• A Windows desktop or laptop computer
• A text message plan from a mobile phone company like AT&T
• GSM SMS modem or a smart mobile phone

It's easy. BroadcastBySMS includes a built-in Message Designer that enables you to easily create personalized messages that, for example, make references to individual recipients' names, companies, titles or whatever personalization you prefer. Click on the program BroadcastBySMS -> Help -> Product Walkthrough... for detailed information about creating customized or interactive messages.

• Download and install BroadcastBySMS software
• Take out your mobile phone's SIM card and insert it into the GSM modem.
• Plug the modem into your computer's USB port.
• Specify the COM port used by the modem for Voicent Gateway. You only need to do this once.
• Load you phone list and click the send button.

It depends on your phone. The requirement is that the phone supports the following SMS standard: GSM 07.05 Phase 2. To test your cell phone, connect your cell phone to your computer, usually through a USB cable. Please check with your cell phone user manual for more details. You may need to install your cell phone driver. Second, you may use Windows HyperTerminal to test your cell phone by using the following AT command: ‘AT+CSMS’. Please check with your cell phone manual or online AT command reference for more details. Many of the Nokia GSM phones are known to work with SMS software.

Even though the software is capable of sending a text message in a few seconds, your text message plan usually does not allow you to send out that many messages. Be aware, consumer brand unlimited text messaging plans are not really unlimited and can incur throttling. Each phone service provider has a different limit and the actual limit is not published (We have customers report the number is ~500 daily). In order to send more messages, you need multiple GSM modems and SIM cards.

You can purchase multiple channels of our SMS software and multiple modems (each with its own SIM card and text message plan).

Any GSM based cell phone service. In the US, AT&T is the preferred provider.

The key feature is interactive text messaging. This capability, along with the message customization feature, allows the software to process text responses automatically. In addition, by using Voicent IVR Studio, you can set up inbound text message applications. For example, you can setup the system to send text information about product A when receiving incoming text '123' and send text information about product B for incoming text '345'. The second special feature is that Voicent text software does not require you to sign up with a SMS center. The software uses your own text plan from a cell phone company. It is the same as you sending out text messages from your cell phone.

Yes, but because of the personal nature of cell phones (and the fact that many people must pay for or have limited allotments of text messages) marketers should use this technology the same way they use fax and email technology--through opt-in programs in which recipients specifically ask to receive messages in that format.