sms messaging without a net?

[Dan Hollis <goemon () anime net>]

Does anyone know of a way to send SMS messages without an internet 
connection?

Having a network monitoring system send sms pages via email very quickly 
runs into chicken-egg scenario. How do you email a page to let the admins 
know their net has gone down. :-P

AT&T shut down their TAP dialup late last year.

The only method that comes to mind is to buy a GSM modem which has SMS 
messaging capability.

Has anyone done this?

-Dan