SMS Routing Question

Ok, I know how to send/receive an SMS from a GSM modem from a computer, I know there are several providers in the US that will expose API’s for me to send/receive sms messages, however I want to go one step further.

Here’s what I would like to do, not sure how possible it is but if anyone has any input that would be terrific.

I know the basics of how SMS messages are routed, so what I’m looking to do is get them routed to my server. So a couple questions to anyone who has any input.

1.) In the US does anyone know if any of the carriers route their SS7 SMS traffic through an IP network? I know there are several provider who manufacture the hardware, but I’m unaware if anyone uses it.
2.) Is it possible to get an entry in the the Carriers HLR table for message routing outside of there “domain”, or could I do this through one of the intercarrier services such as logica?
3.) If I can achieve the above goals, and get the message routed to me will I have to maintain a server within the carriers NOC?

Again any help would be appreciated, as I’m sure you can gather I’m rather new to the telcom network and trying to gauge the feasibility of setting up an sms service similar to those currently available (with a couple added benefits of course).

I understand this is likely an expensive and rater complicated undertaking, but if anyone could shed some light on the right path to follow that would be greatly appreciated.

from my understanding of it it is normally ss7 to smpp then out to other parties, thing is though why? i'd rather go down the route of getting a good solid aggregator to do it for us and then use their smpp / http / api to send and receive messages via our server. it will come together a lot quicker that way and other people are then responsible for the management of the real hard core techie stuff.

if you are that new to the telecoms industry (which i'm not convinced on as i know insiders who don't know what ss7 is) this way would be better as it would leave you free to focus on building your business and not leave you in the dark for months while the platform takes shape.

there is a sticky on this forum with a lot of sms connections listed there. please contribute if you know of any others or provide feedback to those you are familier with.

i spent two years developing a mobile content platform with sms billing in the uk, us, norway, sweden, switzerland, netherlands, germany and ireland. all traffic is routed through to our server, we process things at our end and send the traffic back.

it need not be expensive though.

Thanks for the quick reply Andy!

I agree that going the aggregator method would be a whole lot easier, cheaper, and faster however I’m running into some interesting (pricing) issues in the US with receiving SMS messages. Sending them is easy and most carriers are even supporting it directly through their smpp Gateways

http://www.attwireless.com/press/releases/2002_releases/052102.jhtml;dsessionid=OTG1OCRYXROSHB4R0EISFFA

http://developer.sprintpcs.com (lookup business mobility framework)

etc.

And I’ve recently been talking with mBlox (http://www.mblox.com) which handles 2-way sms as well as premium SMS messages in the states with all carriers.

So what I was trying to figure out with this post was two fold, one what does their cost model look like so I have a better understanding of my negotiation space on the per message cost. And secondly how expensive would it be for me to set up an aggregator myself as my margins on each message are rather small, but I can tolerate a higher “setup cost”

After looking into it more, it looks like the “easiest” thing to do would be to establish a relationship with a carrier and access their SMPP server as you mentioned. From what I can tell the only other option would be to essential establish myself as a small “carrier” and run ,my own (SMPP server), through an E1 line into a Brooktrout or Hughes. But this doesn’t look like a very viable option in this case because of the number of hoops I’d have to jump through to get things established upstream. The overall cost however was lower than I expected.

Anyway if thanks for the help and if you have any experience with US aggregators let me know, I took a look at the sticky and it was very informative.

watch out with the premium billing in the states, there are loads of networks though at&t prepay do not suport sms, there are loads of little things like this to watch out for, still i wish you good luck with it!

thanks for the links, i'll browse those later on when i can pull my head out of my a*** and the workload is less.........

regards