You
CAN do it yourself.
Apart from SMS messages sent mobile-to-mobile (MO - mobile originated) there is also SMS originated from the gateway (MT - Mobile Terminated). This is used mostly by internet websites, tv shows, sms banking etc.
MT SMS' transfer protocol is SMPP and in order to communicate with SMS gateways (SMSC - SMS Centers) you will need an application which supports this protocol.
If you are not sending a large amount of SMS then you could simply use an API script to connect to SMSC's which support HTTP POST. In this case, you would send an SMS message from your asp/php/cgi script in the format:
קוד:
http://SMSC-IP-ADDRESS/script?User=Username&Pass=YourPass&To=97254xxxxxxx&From=CALLERID&Text=Hello%20World!
This would send an sms message to 972xxxxxx with a called id of "CALLERID" and a text of "hello world" ....q
MT Messages support a caller ID of either 11 Alphanumeric charachters or 14 numeric, So your messages could apper to come from "ABC" but people would not be able to reply... (if you set it to a numeric, and you had a way to accept incomming SMS to your gateway or application, then you could receive replies from your users for example to update poll statistics online, voting, etc)
If you are NOT buying your sms from an Israeli company be sure to ask for test credits before you make any purchase, as 99.99% of the providers internationally cannot reach Pelephone/ESC/Mirs even though they claim to. Their prices to Orange/Cellom are usually better than if you purchase locally.
Various helpful links:
Kannel: Open Source WAP and SMS gateway :
http://www.kannel.org
Clickatell: one of the worlds largest and most reliable SMS gateways:
www.clickatell.com
SMS Forum: a forum where SMS providers and developers discuss:
www.smsforum.com
Somewhere on sourceforge there is a project called PlaySMS which i've never gotten to test out but I do recall its features being quite interesting for someone providing sms services.
Otherwise in Israel these gateways have been around for a while:
sms2u.co.il
inforu.co.il
smsender.co.il
Otherwise, search google for "Bulk SMS" and you'll find quite a few.
If you are looking for an SMPP server contact me directly, I can recommend one from past experiance.
