Global Dream

Information SMS/Messaging

Technology, today, is moving towards the future of the wireless web. Mobile devices such as palmtops, handhelds, and cellular phones are becoming all the rage. People want these devices to do everything from access their e-mail accounts, to utilize the Internet, to access personal and corporate information.

One type of service that is available today is a technology called SMS (Short Messaging Service). The Short Message Service (SMS) is the is the technology that allows to send and receive text messages to and from mobile telephones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and personal computers.

SMS is a type of an Instant Messaging (IM) type of communications service and it enables users to exchange messages in real time with other users. Users can can use this technology and communicate with each other by typing with a PC, wireless device, cell phone, PDA or other Internet appliance/device. They can also use a combination of these devices to communicate. PC users can send instant messages back and forth across the Internet to each other. Cell-phone users can use the SMS to send short messages to other cell-phone users. Even retailers can use SMS technology to alert users of important information delivered directly to cell phones. And corporations can use any number of instant-message techniques to communicate directly with customers, vendors and employees.

SMS was created as part of the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) Phase 1 standard. The first short message is believed to have been sent in December 1992 from a Personal Computer (PC) to a mobile phone on the Vodafone GSM network in the UK. Developers initially envisaged SMS as a tool for voice mail notification - implicitly as a pager but in several countries there was significant early growth as many people used the technology for person to person messaging.

Technical Details:

  To store information, the mobile device is fitted with a SIM (Subscriber Identification Module) card which is a plastic card that, when placed in the back of a mobile device, stores various types of information. SMS is essentially similar to paging, but SMS messages do not require the mobile phone to be active and within range, as they will be held for a number of days until the phone is active and within range. SMS messages are transmitted within the same cell or to anyone with roaming capability. Messages may be transmitted using an SMS gateway which is a web site that lets one enter an SMS message to someone within the cell served by that gateway or acts as an international gateway for users with roaming capability.

To use the Short Message Service, users need the relevant subscriptions and hardware, specifically:GSM stands for Global Systems for Mobile Communication. It is a digital system, which is what allows SMS features to exist

Unique Features:

  * A single short message can be up to 160 characters of text in length when Latin alphabets are used and 70 characters in
    length when non-Latin alphabets such as Arabic and Chinese are used. Those 160 characters can comprise of words or
    numbers or an alphanumeric combination. Non-text based short messages (for example, in binary format) are also
    supported. These are used for ringtones and logos services.
* SMS  is a store and forward service, in other words, short messages are not sent directly from sender to recipient, but always
    via an SMS Center instead. Each mobile telephone network that supports SMS has one or more messaging centers to handle
    and manage the short messages.
  * SMS  features confirmation of message delivery. This means that unlike paging, users do not simply send a short message
    and trust and hope that it gets delivered. Instead the sender of the short message can receive a return message back notifying
    them whether the short message has been delivered or not.
  * Short messages can be sent and received simultaneously with GSM voice, Data and Fax calls. This is possible because
    whereas voice, Data and Fax calls take over a dedicated radio channel for the duration of the call, short messages travel over
    and above the radio channel using the signaling path. As such, users of SMS rarely if ever get a busy or engaged signal as they
    can do during peak network usage times.
  *Ways of sending multiple short messages are available. SMS concatenation (stringing several short messages together) and
    SMS compression (getting more than 160 characters of information within a single short message) have been defined and
    incorporated in the GSM SMS system’s standards.