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NowSMS Support Forums ⬆ NowSMS Support - SMS Issues ⬆ Archive through December 09, 2003 ⬆ |
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| Author | Message | |||
| Phil Koumas Unregistered guest |
Excellent board and support btw but i'm just wondering why I should choose to run my own SMS Gateway which is the service I believe NowSMS supplies. I currently run a few Internet Dating sites which allows members to buy SMS credits using a Credit card. SMS is sent via the site to the members mobile phone. I use a third party SMS Gateway and there is no setup fee, no annual fee and i'm charged 8.5p per text. To receive SMS I will be using a shared number and will pay around £15 a month. If I was to use NowSMS I believe I will incur the following charges. -the software(£?) -another rented phone line from BT(£15 a month) plus the cost of each text message -other costs?? I suppose the question is how will my business save money by using NowSMS? Can I use NowSMS for the following a.)Allowing connection to Foreign SMSCs so the price per txt messages is reduced(down to a penny a txt maybe??) b.)My own dedicated number for receiving text messages without incurring extra charges(listed above) c.)The name of my company on each txt msg sent d.)Cheaper solutions to Premium Txt messaging and ringtones sales Apologises for this long winded post however i'm pretty new to this sms stuff and would like to get clued up pretty sharpish. Many thanks. Phil | |||
| Phil Koumas Unregistered guest |
Ok after reading more info about NowSMS I am able to asked more probing questions. The service requires the use of a GSM modem. Since this modem will require a sim card I assume this would mean that if my sms server/gateway was hosted in the uk I would have to pay UK prices per text(currently 10p). However if I hosted my server in another country where prices per text were much cheaper I could then save on prices per text. Does any1 have any experiences of hosting an NowSms gateway outside the UK to benefit from lower SMS prices per text? Again Many Thanks | |||
| Phil Koumas Unregistered guest |
Ok hands up... after reading more posts and gettin more clued up i've realised my original questions were naieve and assumptions were wrong(the bt phone line rental being a classic!!!) I'm now aware the advantages of using the nowsms software is with receiving messages as opposed to sending them. Heres my understanding of how nowsms can help receive txt messages. Each GSM modem comes with a sim card which has a unique mobile number. If a user sends a text message to this number it is processed via the software which can issue a callback passing the information to a server side script if desired. Pretty cool. So would I right in assuming that the only costs for receiving messages is the price of a GSM modem(as opposed to a phone) and the price of the nowsms software? Another question which I haven't found the answer to (yet!!) is regarding SMS Premium rate services. Can nowsms help reduce the costs of these services or is this something solely controlled by the service providers? Lets say for example I wanted to charge users say £1 if they send a text to a specific number to receive a ringtone. | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support Board Administrator Username: Bryce Post Number: 920 Registered: 10-2002 |
Hi Phil, NowSMS supports a variety of SMS connectivity protocols, so in addition to GSM modems, we also support SMS connectivity via the SMPP, UCP/EMI and CIMD2 protocols (in addition to HTTP based interfaces). A lot of the industrial strength SMS services use one of the protocols designed especially for SMS, instead of using an HTTP based interface. NowSMS also supports the ability to simultaneously connect to multiple service providers, so that you can have different routings defined for different messages that you send out (either based upon destination phone number, or you might route some messages out through a premium service). NowSMS also performs formatting of a number of different message types ... has hooks for simplifiying the process of receiving messages ... at least these are some of the things that occur to me off the top of my head. So now, let me try to digest your messages. I do believe that a GSM modem is a good solution for processing received messages. Having control over the phone number that you are using for receiving messages can avoid getting you trapped into using any one particular service provider. (One thing I've learned is that as you develop an SMS service offering, situations will periodically change, and you may have a need or reason to change primary SMS providers.) Every GSM phone has a SIM card in it. The SIM card actually holds your identity and subscription information on the GSM network ... and can be moved from one phone to another. So, in order to operate a GSM modem needs to have a SIM card and that card needs to have an active account with a mobile operator.
That, and any subscription charges for the account with the mobile operator. A lot of people use prepay accounts here when they are only receiving messages. Since they are not actually sending any messages out through the phone/modem, or making any calls ... and there are no charges to receive SMS messages (except in the USA), this can be a pretty good option. Another question which I haven't found the answer to (yet!!) is regarding SMS Premium rate services.
The costs are strictly controlled by the service providers. Going direct to the operators is usually the best deal for extreme high volumes only (high setup fees for creating the account, but generally higher revenue share). Others are better off going through independent SMS providers that act as aggregators (they buy in bulk from the operator), and small to medium to medium-large can usually get a better deal (lower setup fee) than going with an operator directly. NowSMS can help in connecting to SMS providers that use one of the other SMS connectivity protocols that I mentioned earlier. Also, some people like to use NowSMS for managing their connections to different providers or a mix of premium/non-premium traffic. They submit their messages into NowSMS and let NowSMS manage the connections to the service provider(s). | |||
