Short Message Service / SMS Tutorial
SMS (Short Message Service) has achieved huge success in the wireless world. Billions of SMS messages are sent every day. SMS is now a major revenue generator for wireless carriers. A lot of innovative applications are now built on top of the SMS technology and more are being developed.
This SMS tutorial provides information about SMS application development. It begins with an introduction of mobile messaging technologies like SMS, concatenated SMS and EMS. You will learn what SMS is, what causes SMS messaging to be so popular worldwide, what applications can be developed with the SMS technology, what SMS center and SMS gateway are, and some other basic concepts of SMS messaging.
After that, we will discuss in detail various ways to send and receive SMS messages from a computer, the advantages and disadvantages of each way, what SMS service providers are, the hardware (e.g. GSM / GPRS modem) and software (e.g. HyperTerminal) required to send and receive SMS messages from a computer, and where to find some free SMS messaging libraries and tools.
Note to non-developers:
This SMS tutorial contains technical information that non-developers may not interested in. If you are an ordinary user who do not want to develop SMS software or applications but just want to send and receive SMS messages from a PC, you may want to go directly to our quick guide for non-developers.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction to SMS Messaging
1.1. What is SMS (Short Message Service)?
1.2. Concatenated SMS Messages / Long SMS Messages
1.3. EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service)
2. What Makes SMS Messaging So Successful Worldwide?
2.1. SMS Messages can be Sent and Read at Any Time
2.2. SMS Messages can be Sent to an Offline Mobile Phone
2.3. SMS Messaging is Less Disturbing While You can Still Stay in Touch
2.5. SMS is a Suitable Technology for Wireless Applications to Build on
3. Example Applications of SMS Messaging
3.1. Person-to-Person Text Messaging
3.4.1. Email, Fax and Voice Message Notifications
3.4.2. E-commerce and Credit Card Transaction Alerts
3.4.4. Remote System Monitoring
3.5. Two-way Interactive Text Messaging Applications
4. What is an SMS Center / SMSC?
5. Basic Concepts of SMS Technology
5.1. Validity Period of an SMS Message
5.3. Message Submission Reports
6. Intra-operator SMS Messages
6.1. Transmission Process of Intra-operator SMS Messages
7. Inter-operator SMS Messages
7.1. Transmission Process of Inter-operator SMS Messages
9.1. Open Source and Free SMS Gateway Software
10. How to Send SMS Messages from a Computer / PC?
10.1. The 1st Way: Sending SMS Messages from a Computer Using a Mobile Phone or GSM/GPRS Modem
10.2.1. Difficulties in Getting a Direct Connection to the SMSC or SMS Gateway of a Wireless Carrier