Short Message Service Center

An SMSC stands for short message service center. It is a network element in mobile network which is responsible for transfer of text messages from sender to receiver. When the user sends text message to another user, at first the message is stored in SMSC and then delivers to destination user when they are available. We can set the validity period of every SMS in SMSC. Each and every handset of SMSC has the facility to configure validity of message. We can specify short time limit for storing message in SMSC if we want. When the time is expiry the message won’t save in SMSC. SMPP protocol is used in short message service center to support wireless network. To establish two-way SMS traffic, short message service center used an aggregator model known as SMSC Gateway.

SMSC Gateway:

                                      

SMSC Gateway is interface between mobile networks in telecommunications for sending and receiving text messages over the mobile networks. Many SMSC gateways support media conversion from email and other formats. We can also send and receive text messages from email, web pages and some software applications with the help of a device known as direct-to-SMSC gateway. SMPP protocol coverts the message format in to a format understood by the SMSC. By using this device we can send and receive text messages in bulk.

What is USSD in telecom?

Most of the people don’t know about USSD. In Telecom, USSD is nothing but a protocol used in GSM mobile phones for communicating with service provider’s PC. USSD stands for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data which can be used in WAP browsing, independent callback services, balance checking, local menu-based content services etc. It is a message which is similar to short message service (SMS) consists of 182 alphanumeric characters in length. But USSD is more responsive than the services that used in SMS. USSD Message is a flash message which don’t store in phone and expires after 20 sec. So reply will accept before the expiry time of message. You can also access real-time updates from social networking sites like face book, twitter and LinkedIn. These USSD messages can be pushed through USSD Gateway.

USSD Gateway:  

USSD Gateway is known as electrical switch which controls several different protocols or communications signals and routed based upon several different parameters. It routes USSD messages from the signaling network to service applications and vice versa. For using this gateway we have know what session is going on. It also locates where the mobile station is currently. The functionality of USSD is well available on roaming networks and the messages will be routed back to home HLR. It works in two modes i.e., pull and push modes.