How SMS sites work?

[z3r0aCc3Ss]

There are many website which offer free/paid SMS service all over the world. I am just curious how these sites work.
I mean to say, how they operate, what resources do they need, what political support they require, and most importantly, to send an SMS to any number, what do they need?
Also, the number from which we receive SMS, its not traceable. How's that possible?
Besides a server, crew (coders, developers, distributors, etc.), and money what do they need to function?

[bad_brain]

well, most (all?) work with ad placement and data harvesting, so you will still have to provide your real number in many cases. if not they either buy huge contingents of SMS from providers (so a single SMS cost them just 0.01 cent for example), or they are even directly owned by providers.
I have never seen a SMS service that provides international services, only national.

[computathug]

Here is a site that ya can send international texts from

http://www.freesmsfrog.co.uk/

[z3r0aCc3Ss]

Code: Select all

http://www.smsglobal.com/global/en/

Here's a site. You can send SMS's globally. Its paid site though. Still, you can try it for free.

[bad_brain]

hm, ok, thuggy's link seems to be a really free one. but the one z3r0aCc3Ss linked is one of those "give us all your data and then you'll get 25 for free" one.
but on both sites they will definitely store the recipient phone numbers, most likely they will also process the text message content in order to find keywords for custom spam messages. years ago I have used such free txt message services here, and I got spammed a lot afterwards.

[z3r0aCc3Ss]

Still, nobody has answered my question.
What I meant is, what if I want to send an SMS to a number which may be anywhere in the world. For that, what I really need to do? What is the gateway? What services you require? What technology you need? What network you require to send SMS?
Pls try to answer...

[computathug]

Sorry looks like a little misunderstanding

Is this what you are looking for ?

http://www.developershome.com/sms/sms_t ... smsGateway

As well as information on how it works you can also try the opensource sms service too.

9.1. Open Source and Free SMS Gateway Software

As you can see in the above sections, an SMS gateway has a lot of responsibilities in an SMS messaging system. So, SMS gateway software can be very complex and complex software is usually expensive. Fortunately, there are open source SMS gateway software packages that can be downloaded free of charge over the web. One high-quality free SMS gateway software package is Kannel, which is written in the C programming language. Kannel can handle connections to SMSCs, mobile phones and GSM/GPRS modems. It has an HTTP / HTTPS interface for the sending and receiving of SMS messages. More information about Kannel can be found on its web site http://www.kannel.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

[Lundis]

Hook up a phone to your computer and you should be able to send messages from your computer. You'll need some driver software of course, and it might not work for all phones. My dad built a greenhouse heat control system with remote control via SMS using an old Nokia phone as receiver.

In short, you need:
* A phone (or equivalent mobile device) which lets you send SMS from a data connection to your computer (serial, USB, whatever)
* An active subscription for your phone
* Drivers to control the phone

You could hook up loads of phones or use some custom-built SIM-card holder (with antennas).

Now there are also more advanced options, but essentially they work in the same way.