Baden, The advantages are obvious if you are trying to setup a commercial service:
1. If you pretend to charge for the messages, the only way to achieve that is through an agreement with the operator(s). That usually means getting assigned a shortcut number and signing a nice and very polished contract, probably with some sort of SLA and minimum/maximum traffic limits. 2. Furthermore, each operator manages his shortcut numbers at it's own will, so you should try to find a unique number available on all networks. Otherwise, your clients will have to dial a different number depending on the network they are located, difficulting the promotion of your service. This is very different depending operators and countries. 3. Of course, operators usually charge for that precious shortcut number, sometimes a _lot_ of money, either as a monthly fee or as a one-time or yearly. That depends entirely on the operator's will. There's no rule nor typical pricing, at least AFAIK (that's Europe and South America). 4. Usually, you get a part of the income the operator gets from people using your service. How much, again, it depends on the operator, volume of traffic or whatever they may imagine and you can negotiate with. :) 5. Depending on the network, operator and kind of service, you can charge for MO and/or MT messages. Again, there�s no rule and I've seen almost as many methods as operators I've dealt with. Some use special coding for MT, some charge all MO's, some charge all MT's, some let you decide what to charge, some use a mixture of all the former methods, some let you choose from many possible prices, etc, etc. On the other hand, if you go the "GSM Modem way", that's about the same as having a regular line. It means: 1. You can't charge anyone for sending messages to you. The cellcos will charge your customers at regular SMS pricing, not premium. 2. Of course, you'll get charged for all MT's you send, as it happens in regular SMS you send using your cellphone. 3. Your users will have to remember a long number and maybe dial a prefix for long distance calls (that depends on the network, it's not true on Europe, for example). 4. You don't have to pay big monthly fees nor one-time fees, apart from the MT's messages and maybe your particular plan's monthly fee (usually tenths of dollars, not thousands). 5. You won't be able to sustain a high volume of messages coming and going using a GSM modem. If you're looking for high volume your only true options are SMPP or similar SMSC connections. Maybe a very good HTTP service can give you some good results, but not even near compared with direct SMSC connection. I don't have any clues about getting a shortcut number on the USA, but there are some of the statements above that applies everywhere: You'll have to get the same number on all networks and if you want exclusive use of a particular number you'll have to PAY (in uppercase!). A good alternative is contracting some kind of third party service provider that provides two-way SMS. Some of them can give you "premium SMS" service. That means: "the MO pays an overprice and we share it with you". * Many of them have already registered one or many numbers with the local operators and can route one or many "keywords" to your particular application. * Some can host your SIM card. * Some can receive messages from users but you pay for them (at a very reduced price, only a few cents each) * Some can offer you global coverage and two-way messaging in many places. In short: Google around a little if you are interested, I'm not particularily simpathetic with any of this services, and in particular I don't have any experience on the USA, but there are a lot hanging around and a little searching and asking whoudl get you there :) Hope it helps, On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 16:50:47 -0600, Baden de Bari <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Where can I find guidlines and registration information for shortcodes in > North America? > > Obviously there are advantages to having a longcode (w/ a GSM modem) - > arguments for both? > > -- Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they > have to say something. web: http://www.geocities.com/badenx email: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > -- > > ___________________________________________________________ > Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com > http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup -- Alejandro Guerrieri Magicom http://www.magicom-bcn.net/
