Free SMS Service: January 2008

Basic Concepts of SMS Technology - Tutorial(5)

In the following sections, we will introduce to you some basic concepts of the SMS technology.

Validity Period of an SMS Message

An SMS message is stored temporarily in the SMS center if the recipient mobile phone is offline. It is possible to specify the period after which the SMS message will be deleted from the SMS center so that the SMS message will not be forwarded to the recipient mobile phone when it becomes online. This period is called the validity period.

Here is an example that illustrates how validity period can be used. Suppose you find a very interesting program that is showing on TV now. You think your friend may want to watch it. So, you send a text message to tell your friend about the TV program. Let's say the TV program lasts for an hour. Your SMS text message will not be useful to your friend if his mobile phone is not available before the program finishes. In this situation, you may want to send a text message with a validity period of one hour to your friend. The wireless carrier will not deliver the SMS text message to your friend if his mobile phone is not available before the validity period ends.

A mobile phone should have a menu option that can be used to set the validity period. After setting it, the mobile phone will include the validity period in the outbound SMS messages automatically.

Message Status Reports

Sometimes you may want to know whether an SMS message has reached the recipient mobile phone successfully. To get this information, you need to set a flag in the SMS message to notify the SMS center that you want a status report about the delivery of this SMS message. The status report is sent to you in the form of an SMS message.

A mobile phone should have a menu option that can be used to set whether the status report feature is on or off. After setting it, the mobile phone will set the corresponding flag in the outbound SMS messages for you automatically. The status report feature is turned off by default on most mobile phones and GSM / GPRS modems.

Message Submission Reports

After leaving the mobile phone, an SMS message goes to the SMS center. When it reaches the SMS center, the SMS center will send back a message submission report to the mobile phone to inform whether there are any errors or failures (e.g. incorrect SMS message format, busy SMS center, etc). If there is no error or failure, the SMS center sends back a positive submission report to the mobile phone. Otherwise it sends back a negative submission report to the mobile phone. The mobile phone may then notify the user that the message submission was failed and what caused the failure.

If the mobile phone does not receive the message submission report after a period of time, it concludes that the message submission report has been lost. The mobile phone may then re-send the SMS message to the SMS center. A flag will be set in the new SMS message to inform the SMS center that this SMS message has been sent before. If the previous message submission was successful, the SMS center will ignore the new SMS message but send back a message submission report to the mobile phone. This mechanism prevents the sending of the same SMS message to the recipient multiple times.

Sometimes the message submission report mechanism is not used and the acknowledgement of message submission is done in a lower layer.

Message Delivery Reports

After receiving an SMS message, the recipient mobile phone will send back a message delivery report to the SMS center to inform whether there are any errors or failures (example causes: unsupported SMS message format, not enough storage space, etc). This process is transparent to the mobile user. If there is no error or failure, the recipient mobile phone sends back a positive delivery report to the SMS center. Otherwise it sends back a negative delivery report to the SMS center.

If the sender requested a status report earlier, the SMS center sends a status report to the sender when it receives the message delivery report from the recipient.

If the SMS center does not receive the message delivery report after a period of time, it concludes that the message delivery report has been lost. The SMS center then re-sends the SMS message to the recipient.

Sometimes the message delivery report mechanism is not used and the acknowledgement of message delivery is done in a lower layer.

from developershome .com

All I wanted , Don't go for looks, As days go by - Romantic SMS

All I wanted was sum1 2 care 4 me
All I wanted was sum1 who'd b there 4 me
All I ever wanted was sum1 who'd b true
All I ever wantedwas sum1 like U...
(Characters: 153)

Don't go for looks,
they can deceive
Don't go for wealth
even that fades away.

