How to send SMS

Note: Carriers outside of the US and Canada typically do not support internet based SMS messaging. To send SMS outside of the US and Canada, you will need to use cellular hardware or a message aggregation service.

Sending an SMS to a cell phone is fairly easy to do and there are two primary methods of sending text messages:

•Internet

•Cellular Hardware and NotePage's Android SMS Gateway App

There are benefits and drawbacks to either method of delivery. For example, most carriers in the US and Canada support at least one internet protocol as a free, public access gateway. However, of the available internet protocols to use, most carriers also only support the least reliable and least efficient method of internet delivery (SMTP/Email) for free, public access. While there are more efficient protocols available, they're usually part of a paid enterprise messaging system and generally are not available for free public access. Also, using your internet connection to send messages makes PageGate reliant on your internet connection; if the internet ever goes down, PageGate won't be able to deliver your messages.

Cellular hardware, on the other hand, does not rely on your internet connection and provides a cellular connection of its own. Cellular hardware is the single most reliable and efficient method of sending SMS as you're interfacing with hardware that allows you to send and receive SMS in the same manner as a cell phone. This means that nothing short of hardware failure or the cell towers in your area going down would prevent your messages from going through. This is the method of delivery we recommend for high priority traffic such as messages to EMS personnel, fire fighters, police officers and other  types of critical messages. The drawback is that cellular hardware must have cellular service, which does mean that the device(s) will need a cell plan with texting.

It's also possible to turn an Android phone in to a cellular modem with NotePage's new Android SMS Gateway App. When the smart phone is connected by wifi to the same network as the PageGate server, this app grants PageGate access to the smart phone to send and receive text messages through the device. It is important to note that all carrier rules regarding sending text messages for the cell phone plan on the phone apply.