>>That day has come that I always knew was coming. Customer now wants to send updates to customers via Text Message to their cell phones from within my VFP 9 management system. Anyone got any suggestions on how to and what with?
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>The answer was not what I expected but in the end I'm happy.
>1. You need to use an SMS Service if your going to put this in a commercial program. They handle sending it to almost all carriers in the world and every one has it's own URL and some have more than one.. I only need the US right now but...
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>2. It turns out that all you have to do is find the right SMS Service and it's a breeze. I spent two days browsing the offerings of a number of companies, talking with sales people and downloading or ordering (from sales people) a demo.
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>I could not believe the price ranges. The first company called me after I requested a demo on line. They wanted minimum $80 a month, that included 1,600 messages, in order to use their API which, it turns out, is very limited. The 2nd only wanted $25 US a month and eight cents per message with the 1st 312 included in the $25. (.8 * 312 = $24.96) The API was included but (I believe) the price did not include return messages coming back.
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>Then I found http://www.cdyne.com/api/phone/sms/ The price is $9.99 a month plus $1 for the sending phone number. You can purchase more phone number at $1 a month as needed, say to id what department, etc. The cost per message is an astounding 1 CENT A MESSAGE. The API is very well documented with many examples. The price includes return messages and a host of other features.
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>I signed up for the demo package which was simply the LicenseKey that needs to be included on every call to their service. I was able to send a message on my first try.
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>The Downside. Unlike other services that have online management portals, this has none. Or I couldn't find any. You do it all yourself. The service is strictly for programmers, from very large to very small, that want to add messaging to their software.

There are other (free) ways to do this...you can send a text message to a phone via email - assuming you know which provider the phone's connected too.

quick example:
http://sms411.net/how-to-send-email-to-a-phone/