Landlinesms.com - UK fixed line SMS service

Link: Don’t Shoot the SMS Messenger.

Fixed Line SMS involves no contract or subscription, it is charged by the telephony provider just like any other call. The cost per message is similar to the minimum charge for a voice call. Fixed Line SMS also offers the ability for a company to receive messages from a mobile phone without the use of a short code. Radio Stations and Estate Agents find this particularly beneficial.

This is quite interesting. Landlinesms.com will supply you an SMS modem to plug into your phone line which allows you to receive text messages — but from what I gather, it allows you to call the line too. That’s rather useful. They’ve integrated it for a radio station thus:

As Simon Brierley from UK Radio Station 107 The Bee stated ‘When setting up our texting solution, I was keen to avoid the long speech for the presenter. 11 digit numbers don’t make good radio, but neither do the ‘start your message with’ and ‘calls cost xxx plus your standard operator charge’ messages that come with a short code option. With Fixed Line SMS it’s just ‘call or text’ the same number – simple for the listener and the presenter”

More information from Paul Worsley at NTS Telecom or www.landlinesms.com.

Update: I’ve just been talking with Paul and he’s advised me that Landline SMS is not just restricted to the UK, it is available in Europe, Asia, and Australia/NZ. That’s fantastic! He also points out:

You are correct that you can also call the modem, it will recognise that the call is from your operators SMS Server. This avoids you getting the text as speech.

I’d never thought of that! Smart!