Sending and receiving SMS

Introduction to the SMS gateway

FAXmaker includes an e-mail to SMS gateway, enabling users to send SMS messages.

What is SMS?

The Short Message Service (SMS), also referred to as texting is the ability to send and receive text messages to and from mobile telephones. The text can comprise of words or numbers or an alphanumeric combination. SMS was created as part of the GSM Phase 1 standard. Each short message is up to 160 characters in length when Latin alphabets are used, and 70 characters in length when non-Latin alphabets such as Arabic and Chinese are used.

Why use an SMS gateway?

SMS messages can be sent from any GSM mobile phone, as well as from several Internet based service providers. Using a central company SMS gateway however has many advantages:

•	Sending messages from Outlook is much faster than from a mobile phone.

•	Sending messages from a computer allows you to use the Outlook contacts list.

•	Sending messages from a computer allows you to keep a copy of SMS messages sent.

•	A web based SMS provider means additional administration costs and also means that users will have to login to the service with their user account. These are additional steps for the user and additional administration for the administrator.

•	If you don’t have a company mobile, the user would have to pay for SMS messages sent privately.