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...