Posted by steev on January 21, 2010 at 8:22pm
I'm using Singlepoint as a gateway service. It doesn't look like this is the case but I want to make sure, has anyone written a gateway module for Singlepoint, and/or one that uses SMPP?
Thanks,
steev
Comments
SMPP on the roadmap
Hi steev,
I am not aware of anybody writing a gateway module that talks SMPP, mainly because many of the gateways/aggregators that people are using also support HTTP/S, which is easier to implement. Singlepoint supports HTTP as well as a few other protocols.
However, I do think that SMPP support should be added to the SMS Framework roadmap to support any in future.
legal
Yes, definitely. The problem is that there's a patent on using HTTP to SMS and apparently the patent holders are sending out ridiculous scary letters. Even though such a patent is ludicrous, some paranoid legal departments are playing it safe.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6891811.html
oh, no way!
I hadn't heard of this patent, and nobody has ever mentioned it before. I agree that enforcement of this patent is a bit ridiculous, but it is legal so you should cover yourself.
The mobile operators usually own and operate the SMSC-Internet gateway component, and your gateway service most likely communicates with this using an Internet protocol - most likely SMPP. This would mean that your gateway service handles your HTTP requests to SMPP, leaving you only talking HTTP.
[you] <-- HTTP --> [gateway service] <-- SMPP --> [mobile operators (SMSCs)] <-- GSM --> [device]
So this patent is only likely to apply to the gateway service provider, meaning that you can protect yourself by talking to your gateway company about their position on this patent, and by ensuring that you can easily migrate to another gateway service by using a nice abstraction layer like SMS Framework :-)
How does that sound?