Zeep Mobile: Free SMS Gateway For Developers
While SMS has already become one of the most important forms of communication in many parts of the world, the U.S. is only catching up to this trend slowly. Part of the reason for this is the high cost of using SMS, not just for users, but also for developers who want to use SMS for their applications. In contrast to other SMS service providers, Zeep Mobile offers developers a free SMS API without volume restrictions, though in order to monetize the service, it will insert ads into the SMS messages.
Advertising
While having random ads inserted into their messages might not work for some developers, having access to a free SMS gateway is a very seductive proposition, especially for small developers who don't have the resources to either establish relationships with the big mobile carriers, or who simply don't have the money to pay a commercial provider for access to their SMS gateway.
We asked Zeep Mobile if it had any plans to share revenue from these SMS ads with developers or if it was going to give developers any influence over which ads it would display. However, as of now, Zeep Mobile is not planning anything in this direction, though it would seem reasonable to assume that they might start sharing revenue with developers at some point in the future.
API
Besides the standard web API, Zeep Mobile has also developed Python and Ruby libraries, which developers can use free of charge. As far as we can see, this API is pretty straightforward and well documented.
Still in Beta
It is important to note, though, that the service is still in beta right now and that developers are limited to sending out messages to no more than 10 recipients at a time. Also, while Zeep Mobile has plans to expand beyond the U.S. in the future, the service can only send messages within the U.S. for now and is also limited to a select number of carriers.
Overall, though, this seems like a service worth looking into for developers who wants to start adding some SMS functionality to their applications without having to pay some of Zeep Mobile's competitors like SMS Everywhere, Clickatell, or Celltrust.
Comments
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Posted by: aiza | August 28, 2008 1:00 AM
don't forget bt have an api http://web21c.bt.com/ which you have to pay to use but it can do international and is pretty cheap. Also http://www.aql.com/ is worth a mention too.
Posted by: Darren | August 28, 2008 2:09 AM
unless they share revenue, it not gona be a big hit
Posted by: sachin | August 28, 2008 2:47 AM
4info's pr firm is asleep
Posted by: Andrew | August 28, 2008 3:28 AM
100% Reliable SMS termination is hard and of course the cost of terminating varies wildly country by country, so I suspect the free model will be harder to implement in (for example) the UK, where SMS termination can be 5 or 6 times the price of the US.
www.Zong.com is well worth a look. Good coverage, even into some of the minor networks and it works globally for SMS termination.
Posted by: Ivan | August 28, 2008 5:54 AM
How could you folks forget to mention TextMarks.com? Those guys have been offering a free SMS gateway for years now...
Posted by: Brad | August 28, 2008 7:30 AM
Are there any cheap SMS gateways available? Rather than going for free with ads, it would be better to offer cheap paid gateway. At least this could be added as an option. I'm gonna look at Darren's links.
Posted by: srizah | August 29, 2008 12:10 AM
@srizah If you dont want an ad supported messaging services you can use Wadja's Bulk SMS service which is one of the cheapest services out there.
www.wadja.com.
Posted by: George Koiliaris | August 29, 2008 4:25 AM
1. It could not be used in China?
2. What will the "from" be? A group of random number? Shall we require the "from" is our website URL?
Posted by: Jack | September 1, 2008 3:19 AM
Yes, TextMarks does the same. I have been using text marks.
The only disadvantage with textmarks is they only give 10 keywords.
They have an API which nice too.
Cheers, Nag
Posted by: Nag | September 1, 2008 11:40 AM
U also can try this web site: FREE SMS FROM PC TO MOBILE.
Posted by: Kimmmy | September 1, 2008 9:00 PM
good post for mobile phones thanks
Posted by: telfiyat1 | September 11, 2008 3:15 PM
Pretty WEB BUT SO MUCH ADVERSMENT! SLOWER! BIG FAT !!! DONT BE SO MONEY LOVE AND REMOVE THAT SUTUPEDIS AD!
Posted by: Janio | September 13, 2008 7:42 AM
check foosms.com
free sms service provider for India.
Its very fast also.
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Posted by: bulksmsindia | September 17, 2008 3:57 AM