SMS gateway
We make it easy for people and companies to send text messages between applications and mobile devices.
What is an SMS gateway?
An SMS gateway enables communication between the telecommunication network and other networks (e.g. the internet), which means that your computer or application that's connected to the internet can send a text message to your phone that's connected to the telecommunication network. And vice versa.
Why should I use an SMS gateway?
Here are examples of what you could do with an SMS gateway:
After making an online order, you can get the confirmation sent as a text message to your phone.
If you are building your two-factor authentication service, you can send the code as a text message to the user's phone.
Are you tired after a long day at work? Send a text message to your smart-home system and have the coffee ready when you get home.
How does an SMS gateway work?
An SMS gateway connects multiple cellular carriers to ensure that text messages can be sent to as many recipients as possible. These connections are the critical component in a gateway.
The SMS gateway knows which message to send to which carrier based on the recipient's phone number. In this context, a carrier is called SMSC (Short Message Service Center), and the protocol used to send the text messages is called SMPP (Short Message Peer-to-Peer).
You don't need to know or understand terms like this when you use an SMS gateway provider.
SMS gateway provider
Setting up your own SMS gateway can be tricky since it requires technical knowledge of the SMPP protocol and carrier connections, amongst other things. That's why some SMS gateway providers have already built an infrastructure you can use.
46elks provides a stable infrastructure so that you can focus on the things you do best, i.e. build intelligent solutions that utilise SMS functionality. After that, we take care of the rest.
We make it easy for people and companies to send text messages via our SMS API. We have a transparent pricing plan with no hidden fees, and you will only pay for what you use. As the icing on the cake, we have made it easy for you to get started without the need to talk to a salesperson.
How do I send SMS with an API?
With these simple steps you'll be up and running in no time and ready to send text messages:
Create a 46elks account.
Get your API credentials.
Copy the code snippet below and change
<api_username>and<api_password>to your API keys. Also change+46700000000to your own phone number.Paste the code into your terminal and press enter. You should now have received a text message on your phone 👏🏾.
You don't have cURL installed? – No worries. We have code examples in multiple programming languages. Here are guides for C#, node.js, PHP, Python and Ruby.
How do I receive SMS with an SMS API?
Receiving SMS with 46elks is just as easy as sending an SMS. Below is an example using PHP:
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The following code snippet listens to incoming calls (incoming SMS). Place the code on your server, for example, under /sms.
Get a virtual number that people can send SMS to.
Configure the SMS URL(webhook) for your virtual number by setting it to
http://your-domain.com/sms.
Done! When someone sends an SMS to your virtual number, your script can do whatever you want with the received message, and the sender will then receive an SMS back with the text "Thank you for your message!".
More information on how to receive SMS is available in the documentation.
Do you need help?
Get in touch with our support. We'll help you get started and answer your questions 😊.
