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NowSMS Support Forums ⬆ MMS & SMS Technical Discussions (unsupported) ⬆ Archive through October 29, 2003 ⬆ |
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| Author | Message | |||
| The spy |
Hi I'm currently having a lot of questions about MMS. I think an MMS service needs basically an MMS Center and a WAP Gateway/PPG. -I'm wondering if a service provider (operator) may use a remote MMS Center/ WAP Gateway to provide MMS services. and what should be the configuration then ? - Is it possible to offer Download Services with the WAP Push only ? how is it possible to push a content ( a .gif or a .wav file ), and what do we need for doing that ? I really need some help about That. Thanks a lot | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support |
I think an MMS service needs basically an MMS Center and a WAP Gateway/PPG. Correct, however the PPG is optional. The PPG functions can be accomplished with direct SMS functions built into the MMSC. (This is how the Now SMS/MMS Gateway works, although we do also have an option to send out the MMS notifications via a PPG.) I'm wondering if a service provider (operator) may use a remote MMS Center/ WAP Gateway to provide MMS services. and what should be the configuration then ? No reason this cannot be done. A mobile phone is configured with connectivity settings that define how it connects to network services. Here, you basically configure how the device gets an IP connection (GPRS settings or GSM dial-up settings), the IP address of a WAP gateway, and a URL for the MMSC. The WAP gateway can be anywhere, it just needs to be accessible via IP when the mobile makes its IP connection. The MMSC needs to be accessible to any WAP gateways that the mobile devices will be connecting via. Is it possible to offer Download Services with the WAP Push only ? how is it possible to push a content ( a .gif or a .wav file ), and what do we need for doing that ? At a bare minimum you need to be able to generate WAP push messages (which get sent over SMS), and then you need a content server (web server). You send out WAP push messages that have a URL pointer back to your content server. Many phones have trouble receiving a push that links directly to an object (e.g., GIF, MIDI, etc.) ... so you generally need to generate a WML page that has a link to the content. The push message points to the WML page. The Now SMS/MMS Gateway at this web site can be used to easily generate WAP push messages for a URL that you create. Additionally, there is a function in the gateway called "Multimedia WAP push". In this case, you post your multimedia objects to the gateway, and the gateway dynamically generates a WML page with links to your objects, and sends a WAP push for the dynamically generated WML page. -bn | |||
| The spy |
Thanks a lot -So you say that a Push content can only be a pointer to an address where the content is.. Is there anyway to push in one time the content itself ? -another question: What about the WAP session management when using only CSD network.. The main advantage of GPRS was the "Always On" function.. does this have any impact on the way WAP push works ? - I've installed NowSMS tool and I've tried to use my Motorola C350 as a Modem for the application.. The drivers are OK and the modem is working but this error still appears "Modem does not support SMS" !! What can I do ? Thanks a lot for your great help | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support |
So you say that a Push content can only be a pointer to an address where the content is.. Is there anyway to push in one time the content itself ? In theory, yes. In practice, no (except for MMS). In theory, you can push any type of content (keep in mind that you're pushing over SMS so you only get 140 bytes per SMS which limits how much content you can push directly) ... but the client that receives the content needs to be able to understand the content type that you have pushed. In practice, it is rare to find a device that supports push reception of content types other than service indication, service load, and MMS. All of those content types push a URL ... the MMS client just fetches the URL automatically. (With service load, the browser fetches and displays the URL automatically on some devices. But not all devices support service load.) -another question: What about the WAP session management when using only CSD network.. The main advantage of GPRS was the "Always On" function.. does this have any impact on the way WAP push works ? Everybody talks about "always on" with GPRS, but that is very rarely the case in practice. Basically I think of it more as "quick connect", meaning I can get a connection much quicker with GPRS compared to CSD. In a true "always on" environment, WAP push can take place over IP, without relying on SMS. However, that said, this is of value only to an operator. Typically, when you get a GPRS connection, you are assigned a private IP address, and a network address translation (NAT) router at the operator provides connectivity out to the internet. The problem is that you don't have a real IP address. The NAT allows the device to issue requests and get a response routed back ... but it does not allow an entity on the real IP network to send unsolicited data to the device. This makes WAP push over IP impractical except from inside of an operator environment where the push can be initiated from inside of the private IP address range. I've installed NowSMS tool and I've tried to use my Motorola C350 as a Modem for the application.. The drivers are OK and the modem is working but this error still appears "Modem does not support SMS" !! What can I do ? Of all the major manufacturers, Motorola seems to have the fewest phones that support the AT command set for SMS (ETSI GSM 07.05 and 07.07) ... so you may be out of luck with that device. If you go into HyperTerminal, connect to the COM port for that device, and then issue the command: AT+CSMS=0 Then, I suspect it is going to come back with an error response. Also, try issuing the following commands: AT+CSMS=? AT+CSMS? If you get a response other than "ERROR" to either of these commands, I'd be curious what it is. But I suspect you will get an "ERROR" response to each of these commands, which indicates that the phone does not support the AT command set for SMS. Most Nokia and Ericsson phones support this command set (the SonyEricsson T200 and P800 are two notable exceptions) ... as do quite a few other phones. -bn | |||
