Some of the more 'interesting' things you can do withSMS and the Nexmo API

1. SMS CAN DO WHAT?

2. SAM MACHIN
DEVELOPER ADVOCATE
SAM.MACHIN@NEXMO.COM
@SAMMACHIN

3. HISTORY
▸ 1st Message Christmas 1992
▸ At first Mobile Terminate (MT) Only
▸ X Network not till 1998 in UK

4. WHAT
▸ Short Message Service (SMS)
▸ 140 byte payload sent between a Mobile Station (MS) and an Short
Message Service Centre (SMSC)
▸ Uses the Telecom Network signalling channels (SS7)
▸ Messages are Store and Forward in the SMSC

5. ON NETWORK
SMSC
MSC
MS
BSS
HLR
MSC
MS
BSS
MO_FSM
SRI_SM
ack
RESP
MT_FSM
ack

6. CROSS NETWORK
SMSC
MSC
MS
BSS
HLR
MSC
MS
BSS
MO_FSM
SRI_SM
ack
RESP
MT_FSM
ack

7. SO HOW TO COMPANIES
LIKE NEXMO CONNECT?
(NO WE DON’T HAVE HUGE BANKS OF
HANDSETS!)

8. APPLICATION ORIGINATED
SMSC
HLR
MSC
MS
BSS
SRI_SM
RESP
MT_FSM
ack
submit_sm
deliver_sm
SMPP

9. WHY NEXMO
▸ 0-hop to around 650 Networks (ie 50%) through 49 local direct
connections and 20+ SS7 Carriers
▸ 82 Local Gateways
▸ 100+ Aggregators
▸ Global Outbound Voice supported via Tier 1 connectivity
▸ 30 Phone Number SMS & Voice providers & carriers
▸ 12 Mobile Number Portability Dips
▸ 10 SS7 Carriers for Number Insight

10. OK, ON TO THE FUN STUFF

11. BASIC SMS
▸ 160 characters of Text
▸ Sent in the GSM 7bit alphabet
▸ To a Virtual Mobile Number
HELLO
07520 619 007

12. UNICORNS UNICODE
▸ 140 Bytes
▸ Unicode is 16bit
▸ So only 70 characters per SMS
▸ One unicode char makes whole
message unicode
EMOJI
07520 619 007

13. LONG MESSAGES - CONCATENATION
▸ 6 Octet Overhead
▸ 153 characters per SMS (134
octets)
▸ All messages received at handset
before displayed
▸ Max number of SMS varies, 256 in
theory
LONG
07520 619 007
556 Char
4 SMS

14. FLASH
▸ Message appears full screen
▸ iPhone doesn’t save to inbox
▸ Sender ID may/may not be visible
FLASH
07520 619 007

15. VOICEMAIL
▸ Message Waiting Indicator
▸ Binary SMS that has info in the
User Data Header (UDH)
▸ Sender ID may/may not be visible
VOICEMAIL
07520 619 007

16. CLEAR VOICEMAIL
▸ Just set message count to zero!
CLEAR
07520 619 007

17. REPLACEMENT SMS
▸ Can “overwrite” a previous
message
▸ Set replacement PID on the 1st
message
SHOW
07520 619 007

18. REPLACEMENT SMS
▸ Can “overwrite” a previous
message
▸ Set same PID on the 2nd message
REPLACE
07520 619 007

19. SAM MACHIN
DEVELOPER ADVOCATE
SAM.MACHIN@NEXMO.COM
@SAMMACHIN