Send Text Messages with an SMS Gateway Service
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Send SMS Messages with a Gateway Service
If you want to send sms messages to your clients, contacts and prospects, you’ll need to pay for access to a Gateway Service.
OK, OK, not technically. You could build your own. But it would take a ton of money, time, technical resources and expertise you may not have. But really, why on earth would you bother? You just want to send bulk text messages to your clients, right?
A gateway service is quite literally, a “gateway” to your customers’ mobile devices. If you’re using a reputable service, it provides access to the mobile carriers’ networks so that you can deliver your messages through them directly to your contacts.
Inferior services do not use the mobile networks, but will attempt to deliver messages via an email protocol (SMTP), which is much, much inferior. If you are serious about your business, you need to use a service that connects via the carrier networks (also known as SMPP, or “short message peer-to-peer”).
Accessing Your SMS Gateway Service
This gateway usually takes the form of an online, cloud-based software platform. Typically, no software is required and you don’t need to download any software to your computer. Access is obtained by logging in through a secure portal with your unique username and email address.
Once inside, you’ll be able to access the service’s features and tools to both build, and then contact, your list of contacts.
The best services—and we think we do this pretty darn well—are designed for the non-technical user, and are extremely easy to use and navigate.
SMS Gateway Service Costs
The cost to send bulk messages via an SMS Gateway service is very reasonable, but ultimately rests on the size of your client database, since for most providers, that’s the only variable fee. For example, most gateway providers charge monthly for…
- A platform access fee: This is a base fee that allows you ongoing access to the cloud-based software. There are real, on-going costs to maintaining such a service, which is why the charge is necessary. This charge is often static. In other words, it’s the same whether you have 100 subscribers or 10,000.
- A long/short code rental fee: The gateway service has to lease these codes monthly, and accordingly, has to pass these costs on to you. This charge is static, too.
- Ongoing text message credits: It costs *real* money to send text messages via the carrier networks like Virgin, Bell, AT&T, Verizon, and so forth. Most services offer packages that allow for a certain number of text messages to be used each and every month… and then add the same amount every subsequent month. Obviously then, the size of your list of contacts and your contact schedule dictates your overall cost. The good news is that our service lets you start with the cheapest option and upgrade whenever you need.
Gateway Services: The Practical
If you’re looking to send mass text messages, we recommend investigating our services further. BROADCASTsms is a powerful desktop application that allows you to message you customer base with a couple of mouse clicks, while our API allows you to send text messages directly from your own applications.
If you have any questions about our services, contact us or call 877-403-2402.