We all are familiar with the short code business because its been all over the media. We saw the TV 2.0 revolution with short codes. Even though an SMS would cost 3 Rs, millions of premium SMSs flowed through carried carrier networks when reality shows became popular. But still, majority kept themselves away from this, just because of cost of sending a message. 3Rs for GSM networks, 2 RS for CDMA networks and 1Rs for BSNL. But...

Voice SMS seems like Old wine in New bottle. Voice SMS Services launched by various companies are almost similar to voice mail, just that the packaging if different. The voice message from the user is recorded via the normal calling handling mechanism, and an alert is provided to the recipient. The recipient is gets a playback of the message when he responds to the alert. Sounds very similar to voice mail. Some providers use IVR...

Finally the picture is mine. Took me 30 mins. BTS – Base Transceiver Station (Antenna) BSC – Base Station Controller MSC – Mobile Switching center HLR- Home Location Register VLR – Visitor Location Register SMSC – Short Message Service Center When a user sends an SMS, the request is placed via the MSC. The MSC forwards the SMS to the SMSC where it gets stored. The SMSC queries the HLR to find out...

Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) is a GSM service that allows high speed interactive communication between the subscribers and applications across a GSM Network. A sample USSD service is the bill status service accessed by dialing *141# or similar numbers in between * and #. USSD applications can be thought of as an IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) with out voice. Some of the USSD applications that we use...