ERROR message when sending MMS to E-Mail addresses

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Sven Eichelberg
New member
Username: S6049

Post Number: 1
Registered: 01-2012
Posted on Monday, January 30, 2012 - 11:40 pm:   

Hello,

I have a little problem with my NowSMS configuration and hope you could help me. I just installed the 60 days trial version.

First, here's the thing I want to achieve with NowSMS:

- I want to be able to send MMS from my phone to any E-Mail recipient.
- I want to be able to receive E-Mails as MMS on my phone.

As GSM modem I am currently using a Huawei E160.

As far as I know I configured NowSMS (and my phone) correctly, but I encounter the following problem: Whenever I sent an MMS from my phone to an E-Mail address other than an address provided by NowSMS, I get an error MMS message back to my phone saying

"An ERROR occurred routing your message to an e-mail recipient. The MMS message that you sent to "xxx@gmail.com" with the subject "Test" was NOT delivered.".

Again, sending messages to other NowSMS user's addresses defined in the "MMSC Users" tab works without a problem.

I guess it has something to do with a non functioning SMTP server? The option "Enable SMTP Smart Mailer" in NowSMS is activated.

Do I have to deactivate this option and put in another SMTP server into the "SMTP Relay Host" field? If so, how do I find (or configure?) a working SMTP server?

Thanks for your help! :)
Des - NowSMS Support
Board Administrator
Username: Desosms

Post Number: 3749
Registered: 08-2008
Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - 08:15 pm:   

Hi Sven,

Unfortunately, I do not have an easy solution for you.

The NowSMS e-mail implementation is designed to function as its own e-mail domain using SMTP. Technically it's a great implementation, but from a practical perspective, it is very difficult to deal with.

If you run your own mail server, it's relatively easy to setup. Essentially you setup NowSMS the same way as you did the other mail server, or configure that other mail server as a relay host.

If you don't run your own mail server, you'll face some obstacles.

For receiving e-mail, you need to create an MX record in your domain that resolves to a host name that points to the NowSMS server. (NowSMS needs to accept inbound requests on TCP port 25.)

For sending e-mail, there are some providers that block outbound TCP port 25 traffic to limit damage from viruses that send out spam. (In this case, you need to follow whatever instructions your provider has regarding setting up your own mail server.)

The bigger issue on sending out e-mail is that the major e-mail providers (GMail, HotMail, Yahoo, etc.) have sophisticated spam filters. At a minimum, to get past these filters you need to have a reverse DNS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_DNS_lookup) entry associated with the IP address of your NowSMS server. If you are using a residential type of ISP account, it is next to impossible to get this setup.

We realise that the difficulty (and practicality) of getting a setup provisioned for an e-mail server severely limits how many people can actually deploy these features in NowSMS.

Toward that end, we are working on an alternative solution which routes all mail through a shared mailbox (phone number on subject line instead of in e-mail address). However, we don't expect to have this solution ready until spring.

If you do want to work with the current setup, I can try to help you out, but as I mention, setting up a mail server is rather complicated.

As a starting point, I would ask whether or not you have a dedicated IP address. Without one, unfortunately, I would say this is not really practical unless you have access to an SMTP server that is willing to relay on your behalf.

--
Des
NowSMS Support
Sven Eichelberg
New member
Username: S6049

Post Number: 2
Registered: 01-2012
Posted on Sunday, February 05, 2012 - 02:30 pm:   

Hi Des,

thanks for your support! :)

I was running NowSMS on a (fairly old) Windows XP machine when I encountered the above mentioned problems. So, for testing purposes I switched to a Windows 7 computer. Both PC's are connected to the same internet line (hence, same provider). Strangely enough NowSMS works perfectly fine on my Windows 7 computer. SMTP seems to be no issue there at all (with "Enable SMTP Smart Mailer" being checked). But as soon as I switch back to my Windows XP PC E-Mails don't get send out...

Do you have any idea what the problem could be? I must add, I'm not a professional at all with these kind of things, so I might have overlooked something obvious...
Des - NowSMS Support
Board Administrator
Username: Desosms

Post Number: 3758
Registered: 08-2008
Posted on Monday, February 06, 2012 - 09:49 pm:   

Hi Sven,

Ok ... maybe DNS lookup is failing on the XP machine.

I know we read the DNS servers from the Windows registry.

But before we pursue investigating that, let's figure out why it's failing.

Enable the MMSCDEBUG.LOG, send another message, and let's see what information is recorded in the MMSCDEBUG.LOG.

--
Des
NowSMS Support
Sven Eichelberg
New member
Username: S6049

Post Number: 3
Registered: 01-2012
Posted on Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - 01:42 pm:   

Hello again,

thanks for the support and sorry for my late reply!

I could "solve" the problem by now. I found out that my internet service provider (T-Online) offers a free SMTP-Relay server for their customers. Once I put in these server settings everything just worked like a charm...

So, I'm happy for now. Thanks again anyway! :)