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Technical Information

News, tips & advice from FastSMS

Here you will find articles relating to the technical aspects of SMS Text Messaging in general and, in particular, details on the solutions included in the Fastsms platform.

This will include technical specifications of the Short Message Service (SMS). For example how and why it is limited to 160 characters per message; what character sets are supported by SMS services and what other restrictions apply to what is basically a very simple or even primitive technology. Inevitably this will at times delve into the history of mobile communications which goes back many years.

Coverage will also be given of technical issues related to Fastsms, in the main integration issues. So our API’s will feature – there are two versions – the HTTP API and the XML API. Also Email to SMS will be covered, including the integration possible with Microsoft Outlook 2007 and 2010. Technical information on inbound SMS services – Shortcodes and Virtual Reply Numbers – will appear as appropriate.

Much more technical detail can be found in our Fastsms Knowledge Base.

In this new A-Z of SMS Marketing, we explore every aspect of this highly effective and low cost marketing solution. In this infographic we look at the letter A, which stands for API Integration. One of the key features of the Fastsms system is the seamless, out of the box integration it offers with industry leading CRM platforms including WHMCS, SMI, APIANT, Rba, AdaptUX, Itris and Zapier. Take a look at this infographic to learn more.  ...

The great thing about SMS messaging is how simple it is. You just type, click send, and the other person gets the message almost instantly. But there’s more going on in that simplicity than you might realise. Each message has different parts. Let’s look at them individually so you’ll understand everything that goes into your message when you hit “send”.

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When you send an SMS message, do you ever wonder what happens after you hit the Send button? The message goes on a crazy trip, extremely fast, to get to the mobile you were trying to reach. The details of that journey vary a little depending on how you sent the message and the recipient, but most of the messages will travel through at least one SMS gateway to get to their destination. But what exactly is an SMS gateway anyway? In many respects it's as simple as the name implies: a gateway. Various mobile carriers all have their own computer systems and networks. In order for SMS messages to travel between networks, it has to leave one carrier's network and enter into another's gateway where it then is sorted and sent along its way. When you send messages from your mobile, your network takes care of all that sorting for...

At the University of California, San Diego researchers found a security flaw that let them access a car's systems. They demonstrated their findings at Usenix, a security conference held in Washington DC. In the video below you can watch how they send SMS messages to control the Corvette after hacking in using a security vulnerability. The vulnerabilities they found weren't with the...