

Ask HN: cheap SMS service for application - bavcyc

What is the easiest, cheapest method to convert from computer/net/email to SMS and from SMS to network?  I'm looking for a cheap (free is better) service for a computer application.  Would I annoy google if I used a google voice account to start with?  Or are there better solutions?
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dkersten
Clickatell[1] is cheap and provides a number of methods to send SMS: email-to-
sms, HTTP (XML, SOAP, urls), SMPP, FTP. They also support inbound/two-way
messaging and shortcodes, though I assume these cost a good bit more.

[1] <http://www.clickatell.com/>

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tezza
I've used clickatell a lot in the past (circa 2005-2007).

I'd recommend them. Be prepared to fax them details to confirm some things.

One _minor_ frustration with them is that they have a division between their
API account and their desktop messenger. It sounds like you'll be using the
API first. But you cannot then use excess credits for any personal sideline
messaging using their client.

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matttah
We currently use <http://www.mobilemarketing.net/> on a couple of projects.
Their site looks terrible, but they are fairly cheap and have 'sticky'
sessions. Their support is also very responsive.

Textmarks <http://www.textmarks.com/> is also good but they no longer support
sticky sessions. They also have free messaging if you don't mind a "powered by
textmarks" with a link back to their site at the bottom of your SMS.

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3ds
<http://www.esendex.de/> in europe

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voodootikigod
Anyone ever used: <http://www.eztexting.com/> Considering it over clickatell
if I can find a good reason.

Thanks

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jsm386
I handle marketing at Ez Texting. You can check out our new developers center
@ <http://www.eztexting.com/developers/>

We offer a number of different APIs, and we can definitely handle volume. I
can't cite names due to our Privacy Policy, but we're handling some large
sites' SMS capabilities through our API (more than a couple ranked top 500 by
Quantcast FWIW)

If you have any questions, I can answer them for you. Or if you'd like just
shoot me an email - josh@eztexting.com

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PanMan
Where are your destination numbers from? For US numbers you can text for free
by sending an email to a carrier specific email address
(nr@something.carrier.com).

Clickatell is a good option for international SMS, although they have had some
issues in the past. There are a lot of similar services. However I've never
seen much cheaper than around 7 cents (when buying in bulk) for SMS to the
Netherlands.

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johnyzee
You could build it yourself using Kannel (open source SMS gateway -
www.kannel.org) and an old mobile phone.

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pan69
That's great!

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vlbeta
<http://www.pennysms.com>

