What is a websocket
A websocket is a communication protocol that keeps one connection open between a client – a browser, an app, whatever’s talking to a server – and the server itself, so both sides can send data whenever they want, not just when one of them asks first. That’s different from plain HTTP, where the client has to ask before the server can answer, and different from a webhook, which fires once when something happens and then closes. Websockets are why a chat message shows up instantly, a sports score updates itself, or a live dashboard ticks in real time without you refreshing the page.
How does a websocket work
It starts out as a normal HTTP request. Your browser sends a request with an Upgrade: websocket header, essentially asking the server to switch protocols instead of just answering and closing the connection. If the server agrees, it sends back a handshake confirmation, and from that point the same connection stays open and switches from HTTP to the WebSocket protocol – you’ll see it written as ws:// or, encrypted, wss://. After that handshake, there’s no more request-response back and forth. Either side, client or server, can send a message whenever it wants, as a small frame of data, without re-sending headers, cookies or auth tokens each time. The connection just stays alive, usually with small ping and pong messages keeping it from timing out, until either side closes it. That’s what makes it fast – no repeated connection setup, no polling every few seconds to check for updates. The data just arrives the moment it’s ready.
How OneXtel helps with real-time updates
OneXtel’s own API – called Aura, documented at docs.onextel.com – is a standard REST API, not a WebSocket or streaming one. You send a request (send this SMS, trigger this WhatsApp message, fire this OTP) and you get a response back. There’s no persistent socket to hold open, and that’s a deliberate, honest thing to say upfront rather than dress it up as something it’s not. Where OneXtel does give you something real-time is delivery status. Once you send a message through Aura – a DLT-registered transactional SMS, a WhatsApp template, an OTP over voice or email – the delivery report comes back as a webhook callback to a URL you configure, fired the moment the carrier confirms the status, not on a timer and not something you have to poll for. It’s a different mechanism than a websocket – an HTTP push instead of a live two-way connection – but for tracking whether a message actually landed, it gets you the same real-time outcome without needing to manage an open connection at all.
Why it matters
Picking the right connection type matters for cost and reliability, not just speed. Websockets make sense when both sides need to talk constantly – a live chat app, a multiplayer game, a stock ticker – because holding a socket open avoids a fresh HTTP request every time something changes. But holding millions of sockets open is expensive to run and fragile on mobile networks, where connections drop every time a phone switches from wifi to cellular. For message delivery status, that trade-off doesn’t make sense – the event happens once, and a webhook firing once, reliably, does the job with far less infrastructure to maintain. Knowing the difference helps you architect things properly: build the chat feature on websockets, but don’t assume every real-time-sounding integration needs one. A lot of what feels like ‘real time’ – OTP delivery, order updates, payment confirmations – works perfectly well over REST and webhooks, the model most CPaaS platforms, OneXtel included, are actually built on.