remotely controlling devices using microcontroller

hey guys ....i have planned to start a project to remotely control devices(simply turning on/off after some point ) .i planned to do it using sms based alert to the user via gsm module. my doubt is how to interface the gsm module to the microcontroller in the control circuit attached to the device(to be controlled)...The whole project is PC INDEPENDENT
thanks in advance !!!!PLEASE HELP

which gsm module you are going to use? is it AT command based?

after a lot of browsing on the net i decided to use a mobile phone(mostly ericsson)as a gsm modem instead of gsm module....it is based on AT COMMANDS

good.. so all you need is a mobile phone.. and the AT command manual which you can download from Sony Ericsson's developer website...
its really easy to do things with AT Commands. so just select a mobile phone with Serial interface.. connect the phone to your PC and open hyper terminal..
type "AT" + enter
you will get a reply "OK" from your phone. once this is fine.. you are ready to make your project.

is it possible to interface any sony ericsson phone that replies "OK" to interface with the microcontroller .....and just how to interface the phone to the micro...
is two way communication possible that is is it possible to program the micro to communicate to the user....
the project is control based so for example if i want to control a temperature sensor i would want the system to send a message to the user(alert) when the temp reaches a certain value....is this possible!!!!

yes everything is possible..
but first you need to find the right phone.. which supports AT commands and has a serial interface... then you can do as you want

which phone do you suggest...that is which would be less problematic for a newbie
......and the serial interface you told about -is it the data cable provided the phones manufacturer or some other connecter needed to interface the phone with the microcontroller???

the datacable should have a serial interface.. so that we can directly connect it to microcontroller.

also choose a mobile phone which supports " Text mode",coz PDU mode is not easy to work with. u can check it by entering command in hyper terminal
AT+CMGF=1<enter>
if u get OK then it means text mode is supported elseif u get ERROR then text mode not supported :-|

there are two ways to handle PDU mode..
either make a predefined text message strings and then compare when you receive them.. this is also the best method
second is.. implement PDU format handler.. this need sometimes more ram.. This method is not difficult but is not recommended

@abbas..
you have already used a Sony Ericsson's mobile phone.. you can recommend him a handset to be used..