Johnnie Norsworthy used his keyboard to write :
>
> Thanks for the details. I understand that the "base" will not need to be a
> cell phone. The mobile will be a laptop attached to a cell phone (or similar
> hardware) to send/receive messages.
>
> What hardware is needed on the mobile side? Does it depend on the cellular
> provider - is that the primary factor? For what type of hardware should I ask
> available providers? An of course if there an API that Delphi can use to send
> in real-time and be notified when a message is received in real-time?
In the mobile side you need a cell phone that has and provides an API
to talk to the phone through either COM or USB ports. I know that most
phones provide something like this and there is a set of components
that talk to Nokia phones made for delphi I can't remember at the
moment the component set or the author of the it. I'll have to dig it
up from my archives at home tonight. As for the realtime part the last
time I checked this there was a delay up to half a minute from the
moment the phone received the SMS (tone played) and the software
accessing it. It all depends on the Phone manuifacturer and what it has
coded in the SDK you will use.
> I know it is dependent on the provider, but with this setup what is the
> general cost per message sent/received by the mobile device? I will be
> transmitting basically small changed records as plain text.
I think that you have a double cost here, one is the cost for a single
SMS charged by the provider to the Cell phone user and the other is the
cost that the provider charges the Gateway to be able to receive
messages through their network. Most SMS gateways have a price list
with how much the cost is for each provider you have to look at it.
Regards
Yannis.
