What is the easiest, cheapest method to convert from computer/net/email to SMS and from SMS to network? I'm looking for a cheap (free is better) service for a computer application. Would I annoy google if I used a google voice account to start with? Or are there better solutions?
Clickatell[1] is cheap and provides a number of methods to send SMS: email-to-sms, HTTP (XML, SOAP, urls), SMPP, FTP. They also support inbound/two-way messaging and shortcodes, though I assume these cost a good bit more.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.clickatell.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.clickatell.com/</a>
We currently use <a href="http://www.mobilemarketing.net/" rel="nofollow">http://www.mobilemarketing.net/</a> on a couple of projects. Their site looks terrible, but they are fairly cheap and have 'sticky' sessions. Their support is also very responsive.<p>Textmarks <a href="http://www.textmarks.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.textmarks.com/</a> is also good but they no longer support sticky sessions. They also have free messaging if you don't mind a "powered by textmarks" with a link back to their site at the bottom of your SMS.
Anyone ever used: <a href="http://www.eztexting.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.eztexting.com/</a> Considering it over clickatell if I can find a good reason.<p>Thanks
Where are your destination numbers from?
For US numbers you can text for free by sending an email to a carrier specific email address (nr@something.carrier.com).<p>Clickatell is a good option for international SMS, although they have had some issues in the past. There are a lot of similar services.
However I've never seen much cheaper than around 7 cents (when buying in bulk) for SMS to the Netherlands.