Mobile Operator MMSC APN & Settings (Updated)
The Now SMS & MMS Gateway can use a GSM/GPRS or 3G/UMTS/WCDMA modem to send and receive MMS messages via an operator MMSC. In this type of configuration, there is no special setup requirement required by the mobile operator. The Now SMS & MMS Gateway sends and receives MMS messages using the same protocol that is used by the MMS client in a mobile phone, so it simply requires that the SIM...
Read MoreNowWAP and HTTP Header Enrichment (HHE)
The HTTP Header Enrichment (HHE) capability provides solutions for a content provider to identify a subscriber. Basic HHE allows the subscriber to be identified by their MSISDN. Aliased HHE allows the subscriber to be identified without divulging the subscriber’s MSISDN. A standard feature of the NowWAP Proxy is to provide Basic HTTP Header Enrichment to facilitate operator billing for...
Read MoreSMPP Asynchronous Mode
One of the biggest limitations to SMPP performance is protocol implementations that do not support SMPP asynchronous mode, or to state it more correctly, do not take advantage of the speed boost that is possible with SMPP asynchrnous mode. SMPP Synchronous Mode = One Message at a Time In SMPP Synchrnous mode, each side of the SMPP client has only one outstanding transaction active at a time. ...
Read MoreNowSMS/MMS API Information
The primary API for sending and receiving SMS and MMS messages with NowSMS is HTTP-based. Because the API is HTTP based, applications that wish to send or receive messages via NowSMS do not have to run on the same physical server, they can interface with NowSMS over a network. This page contains links to additional information that describes the raw HTTP interface, as well as links to example...
Read MoreSMPP Receipt Message ID Tracking Over Multiple Connections
One of the standard capabilities of NowSMS is the automatic mapping of receipt message IDs when routing messages to an upstream SMSC connection. The reasoning/logic is simple. When NowSMS accepts a message from a client, NowSMS needs to assign an ID to the message. When the message gets routed to an upstream SMSC, that SMSC will assign a new message ID. NowSMS saves the message ID assigned by...
Read MoreNowSMS Update – Interim Release 2010.05.07
An interim update release of NowSMS is available for download at http://www.nowsms.com/download/nowsmsupdate.zip. The most interesting updated features/capabilities include: Major SMS performance enhancements (and reduced CPU overhead) for configurations with large outbound message queues and/or a large number of outbound SMSC connections. A simpler way to define multiple transmitter, receiver...
Read MoreOperator MMSC Accounting – Detecting Roaming Subscribers
One important consideration when charging for MMS messages is whether or not the user is roaming. The NowSMS MMSC can provide this information to the MMS accounting callbacks, however the requisite information is not included in the MMS accounting callbacks by default. Before the MMSC can pass this information to the accounting callbacks, the MMSC must receive this additional information from the...
Read MoreNowSMS and SSL Certificates – 2048 Bit Key
In the last 6 months, many SSL Certificate Authorities (CAs) have made a switch to requiring web servers to use 2048-bit private keys. It is believed that increased computing power will make the commonly used 1024-bit keys possible to break by 2011. There is a side effect in switching to the larger keys that some old web browsers don’t support > 1024 bit keys. I can’t find a good...
Read MoreMobile Number Portability (MNP) and the NowSMS MMSC
When the NowSMS MMSC is used in environments with mobile number portability (MNP), the MMSC may need to query a database to determine whether a recipient is local to this MMSC or if it belongs to another operator. The interface to support this is defined in the following article: Mobile Number Portability (MNP) and the NowSMS MMSC However, there is an additional issue that is not discussed in...
Read MoreXML Status Query for SMSC Connection Status and Statistics
We posted details about an XML-based NowSMS status query in an earlier posting: http://www.nowsms.com/xml-status-query-for-smsc-connection-status-and-statistics This query reports information similar to what is reported on the “Status” page of the NowSMS configuration dialog. The query results include information about SMSC connection status, the number of messages processed via the...
