On 1/7/07, James Edward Gray II <james / grayproductions.net> wrote:
> I'm going to need to send SMS messages from a Ruby server I am
> building currently.  I just thought I would ask if anyone here has
> any experience doing that and would recommend a library, web service,
> web site I can mechanize, or whatever.  Any tips appreciated.

One option is to connect a phone/modem/data card to the server
directly, and use that to send the messages. Most phones provide a
serial port to communicate, and sending SMS is a matter of a few AT
commands (with a few quirks, as usual). It depends on what kind of
messages you want to send (text only/binary/unicode).

Advantages:
- you can send messages to any number your operator is able to send
- you don't need to rely on some third party gateway
- might be more flexible (on some modems you can deliberately set the
sender number even to a text)

Disadvantages:
- may be more expensive compared to email gateways (depending on your
subscription)
- the need for hardware
- more work (though a library/tool for the communication may exist, I
don't know)

Anyway, I would consider this as a last resort, when there is no
sufficient email gw available.