Go for sum1 who makes u
smile becoz only a smile makes
a dark day seem bright..
(Characters: 166)

As days go by, my feelings get stronger,
To be in ur arms, I can't wait any longer.
Look into my eyes & u'll see that it's true,
Day & Night my thought r of U..
(Characters: 163)

What is an SMS Center / SMSC? - Tutorial(4)

An SMS center (SMSC) is responsible for handling the SMS operations of a wireless network. When an SMS message is sent from a mobile phone, it will reach an SMS center first. The SMS center then forwards the SMS message towards the destination. An SMS message may need to pass through more than one network entity (e.g. SMSC and SMS gateway) before reaching the destination. The main duty of an SMSC is to route SMS messages and regulate the process. If the recipient is unavailable (for example, when the mobile phone is switched off), the SMSC will store the SMS message. It will forward the SMS message when the recipient is available.

Very often an SMSC is dedicated to handle the SMS traffic of one wireless network. A network operator usually manages its own SMSC(s) and locates them inside its wireless network system. However, it is possible for a network operator to use a third-party SMSC that is located outside the wireless network system.

You must know the address of the wireless network operator's SMSC in order to use SMS messaging with your mobile phone. Typically an SMSC address is an ordinary phone number in the international format. A mobile phone should have a menu option that can be used to configure the SMSC address. Normally, the SMSC address is pre-set in the SIM card by the wireless network operator, which means you do not need to make any changes to it.

from developershome .com

C.L.I.C.K. means, No shadows 2 depress u, Smile in Pleasure - Romantic SMS

C.L.I.C.K. means :

C= cant live without u
L= love u
I= i miss u
C= care about u
K= kiss from my heart 2 u
So whenever u miss me just say CLICK.
(Characters: 151)

No shadows 2 depress u
only joys 2 surround u
many friends 2 luv u
God himself 2 bless u
These r my wishes 4 u,
for today, tommorrow & everyday
(Characters: 150)

Smile in Pleasure
Smile in Pain
Smile when trouble pours like Rain
Smile when sum1 Hurts U
Smile becoz SOMEONE still
Loves to see u Smiling!!
(Characters: 147)

Luv meanz.., If i reached for your hand, If Your asking - Romantic SMS

Luv meanz to see someone with closed eyez,
to miss some1 in crowd,
2 find some1 in every thought,
to live 4 some1, luv some1, but sure tht sum1 is ONLY one!
(Characters: 160)

If i reached for your hand , will u hold it ?
If i hold out my arms, will u hug me ?
If i go for your lips, will u kiss me ?
If i capture ur heart , will u love me ??
(Characters: 170)

If Your asking if I Need U the answer is 4Ever..
If Your askin if I'll Leave U the answer is Never..
If Your askin what I value the Answer is U..
if Your askin if I love U the answer is I do.
(Characters: 198)

Jail, Not much,50/50 - Funny SMS

In a train, ticket checker to a saint: Ticket please!
Saint: I don't have.
TT: Where do you want to go?
Saint: Lord Ram's birth place, Ayodhya!
TT: Come, lets go!
Saint: Where?
TT: Lord Krishna'a birth place, Jail.
(Characters: 220)

Dad : Son, what do you want for your birthday?
Son : Not much dad, just a radio with a sports car around it.
(Characters: 110)

A Love Letter from BISCUIT MAKER- Dear Marie, Today is Good Day, U r Anmol for me... But U have Crackjacked my Heart, Bcoz I have a Little Heart, Now I m in 50/50 position...
(Characters: 174)

Example Applications of SMS Messaging - Tutorial(3)

There are many different kinds of SMS applications on the market today and many others are being developed. Applications in which SMS messaging can be utilized are virtually unlimited. We will describe some common examples of SMS applications below to give you some ideas of what can be done with SMS messaging.

Person-to-Person Text Messaging

Person-to-person text messaging is the most commonly used SMS application and it is what the SMS technology was originally designed for. In these kinds of text messaging applications, a mobile user types an SMS text message using the keypad of his/her mobile phone, then he/she inputs the mobile phone number of the recipient and clicks a certain option on the screen, such as "Send" or "OK", to send the text message out. When the recipient mobile phone receives the SMS text message, it will notify the user by giving out a sound or vibrating. The user can read the SMS text message some time later or immediately and can send a text message back if he/she wants.

