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NowSMS Support Forums ⬆ MMS & SMS Technical Discussions (unsupported) ⬆ Archive through July 24, 2007 ⬆ |
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| Author | Message | |||
| Nathan Evans New member Username: Nathane Post Number: 1 Registered: 06-2007 |
We are using the World-Text SMPP service and are trying to get incoming MMS working. We receive the mms-notification-ind packet and can parse this just fine (i.e. retrieve the URL). However when we goto this URL in a web browser the MMSC asks us to type in a 'pin code'. Shortly after receiving this message (usually about 10-20 minutes) a standard SMS text comes through which gives us this pin code. I understand that because the mms-notification-ind was not handled correctly then the MMSC reverted to legacy mode and sent us the standard SMS with a pincode so that a human can do it. We want to get this working based on the mms-notification-ind without waiting for the legacy SMS with a pincode. Why won't the URL it gives us in this packet work? We want to avoid using a GPRS modem because this needs to have a high throughput and reliablity. | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support Board Administrator Username: Bryce Post Number: 7307 Registered: 10-2002 |
Hi Nathan, Are you actually receiving an MMS m-notification-ind message? Or are you receiving a text message with a URL? Generally speaking, most mobile operators have their MMSCs firewalled so that you cannot retrieve the URL from an m-notification-ind unless you are connected directly to the operator network (e.g., over the modem). Or if the MMSC isn't firewalled, then there may be other network authentication required by the MMSC before it provides access to the MMS message URL. For example, to prevent someone from harvesting messages by generating random URLs, the MMSC might only return the MMS message URL if it sees that the request is coming over the operator network from the actual recipient's device. Overall ... what you're seeing is pretty unusual. You generally don't see an m-notification-ind message (if that is what you are really seeing) come in via an SMPP connection to a provider. If you can provide an example of one of these received messages, I'd be interested in studying this further ... -bn | |||
| Nathan Evans New member Username: Nathane Post Number: 2 Registered: 06-2007 |
Bryce, thank you for your interesting reply. I have taken a screenshot of an Ethereal packet trace of the SMPP connection: http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/5239/mmspcapro2.gif My understanding was that this was fairly normal behaviour for SMPP and that the hard bit is actually retrieving the message from the URL in the m-notification-ind packet. I don't understand why MMSC's are firewalled or protected so extensively - it seems counter productive to force the endpoint software to require a GPRS connection through the MMSC's network. | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support Board Administrator Username: Bryce Post Number: 7321 Registered: 10-2002 |
Hi Nathan, The reason that it is not so normal is because the intent of the operators/operator infrastructure suppliers is that you should use a protocol designed for MMS (such as MM7) for sending and receiving MMS as an interface for value added applications. The MM1 protocol is more of an over-the-air protocol defining how mobile terminals interface with an MMSC. To give you a good analogy, the SMPP protocol is completely different from the over the air protocol for SMS. SMPP was designed as an interface for value added applications. Of course, there is no reason that an MMS notification couldn't be delivered over an SMPP connection. I just have never seen this happen before ... maybe I've missed situations where it occurred, but we've been doing this since the first days of MMS, and I don't recall seeing such a situation before. The firewall issue is a factor for why this isn't seen. But there is another consideration ... most providers only provision their MMSC with subscribers that are known to have MMS capability. So short codes, and other data numbers don't get provisioned. You appear to be receiving SMS messages through an SMS service provider that is connected through Cable and Wireless in Guernsey. It looks like their MMSC must be connected to the other UK operators, so that you are able to send to your number from a regular UK mobile. And it looks like their MMSC must assume by default that the all recipient numbers can handle an MMS notification. I tried some tricks on requesting the notification URL, making the HTTP headers look like they were coming from a mobile phone instead of a PC web browser. But no success. I would always just get a redirect response pointing me to the page that requests a PIN. My suspicion is that the "mmsc.gprs.cw.com" server that we see from the outside world is different from the "mmsc.gprs.cw.com" server that you would see if you were connected via GPRS with a C&W Guernsey mobile. If you have a good relationship with your provider, you could explore if there is any way that you could connect to the C&W Guernsey MMSC over a VPN link, or maybe you could get your IP allowed for access. Sounds like somewhat of a longshot unless you've got a real good relationship with the provider ... -bn | |||