| The spy |
-I'll retry the operation with another Nokia device and I'll keep you informed. Now it seems that NowSMS only works on Windows NT or Windows 2000, is that true ? - When talking about the WAP Push it seems to me that SMS is not the only possible bearer for it. Like WAP, WAP push can also use USSD or CSD as bearers, which gives better capabilities since no size limitation is applicable. I was basically willing to use CSD tu push content to the mobile, but the mobile should then be on a data session which i guess cannot be initialized except by the mobile itself. This is actually my big issue since the mobile should know by advance that he's willing to recieve some content via push !! any solution for that ? - Do I need to have an active WAP Gateway to use nowSMS tool for MMS ? I think you're giving on your web site an IP address of a public WAP gateway, but still some informations are missing : Dial Up number, Username and password, type of connexion, security ... regards | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support |
I'll retry the operation with another Nokia device and I'll keep you informed. Now it seems that NowSMS only works on Windows NT or Windows 2000, is that true ? Or XP. Just no Windows 95/98/ME support. When talking about the WAP Push it seems to me that SMS is not the only possible bearer for it. Like WAP, WAP push can also use USSD or CSD as bearers, which gives better capabilities since no size limitation is applicable. I was basically willing to use CSD tu push content to the mobile, but the mobile should then be on a data session which i guess cannot be initialized except by the mobile itself. This is actually my big issue since the mobile should know by advance that he's willing to recieve some content via push !! any solution for that ? USSD would have similar size limitations as SMS. It requires segmentation. CSD (as long as you know the IP address of the device to which you want to push and that device is not behind a NAT) is doable for larger amounts of data as it is IP-based. However, keep in mind that not only does the device have to be connected to receive a push ... it has to understand the content type that is being pushed. I haven't really seen any current generation devices that support push content types other than SI (service indication), SL (service load), and MMS. Although I guess I'd add that OTA settings and DRM (digital rights management) are also starting to use WAP push as well. In any event, even if you send a larger piece of content, the push receiver on the mobile phone needs to be prepared to accept that content type. The idea behind the "service load" is probably closest to what you are looking for. You send a push with a URL, and the phone automatically initiates a WAP connection to retrieve and display the URL. (At least that's how it works in theory. Many phones do not support these messages, or they display a prompt before the user connects.) But still, you're not pushing the actual content. In your CSD scenario ... if the user needs to know in advance that he's going to receive content via a push, he might as well do a pull. Do I need to have an active WAP Gateway to use nowSMS tool for MMS ? I think you're giving on your web site an IP address of a public WAP gateway, but still some informations are missing : Dial Up number, Username and password, type of connexion, security ... In order to receive an MMS on a mobile phone, the phone needs to have WAP configuration settings specified for the MMS client. In most cases, you can just use the WAP configuration settings supplied by your operator for use with the WAP browser. In some instances, some operator gateways have problems handling larger content via WAP, or they restrict what ports you can use for connecting to a content server. In those cases, you can use an external WAP gateway (like ours on 213.48.20.10). The WAP gateway simply sits on an IP address and acts as a proxy, so you need to configure your phone with settings that give it an IP connection that has internet connectivity. Those settings vary from operator network to network. -bn | |||
| The spy |
Well, great Now I've started working with NoWSMS, everything goes fine, The SW was installed on a NT machine, the mlodem (A nokia 5110) is well performing, I've started configuration of your SW based on your documents, Now I'm running tests as I'm going forward. The SMS tests were OK but I'm having troubles with binary SMS tests (and WAP Push as well). Sending Nokia melodies just doesn't work all the time, sometimes I do not recieve anything on my destination device.. The wap Push doesn't give anything to in a nokia 6210 but gives "Unable to read message" on Nokia 5110.. I really don't understand. | |||
| lars mservice |
In those cases, you can use an external WAP gateway (like ours on 213.48.20.10). The WAP gateway simply sits on an IP address and acts as a proxy, so you need to configure your phone with settings that give it an IP connection that has internet connectivity. Those settings vary from operator network to network. Bryce. Does this mean that if i tell my users to use your IP instead of their operators, then nowsms 4,20 can retrieve the mms messages they send to my gprs modem connected to nowsms 4.20 ??? | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support |
You might need a newer model phone for sending out the binary format messages. It sounds like they are being corrupted. Sending a WAP push to a phone that supports WAP push, like the 6210, is a good test of whether or not binary SMS sending is working properly. | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support |
Bryce. Does this mean that if i tell my users to use your IP instead of their operators, then nowsms 4,20 can retrieve the mms messages they send to my gprs modem connected to nowsms 4.20 ??? Lars, No, that's not the case. The issue there is with the MMSC, not the WAP gateway. When a user sends an MMS, they send it through the MMSC that is configured in their phone. And that MMSC decides then how to deliver the message. The WAP gateway really just acts as a specialised type of proxy, similar to an HTTP proxy server, just that it has some protocol conversion built in as well. -bn | |||