A chat application is another kind of person-to-person text messaging application that allows a group of people to exchange SMS text messages interactively. In a chat application, all SMS text messages sent and received are displayed on the mobile phone's screen in order of date and time. SMS text messages written by different mobile users may be displayed in different colors for better readability, like this:

Me:
Let's have a meeting at 10 am tomorrow to discuss the details of
our next SMS text messaging application.

Tom:
OK.

Alan:
I have another meeting at 10 am. I suggest having the meeting at
11:30 am tomorrow. What do you think?

Provision of Information

A popular application of the SMS technology other than person-to-person text messaging is the provision of information to mobile users. Many content providers make use of SMS text messages to send information such as news, weather report and financial data to their subscribers. Many of these information services are not free. Reverse billing SMS is a common way used by content providers to bill their users. The user is charged a certain fee for each reverse billing SMS message received. The fee will either be included in the monthly mobile phone bill or be deducted from prepaid card credits.

Downloading

SMS messages can carry binary data and so SMS can be used as the transport medium of wireless downloads. Objects such as ringtones, wallpapers, pictures and operator logos can be encoded in one or more SMS messages depending on the object's size. Like information services, wireless download services are usually not free and reverse billing SMS is a common way used by content providers to bill their customers. The object to be downloaded is encoded in one or more reverse billing SMS messages. The mobile user who requests the object will be charged a certain fee for each reverse billing SMS message received. If the mobile user is using a monthly mobile phone service plan, the download fee will be included in his/her next monthly bill; if the mobile user is using a prepaid SIM card, the download fee will be deducted from the prepaid credits.

Alerts and Notifications

SMS is a very suitable technology for delivering alerts and notifications of important events. This is because of two reasons:

A mobile phone is a device that is carried by its owner most of the time. Whenever an SMS text message is received, the mobile phone will notify you by giving out a sound or by vibrating. You can check what the SMS text message contains immediately.
SMS technology allows the "push" of information. This is different from the "pull" model where a device has to poll the server regularly in order to check whether there is any new information. The "pull" model is less suitable for alert and notification applications, since it wastes bandwidth and increases server load.

Some common examples of SMS alert and notification applications are described below.

Email, Fax and Voice Message Notifications

In an email notification system, a server sends a text message to the user's mobile phone whenever an email arrives at the inbox. The SMS text message can include the sender's email address, the subject and the first few lines of the email body. An email notification system may allow the user to customize various filters so that an SMS alert is sent only if the email message contains certain keywords or if the email sender is an important person. The use cases for fax or voice message are similar.

E-commerce and Credit Card Transaction Alerts

Whenever an e-commerce or credit card transaction is made, the server sends a text message to the user's mobile phone. The user can know immediately whether any unauthorized transactions have been made.

Stock Market Alerts

In a stock market alert application, a program is constantly monitoring and analyzing the stock market. If a certain condition is satisfied, the program will send a text message to the user's mobile phone to notify him/her of the situation. For example, you can configure the alert system such that if the stock price of a company is lower than a certain value or drops by a certain percentage, it will send an SMS alert to you.

Remote System Monitoring

In a remote system monitoring application, a program (sometimes with the help of a group of sensors) is constantly monitoring the status of a remote system. If a certain condition is satisfied, the program will send a text message to the system administrator to notify him/her of the situation. For example, a program may be written to "ping" a server regularly. If no response is received from the server, the program can send an SMS alert to the system administrator to notify him/her that the server may be hanged.

