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NowSMS Support Forums ⬆ NowSMS Support - SMS Issues ⬆ Archive through December 09, 2003 ⬆ |
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| Author | Message | |||
| Toma Lam New member Username: Toma Post Number: 1 Registered: 11-2003 |
Hello, I'm new to this and am trying to understand the differences between SMS and MMS. Since MMS is used to deliver multimedia messages, how come ringtones can be delivered via SMS? Thanks in advance for helping me. Toma | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support Board Administrator Username: Bryce Post Number: 1230 Registered: 10-2002 |
Hi Toma, Keep in mind that MMS is relatively new technology. It was just over a year ago that the first handsets supporting MMS were released. Prior to the release of MMS technology, people were already sending out ring tones and simple logos via SMS. You just have to realise the limits that exist in SMS. Essentially each SMS message has a limit of 160 text characters, or 140 bytes of binary data. Techniques were developed to allow multiple SMS messages to be sent out and then combined by the receiver so that larger amounts of data can be transferred ... but we're still talking about relatively small sizes. That doesn't give much room for sound or image data. While simple monophonic ring tones can be encoded in a small size, with colour images, it's pretty tough. That's why the images/logos that are sent by SMS are basically black-and-white. MMS was designed, in large part, to facilitate the transfer of larger and more complex multimedia objects. -bn | |||
| Toma New member Username: Toma Post Number: 2 Registered: 11-2003 |
Bryce, I see, thanks for the explanation. Much appreciated. | |||
| Toma New member Username: Toma Post Number: 3 Registered: 11-2003 |
I've got another question here, hope you guys can shed some light. I've been going through all the messages on the board, and it'd be easier to understand them all if I got all the components (servers) down. Basically, my question is for sending SMS or MMS messages, what servers does it go through to get the message to the mobile phone? And what if it requires a push message? (I hear stuff like MMSC Server, MMS Gateway, WAP Gateway, APN, Push Proxy Gateway, just wondering how they fit). Or a link to a place where I can read this info is cool too. I guess it's a pretty basic question for you guys, hope you don't mind. Thanks. Ooh, day before Thanksgiving. For all those celebrating this holiday, have a good one! Eat up! Toma | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support Board Administrator Username: Bryce Post Number: 1253 Registered: 10-2002 |
Toma, Most of those terms have some relationship to MMS, not SMS. MMS message delivery uses a combination of SMS and WAP technology. And actually the SMS part of that equation is related to use of the WAP protocol over SMS. I'll attempt to explain and tie in those particular terms ... MMS message delivery to a mobile phone is a two-step process. The delivery begins with an MMS notification message being sent to the mobile phone. The MMS notification is data that is sent out encapsulated in a WAP push message. WAP push messages are conventionally sent over SMS in today's networks. To send out a WAP push message, you might do it by sending the push through a WAP Push Proxy Gateway (PPG). Or the push message can be encoded directly and sent out over SMS. Basically, the concept of a PPG never really caught on, because, at least in the GSM environment, it is easier to send out the WAP push directly. Anyway, back to this MMS notification message. The MMS notification message is small in size, usually it fits in one or two SMS messages. It includes a URL pointer that the receiving device must fetch (usually over WAP) in order to receive the actual content of the MMS message. In order to fetch this MMS message content, the phone generally makes a GPRS connection. In the GPRS world, it connects to a node on the GPRS network that provides a connection into the IP network. There is a name assigned to this node, and it is known as the Access Point Name (APN). Generally, once connected to GPRS, the phone downloads the MMS message content using WAP protocols. A WAP Gateway is a specialised proxy server. It works much like an HTTP proxy server, except in this case it needs to perform some protocols conversions. Mobile phones issue requests using the WAP protocols (most of these requests are binary encoded HTTP requests send over UDP protocols instead of TCP) ... and the WAP gateway converts and proxies these requests to HTTP content servers. When a device sends an MMS message, it makes a GRPS connection and posts the MMS message content to an MMSC message server. The MMSC then handles further routing and delivery of the message. I guess the only piece that I haven't really included in this description is "MMS Gateway". I don't think there's really a formal definition for that. When we use this term, we think of an SMS or MMS gateway as being technology for connecting to an SMSC or MMSC ... where the SMSC or MMSC handles the actual physical over-the-air delivery to the end recipient. | |||
| Toma New member Username: Toma Post Number: 6 Registered: 11-2003 |
Bryce, You're the man! The notification or push message sent over SMS, does this mean the MMSC or PPG servers generates an SMS message that is sent to the SMSC server which relays it to the cell phone? Basically I'm asking 1. Whether the SMSC server is always needed when an SMS message is sent or received? (I hear the sent over SMS alot, wondering if it always involves an SMSC server) 2. If the MSMC server sends a notification message using PPG, is it built into the MSMC or does the MSMC generate and send the message to a PPG server? Thanks! This place is better than reading all the books out there. I'd like to download the trial version of the NowSMS soon so I can try it out. Toma | |||
| Toma New member Username: Toma Post Number: 7 Registered: 11-2003 |
One more thing on my mind in regards to these pieces, along with the two questions above, 3. The WAP Gateway, does the cell phone always pass requests through this gateway to reach the SMSC or MMSC or web servers? And the other way around, do SMSC, MMSC or web servers always send data to the cell phone through the WAP Gateway? Thanks! This piece bugs me. | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support Board Administrator Username: Bryce Post Number: 1264 Registered: 10-2002 |
An actual SMSC has direct access to an operator network via the SS7 protocol. It requires roaming access (over SS7) to other operator networks in order to be able to deliver SMS to the other networks. When you submit an SMS message to an SMS service provider, often you are not submitting directly to an SMSC, but going through a chain of aggregators before you get to the SMSC that ultimately delivers the message. If you are using a GSM modem, you are using that modem to submit a message through the operator SMSC. An MMSC might send its notification via a PPG, or it might incorporate PPG functionality and send it directly over SMS.
It can happen either way. In NowSMS, the default behaviour is for this bit of PPG functionality to be built into the MMSC. However, the bit of PPG functionality that is built into NowSMS currently only supports WAP push in a GSM environment. So, for other network environment, such as CDMA, we also have the ability to submit the notification through a PPG. (Configuration described here: http://www.nowsms.com/support/bulletins/tb-nowsms-007.htm)
The WAP gateway has no relation to SMS. For SMS, there is an SMSC address that is programmed into the SIM (and can be changed via the UI on the phone in most cases). The WAP gateway is used when the WAP browser is used to connect to a Web/WAP content server. Generally speaking, there are configuration settings on the phone for the WAP browser which specify how the phone makes a data connection (GPRS specific parameters or data call specific parameters), and an IP address is specified for the WAP gateway. The MMS client has its own configuration settings for the WAP gateway. In many operator setups, it is a different WAP gateway from the one that is used for regular WAP traffic. Requests to the MMSC generally go through the WAP gateway that is configured for the MMS client on the mobile phone. | |||
