SMS Gateway - Hardware

SMS Gateway requires a connection between the PC and Mobile Terminal. The interfaces generally come in one of two forms, being a PCMCIA Card (PC Card), or a Serial interface (inc. Infrared & Bluetooth).
PC Cards, are credit card size devices designed to be used with portable computers. These cards generally act like modems, they enable you to make and receive data calls (i.e. to the Internet), send and receive faxes, and send and receive Short Messages. If you have a desktop PC, that does not support PC Cards, and you would like to connect a PC Card to it, you can purchase PC Card docking bays, or modulettes that will enable you to use them.

The PC Cards are usually vendor specific, i.e. if you have a Nokia mobile phone, you must use a Nokia Cellular DataCard (and the right one for your model). There are also PC cards which are full GSM devices in their own right, such as the Nokia Card Phone 2.0. SMS Gateway also works with these devices.

Mobile phone manufacturers generally offer special serial cables that enable you to connect your mobile telephone to your PC through a normal 9 pin serial (COM) port. These cables are usually supplied by the device manufacturer as an after market option, and sold through larger equipment dealers. Many of these newer handsets now also support PC connectivity via InfraRed and Bluetooth, SMS Gateway is able to use these wireless interfaces as they appear as standard COM ports on the system.

Another type of Mobile Terminal, specifically designed to connect to computers, have now been introduced. These devices are "black boxes" that have easy to use connections for Power, Antenna, and a 9 Pin Serial Cable port suitable for direct connection to a PC "COM" port. These type of devices are well suited to environments where SMS Gateway would be used, as the need to use the terminal as a phone is in this case is not likely to ever be a requirement.

For more information on SMS Gateway, see the features page.

Download Windows version
Download Linux version