Two-way Interactive Text Messaging Applications

SMS messaging technology can be used as the underlying communication medium between wireless devices and servers in a two-way interactive text messaging application. For example, search engines are two-way interactive text messaging applications. Let's say there is a dictionary search engine that supports queries in SMS text messages. It may operate like this:

To find out the meaning of the term "SMS text messaging", you can type "find: SMS text messaging" in an SMS text message and send it to the search engine's phone number. After receiving your SMS text message, the search engine parses it and finds that it begins with the command "find" and follows by the words "SMS text messaging". The search engine then knows you want to find out the meaning of the term "SMS text messaging". So, it sends a text message, which contains the meaning of the term "SMS text messaging", back to your mobile phone.
If the search result is very long and it cannot contain within a single SMS text message, the search engine adds "Page 1 of 2", "Page 1 of 3", etc, at the end of the reply SMS text message. The search engine also creates a session using your mobile phone number as the session ID and stores the term that you searched for (i.e. "SMS text messaging") in the session object.
To request the second page, you can send a text message with the content "page: 2" to the search engine's phone number. After receiving your SMS text message, the search engine parses it and finds that it begins with the command "page" and follows by "2". The search engine then knows you want the second page of the search result. It retrieves the term that you searched for last time from the session object and finds that it is "SMS text messaging". The search engine then sends a text message that contains the second page of the search result for the term "SMS text messaging" back to your mobile phone.

Many other two-way interactive text messaging applications can be built using a similar way. For example, a company may want to build an SMS messaging application to enable its employees to query the corporate database while they are working outdoors.

SMS Marketing

SMS messaging can be used as a marketing tool. An example is an SMS newsletter system. After signing up, the user will receive SMS text messages about the latest discounts and products of the company. If the user has any questions or comments, he/she can send a text message back with the questions or comments in it. The company may include its phone number in the SMS newsletter so that the user can talk to the customer service staff directly if he/she wants to do so.

from developershome .com

What Makes SMS Messaging So Successful Worldwide? - Tutorial(2)

SMS is a success all over the world. The number of SMS messages exchanged every day is enormous. SMS messaging is now one of the most important revenue sources of wireless carriers. What is so special about SMS that makes it so popular worldwide? Some of the reasons are discussed below.

SMS Messages can be Sent and Read at Any Time

Nowadays, almost every person has a mobile phone and carries it most of the time. With a mobile phone, you can send and read SMS messages at any time, no matter you are in your office, on a bus or at home.

SMS Messages can be Sent to an Offline Mobile Phone

Unlike a phone call, you can send an SMS message to your friend even when he/she has not switched on the mobile phone or when he/she is in a place where the wireless signal is temporarily unavailable. The SMS system of the mobile network operator will store the SMS message and later send it to your friend when his/her mobile phone is online.

SMS Messaging is Less Disturbing While You can Still Stay in Touch

Unlike a phone call, you do not need to read or reply an SMS message immediately. Besides, writing and reading SMS messages do not make any noise. While you have to run out of a theater or library to answer a phone call, you do not need to do so if SMS messaging is used.

SMS Messages are Supported by 100% GSM Mobile Phones and They can be Exchanged between Different Wireless Carriers

SMS messaging is a very mature technology. All GSM mobile phones support it. Not only that you can exchange SMS messages with mobile users of the same wireless carrier, but you can also exchange SMS messages with mobile users of many other wireless carriers worldwide.

SMS is a Suitable Technology for Wireless Applications to Build on

Here are some of the reasons that make SMS a suitable technology for wireless applications to build on:

Firstly, SMS messaging is supported by 100% GSM mobile phones. Building wireless applications on top of the SMS technology can maximize the potential user base.
Secondly, SMS messages are capable of carrying binary data besides text. They can be used to transfer ringtones, pictures, operator logos, wallpapers, animations, VCards, VCals (calendar entries), etc.
Thirdly, SMS supports reverse billing, which enables payment to be made conveniently. For example, suppose you want to develop a commercial ringtone download application that charges a fee from the user for each ringtone downloaded. One way to accept payment is to use a reverse billing phone number obtained from a wireless carrier. To buy a ringtone, the user will write an ordinary SMS text message that contains the ID of the ringtone he/she wants to buy and send it to your SMS application's reverse billing phone number. Your SMS application will then send back one or more reverse billing SMS messages that carry the ringtone. The user will be charged a fee for the reverse billing SMS messages he/she received. The fee will be included in the user's monthly mobile phone bill or be deducted from his/her prepaid card credits. Depending on the agreement between you and the wireless carrier, all or part of the money received will be given to you.

