diff --git a/examples/sms_as_args.php b/examples/sms_as_args.php
index e27bbc8..46e76cd 100644
--- a/examples/sms_as_args.php
+++ b/examples/sms_as_args.php
@@ -10,46 +10,69 @@
 // the class is required...
 require ("../cellsyntClass.php");
 
-// check if user entered two arguments
-if (!isset($argv[1]) || !isset($argv[2])) 
-{
-    print "Usage: $argv[0] <phone nr> <'quoted text message'>\n";
-    exit(1);
-}
+// username and password information for the Cellsynt account and 
+// the sender/originator
+$username = "myuser";
+$password = "sEcReT";
+$sender = "From CLI";
 
-// put arguments into "real" variables for readability
+// run a sanity check
+sanitycheck();
+
+// if we got past the sanity checks above, instantiate the class
+$cliSMS = new Cellsynt($username, $password, "alpha", $sender);
+
+// put the arguments into variables for readability
 $phone = $argv[1];
 $message = $argv[2];
 
-// check if the phone number looks valid
-if (!preg_match("/\d{7,16}/", $phone))
-{
-    print "That dosen't look like a valid phone number\n";
-    exit(1);
-}
-
-// instatiate the class
-$cliSMS = new Cellsynt("myuser", "sEcReT", "alpha", "From CLI");
 // call the sendSMS function with the phone number and message
 $status = $cliSMS->sendSMS($phone, $message);
 
-// check for an OK message at the start of the line, in that case everything
-// was fine
-if (preg_match("/^OK/", $status))
-{
-    print "Message was sent successfully. Status message reads:\n";
-    print $status . "\n";
-    exit(0);
-}
-// if there were no OK message, something didn't work
-else
-{
-    print "Something didn't work out as expected. Status message reads:\n";
-    print $status . "\n";
-    exit(1);
-}
+// check the status of the message and print the result
+checkstatus();
 
 // if we got to down here, something was wrong, exit with status code 1
 exit(1);
 
+
+function checkstatus()
+{
+    global $status;
+    // check for an OK message at the start of the line, in that case everything
+    // was fine
+    if (preg_match("/^OK/", $status))
+    {
+        print "Message was sent successfully. Status message reads:\n";
+        print $status . "\n";
+        exit(0);
+    }
+    // if there were no OK message, something didn't work
+    else
+    {
+        print "Something didn't work out as expected. Status message reads:\n";
+        print $status . "\n";
+        exit(1);
+    }
+
+}
+
+function sanitycheck()
+{
+    global $argv;
+    // check if user entered two arguments
+    if (!isset($argv[1]) || !isset($argv[2])) 
+    {
+        print "Usage: $argv[0] <phone nr> <'quoted text message'>\n";
+        exit(1);
+    }
+
+    // check if the phone number looks valid
+    if (!preg_match("/\d{7,16}/", $argv[1]))
+    {
+        print "That dosen't look like a valid phone number\n";
+        exit(1);
+    }
+}
+
 ?>