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NowSMS Support Forums ⬆ MMS & SMS Technical Discussions (unsupported) ⬆ Archive through October 29, 2003 ⬆ |
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| Author | Message | |||
| Anonymous |
Using NowSMS I can send a MMS notification which turns into a bookmark on the phone, which can then retrieve the details through GPRS or WAP (using csoft as SMSC/MMSC). But my customer really wants to be able to push the entire MMS message, so the recipient has minimal button clicks to see the message - none of this "go to bookmarks/go to services menu", and I think this should be doable - am I missing something? How can I do this through NowMMS? Multithanks, Tony Lewis em: beakysnugger-at-yahoo-dot-co-dot-uk | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support |
Tony, To be completely honest, I don't know how you have things configured so that an MMS notification turns into a bookmark. How are you submitting the message to NowSMS? If you submit it as an MMS message, then the message would go to the MMS client on the mobile phone. It sounds like you might be sending it as a WAP push URL, or maybe even as a bookmark (the latter approach only supported by a few phones). The issue that you have when sending as an MMS message, is that the pre-configured MMS settings on phones from many mobile operators, do not allow the reception of MMS messages from external MMSCs. (In the UK, Vodafone and O2 allow it, Orange does not.) The result is that the MMS client receives a notification, but cannot retrieve the content of the message via the MMS settings on the phone. The MMS settings on the phone generally specify a GPRS APN (Access Point Name), WAP Gateway IP address, and a URL for the MMS message server. When the phone goes to retrieve a message, it connects to the configured GPRS APN to get an IP address, connects to the WAP gateway over IP, and then fetches the MMS message from the URL specified in the MMS notification. On some operators, the WAP gateway and GPRS APN setup for MMS access will only allow this retrieval from the operator MMSC. The only solutions are to: 1.) Change the settings in the mobile phone so that it connects to a different GPRS APN and WAP Gateway IP that is open to external MMSCs (usually the APN and WAP gateway configured for use by the WAP browser will work, however this might prevent the user from receiving MMS from the operator MMSC). 2.) Submit your MMS messages through the operator MMSC. This can be done through an account with an operator ... or it can be done over a GPRS modem connection ... both of these options are now supported with the beta release of v5.0 of the Now SMS/MMS Gateway, which is now available at http://www.nowsms.com/beta5. Let me know if you need clarification on this ... I'm curious how exactly you are submitting your messages through NowSMS today ... and maybe by understanding that better, I could explain the quickest way to change your approach. -bn | |||
| Anonymous |
Hi Bryce, Sorry for the late reply - holidays and stuff. Still very interested in cracking this though. What I find is that if I send a simple MMS through NowMMS, it fails more often than it succeeds. My SMSC is csoft.co.uk. I see the message submitted, and I "hear" the phone chattering away as it receives the message (putting the phone near the speakers is a wonderful debugging tool), and sometimes I see the handset indicating it is receiving a MM message (a spinning envelope/paperclip on the Nokia 6610). A couple of times it worked OK, but that was at 2am. And that was going through csoft's web-based interface to upload and send a compiled MMS. Resending exactly the same compiled MMS the same way at 5pm the next day failed each time. Csoft confirmed they passed those messages on to Vodafone straight away, so it looks like Vodafone might be the culprit. Tried sending same to an O2 phone. Same failure. Is it just me? Does anyone else have problems getting MMSs through? Hence it seemed that delivering an OTA WAP bookmark would be more reliable, and constructing and hosting the .WML file that the client would navigate to either by WAP or GPRS. To me this seems more reliable, but you say it's less common??? Appreciate your help. Bet you're plenty busy just answering posts  I might start a new thread and ask about others' experience with reliability of MMS delivery. Tony Lewis | |||
| Bryce Norwood - NowSMS Support |
Tony, If it works sometimes, but not at other times, this sounds like a problem that I've seen with some other SMS service providers. Most MMS notification messages require 2 SMS messages to be sent out to contain the complete notification message. I've seen some providers that at peak times seem to have problems delivering concatenated SMS messages like this ... and I have no idea why. You might want to try some tests sending out WAP push messages instead. Compare WAP push messages that require 1 SMS vs. those that require 2. (Make the text of the WAP push message longer than 140 characters and you'll be sure it will require 2 messages to send out.) -bn | |||
| Tony Lewis |
Thanks again, Bryce - will try that. Further, we seem to get good reliability when I forward an MMS from my (vodafone) handset to any network (tested O2, Orange att), which prompted me to consider hooking the phone up to the PC via a cable. If I do this will it (hope beyond hope) send the MMS through the phone, or will it send only the notification through the phone, and host the MMS msg waiting for collection like normal? Or, is there PC software that will allow me to compose an MMS on the phone automatically (or in a scripted fashion) and send it? Thanks, Tony Lewis | |||
| Marty |
Tony, I have a question for you since you are already able to send MMS's to an MMSC. Could you tell me how everything is settled between your own application, provider and MMSC? I am trying to find out how this works in Holland. Should I contact the mobile providers about MMS delivery or should I contact a company like Connection Software (csoft.co.uk) for the MMSC. I am a bit confused how I should manage this. Thanks in advance, Marty | |||
