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NowSMS Support Forums ⬆ NowSMS Support - SMS Issues ⬆ Archive through December 09, 2003 ⬆ |
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| Author | Message | |||
| Fredrik Espinoza |
If I set up my own MMSC on my own server and then allow users to send MMS thru the MMSC how much will this cost users? If this is cheaper than using the operators usual MMSC then why don't everyone do it this way? Is there an easy way to send the neccessary settings to a user's phone to enable this setup? /Fredrik | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support |
Hi Fredrik, Usually the cost of sending an MMS message using "direct delivery" from your own MMSC is the cost of sending 2 SMS messages. I've included a link here that explains how you can often tweak your system to get most notifications donw to a single SMS message: http://support.nowsms.com/discus/messages/1/641.html Why doesn't everyone do it this way? Well, there are a few issues... One is billing, and the requirement of establishing a billing relationship with users that are going to be sending messages through your MMSC. The other big issue is interoperability. This varies from operator to operator ... but the basic issue is that the default MMS settings on mobile phones sold through an operator channel may have settings that block MMS retrieval from MMSCs external to the operator. So this presents an interoperability concern for an independent provider. As for sending the settings, with Nokia and Ericsson phones, it is easy to send the settings, as their phones support a common OTA (over the air) provisioning standard, which is supported by our gateway software. With other phones, they need to be manually configured. There is a common standard for OTA provisioning that has been published by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) ... but not too many phones support this standard yet. We're in the process of adding support for this standard in our current beta release, and there are discussions in the beta forum here about resolving issues with how to send these new settings to the few available phones on the market at present. -bn | |||
