- Product Manual
- Introduction
- Installation Guide
- User Guide
- Developers Guide
- Examples and Solutions
- Appendix
- SMS FAQ
- 1.1 SMS basics
- 1.2 Why is SMS so successful?
- 1.3 Example applications of SMS messaging
- 1.4 SMS number formats
- 1.5 Mobile message types
- 1.6 SMSC
- 1.7 SMS Gateway
- 1.8 Two way SMS systems
- 2.1 Prerequisites
- 2.2 Network requirements
- 2.3 General Information
- 2.4 Message routing
- 2.5 Message types
- 2.6 Delivery reports
- 3.1 GSM modem
- 3.2 SMPP
- 3.3 CIMD2
- 3.4 UCP/EMI
- 3.5 HTTP
- 3.6 SMTP
- 4.1 API
- 4.2 SQL to SMS
- 4.3 HTTP to SMS
- 4.4 E-mail to SMS
- 4.5 Autoreply database
- 5.1 Performance
- 5.2 Logging
- 5.3 Errors
- 5.4 Reporting
- 6.1 Trial version
- 6.2 Licensing
- Feature list
- Commercial Information
- Search
Ozeki brings you outstanding
SMS Gateway technology. Use our SMS Server products on Windows,Linux, or Android
C# SMS API
Developers can use our C# SMS API to send SMS from C#.Net. The C# SMS API comes with full source code
PHP SMS API
The ozeki PHP SMS gateway software can be used to send SMS from PHP and to receive SMS usig PHP on your website
SMPP SMS Gateway
SMS service providers use our SMPP gateway solution, that offers a high performance SMPP server and SMPP client gateway with amazing routing capabilities
SMS Gateway
What is an SMS Gateway?
It is a software that makes it possible to send and receive SMS messages to and from the mobile network.An SMS gateway is a software that is installed to a corporate computer and
gives access to an SMSCs. This software offers various interfaces for the
corporate office users, IT systems and corporate applications to send and
receive SMS messages automatically or manually.
For example Ozeki NG SMS Gateway is an SMS Gateway application.
How does an SMS gateway communicate with the mobile network?
An SMS gateway offers interconnection in several ways. It can connect to the mobile network over the Internet or directly through a wireless modem.
SMS messaging in the mobile network are handled by
Short Message Service Centers
(SMSCs). These SMSCs communicate with mobile phones through
the standard GSM protocol.
To connect an SMS Gateway
to an SMSC you can use an SMS modem. An SMS modem is a standard
mobile phone or a simplified mobile phone, that is called
a GSM/GPRS modem.
This mobile phone can
be attach to the computer with a phone to pc data cable and it
can be used to send and receive SMS messages. The advantage of this
connection, that it is very easy to setup and it works on all mobile
networks. The drawback is that the number of messages you can send
through a wireless link is limited. On a standard GSM link,
approximately 10 SMS messages can be sent per minute.
Another option is to connect an
SMS gateway to an SMSC through the Internet or
a private network connection (e.g.: VPN, leased line, etc). Through
this connection you can send your messages to the SMSC over the Internet
Protocol (IP). The problem with this approach is that SMSCs are
developed by different companies and they use their own communication
protocol to accept IP SMS connections. For example, Nokia SMSCs
can accept IP SMS connections through a protocol called
CIMD2.
CMG, another SMSC vendor has implemented an SMSC protocol called
UCP/EMI,
yet another Logice is using SMPP.
The best SMS gateway implements all major
protocols and gives a hand to deal with this problem.
To setup an IP SMS connection to an SMSC, you need to connect a mobile network
operator or an independent SMS service provider. They will tell you which
protocol do they support and will give you an IP address (or hostname), a
port number a username and a password. You can use this information when you
setup the IP SMS service provider connection in your SMS Gateway.
The advantage to IP SMS Connections is that they are fast, they often allow
you to send several messages per second. The disadvantage is that it is
often hard to sign an agreement with mobile network operators and in general
due to administration it takes a long time to setup these connection.
Who are using SMS Gateways?