from developershome .com

Wen things go wrong.., I dream about you, When i look at you - Romantic SMS

Wen things go wrong...
Wen sadness fills ur heart...
wen tears flow in ur eyes...
always remember 3 things
1) I'm with u...
2) Still with u...
3) Will ALWAYS b...
(Characters: 168)

I dream about you evey night
I shiver when your in sight
I long to hold you close n tight
I wanna be there with all my might
I m just hoping I'm the girl whos right
(Characters: 174)

When i look at you,
i cannot deny there is God,
cause only God could have created some one
as wonderful n beautiful as you
(Characters: 127)

Introduction to SMS Messaging - Tutorial (1)

What is SMS (Short Message Service)?

SMS stands for Short Message Service. It is a technology that enables the sending and receiving of messages between mobile phones. SMS first appeared in Europe in 1992. It was included in the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standards right at the beginning. Later it was ported to wireless technologies like CDMA and TDMA. The GSM and SMS standards were originally developed by ETSI. ETSI is the abbreviation for European Telecommunications Standards Institute. Now the 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) is responsible for the development and maintenance of the GSM and SMS standards.

As suggested by the name "Short Message Service", the data that can be held by an SMS message is very limited. One SMS message can contain at most 140 bytes (1120 bits) of data, so one SMS message can contain up to:

160 characters if 7-bit character encoding is used. (7-bit character encoding is suitable for encoding Latin characters like English alphabets.)
70 characters if 16-bit Unicode UCS2 character encoding is used. (SMS text messages containing non-Latin characters like Chinese characters should use 16-bit character encoding.)

SMS text messaging supports languages internationally. It works fine with all languages supported by Unicode, including Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

Besides text, SMS messages can also carry binary data. It is possible to send ringtones, pictures, operator logos, wallpapers, animations, business cards (e.g. VCards) and WAP configurations to a mobile phone with SMS messages.

One major advantage of SMS is that it is supported by 100% GSM mobile phones. Almost all subscription plans provided by wireless carriers include inexpensive SMS messaging service. Unlike SMS, mobile technologies such as WAP and mobile Java are not supported on many old mobile phone models.

Concatenated SMS Messages / Long SMS Messages

One drawback of the SMS technology is that one SMS message can only carry a very limited amount of data. To overcome this drawback, an extension called concatenated SMS (also known as long SMS) was developed. A concatenated SMS text message can contain more than 160 English characters. Concatenated SMS works like this: The sender's mobile phone breaks down a long message into smaller parts and sends each of them as a single SMS message. When these SMS messages reach the destination, the recipient mobile phone will combine them back to one long message.

The drawback of concatenated SMS is that it is less widely supported than SMS on wireless devices.

EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service)

Besides the data size limitation, SMS has another major drawback -- an SMS message cannot include rich-media content such as pictures, animations and melodies. EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service) was developed in response to this. It is an application-level extension of SMS. An EMS message can include pictures, animations and melodies. Also, the formatting of the text inside an EMS message is changeable. For example, the message sender can specify whether the text in an EMS message should be displayed in bold or italic, with a large font or a small font.

The drawback of EMS is that it is less widely supported than SMS on wireless devices. Also, many EMS-enabled wireless devices only support a subset of the features defined in the EMS specification. A certain EMS feature may be supported on one wireless device but not on the other.

from developershome .com

What are the components of an SMS message?

The actual text of the SMS message isn't the only thing that's being transmitted. Here are the elements of a complete SMS transaction:

Header: identifies the type of message.
Service Center Timestamp
Originator Address: the phone number of the sender
Protocol Identifier
Data Coding Scheme
User Data Length: tells how long the message is
User Data: the message itself (140 bytes: 160 7-bit characters, or 140 8-bit characters)

You won't see any of these components except the User Data (the message itself).

When you send an SMS to an email address, the message is still sent to the SMS Email center, but then it is relayed to the email server of the recipient. The recipient's email address is actually embedded in the User Data portion of the message, transparently on a Treo, or manually on a VisorPhone.

