[asterisk-biz] SMS gateway API.

Fri Aug 7 20:25:03 CDT 2009

Hi Alan,

Thanks a lot for the suggestion.

I think the main problem I face here is the cost.  Even at .02 and
assuming 12 messages/minute (and it could be higher), that's $345/day if
the messages are continuously sent at a uniform distribution.  And it
could be easily twice that.

But, I'm guessing this is the best one is going to do with SMS.  I don't
think it's the right technology choice for this endeavour for a variety of
reasons.  However, that is the question I've come up against.

Thanks,

> What you need is a shortcode ($1000/mo) to receive the text messages on.
> Mblox will provide you with a cost effective service and APIs to receive
> all of those messages on. Largeish investment up front ($3000 or so) but
> incoming SMS (MT) costs fairly low ($0.02-0.03c per message) on large
> volume.
>
> Failing that you use a 3rd party service: Group2call.com does it, so does
> extexting.com (confession: I own Group2call.com). You rent a keyword on a
> public shortcode. Low cost setup ($25-30/mo) and you get the APIs.
> Downside is you pay more per incoming text ($0.05) and delayed incoming
> SMS while it's routed through the 3rd party servers (but still fairly
> instantaneous).
>
> Not sure if that is what you are wanting or not.
>
> Alan.
>
>
> Alan
>
>
> --- On Fri, 8/7/09, Alex Balashov <abalashov at evaristesys.com> wrote:
>
> From: Alex Balashov <abalashov at evaristesys.com>
> Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] SMS gateway API.
> To: "Alex Balashov" <abalashov at evaristesys.com>
> Cc: asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com
> Date: Friday, August 7, 2009, 9:06 PM
>
>
> Let me add something else here:
>
> Obviously, there are various ways to get this data off of a cell device
> that rely on use of a network rather than SMS, and can be bridged straight
> into IP.  That would be far more straightforward, cheaper and more
> sensible.
>
> However, that defeats one of the specific problems I'm trying to solve
> here, which is that the operating area has very, very spotty
> 3G/EDGE/EVDO/etc. coverage, but always has basic digital coverage.
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> Sorry if this is a little off-topic, but I thought I would tap the
>> enormous collective wealth of knowledge here.
>>
>> I come from the fixed-line world, so I don't know terribly much about
>> SMS
>> or mobile anything.
>>
>> I have a situation where I need an endpoint to receive a fairly large
>> amount of SMS messages in something close to real-time and then be able
>> to
>> automatically do something with them as part of a backoffice process,
>> and
>> need to set up something rather quickly.
>>
>> For example, an SMS message comes into some sort of device or service,
>> and
>> this triggers a RESTful HTTP call (or SOAP, or whatever) to some agent
>> that does something with that data.
>>
>> Speed is of the essence;  this rules out most SMS-to-email gateways
>> because it usually takes at least several minutes to receive the e-mail.
>> In this case, that won't work; the delay is just too long.
>>
>> Likewise, vertically integrated SMS gateway services that provide some
>> sort of interactive online "chat" window with an interface into an SMS
>> conversation won't do.  This needs to be development-friendly;  I need
>> to
>> be able to write some code to do something with the contents of that
>> message post haste.  The other thing is, vendors providing those
>> products
>> and services in this category charge a fair bit per text message, which
>> isn't going to fly in this case because there may be a dozen text
>> messages
>> per minute or more, occasionally.  Something flat-rate would be
>> desirable,
>> even if it's expensive (say, a few hundred dollars a month).
>>
>> Lastly, I don't know if it's possible to get any kind of access circuit
>> in
>> North America over which SMS messages can be received, but even if it
>> were, that's not really an option in this case due to time constraints.
>> Likewise, setting up a GSM or CDMA receiver device registered on a cell
>> network - legitimately or otherwise - is out too, for similar reasons.
>>
>> What it really comes down to is that I need a fast SMS data relay
>> service
>> that handle a relatively high-volume at relatively little expense, and
>> one
>> which can provide that data via some sort of HTTP or XML-RPC or SOAP
>> type
>> API callback so that the data can be plumbed to an agent on my side for
>> further processing.
>>
>> I have no idea if something like this exists, or if that's tantamount to
>> a
>> request for magic.  That's why I'm inquiring.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> --
>> Alex Balashov
>> Evariste Systems
>> Web    : http://www.evaristesys.com/
>> Tel    : (+1) (678) 954-0670
>> Direct : (+1) (678) 954-0671
>> Mobile : (+1) (678) 237-1775
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Alex Balashov
> Evariste Systems
> Web    : http://www.evaristesys.com/
> Tel    : (+1) (678) 954-0670
> Direct : (+1) (678) 954-0671
> Mobile : (+1) (678) 237-1775
>
>
>
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-- 
Alex Balashov
Evariste Systems
Web    : http://www.evaristesys.com/
Tel    : (+1) (678) 954-0670
Direct : (+1) (678) 954-0671
Mobile : (+1) (678) 237-1775