Once the SMS/MMS gateway is installed, the next step is to test your SMS connectivity to verify that you are able to properly send SMS messages.

The easiest way to send an SMS message through the gateway is to connect to the “web menu interface”. To connect to this interface, load a web browser on the same PC on which the gateway is installed, and connect to the address: http://127.0.0.1:8800

Note: If you configured an HTTP port number other than “8800” on the “Web” page of the dialog in Step 2b, then substitute that number for “8800”.

Note: 127.0.0.1 is an internal TCP/IP loopback address which tells your web browser to connect to a service that is running locally on your PC. If in Step 2b, you selected a specific address for “IP Address for Web interface”, then the 127.0.0.1 address will not work, and you must replace “127.0.0.1” with the address entered on the “Web” page of the configuration dialog.

The web browser should display a web page similar to the following:

 

 

This web page provides a menu driven interface for sending various types of SMS and MMS messages.

To test that you can send SMS messages, begin by sending a simple SMS message. Enter the phone number of the message recipient and some text for the message, then click “Submit”.

Wait up to several minutes, and verify that the recipient has received the SMS message.

What if the recipient did not receive the SMS message?

• If you are using a GSM phone as your modem, verify that you can send an SMS message to that same recipient using the menus on the mobile phone. If you cannot send the SMS message directly via the phone, then the gateway software will not be able to send the message.
  

• If you are using a dedicated GSM modem, try placing the SIM card in a GSM phone, and verify that you can send an SMS message to that same recipient using the menus on the mobile phone. If you cannot send the SMS message directly via the phone, then the gateway software will not be able to send the message.

• If you an SMSC connection via HTTP, UCP/EMI or SMPP, try alternate formats for the phone number of the recipient. Some services prefer to only process messages where the phone number format is expressed in international notation (e.g., +447778001210 instead of 07778001210).

• Go into the “Event Viewer” under the Administrative Tools of your Windows system. Select the “Application” log, and look to see if there are any recent entries from a source of “NowSMS”. If there are any entries for “NowSMS”, they are likely to be error messages regarding an inability to make a particular SMSC connection. If this is the case, go to the “Services” page of the configuration dialog, click “Remove Service”, and return to Configure SMSC Settings to test your SMSC connection.

• You may need to contact NowSMS technical support. Go to the “Services” page of the configuration dialog, click “Remove Service”. Manually edit the SMSGW.INI file in the gateway directory, and under the [SMSGW] section header, add the setting Debug=Yes. Return to the “Services” page of the configuration dialog, click “Install Service”, then repeat your test. If you continue to experience service failures, e-mail all files with a “.log” file extension in the gateway directory to nowsms@now.co.uk, along with any relevant information to describe your problem.

Next, you may want to verify that you are able to correctly send binary formatted SMS messages. All of the other types of messages that the Now SMS gateway supports are different binary SMS message formats.

The simplest binary SMS message to send is a WAP Push message. A WAP Push message displays a text prompt on the mobile phone, and gives the user an option to connect to a specific link via the WAP browser. You will, of course, need a recipient with a mobile phone that supports WAP push. As MMS technology is built on top of WAP Push, any phone with MMS capabilities can be used for this test.

To send a WAP push message, from the “web menu interface”, select “Send WAP Push Message”. A web page similar to the following will be displayed:

 

 

It has never been simpler to send a WAP Push message. Simply enter a phone number, a WAP URL (if the “http://” prefix is not included it will be added automatically), and some text to be included in the informational message displayed to the user. The gateway will automatically generate and send a WAP Push “Service Indication” (SI) message to the specified phone number.

If you are unsure what information to enter, simply enter:

WAP URL: http://mms.now.co.uk/index.wml
Text: This is a test WAP Push

The user interface for receiving a WAP push message will vary between phones, but there should be a visual indication on the display of the mobile phone when a push message is received.

If the push is not received, but text messages are, you should first verify that push is enabled on the recipient mobile phone. Push is normally enabled by default, but can be disabled via settings on the mobile phone. Refer to your mobile phone documentation for more information. Assuming that you eventually want to send MMS messages to the mobile phone, WAP Push will need to be enabled on the phone as MMS is built on top of WAP Push services.

If you are having problems receiving the WAP push message and want to verify the ability to send binary messages, then if your handset supports EMS, select “Send Binary Message” from the “web menu interface”. Specify “Message Type” as “Other”, “User Data Header” as “080D0200040B020007”, and “Binary Data” as “00”. “PID” and “DCS” can be left as 0. The recipient should receive an SMS/EMS message with a simple animation and sound effect.

If you continue to have problems, try sending messages to other devices. It is possible that the SMSC you are using may have problems sending binary messages. You may want to e-mail technical support at nowsms@now.co.uk, providing details about your configuration, and asking for suggestions on how to proceed.