Radio stations SMS systems

ConsultClifford

does any one know what systems Radio stations use to get the texts they get in off the phone and on to the pc in front of them (or ready for print out)?

Tnx

LoBo

I think we need a sticky for 'Commercial SMS service providers' and a big impartial listing of irish companies w/ links to their sites.

Any volunteers to compile?

BrianD

We use good old Nokia DataSuite. This is cheap and does the job but it is limited in the features it offers There are a number of sophisticated applications out there - some of them running over the web - that allow incoming messages to be sorted for keywords or directed to e-mail accounts etc. This is convenient for listener voting or charts etc.

Most radio stations seem to now include anybody who texts them in their direct marketing databases any you'll probably get a SMS broadcast from them sooner or later. We at Phantom would only do this if you sign up to our database :-)

Couple of companies that provide services:

www.puca.ie
www.zamano.com

MacGyver

wlr fm in waterford use the same nokia data suite but beat use a web based one. ill try find out the name of it for u if i can but the data suite one works just as well

otron

BrianD wrote:

We use good old Nokia DataSuite. This is cheap and does the job but it is limited in the features it offers There are a number of sophisticated applications out there - some of them running over the web - that allow incoming messages to be sorted for keywords or directed to e-mail accounts etc. This is convenient for listener voting or charts etc.


Couple of companies that provide services:

www.puca.ie
www.zamano.com

Also www.go2mobile.com

The thing is that all of these providers (at least the ones who give out an 085/086/087 number) are using this Datasuite (Phone connected to PC) type of approach... Anything based on a 5xxxx shortcode is likely to be more reliable as the connection would be over IP rather then standard delivery to a handset.

So you have these commercial providers who are offering this type of keyword sorting based systems which are hanging off a very unreliable GSM modem....

Rew

LoBo wrote:

I think we need a sticky for 'Commercial SMS service providers' and a big impartial listing of irish companies w/ links to their sites.

Any volunteers to compile?

Wrong board for a SMS thread sticky it would be over in Mobiles/PDA's.

the 5xxxx numbers are just short code aliases for the full numbers. A system with a 086/087/085 can just as easily be IP based (ie direct connection to the SMSC) its all the same.

Personally I wouldn't class the phone+datasuite option as unreliable. 99% os sms's are sent from handsets and thats reliable. The datasuite and handset option just isn't scalable beyound a certain point and cost goes down when you have a bulk SMSC account.

Iv seen good apps coded to work with any Nokia hadset and a serial (bluetooth) conection. You can avoide the limitations of the standard datasuite that way.

otron

Rew wrote:

A system with a 086/087/085 can just as easily be IP based (ie direct connection to the SMSC) its all the same.

Indeed they can, but my point is that there arent any of these in place today. In order to do this, a provider would need to connect to all 3 Irish networks over IP and ask them to route messages addressed to the published 085/086/087 number to them. Im not aware of any providers who have done this. It would make much more sense to use shortcodes if you have a connection to all of the netowrks anyway.

Rew wrote:

Personally I wouldn't class the phone+datasuite option as unreliable. 99% os sms's are sent from handsets and thats reliable. The datasuite and handset option just isn't scalable beyound a certain point and cost goes down when you have a bulk SMSC account.

Iv seen good apps coded to work with any Nokia hadset and a serial (bluetooth) conection. You can avoide the limitations of the standard datasuite that way.

(Just to clarify - Am talking about messages sent TO the datasuite+handset here)

Its not an issue of coding, or the type/speed of the link between the handset and PC. Its reliable enough at low volumes, but when you get above a message every few seconds, the limitations of the GSM modem starts to come into play. At higher volumes, the messages start being queued within the network you get a cascade effect that can cause real problems.

Rew

otron wrote:

Indeed they can, but my point is that there arent any of these in place today. In order to do this, a provider would need to connect to all 3 Irish networks over IP and ask them to route messages addressed to the published 085/086/087 number to them. Im not aware of any providers who have done this. It would make much more sense to use shortcodes if you have a connection to all of the netowrks anyway.

For each SMSC conection the provider gets a 087/086/085 number which is basicly an account. They can collect via IP (VPN for O2 and straight public IP for Voda and VPN for Meteor, i think) and send the same way. The short code is just an alias to a specfic number (the way I understand it) then all the billing comes in and it gets mental.

SMSC's handle all SMS routing and the SMS ends up on the SMSC of the owner of the number.

I know an operator who has the 3 SMSC accounts (must double check the meteor one)

Short codes are the worst thing to ever happen to SMS, nobody knows what they are getting charged by the operator for them without seeing the small print. Needs a bit of an overhaul to make it similar to 1800 1891 etc IE the prefix makes the price clear

otron wrote:

(Just to clarify - Am talking about messages sent TO the datasuite+handset here)

Its not an issue of coding, or the type/speed of the link between the handset and PC. Its reliable enough at low volumes, but when you get above a message every few seconds, the limitations of the GSM modem starts to come into play. At higher volumes, the messages start being queued within the network you get a cascade effect that can cause real problems.

So what your saying is its not scaleable then?

otron

Rew wrote:

SMSC's handle all SMS routing and the SMS ends up on the SMSC of the owner of the number.

Not the case, and thats the problem.

A message will always stay on the SMSC that it was sent from (An SMSC on the network of the person/application that sent the message). The only way around this is if the network has a "Virtual MSC" (or "FSG" in the language of Comreg) which can pluck the message out of the SS7 network and put it on the destination network SMSC. Its worth saying that messages sent to these Virtual MSC's must be real 3538[567] numbers rather then shortcodes.

To my knowledge, no Irish network has one of these installed, so any application provider that wishes to receive messages from customers of all networks, must connect to all networks (or use the GSM modem approach - YUK)

So the options are:
- Connect to every network and get the messages over IP - This means that you might as well use a shortcode cos you can and its easlier all round (plus you can charge a premium if you want)
- Connect to a network with a Virtual MSC and use a long number - Not an option as far as I can tell due to lack of support
- Use a GSM modem and deal with the long number and all the other problems associated with it

Rew wrote:

I know an operator who has the 3 SMSC accounts (must double check the meteor one)

Im sure there are several, but it makes sense for these to use a shortcodes rather then a long numbers cos it's much easier to read out on the radio/tv etc.

Rew wrote:

Short codes are the worst thing to ever happen to SMS, nobody knows what they are getting charged by the operator for them without seeing the small print. Needs a bit of an overhaul to make it similar to 1800 1891 etc IE the prefix makes the price clear

The prices should be printed wherever a shortcode is promoted, if not then Regtel should kick the service providers ass. The shortcodes and thier owners are also published on the comreg.ie site.

To be honest, I think most of the services on shortcodes are a rip off, but as long as its clear what people will pay, it's up to them whether to use it or not.

Rew wrote:

So what your saying is its not scaleable then?

Yeah, what you said