TweetSG – SMS to Update

This is just an extension of a simple idea of sending updates to a local number. I believe many are concern with how user account and password are handled or potentially misused. In this post, I will cover how to run a rather cheap SMS Gateway system that talks to Twitter but keeps passwords locally on your own machine.

What are needed?

1. GSM Modem: Setup of a cheap USB GSM modem.
2. A mobile line: A cheap way is to use prepaid numbers.
3. Gateway software: A freeware gateway that I have written.

GSM Modem

With the advent of more data networks and coverage, hardware has really gotten really cheap. Not too long ago, I purchased a Sentar ST860U GSM modem off Ebay for less than SGD$50 (inclusive of postage).

GSM USB Modem

You can find more on Ebay with keywords like “GSM USB Modem” but I will be covering only Sentar’s modem since it is found to be working with my software. I am not in anyway affiliated with Sentar, it just happened to be the cheapest I found. Setup is rather straight forward, like installing most hardware in Windows, plug in the CD, device and run setup. I will not cover that here. Assuming you successfully installed the modem, you should see something like these:

Modem in Device Manager

You should find a modem entry in your Device Manager (Control Panel) named as “EDGE ModemU”. Right click and take a look at Properties:

Please note down the port number and speed, you will need it later.

A mobile line

For the modem to run, you obviously need a line. Here in Singapore, it is as cheap as $15 and it is valid for 6 months (after each top-up). Incoming SMS is free for most if not all Telcos here. So naturally I am using such a line as receiver to relay to Twitter system. This approach should run in any country that runs on GSM networks.

Tweet SMS Gateway

Kudos to SMSLib C# (C# version is deprecated) and Eran Sandler for his C# Twitter wrapper. Without these great components, this gateway software will take me a longer time to develop. It uses SMSLib to handle incoming SMS and Twitter wrapper to send updates DIRECTLY to Twitter via the web.

smsgateway

This is a basic gateway that ONLY UPDATES your Twitter status, NO sending of SMS at this moment.

You need Internet connection to run this gateway.

There are two group of settings: modem and Twitter account. Fill the modem settings accordingly. If you are using the Sentar modem, then type in what you see in your own modem properties. Fill your mobile number (excluding the country code digits). This is IMPORTANT as you do not want any incoming SMS message be treated as update message to your Twitter account. The Twitter login name and password are self-explanatory. Click Start. You are all set to Tweet without the need to store any password on 3rd party systems. With slight modifications, it is possible to change this gateway to use services like Ping.fm to update multiple social networks. Stay tune!

– I am not liable for any damages that may arise from this piece of software in any way –

Download here You need at least Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework to run this gateway.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 9:28 pm and is filed under Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.