Read MoreNowSMS Group Text Messaging
The NowSMS Group Text feature is designed to facilitate group communications over SMS. At it’s core, it’s about sending a single text message, and having that text message automatically forwarded to a group of people. NowSMS Group Text is a free add-on for the Now SMS & MMS Gateway and NowSMS Lite. NowSMS Group Text will only work with NowSMS or NowSMS Lite versions 2008.06.03...
Read MoreBug Sending Long Binary SMS Messages to Java Apps on Motorola Devices
One of the more interesting technical support incidents of the past week comes from Mohit Kumar Sethi at 3i Infotech Consumer Services Ltd. Mohit is using NowSMS Lite to send binary SMS messages to a Java application that his company is developing. He noticed that when sending SMS binary messages longer than 140 bytes, the messages were received correctly by Nokia and SonyEricsson devices,...
Read MoreSMS and MMS with the Novatel Merlin XU870 ExpressCard Modem
If you are using NowSMS in a laptop with an available ExpressCard slot, the Novatel Wireless Merlin XU870 ExpressCard Modem is a good modem to use with NowSMS to send and receive SMS and MMS messages. This modem supports HSDPA up to 7.2 Mbps (although locating the appropriate firmware driver update seems to be a challenge, without it, it is limited to 3.6 Mbps). That is good for receiving...
Read MoreUsing NowSMS as a WAP Push Proxy Gateway (PPG)
NowSMS supports the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) Push Access Protocol (PAP), which allows other applications to use NowSMS as a WAP Push Proxy Gateway (PPG). Even though NowSMS has its own MMSC capability, we do have customers who are using NowSMS as a push proxy gateway for another vendor’s MMSC. In addition to providing PPG support for MMS, NowSMS can be used as a push proxy gateway for...
Read MoreSending SMS from Microsoft Excel
A recent posting on the NowSMS Discussion Board has some interesting information on sending an SMS a link within an Excel spreadsheet. Read the full post here: http://www.nowsms.com/discus/messages/1/41882.html The gist of the posting is that you cannot use the Excel HYPERLINK command to do this. It would be logical to build a NowSMS URL to send a message, but the HYPERLINK command connects to...
Read MoreSMS and MMS with the Alcatel One Touch X200 or X060 USB Modem
The Alcatel One Touch X200 and X060 USB Modems are good (but not great) modems to use with NowSMS to send and receive SMS and MMS messages. For alternative modems, please see our other reviews: http://www.nowsms.com/tag/gsm-modem For general information on configuring NowSMS to send and receive SMS and MMS messages with a GSM modem, such as the Alcatel One Touch X200 or X060, please see the...
Read MoreT-Mobile (USA) 3G WebConnect USB Modem – Not for MMS
Update – February 1, 2011: Problems sending MMS messages with a 3G modem on T-Mobile USA can be resolved by using alternate MMSC settings: GPRS APN: epc.tmobile.com WAP Gateway Address: http://216.155.165.50:8080 MMS Server URL: http://mms.msg.eng.t-mobile.com/mms/wapenc End-users of T-Mobile USA have been asking us for feedback on modems that can work on T-Mobile’s 1700Mhz...
Read MoreUsing NowSMS with Check Point Connectra
Disclaimer: This information is neither validated nor endorsed by Check Point Software Technologies. It has come to our attention that the Check Point Connectra unified remote access solution has a security option to send a token via SMS as part of the remote user authentication process. To facilitate this option, the Check Point Connectra Gateway would be configured to transmit the token via...
Read MoreSMS and MMS with the Huawei E160 USB Modem
The Huawei E160 is an “ok” modem to use with NowSMS to send and receive SMS and MMS messages. This modem is readily available in many countries, as many mobile operators sell this modem as part of a mobile broadband package. (In the UK alone, we’ve seen this modem offered by 3, O2 and T-Mobile. Unlocked versions of this modem are avaialable from multiple web...
Read MoreUsing NowSMS as an SMPP Server for Another Application
One of the more unusual features of NowSMS is its ability to operate as an SMPP server. NowSMS can relay messages submitted to its SMPP server to any outbound SMSC connection, which could be one or more GSM modems and/or SMPP, UCP/EMI, CIMD2 or HTTP SMSC connections. There are a few different reasons why this feature would be used. The simplest scenario is when an end user wants to use a...
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