I work in a non-profit organization and we are looking at creating a two way communication platform to communicate with people. Currently we use a third party Bulk SMS gateway for our Outgoing SMS messages.
For the incoming messages - I want to acquire a long code number and a GSM modem. I have outlined some questions here under. Can someone suggest what model should i go for or if what I want isnt feasible.
GSM, EDGE, GPRS - Does these apply to SMS messages? Does Higher bandwidth connectivity mean the device can receive more text messages?
Any code that reads the incoming SMS - Does it read it off the memory or SIM? Is there a way to stop writing the message to the SIM? Is there any benefit?
On a regular day (not christmas or anything), how many messages can be READ off the device in a minute? What happens if 1000 people send out a SMS message to my number at A point in time or within a minute?
Once the message is read, I want to forward the message over HTTP to a web location. Is the “Internet Plug-Ins for Open AT” meant for this? How would I go about doing this?
For high volume SMSing, it is better to have a direct link to a mobile service provider message centre (i.e. via the web over an SMPP link). In this way you can have an application running on a server to send and receive the messages. Messages are also noramlly cheaper. The downside is you have to pay for the SMPP service, which can be quite pricey. I’d suggest talking to a mobile service provider, and not trying to bash something together using a GSM modem.
Yes - that’s what a “Bulk SMS” provider gives you!
The ones I’ve looked at, you just pay “per message” - and it’s still significantly cheaper than SMS on a mobile tarrif.
Probably best to talk to a Bulk SMS provider; they do absolutely huge volumes so they’ll almost certainly get a better deal than you can get direct with the network…
