View Full Version : Voip and SMS
I've been rooting around in the Windows 'softphone' arena and there does not appear to be one which will send SMS to mobiles. Anyone found one?
mixture
6th Sep 2014, 19:56
Erm why should there be one ?
VoIP and SMS are chalk and cheese.
There are plenty of SMS services out there. Just use one of them for SMS.
Care to point me at one that will allow me to SMS using my VOIP account?
mixture
6th Sep 2014, 20:40
Care to point me at one that will allow me to SMS using my VOIP account?
:confused:
That's the very point I was trying to make.
You need to look at your VoIP account like a telephone line, not like your mobile phone !
VoIP is the SIP protocol. Hence all the softphones out there will be doing SIP.
It really shouldn't come as any surprise that there are no softphones that do SMS, because there is no demand.
SIP is an open standard. SMS would require interactivity with supplier APIs which would mean headaches for softphone developers !
So as I said, if you want to do SMS, you'll need to use different software or a website.
I cannot believe there is no demand - SIP is a system to call any phone, including mobiles, so it must be logical to be able to text that number. There are several VOIP providers who think differently to you, but no softphone that I have yet found.
Adopting your argument would mean you would be unable to call a mobile number on SIP as there is another system to do that called a mobile phone!
As for "You need to look at your VoIP account like a telephone line" - my telephone line will SMS a mobile - perhaps your's won't?
mixture
6th Sep 2014, 23:23
I cannot believe there is no demand
Well, if you look at it this way ....
On the consumer side, every man and his dog has a mobile phone. It would take an awful lot of marketing money to persuade the man on the street that using an extra tool beyond the built-in capabilities of their phone is worth his while.
Then beyond traditional SMS in the "over IP" world you've already got BBM, Apple iMessage, Watsapp, Twitter DMs,Skype,Snapchat, Facebook Messenger..... is there really any market share left for something else to text "over IP" ?
The amount operators charge their retail customers to send a text are not extortionate either (and indeed, most will bundle unlimited or a stupid amount of free texts on the contract). Thus there would be little demand on the money saving side.
As for businesses, well, they'll want a dedicated SMS service anyway that they can integrate into their IT systems for automation purposes.
Adopting your argument would mean you would be unable to call a mobile number on SIP as there is another system to do that called a mobile phone!
Well, for your average punter who gets minutes included on their contract, using their mobile phone may well be the more attractive option !
As mentioned, mobile termination on SIP is just another route on the voice termination rate sheet.
SIP is a system to call any phone, including mobiles, so it must be logical to be able to text that number.
Well, the point is that SIP is a voice termination protocol. A mobile number is just another route on the rate sheet.
There is the instant message page mode on SIP via the method=MESSAGE extension, but that was designed to be used between SIP clients. You might find one or two providers out there whose gateways will convert this method to an SMS on your behalf on their servers. But on its on, SIP provides no direct SMS functionality. Its first and foremost a voice protocol.
my telephone line will SMS a mobile - perhaps your's won't?
Don't know, I'm in the above category of people that's perfectly happy to send people an SMS from my iPhone. :cool:
Well, for your average punter who gets minutes included on their contract, using their mobile phone may well be the more attractive option - and for this average punter who cannot rely on a 2g signal in my area..........? I guess you don't understand the situation in this country with wireless comms?
I'm sure it will come. There are already at least a dozen VOIP providers who offer an SMS service. Just need the softphone software - and I don't want another 'account'.
Thanks to others who have PM'd useful stuff.
Mixture to cut off.
mixture
8th Sep 2014, 07:52
Whatever BOAC..... whatever.... :rolleyes:
Ancient Observer
8th Sep 2014, 09:14
On a slightly different but associated issue, one of the now defunct (not Outlook Express as far as I know) messaging progs used to offer text messaging to mobiles. Early 2000s.
I think it required a modest bit of paid for extra gubbins to make it work. I guess it was a Corporate thing. (Where I worked then we spent a fortune on IT)
I found this useful.
