What can you use to get an application to be able to receive SMS message?

Question

• Do you need to use some kind of provider?
• Can you setup your own SMS server?
• Does any open source solutions exist?

I am an SMS newbie so

Answer 1

You actually don't need an SMS gateway; nearly every cell phone can send/receive SMS messages to/from any email address. I built an SMS service (http://www.txtreg.net) using Nearly Free Speech's ability to forward email to a URL as a POST request. User sends a text to an email address, PHP script processes it, and sends an email right back to their phone.