Multitech EThernet GPRS modem with NOWSMS

Multitech EThernet GPRS modem with NOWSMS SearchSearch
Author Message
Kamy
New member
Username: Kamy

Post Number: 1
Registered: 06-2007
Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 05:15 pm:   

Dear Sir,
I'm new to NOWSMS, I want to know is it possible to use Multitech Ethernet GPRS modem (MTCBA-G-EN-F1) with NOWSMS?
The modem is installed on my local network (attached to router directly) and I've access through telnet to send AT command.

Please advise,
Thank you
Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support
Board Administrator
Username: Bryce

Post Number: 7318
Registered: 10-2002
Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 06:09 pm:   

Hi Kamy,

Yes, it can be used for sending/receiving SMS. MMS functionality is not supported for that configuration.

There are some other threads that discuss this modem, but I'll run down the basics here.

First, you need NowSMS v2007.02.14 or later in order for this functionality to work well. We just released v2007.06.27 this week as the current download, so if you have an earlier version, I'd suggest grabbing a fresh download to this updated version.

Because this is an uncommon configuration, currently it is necessary to manually define this modem in the SMSGW.INI file.

The key entries are this:

[SMSGW]
Modem1=IPModem - 192.168.101.86:5000

[IPModem - 192.168.101.86:5000]
Username=admin
Password=admin
ReceiveSMS=Yes
ReceiveTo=Direct

The "Modem1" (or "Modem2", "Modem3", etc. if you have multiple modems) setting defines the modem. It should be set to "IPModem - ip.address:port", where ip.address is the IP Address of the modem, and port is the port for the modem interface.

For each modem, there is a corresponding section header in the SMSGW.INI file that contains settings specific to that modem. The section header should match a "Modem1=" defintion in the [SMSGW] section. For example, [IPModem - ip.address:port]

The Username and Password settings define a username and password to login to the modem if authentication is enabled on the modem.

The other settings that I provided above can be set via the NowSMS configuration UI, but you might as well define them manually as they are recommended settings for this modem.

Note that there do seem to be some problems with the modem. Multitech recommended to another customer that you configure the modem to use "raw" mode instead of "telnet" mode (configured via the web interface of the modem), and that authentication be disabled for this interface (for some reason, authentication works fine in "telnet" mode, but not it "raw" mode). If you have disabled authentication for the modem, remove the "Username=" and "Password=" settings from SMSGW.INI.

If you use "telnet" mode with authentication, you may notice that sometimes the modem may become unresponsive if NowSMS loses its connection to the modem and needs to reconnect. Often this problem resolves itself within about 15 minutes. However, other times it has been observed that the modem must be power cycled to recover. These problems have not been observed if "raw" mode is used without user authentication. From our perspective, these appear to be problems with the modem which might be corrected by updated firmware from the manufacturer. The modem does seem to be more stable in "raw" mode.

Also, note that if you are having problems making the initial connection to the modem with NowSMS, it can be somewhat difficult to troubleshoot, since this configuration is not fully supported in the configuration user interface. I suggest enabling the SMSDEBUG.LOG (checkbox on "Serial #" page of the configuration dialog), and try to resolve initial connectivity problems by studying this log.

-bn