Mobile network operators, SMS content providers, SMS aggregators, Corporate users and Software developers
Mobile network operators use SMS gateways to interconnect SMSCs with
each other to interchange traffic. In this context an SMS gateway acts as a
protocol translator for example it translates SMPP into UCP/EMI.
SMS content providers use their own SMS gateway to be able to provide
SMS query based services and SMS push services. They use various API's, such as
an HTTP SMS API,
SQL to SMS API,
PHP SMS API to
create custom logic to serve content.
SMS aggregators are often called independent SMS Service providers,
are providing IP SMS service to their clients. They connect to the one or
more mobile networks and they resell SMS messages. These companies are using the
built in SMPP server
of the SMS gateway, they are interested
in billing support and
inbound SMS routing and
outbound SMS routing.
Corporate users use an SMS gateway mainly for SMS notifications and
alerting. A common application in this segment is
e-mail to SMS notifications.
Software developers and solution providers use an SMS gateway to save
time and software complexity. The developer of an SMS text messaging application
often does not want to waste time on implementing several IP SMS protocols, and
does not want to work on implementing the complex SMS encoding standards. These
developers prefer to use an API, such as the
C# SMS API,
ASP SMS API,
Delphi SMS API or
a simple SMS gateway configuration, such a
text file to SMS gateway
configuration, or an SQL to SMS
gateway configuration to send and receive SMS messages. This way they can
concentrate on application logic, and can make their work more efficient.
What other functionalities are provided by an SMS gateway?
Store and forward option, SMS routing and cost control.
An SMS gateway is responsible for handling capacity differences between the
input and output channels. For example if an SMS application wants to send
10000 SMS messages at once, it will store these messages in a queue and will
send them as capacity on the IP SMS service provider connection or GSM modem
connection becomes available. This
functionality is called store and forward functionality.
SMS routing is also built into most SMS Gateway's to make sure that
incoming messages
and outgoing messages end up where
they should. SMS routing is based on message source
and matching patterns, that determine the destination for a message. For example
messages containing a certain keyword can be routed to a certain application.
Cost control makes it possible to prevent certain users of the SMS gateway to
send too many messages and these feature provide support for billing purposes.
Cost control in SMS Gateways is handled by built in
SMS traffic logging
and
SMS accounting systems.
Do I have to pay for SMS if I have my own SMS Gateway?
Yes.
If you connect your SMS Gateway to the mobile network through a GSM or GPRS
modem, you need a SIM card. The SIM card can be purchased from a mobile network
operator. The SIM card will have an associated price plan, that will determine
the cost of each SMS message.
If you connect your SMS Gateway to the mobile network, through an IP SMS
connection, you will have to pay for each SMS message to the mobile network
operator or IP SMS service provider, who has given you access (IP address, username, password) to the network.
There is no way to get around this, and send SMS free of charge. (After all if
you think about it, somebody has to operate the network and it is not free to
operate the network.)
More information
- SMS basics
- Why is SMS so successful?
- Example applications of SMS messaging
- SMS number formats
- SMS and MMS message types
- Short Message Service Center (SMSC)
- Two way SMS system - Ozeki NG
- Hardware and software requirements
- 2.2 Network requirements
- Ozeki SMS Gateway - General information about the software
- Routing
- Message types
- Delivery reports
- GSM modem
- SMPP
- CIMD2
- UCP/EMI
- HTTP
- SMTP
- API
- SQL to SMS
- HTTP to SMS gateway
- E-mail to SMS and SMS to E-mail forwarding
- Autoreply database
- Performance and scalability
- Logging
- Problem resolution
- Cost control and usage statistics
- Trial version of the SMS Gateway
- Commercial questions
Most popular
If you are insterested in how to setup automated SMS notifications, you should apply one of the following configurations:
SMS through HTTP requests
SMS from E-mail
SMS from the command line
SMS using txt files
If you are a software developer you can proceed to adding SMS functionality to your source code by clicking on one of the following links:
PHP SMS example
C# SMS example
ASP SMS example
SQL SMS example
Delphi SMS example
If you would like to send and receive SMS messages from MS Office applications, please check out the following links:
Send SMS from MS Excel
Send SMS from MS Outlook
Check out Ozeki SMS Client