Posts Tagged ‘http’

If you go to our pricing page on 84444.com, you’ll see a secondary option of “Economy Bulk Delivery” of messages to cell phones. 

You might ask yourself: why wouldn’t everybody use this cheaper delivery method?  After all, it’s less than half the price of the traditional text message packages.

The answer is in the technology behind the delivery methods that ultimately effects the look, the cost, and the reliability of that delivery.

Traditional text messaging that you would use if you were to send a text message from you to your friend from your cell phone is known as SMPP, or “short message peer-to-peer protocol.”  These messages are sent through the cell phone carrier’s networks.  There is an intrinsic cost associated with every text message sent via SMPP.

84444.com uses an even more efficient method of delivery, in the SMPP family, called “HTTP delivery.”  This is just as efficient as SMPP delivery, or even more so.  When you launch a text message from the 84444.com web site, it is immediately sent to the carriers for delivery.

This is not the case with SMTP delivery, or “simple mail transfer protocol” delivery.  SMTP is essentially email sent to the cell phone.  At 84444.com, SMTP delivery is branded as Economy Bulk Delivery.

In the case of SMTP, 84444.com attaches the phone number in an email format and sends it to the recipient’s phone.  For example, if you were sending an email to an AT&T cell phone user, you would be sending to phonenumber@txt.att.com).  Check here for a complete list of cell phone carrier email addresses for SMTP delivery.

If you wanted to send an SMPP from your cell phone to a friend, you would simply type his cell phone number in the phone number section and type your text message below.  With SMTP delivery, you could actually send a message from your personal computer’s email to the recipient’s cell phone.

It all sounds good for SMTP until you know that messages sent by SMTP are notoriously slow and may not be delivered at all.  Normal text message delivery by HTTP, known on 84444.com as “Express Delivery,”  is immediate and has priority.  If you are doing an emergency text message alerts program, 84444.com will not permit SMTP delivery; it’s simply not worth the risk for saving a few pennies.

Another problem with SMTP delivery is that it is the method of choice for SPAM due to its lower costs.  It is very easy to see the difference in that an SMTP message has the recipient’s email address at the top.  Therefore, some individuals who have been a victim of cell phone SPAM may delete your message before ever reading it.

There are also legal issues in using the SMTP gateway for business use.  The carriers are clear that SMTP is only permitted for personal use and if the carriers find it is being used for business purposes, the service may be turned off.  Therefore, 84444.com is very careful about what types of messages are permitted on its Economy Bulk Delivery option.

So, now you know.  All text messages are not the same.  It’s up to you to choose the right protocol for your needs.