hi, i have a sms script written in php. im just wondering...is there going to be a fee for anyone from sending them?
i tried looking on google and all i found was a bunch of sites selling bulk sms packages and a article from 2003 saying that the receiver will pay a fee to accept. but i cant find anything from recent times to clarify anything!
if anyone knows anything about this then some help is appreciated
thanks
The situation varies by country / service provider. In North America (that I am most familiar with), the phone companies provide email addresses that you can use to send an SMS message to a phone and there is no charge to do that (for the sender). This is intended for relatively low volume so if you started to send very large volumes, you might need to use a gateway (that you pay for). Outside of North America, the ability to send for free isn't as common.
The receiver of the message will pay for the message (or not) just the same as if the message had been sent manually. If they haven't paid in advance for a certain number of SMS messages per month and pay for every one, then they will pay for yours as well. The cell phone companies (in North America at least) generally include a certain number of messages per month in the basic fee and many now provide unlimited SMS or a very high number for little or no extra money.
You need to look at the SMS costs and plans for each of the Telecomm companies that you intent to support in order to get a more specific answer.
ok thanks, thats quite a lot like what i read, so i see its still basically the same....but...in the uk we do not pay to receive a message at all, only the sender pays. so i guess ill have to maybe email a telecom provider and ask them about the situation?
Hi IWDesigns,
If you are in the UK whenever a message is sent, someone has to pay a fee to the networks that carry the message. The only way I found of incorporating SMS functions is to use a gateway company. You usually buy bundles of credits in advance. The more you buy, the cheaper they are.
I'm using a UK company at the moment and they seem to be really good, very easy to integrate and reasonably priced, you only pay for the credits you buy and the credits never expire.
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