Any reason why Outlook can't do it for Joe Public (non-corporate) without buying one of the things that Google finds for it? Also, the M/S entry on this sent me to sleep.
Booglebox
8th Sep 2014, 09:31
Lync 2013 Enterprise will do this, but it's not cheap and you need an in-house server with obscene amounts of RAM with fairly fast internet. And the SMS is an external integration which is billed seperately :hmm:
Just popped back to say that if anyone else uses Sipgate for VOIP (a big :ok: for that company) there is an add-on for FF which does exactly what I want. My thanks to Sipgate support staff. 'VoipCheap' have a facility on their softphone if you have an 'account' with them but they are the only ones I have found.
Mike-Bracknell
16th Sep 2014, 22:23
Just popped back to say that if anyone else uses Sipgate for VOIP (a big :ok: for that company) there is an add-on for FF which does exactly what I want. My thanks to Sipgate support staff. 'VoipCheap' have a facility on their softphone if you have an 'account' with them but they are the only ones I have found.
a big :ugh: if you expect this functionality to be anything other than a proprietary mish-mash of semi-functioning opportunistic bollox.
As mixture tried to explain to you, SMS exists due to it being part of the unused control bandwidth of GSM cellular traffic, whereas VoIP is all about standards-based encapsulation and reconstruction of voice into data packets.
VoIP therefore does not 'magically' enable you to ring anyone on earth. In order to call other network mediums, it's packets have to go through a gateway which is an expensive piece of kit and as far as you're concerned are only run by internet-based minutes-providers (e.g. Sipgate).
Any SMS-based functionality would therefore need to be a control function of a gateway run by the minutes-provider which was dedicated to GSM conversion and actually had the functionality to do SMS messages.*
VoIP softphones, in order to be useful, need to be heterogeneous. Hence they need to connect to multiple providers' standards-based VoIP PBXs.
There is no extension of the SIP standard in order to provide SMS messaging, so anything added into softphones for that functionality would in effect render the heterogeneous nature of that softphone flawed.
Hence, as per the first suggestion Mixture mentioned, get yourself an email-to-SMS service or website SMS service, because you're essentially asking why you can't watch Eastenders on your microwave oven.
(*I should know, I have one in the boot of my car)
Glad you like it.
To summarise - if you use Sipgate for VOIP and FF and would like to use your Sipgate account for SMS from a Windows/Linux/Mac machine and wish to ignore someone who apparently carries a microwave oven in the boot of his car, this is for you.
Ancient Observer
17th Sep 2014, 07:45
East endears looks much better when watched thru my microwave. The microwave makes them tell jokes and laugh.
As one born in the South East of London, the only thing/stuff we had was laughter. That is banned in Eastenders.
I only watch cookery programmes on mine.
AGPwallah
17th Sep 2014, 23:19
I send most of my SMS, when at home, via Skype - doddle:ok:
AGP
Indeed, AGP. so did I until this weekend. Now I do no need to fund two separate accounts!
Edit: For those who don't understand the need - a sizeable proportion of the population (myself included) in this technologically advanced country of ours do not have a good 2G signal.
ExSp33db1rd
20th Sep 2014, 03:49
and.....Skype refuse to register my cellphone number for return Txts. Something to do with different Telecoms protocols in different Countries they told me, even tho' NZ has 3G and surprise,surprise, even 4G in small areas.
There is a local VOIP/Txt provider, but the reply goes back to their website, not my cellphone, so unless I'm sat in front of a computer .. forget it.
Ain't technology wonderful, Life was simpler before computers. ( and far less irritating )
Booglebox
20th Sep 2014, 11:19
MS Lync will do SMS... bit of a cludgey hack though.
proprietary mish-mash of semi-functioning opportunistic bollox.
Sounds a bit like this place :}
Why mess around? If you use FF+Sipgate, this add-on is very simple and effective.