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How does Twitter do this?

9 points by aitoehigie ↗ HN
I am just curious, how does twitter send "twitts" to users of the service? Do they have an SMS server farm? i.e. computers attached to GPRS modems connected to the web? or do they just buy sms units from whole sellers? if they do so, it must be pretty expensive and do they make any money at all?. If anyone has any info about the inner workings of Twitter, i will love to have it. thanks

10 comments

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socksandsandals
They most likely use an SMS gateway with an HTTP or SMPP API such as one provided by one of the following:

http://www.clickatell.com/SMS_Gateway http://www.celltrust.com/Products/SMS-Gateway/CellTrust-2Way... http://www.smswarehouse.com/

There are a bunch of SMS providers, some US-only, some international. Search for "SMS gateway" to get more deets.

jawngee
I've had some not so good experiences with clickatell. Long delays (upwards of hours) on getting messages out, etc.

Would love any info on US based SMS gateways.

brk
I don't know exactly about the inner workings of Twitter, but whenever I picture it in my mind I imagine a lot of 2nd-rate servers stacked on a table with covers missing and cables snaking around. The lights on the SMC switch from ebay blink frantically while several admins bang feverishly on random keyboards, uttering multi-lingual curses.

Of course, it could be different, but probably not by much.

dazzawazza
It's almost certain that they use an SMS gateway. You can bulk buy messages and get significant discounts. Much cheaper then rolling your own.

I've heard that the delivery can be unreliable on some networks though (friend of a friend who delivers softcore porn at a £1 an image and pays < 5p per message. There's one born every minute as they say!).

josefresco
They check with Arrington first, and then based on his expert recommendations implement the best technology/strategy.

/lame joke

mdasen
So, I don't know a ton about this, but I know that you can send text messages as emails. Usually it's phone_number@specialdomain.com. Like, for T-Mobile USA, I think it's t-zones.com for the domain.

You can ask people what provider they have or just SPAM all the possible suffixes and the wrong ones will simply bounce.

nellie1108
I did that is notthing that I can find I one the t-mobile can go at boost hookt chat room
nellie1108
My friend tell me to go to tzones for me too look for fun talk I can find it that like a chat room