spreadsheet-to-SMS gateway

A Spreadsheet to SMS service allows users to send SMS messages from Excel or a spreadsheet with a configurable message to some or all of the numbers in the document. Google Sheets (also known as Google Docs spreadsheets and Google Drive spreadsheets) allows such sending via a component called an "Add-on" accessible via the "Get Add-ons" menu within the online application. The Add-on connects directly to a mobile operator or Tier 1 aggregator's SMS Gateway via the Internet. If data is in an Excel spreadsheet, Libre Office, Open Office or Neo Office spreadsheet, Google sheets can still be used via the "File upload" feature in Google Drive, or copy and paste the data straight into a new or existing Google Sheet.

Email clients

Text messages can be sent from a personal computer to mobile devices via an SMS gateway or Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) gateway, using most popular email client programs, such as Outlook, Thunderbird, and so on. The messages must be sent in ASCII "text-only" mode. If they are sent in HTML mode, or using non-ASCII characters, they will most likely appear as nonsense on the recipient's mobile telephone.

Before the message can be sent, one must determine the domain of the mobile carrier's SMS gateway. For example, if one wanted to send a message to a mobile telephone in the United States serviced by AT&T, and the telephone number is +1 415-123-4567, the email would be addressed as

4151234567@txt.att.net

To determine the SMS gateway domain, e.g., txt.att.net, may require research - but most users know who their carrier is. Observe that the telephone number in this example for a US number is expressed as ten (10) digits, without the country code (1) and without dashes or other separator characters when composing the email address. The country code is not needed, as the 10-digit telephone number, together with the email domain, are sufficient to send the email from any location in the world.

It is useful to perform a character count before sending the message to ensure that it is within the 160-character limit. If it exceeds the limit, the SMS gateway should break the message into a set of consecutive 160-character, or shorter, messages to the mobile equipment, although the breaks may occur in the middle of words.

A message sent with an email client can be simultaneously addressed to multiple mobile telephones - just as text messages sent in the usual manner between mobile telephones can be sent to multiple recipients.

SMS gateway domains for other carriers (US-based):

Mobile carrier SMS gateway domain MMS gateway domain
Alltel[8] sms.alltelwireless.com mms.alltelwireless.com
AT&T[9] txt.att.net mms.att.net
Boost Mobile[8] sms.myboostmobile.com myboostmobile.com
Cricket Wireless mms.cricketwireless.net mms.cricketwireless.net
FirstNet txt.att.net mms.att.net
Google Fi[10] msg.fi.google.com
MetroPCS mymetropcs.com mymetropcs.com
Republic Wireless[11] text.republicwireless.com
Sprint[8] messaging.sprintpcs.com pm.sprint.com
T-Mobile[8] tmomail.net tmomail.net
U.S. Cellular[8] email.uscc.net mms.uscc.net
Verizon Wireless[12] vtext.com vzwpix.com
Virgin Mobile[8] vmobl.com vmpix.com

SMS gateway domains for Canadian carriers:

Mobile carrierSMS gateway domain
Bell Canada[13] txt.bell.ca
Bell MTS[14] text.mts.net
Fido Solutions[15] fido.ca
Freedom Mobile[16] txt.freedommobile.ca
Koodo Mobile[17] msg.telus.com
PC Mobile[18] mobiletxt.ca
Rogers Communications[19] pcs.rogers.com
SaskTel[20] sms.sasktel.com
Telus[21] msg.telus.com

SMS Gateway Features

there are some worth considering enable by sms gateway

  • sms gateway enable bulk SMS service used in Customer care and marketing campaigns
  • sms gateway features two way sms designed to receive sms messages from clients in the customer portal
  • enable to build Newsletter SMS widget
  • API integration with the most popular CRM and e-commerce platforms

See also

References
  1. "Send SMS Text Messages From AIM for Free". Tech-Recipes: A Cookbook Full of Tech Tutorials. 2003-09-28. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  2. "AIM has been discontinued as of December 15, 2017". Aol.com. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  3. ICQ Free SMS Retrieved from 09.02.2010
  4. Outlook Mobile Service Retrieved from 16.10.2018
  5. MSN Messenger is shutting down after 15 years of memories
  6. Send text messages (SMS) to some countries from Yahoo
  7. "Yahoo Messenger will be discontinued".
  8. Pot, Justin (February 3, 2016). "How to send free text messages from your PC: Send texts via your email client". Digital Trends. p. 2. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016 – via Tara Calishain.
  9. "Register for email-to-text message preferences". AT&T. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016.
  10. Esparza, Jordan (February 10, 2016). "[Launch] Send and receive emails over text message". Project Fi Help Forum. Google. Retrieved February 17, 2016. To get emails ... have them sent to your [ten‑]digit Fi number at msg.fi.google.com.... You can receive text messages as well as attachments, including images, video, and audio files up to 8MB in size.
  11. "Announcing Email to SMS for Your Phone! | Republic Blog". Republic Blog. 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  12. "Vtext.com FAQs | Verizon Wireless". www.verizonwireless.com. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  13. "What is text messaging and how do I use it?". Bell. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  14. "Text Messaging Instructions". BellMTS. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  15. "Email to Text Messaging". Fido. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  16. "What is email to text?". Freedom Mobile. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  17. "Email to Text". community.koodomobile.com. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  18. "How Do I ...?". PC Mobile. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  19. "Email to SMS - Set Up Email to Text on Your Phone". Rogers. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  20. "Sending an email message using text messaging". SaskTel. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  21. "Send a text message by email". Telus. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
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