7-bit vs. 8-bit messaging
Currently, most North American wireless service providers support the 7-bit alphabet. Some providers support 8-bit messaging, which enables people to send small image files with a message. If you are receiving garbled strings of text as SMS messages, someone is probably trying to send you an 8-bit message with an image or ringtone, and your wireless service provider only supports 7-bit messaging.

Dinosaurs and Decent Girls, Brush ur Teeth,Great Sunday - Funny SMS

Do u know similarity between Dinosaurs and Decent Girls?
Both don't exist.
(Characters: 75)

Dream makes everything possible, Hope makes everything work, Luv makes everything beautiful, Smile makes all the above... So always Brush ur Teeth
(Characters: 146)

Monday went on Tuesday 2 Wednesday and asked Thursday whether Friday has told Saturday that Sunday is a holiday. Have a Great Sunday...
(Characters: 135)

Love isn't a decision, 24hrs make a lovely day, Don't wait - Romantic SMS

Love isn't a decision, it's a feeling. If we could decide who to love, then, life would be much simpler, but then less magical.
(Characters: 127)

24hrs make a lovely day,
7 days make a lovely week,
52 weeks make a lovely year & knowing a
person like me will make ur life lovely.

Have a lovely day n life!**
(Characters: 167)

Don't wait until it's too late to tell someone how much you love, how much you care. Because when they're gone, no matter how loud you shout and cry, they won't hear you anymore.
(Characters: 178)

Free SMS Service (2)

The service used jayashricombine .com service

How SMS works ?

SMS works on a store-and-forward basis. Instead of being sent directly to the recipient, SMS messages travel through several important nodes before reaching the recipient.

The SMS message is submitted to your wireless service provider's SMS Center.
After the message is processed internally, the SMS Center sends a request to the Home Location Register (HLR) and receives the routing information for the recipient.
The SMS Center sends the message to the Mobile Switching Center (MSC).
The MSC collects the recipient's information from the Visitor Location Register (VLR) and, sometimes, proceeds with an authentication operation.
The MSC forwards the message to a Mobile Server.
If the recipient has a Treo or VisorPhone, the SMS is placed on the SIM card until the handheld picks up the message and transfers it to the internal memory on the unit.

This is how Treos and VisorPhones can store hundreds of SMS messages, unlike ordinary GSM mobile phones that store only a few SMS messages.

Treo or VisorPhone owners may encounter the error message "Your SIM contains at least one SMS message. Do you want to move the message to your Visor?"
The MSC returns the outcome of the Forward Short operation to the SMS Center.
The SMS Center reports delivery status of the short message back to the sender.

Rohit, Mosquito, Cartoonist - Funny SMS

Boy: I am not rich like rohit, I don't even have a bid car like rohit. But I really love you!
Girl: I love you too, but tell me more about rohit..
(Characters: 147)

Can v do romance in the evening today?

I'm in a good mood
Just a little bit of kissing and biting

reply me soon!

urs lovingly

"MOSQUITO"
(Characters: 149)

If I was an artist,
you would be my picture!
If I was a poet,
you would be my inspiration!
If I was an author you would be my story!

But I'm only a cartoonist!
(Characters: 166)

What is SMS ?

Short Message Service (SMS) is a communications protocol allowing the interchange of short text messages between mobile telephony devices. The SMS technology has facilitated the development and growth of text messaging. The connection between the phenomenon of text messaging and the underlying technology is so great that in parts of the world the term "SMS" is used colloquially as a synonym for a text message from another person or the act of sending a text message.

SMS as used on modern handsets was originally defined as part of the GSM series of standards in 1985 as a means of sending messages of up to 160 characters, to and from GSM mobile handsets. Since then, support for the service has expanded to include alternative mobile standards such as ANSI CDMA networks and Digital AMPS, as well as satellite and landline networks. Most SMS messages are mobile-to-mobile text messages, though the standard supports other types of broadcast messaging as well.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia