rob.nicholson@nospam_informed-direct.com declared for all the world to
hear...
> I'm working on an application where it may be useful to support SMS text
> messaging, e.g. send a text message with some keywords and get a text
> message back with some information.
>
> I'd like to demonstrate the idea as a proof of concept and as this is for a
> primarily non-profit organisation, I'd end up paying for the initial tests
> myself.
>
> Therefore, signing up to the big text message services doesn't make
> financial sense. I know that some mobiles can be connected via USB/serial to
> a PC and ATI commands used to send/receive text messages.
>
> What I don't know is what's the cheapest model that would be suitable for
> this and whether I can use a PAYG tariff.

The tariff is not relevant, if you go PAYG you just need to make sure
there's enough credit on the phone to allow SMS sending.

Sonyericsson phones have good support for AT commands. I would suggest a
K750i or K700i if you can still find one, both will be fairly cheap and
have bluetooth, USB and infrared connectivity.

There are also several bits of software which will send SMS through the
phone for you using a PC, for example floats mobile agent (google).
--
Regards
Jon