Fair point, and yes I already have a PC application that communicates directly to the modem and issues commands and buffers and processes incoming SMS messages. The problem is that if the PC goes down the messages are burned out as the modem has minimal buffer capability. Anyway this is a secondary purpose, i was really only trying to interface the arduino to the modem to create a standalone project, not pc connected. Also i have an SD data logger shield with RTC I plan on using to store messages.
Would something like this be what I need?
How easy is this to set up do you think?