I think the hosting company would have to have a special device connected to the server. I work at a hospital and we can send pages from a website. I don't know how it works though.

If you search for 'sms api' or 'send sms from website', etc, there are several companies that offer this service.

However, they do all seem to charge for the privilege. Sending a message across a cellphone network costs money, so you're unlikely to find a completely free, reliable (and legal!) way to send sms'.

Whether or not their API is open source or not, I'm not sure...

Most if not all carriers maintain an Internet gateway. For example, Verizon's is vtext.com. Simply send an email to <number>@vtext.com.

The problem is, you need to know the carrier. If this is just for one country, it would be reasonable to have users drop-down their carrier from a list.

If you want your own SMS number, and/or want somebody else to handle the gatewaying issue (for example, you want to be able to send messages world-wide, and don't want to bother with maintaining the data, and don't want to bother your users with selecting their carrier) you'll need to use a commercial gateway service.

The Wikipedia article on "SMS gateways" is a good starting-point. It has a list of U.S. SMS email gateways, and links to some commercial gateway services.

check out:

[clickatell.com...]

I think there is a way to do this by physically connecting a dedicated cell phone to a computer and using the phones software/sim card.

Actually, I think people sell special computer peripheral devices that act as the phone in these instances also.

Yes but that's local to the computer and not the server! I mean it's so much cheaper to use a service! I've got a site that sends text messages etc... and it only cost me 3p per text!

What does SMS refer to? I looked on widipedia with no luck.

Short Message Service: [en.wikipedia.org...]

Most cellphones have Bluetooth nowadays. You could send webpage information via bluetooth. This may only work on IE at the moment though.

[crunchgear.com ]

Ohh, looks like a new form of, yes you guessed it, SPYWARE! Installing something that works with IE (sounds good, not) and then uses bluetooth to talk with your mobile (sounds better, not), that sounds safe!

It would only be spyware if you wanted it to be. Personally I'd write a useful application that differentiated my site from others.

It wouldn't cost money because it can be sent as email messages. The key is assigning the number to the correct network to get the proper email format. It'd at least be viable for US directed sites.

It'd be awesome to have some form of open source/gpl script text message reminder service, "Send me a text message reminder", something like e-reminders [sourceforge.net...]

Most cellphones have Bluetooth nowadays. You could send webpage information via bluetooth.

Yea, but the users would have to be within 30 feet of your server.

I guess you could install a drive-through window. ;)