This is a general question regarding SMS.

SMS are text messages that are sent between cell phones. Where I live there are 4 major cellphone providers. Text messages can be sent from one provider to another.

How does one provider know to whom the phone number belongs(which company)?
How does the message get from one company to the other?

For the second question I was told that a protocol called SMPP is used to send the messages around. So my question is this, are the SMPP servers opened or closed? Does a company have to have an agreement with the other company to send the messages back and forth, or are all the servers open to everyone?

I tried googling it, and I did not find information that answered my questions.

If anyone knows anything about this, I would appreciate it.

THanks,
David

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I tried googling it, and I did not find information that answered my questions.

Learn to use Google Boolean & Advanced Search HERE and HERE

Using the above techniques, you would easily have found this site.

i_XpUser

How does one provider know to whom the phone number belongs(which company)?
This is done through the first digits of the number (the prefix). If, as of recent times, the number has been ported to another network operator, the original network operator sends a message back to the sender telling them which network it can be found on.

How does the message get from one company to the other?
There are many different protocols, but the most popular is SMPP (SHort Message Peer-to-Peer).

Are the SMPP servers opened or closed? Does a company have to have an agreement with the other company to send the messages back and forth, or are all the servers open to everyone?
Not sure what you mean by 'open or closed', but you would defnitely need to establish a relationship with the MNO to send sms through them. TO do this, you usually need to have a decent level of volume being sent for them to take interest in the relationship and this is one of the reasons that gateways come into it.

Hope that these answer your questions.

If you would like to send sms or need a bulk sms gateway let me know - that's what we do!

I tried googling it, and I did not find information that answered my questions.
Learn to use Google Boolean & Advanced Search HERE and HERE

Using the above techniques, you would easily have found this site.

i_XpUser

I was talking Simple Messaging Service with cell phones, not systems management server. :P

David

Spyware, Viruses, Blue Screens, Price. Many great reasons to switch to Linux :D

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Not sure what you mean by 'open or closed', but you would defnitely need to establish a relationship with the MNO to send sms through them. TO do this, you usually need to have a decent level of volume being sent for them to take interest in the relationship and this is one of the reasons that gateways come into it.

This is what I was looking for. My trouble is the volume of messages is going to be a few thousand messages max. I thought about buying a PrePaid cellular phone and connecting it to my app. but that would mean I would have to pull the messages from the device and that would be too slow.

Has anyone written a software that recieves and sends SMS messages? I hope someone can share there experiences with me.

Thanks,

David

Spyware, Viruses, Blue Screens, Price. Many great reasons to switch to Linux :D

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David,

I stand corrected with the wrong link. In any event I used Google to line up a handful of hits for you HERE I suggest you check them out. If no joy, please post back.

i_XpUser

Hi David.

With regards to opening and closing - i now see your point.

You are indeed right that connecting a device or a sim card to a server would be too slow; the maximum throughput this way is 1 sms per few seconds.

In SMPP, servers bind with each other and the connection stays open. Either the sender is sending sms or is sending a message saying "i'm still here".

If you want to send huge amounts of messages, then you should go in the direction of SMPP - for this you should contact Martin Wooley at the Mobile Landscape (http://www.mobilelandscape.co.uk/) - he might be able to advise (for free) and help (for a fee).

All you need to send sms from a pc is a good sms api.