How to send SMS

SMS as a way of communication has not lost its relevance despite the active development of smartphones - on the contrary, there is simply no more convenient way of communication in many situations. In addition, it is a powerful marketing tool. How SMS sending works, how SMS distribution works, and how to send an SMS from your computer - we'll talk in this article.

SMSC (SMS Center)

SMSC is a combination of hardware and software responsible for transmitting, protecting and storing the history of sending short messages. The main task of SMSC is to send SMS messages and control the process. If the recipient is unavailable (for example, his mobile is turned off), the SMSC will save the message and send it when the recipient is available.
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As a rule, SMSC includes:

SMS server
Server application or specialized software that provides two-way communication of the SMS module and directly of the communication device (mobile phone). Also, SMS server is designed to process and store messages. An example of an SMS server could be ePochta SMS, Alpha SMS, Prostor, TurboSMS and others.

SMS gateway
Communicates SMS-server with other servers and facilitates SMS traffic between servers and mobile subscribers. There is, for example, Web2SMS, SMS2Email, SMS2Skype, etc. SMS centers use different network protocols for data transmission. If the protocols used are not the same, the two SMS centers can “not understand” each other. Then the SMS gateway acts as a kind of intermediary between them, translating the signals of one network protocol into understandable ones.

The most common are SMPP, HTTP / HTTPS protocols that support many SMS services and the ePochta SMS service.

SMPP (Short message peer-to-peer protocol - short message peer-to-peer)

SMPP protocol is a protocol for exchanging SMS messages between peer SMS centers. Benefits:

• binary SMPP guarantees a permanent connection mode;
• based on paired “request-response” data blocks;
• allows you to send large volumes of text messages;
• reliable, safe and easy to use;
• reporting the results of sending messages;
• two-way messaging - both ending (MT) and origin (MO) in SMS is supported.
• HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol - Hypertext Transfer Protocol)
• HTTP protocol is a text-based data transfer protocol that supports client-server relationships and operates in the usual request-response manner. Benefits:
• protocol extensibility (for example, the HTTPS protocol supports encryption);
• the ability to specify the way the message is encoded
• the ability to exchange binary data;
• ease of implementation;
• prevalence.

Based on the above, the SMSC should have high reliability, capacity (information) and bandwidth. In addition, the system should be easily scalable to accommodate the growing demand for SMS in the network.

SMS sending is easy!

Due to the presence of such network structures to support mass mailing, such as SMSC and SMS services, sending messages occurs directly from a personal computer connected to the Internet.
Working with the SMS-service occurs by registering and creating a personal account within the service.

Personal account - your mini SMS center with data on SMS-mailing. It provides the ability to download, save, edit messages and a mailing list, receive reports, schedule a newsletter (by date and time), get acquainted with the most frequent questions or contact technical support, etc. When using a personal account, the mailing process is simplified to a minimum:

1. create a list of recipients (download from a computer, create an address book);
2. enter the text of the message (make sure that you send not unique spam, but unique messages);
3. define sending settings (any necessary functions are selected before sending);
4. send a message to customers;
5. receive reports on the dispatch process (if the function was previously set).

SMS services can also provide additional features, for example, sending email messages to phones - email2sms, sending SMS through a Windows program, integrating SMS mailings into your own web projects (Atomic SMS).

When working with a ready-made SMS center or creating your own, you should remember the confidentiality of information and anti-spam policy , which should become the main principles of activity.

Write sms! :)