Text message to execute server-side script

Question

There seems to be some information on sending text messages from a server to a phone, but I couldn't find much information on using a text message from a phone to execute a server script such as PHP. Is this possible to do (assuming the phone is not connected to the internet)?

Answer 1

Disclaimer, I do developer evangelism part time at Nexmo.

Here's a few APIs you could use:

• Nexmo
• Twilio
• Tropo

For the most part, they operate the same for your use case - when an SMS is received, they make a HTTP call to a predefined URL (the URL of your PHP script).

Since you're doing only inbound SMS, it's worth noting that Nexmo allows unlimited incoming message with a virtual numbers (the virtual number costs ~$1/month).

Answer 2

I believe most phone carriers allow sending email by texting. Instead of typing in the phone number you just type in an email address. I would start down that path rather than using a gateway.

Answer 3

You need a gateway, like Twilio for this. I'd check them out, they're easy to use and don't cost much (and no I'm not affiliated with them in anyway). You can try them out for free and their documentation is pretty good.