SMS messaging with a mobile phone attached to the PC

If you plan to send and receive fewer than 15 000 SMS messages per day, you can use a suitable GSM device (phone or modem) attached to your computer with a phone-to-PC data cable. For information about suitable phones, check out the Supported Phones page. The GSM device has to be equipped with a SIM card that charges (preferably) low rates for SMS messages.

With this setup you can use a computer program such as Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway to send and receive SMS messages. In this case, the software uses the attached device to communicate with the GSM network. If a message is sent out by the gateway running on the computer, it is first sent to the attached GSM device. Then the GSM device transmits it to the SMS Center (SMSC) of the GSM service provider, using a wireless link (Figure 1).

How to configure a GSM phone or GSM modem connection

When a message is received, the GSM device stores the message in its memory or on the SIM card, and sends a notification to Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway. When the program receives this notification, it retrieves (reads) the message from the respective memory cell, and then deletes the message from the device to make room for the next incoming message.

The advantage of using a cellular modem is that you do not need Internet connection for SMS messaging. Sending an SMS message using a cellphone takes about 5-6 seconds. Receiving takes about the same time. Good software, such as Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway allows you to attach more than one device to your PC and to use them simultaneously to increase capacity.

The best option to connect a phone to the PC is to use a standard RS232 serial cable. USB cables, InfraRed and BlueTooth connections are not as reliable. You can read more about the connection methods on the following pages:

More information

• GPRS SMS
• Installing the standard modem
• Installation of a GSM modem
• GSM modem connectivity
• Connection types
• Basic concepts
• GSM SMS
• IP SMS
• USSD