i will have the following set up:
people will be sending text messages to a server, and that server will be forwarding the messages to other phone numbers
i am not sure what kind of framework i should use.
should i develop an SMS gateway and use AT commands?
should i just try to somehow use AIM or GCHAT to capture and send SMS messages?
would there be a different more suitable configuration?
are there already developed frameworks that are free which i can use? for example i know that i can send an SMS to almost anyone through gchat or aim by sending a message to "+" and the number of the person. is this scalable and can i use it for my own benefit?
any sms developers out there?
I used to use this website: www.aspsms.com.
It provides a lot of libraries in different languages, the prices are affordable (I think) and they offer some kind of "2 ways service".
are there already developed frameworks that are free which i can use?
Free, that would surprise me.
You could get a short code from an aggregator like www.openmarket.com
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I want to know is it possible to send SMS text from my website to GSM modem in my local mechine using AT Command when my webserver and my computer basically two different mechines? I hope someone can give me some explaination of best practice to start sending SMS from a website, im new to this topic. Thanks
This answer is slightly off topic as you're asking specifically how to use your modem. But I've been looking into this recently and would suggest your best option is to go with one of the providers out there who help with this sort of thing (most are pay for services I'm afraid).
I'm using Twilio if that helps. They have a rich API and members of their team do answer questions on SO.
I've found Twilio and Tropo so far as services to aid SMS and Voice apps.
Are there others?
I am interested mostly in real-time speech recognition (i.e. the user can speak things and the system can respond based on that).
Also, if anyone knows what the speech recognition quality is like, it'd help!
For reliable SMS delivery we tested Tropo and Twilio and Twilio won hands down... Better API imo (including callbacks that make things like knowing how long a call lasted trivially easy), they manage the sending rate so you don't have to (Tropo discards SMS messages if you send too fast).
On the other hand, Tropo has speech recognition that works very well (although not as well on real-world cell calls in less than silent environments) and has integrated Twitter support.
Both offer excellent support. Tropo is free for development, but Twilio is so inexpensive that's probably a non issue.
My more detailed writeup is at http://pardner.com/2011/04/tropo-not-ready-for-prime-time-went-with-twilio/
(Since the blog was written I've learned Tropo fixed Twitter support, so that's actually a very cool feature in favor of Tropo. Turns out you can mix n match, our app uses BOTH.)
For speech recognition and an API-based telephony service, Tropo's about the only option. If you drop the speech reco requirement CloudVox (hosted asterisk apps) could be a possibility. Or you could install Asterisk yourself and use something like Adhearsion to develop your apps.
If you want to expand your scope beyond cloud telephony APIs, then you could take a look at VoiceXML, a W3C standard for building telephony apps. VoiceXML hosts generally support speech recognition. A search for "VoiceXML Hosting" will turn up several thousand options.
In the interest of disclosure, I'm one of the guys behind Tropo and we're a product from Voxeo, the largest VoiceXML host.
I am reevaluating vendors that provide Voice, SMS, and Email broadcast services. It seems that most of the more reputable names out there (Twilio, Plivo, TelAPI) only offer SMS and Voice capabilities, not Email. SimplyCast is one of the few vendors that seem to provide all three.
Any recommendations on vendors that provide Email/Voice/SMS and the following capabilities through an API?
Submitting and reporting on broadcasts
Create Email broadcasts with attachments
Email templates for customized messages
Submit voice recordings (mp3 preferred) for voice broadcasts
SMS broadcast creation
Reliable uptime and support
I want to develop an application that works by receiving text messages from users to gather data. I have no clue where to begin and what to begin with. I can code in Python, C++, PHP and can do Java also.
I was wondering if there can be a personal development setup or framework on which I can develop such application. Releasing it is a different story but I do not have any idea about what setup is needed to develop this application.
Also, how much would this setup cost? Are there open-source or any other cheap alternatives?
There are a lot of services out there that let you receive SMS via a web request. The one I work for Twilio will send you a simple POST request to a URL of your choice containing To, From and Body whenever you receive an incoming message. You can read more about how it works here.
This service offers an api for receiving text messages. You can use the shared number and send it to your server with a keyword or you can pay a monthy fee to have your own dedicated number. So there would be a good place to start.
Do all cell companies have open APIs that allow you to send SMS messages like Twitter does?
Do you have to pay to do this?
Many (most?) mobile companies have email gateways allowing you to send an SMS. For AT&T I believe it's phonenumber#text.att.net, but each provider will have a different address.
This wikipedia article summaries it pretty well. Some cell companies have easy formats. For example, Verizon uses number#vtext.com.
It depends what country you're in.
In the UK to pay to send - receiving is free.
Take a look at messagepub. They provide an easy API so that you can send SMS messages from your application.
If you want a reliable solution then yes you will have to pay for it, there are some limited free versions.
We used Clickatell with an earlier project http://www.clickatell.com/developers.php
It gets a bit more complicated. E-mail gateways may work for some carriers, but not others. As noted, it's based on your cell carrier, what we can the aggregator, and possibly a third-party "intercarrier". However, it also depends on volume. If you're just sending the occasional SMS via e-mail, it certainly can work, but, it's occasional in use, and you don't get the confirmations that your phone normally sees. For volume transfers of messages, you typically need to talk to your carrier about access to their "SMSC gateway". The SMSC gateway speaks an internet protocol (SMPP) to transfer messages from your app, into the carrier clouds. It it designed for volume, and you get response codes for your messages.
What is the easiest way to set up an SMS alerting system so that I will receive notification if my server doesn't respond or a GET query doesn't return correct content?
You can completely outsource the monitoring and alerting, for example by subscribing to Pingdom. The most basic Pingdom plan will monitor up to 5 services (including using HTTP GETs with optional content pattern matching) and send an SMS after a configurable amount of downtime.
If you want to roll your own solution, the first thing to get right is the monitoring software. Many, many third party solutions exist for this, from the free to the outrageously expensive. Of course, rolling your own "try a GET and do something if it doesn't work" script is always an option, but as with all software, feature creep may mean that you're just re-implementing existing solutions soon...
For the SMS notification, using an e-mail-to-SMS gateway might work for you, if you're in a territory well-served by such services. Most US providers, for example, provide free gateways, whereas in Europe they tend to be run by third parties and pay-only. As already suggested, Google is your friend here. Also, your monitoring tool may support sending notifications directly using a cellphone/GSM modem attached to the monitoring server.
Often I've found that what you need is a SMS modem attached directly to your monitoring server. What if the problem is the network connection?
What you want is an SMS gateway. There are surely some service providers local to you. Unfortunately, they are a bit hard to find. Try asking Google...
You can get a service like http://www.serviceuptime.com/ and the send an email to your-number#a-domain-your-provider-gives They usually have the exact domains for the providers on their respective websites but you could just try #t-mobile.com if your provider is t-mobile for example.
If you want to write your own tool should be pretty straightforward - send GET request if you dont get the expected response send email. You should run it from 2 different locations from 2 different ISPs tho because if there are routing problems and the request doesnt go through you'll get smsed