How to setup canadian sms sending business?

April 3, 2008 1:41 PM

How do I set up a business in Canada that charges monthly fees (or per use) to send text messages to people?

Something along the lines of those annoying 'joke of the day' commercials I see on TV. I can't find any companies that provide this service in Canada (I also don't really know how to look). Or I could put a sim modem in a computer, but then how do you charge money? Any pushes in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

posted by imaswinger to Technology (5 answers total)

As you're not getting a lot of replies I'll tell you what little I know.

There are companies that provide an API which allows your application to interface to their SMS gateways. Here is one such there are others:

http://www.clickatell.com/products/two_way.php

Alternatively here's a description of how to setup your own SMS Gateway ...

http://www.x11.net/wiki/index.php/Setting_up_an_SMS_Gateway

... in that description they refer to using a standalone phone but as you mention there are dedicated mobile phone modems you can use.

Another thing to bear in mind here is that your typical 'consumer' mobile contract has restrictions on what purpose you can send text messages for. You should check that out before buying a modem.

then how do you charge money?

I'm not sure what you mean here. You have to resolve that issue regardless of whether you use a third-party messaging supplier or your own modem don't you ? - if you want to expand on the question I'll give you my 2c.

All of what I've said here is from my GSM-centric view of the world. I know in the USA that GSM is by no means universal and, I guess, that may be so in Canada. I'm not sure what happens as you leave 'GSM land' but I do know that for a long time the third-party suppliers (such as click-a-tell) would either not deliver messages to Telecom NZ mobiles (CDMA network) or they would charge extra to do so - whether or not that was to do with them being a non-GSM network I don't know.

One last thing when considering third-party suppliers you should review what quality of server (if any) is guaranteed.
posted by southof40 at 2:51 PM on April 3, 2008

I've just noticed you asked for 'companies in Canada' - I'm afraid I didn't address that bit but equally I wouldn't think you need the company to be anywhere specific just as long as it provides a reliable service ?
posted by southof40 at 2:53 PM on April 3, 2008

Check out mythum. They do all sorts of stuff involving SMS.
posted by chunking express at 11:33 AM on April 4, 2008

Response by poster: thanx, you gave me something to go on...
posted by imaswinger at 1:37 PM on April 4, 2008

Mobile Messenger does exactly this, and they've got an office in Canada. Just contact them.
posted by web-goddess at 5:00 PM on April 5, 2008