Questions About SMS Services - GoFuckYourself.com

rachelle · 10-11-2006, 08:15 AM

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone on here could possibly help me with a few questions I have about starting up a text message chat service that would include picture messaging as well. A good friend of mine has already written up the majority of the programming, and now I have to find out just how I'm going to get this off the ground.

First and foremost, billing. For each text message sent from my program, I'd like to charge somewhere in the range of 50 cents to $1, and probably $2 for each picture message. I don't want to rely on credit card billing, as that will probably turn away a lot of potential customers. What I'd really like to do is be able to directly bill their mobile account, just like how the existing chat/ringtone services do. I've searched around on the web a bit and haven't been able to find very much out about how they do this. I'd like to try and involve as few "middle man" companies as possible, but if it isn't, are there any out there that will bill their accounts at a reasonable price to me?

Second question is about advertising. What I'm doing is one of those "text 'flirt' to 55555" things, but that caters to a variety of niche markets, which could include BDSM, gay/lesbian, fetishes, etc. Ultimately, I'd like to have a T.V. commercial, and I've seen things from Comcast offering commercial slots to small businesses. I'm just not sure where I would get something like this shot, the models I think I could find pretty easily.

I think that covers just about everything for now, but if anyone sees any holes in my idea, please tell me!

Thank you!

Dynamix · 10-11-2006, 08:27 AM

Found this while searching:

Quote:

You need to connect to an SMS aggregator.

The best are mblox.com, mobile365.com > if US then simplewire.com is also good. Shortcodes in the US are NOT cheap...www.usshortcodes.com ... you apply here but you need to connect to one of the aggregators to use it. Some aggregators will do the process for you which is a good thing!. Shortcodes in Europe are a lot cheaper and easier to get setup.

You can then send SMS inbound / outbound via various interfaces using as XML, HTTP or the preferred route of SMPP

Shout if you need some more info. SMS Consultant (Worldwide)

As far as the TV spot find someone in your area with knowledge in video editing software and who has a good camera.. I imagine if you browsed YouTube a bit you could find someone willing to shoot and produce the entire thing for a couple of bucks. It will definately be cheaper than studio time and fees from a major cable company.

Best of luck to you!

rachelle · 10-11-2006, 11:23 AM

Thank you, Dynamix!

So let me get this straight. First off, I will need to lease a CSC through usshortcodes. After that, I take my shortcode number to an aggregator, who already has a relationship with the mobile service providers (Verizon, Sprint, etc.) and will enable my shortcode to recieve messages. MBlox is the one I'm most interested in right now, and also does billing which is great.

So let me get this straight. My program essentially consists of keywords in the customer's input being matched up with a certain response or image from a pre-entered stock of responses and images. I'm fairly certain it's written in PHP. The aggregator will take this program that I'm assuming I will submit to them, route messages sent to my CSC to this program to be responded to and sent back to the customer? Not only that, but it will also charge the customer's mobile account whilst posting the profit to my account with the aggregator?

Thank you again for your help!

10-11-2006, 08:15 AM	#1
rachelle Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2	Questions About SMS Services Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone on here could possibly help me with a few questions I have about starting up a text message chat service that would include picture messaging as well. A good friend of mine has already written up the majority of the programming, and now I have to find out just how I'm going to get this off the ground. First and foremost, billing. For each text message sent from my program, I'd like to charge somewhere in the range of 50 cents to $1, and probably $2 for each picture message. I don't want to rely on credit card billing, as that will probably turn away a lot of potential customers. What I'd really like to do is be able to directly bill their mobile account, just like how the existing chat/ringtone services do. I've searched around on the web a bit and haven't been able to find very much out about how they do this. I'd like to try and involve as few "middle man" companies as possible, but if it isn't, are there any out there that will bill their accounts at a reasonable price to me? Second question is about advertising. What I'm doing is one of those "text 'flirt' to 55555" things, but that caters to a variety of niche markets, which could include BDSM, gay/lesbian, fetishes, etc. Ultimately, I'd like to have a T.V. commercial, and I've seen things from Comcast offering commercial slots to small businesses. I'm just not sure where I would get something like this shot, the models I think I could find pretty easily. I think that covers just about everything for now, but if anyone sees any holes in my idea, please tell me! Thank you!

10-11-2006, 11:23 AM	#3
rachelle Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2	Thank you, Dynamix! So let me get this straight. First off, I will need to lease a CSC through usshortcodes. After that, I take my shortcode number to an aggregator, who already has a relationship with the mobile service providers (Verizon, Sprint, etc.) and will enable my shortcode to recieve messages. MBlox is the one I'm most interested in right now, and also does billing which is great. So let me get this straight. My program essentially consists of keywords in the customer's input being matched up with a certain response or image from a pre-entered stock of responses and images. I'm fairly certain it's written in PHP. The aggregator will take this program that I'm assuming I will submit to them, route messages sent to my CSC to this program to be responded to and sent back to the customer? Not only that, but it will also charge the customer's mobile account whilst posting the profit to my account with the aggregator? Thank you again for your help!