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NowSMS Support Forums ⬆ NowSMS Support - SMS Issues ⬆ Archive through September 15, 2003 ⬆ |
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| Author | Message | |||
| brian |
Hi, Are there any issues regarding the receipt of MMS from all over Europe that I need to be aware of? I will be using a U.K. based server using TCP/IP connections. People outside of the UK will need to use the international code, and in terms of sending them an mms? It will cost them more to send an MMS and me more to send them one... Are there any compatability issues that I need to be aware of? thanks, brian. | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support |
Brian, Well, yes, unfortunately there are a number of issues. The biggest problem is a lack of interoperability agreements between the operators. There have been a lot of improvements in cross-operator interoperability agreements within a particular country (for example between operators in the UK) ... but cross-country interoperability is quite rare. So your first problem is going to be subscribers being able to send you an MMS to an international number. In most instances, I would not expect this to work today. In some instances, you might receive an SMS with a text message that references a web site that you have to login to ... but there is no standard for the interfaces into those web sites, making automated retrieval next to impossible. Getting past this, to receive MMS properly, you will most likely need the v5.0 release of the Now SMS/MMS gateway which is due for beta release next week. Most operators have setup their MMS systems so that MMS messages can only be retrieved from their systems over a GPRS/WAP connection ... support for which we are adding in this new release. With that support, you could setup phones with SIMs from operators in different countries, and offer separate per-country phone numbers until the operators sort their international roaming issues. (Roaming charges would be a consideration here, unless you got partners to host the phones locally in each country.) Getting past that, replying via MMS is also somewhat of an issue ... especially establishing a least cost path into different operators and different countries. I wish that I could say otherwise, but at this stage, there's still quite a bit of trial and error figuring out the issues specific to each operator for your configuration needs. I think we're offering the most flexibility in how to deal with these issues (especially in the upcoming release). -bn | |||
| brian |
Thanks for the swift response Bryce. What I am actually looking to do is develop a website which receives and displays MMS from users, and gives users the option to receive those messages as MMS from the website. I would expect large numbers of users to use both of these features; with the costs of the sent MMS being borne by the website owners. On a U.K level this would all work fine with Now MMS. From what you have said, on a European level, without specific servers or phones set up in the respective countries, the cost of this would be astronomical. Could you tell me what specific issues would be likely to arise from sending MMS to different countries (apart from the cost)? Many thanks, brian. | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support |
Brian, Right, until the operators have more interoperability between their systems, the international roaming phones can get a bit expensive. Vodafone is supposed to be introducing interoperability across their affiliates in different countries, as are other major operators. That may offer some possibilities ... but initially I don't expect Vodafone DE to be able to send to O2 UK, even if it can send to Vodafone UK. So you may end up with different receiving phone numbers for different networks. Anyway ... sending has some similar issues. The least expensive approach to sending an MMS is the one employed by the current version of the Now SMS/MMS Gateway. Basically, the way that an MMS is delivered to a mobile phone is that an MMS notification message is sent to the phone over the SMS channel. This message contains header information about the MMS message, and a URL pointer to retrieve the MMS message content over HTTP. The recipient phone opens up a WAP connection (usually via GPRS), and fetches the URL via a WAP gateway. The same approach is used whether the message is delivered by an operator MMSC or by NowSMS. However ... there is an issue as to whether or not the URL is accessible when the phone goes to fetch it. The relevant settings are configured on the mobile phone. The MMS settings on the phone are similar to the settings for the WAP browser. There is a GPRS APN (or dial-up is also supported by some phones), and a WAP gateway IP address ... plus also an MMS Message Server URL. The MMS message server URL really is only significant when the phone sends a message. The problem is that some operators have setup special GPRS APNs for MMS which can only connect to a special WAP gateway at the operator, and that WAP gateway is firewalled off to only talk to the operator's MMSC. So without changing the settings on the phone, the phone can only receive MMS messages from the operator MMSC. In the upcoming release, we will offer additional ways to submit MMS messages, which will help address this issue, but at an added cost. In the current method, you only get charged for SMS messages to send the MMS notifications. In the next version, there will be routing options that let you submit MMS messages via a GPRS/GSM modem to the mobile operator, the same as if they were submitted by the phone itself. There will also be options to submit to an operator MMSC using MM7 or EAIF ... but the problem with those latter two options at present is that the operators who are supporting those interfaces tend to be charging quite a bit to setup a connection, and are typically only letting you send to that operator's customers ... requiring you to setup a connection specific for each operator ... increasing complexity. I'm probably scaring you off ... but cross operator interoperability is a tough issue at present. -bn | |||
| brian |
Just a quick thought: If the user were to send the MMS to an email address would it circumnavigate(!) the international restrictions on sending? | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support |
Yes, e-mail is a good alternative. Generally you can't reply back to the e-mail address, but you can receive ok. | |||
