MMS Message-ID Length problems with some handsets and/or MM4

We received a report from a customer that was experiencing a problem where some Nokia handsets would restart themselves after sending an MMS message.

The MMS message would be sent ok, but the sending handset would restart after a confirmation is displayed that the MMS message had been sent.

This problem was caused because the length of the MMS message-id generated by the NowSMS MMSC was longer than the 40 character limit defined in the Open Mobile Alliance MMS Conformance documents.

It should be noted that the NowSMS MMSC uses the MMS Host Name as part of any MMS message-id generated. This message-id consists of 21 characters, followed by the MMS Host Name. Therefore, this problem should only be encountered if the MMS Host Name is longer than 19 characters.

To resolve this issue, it is necessary to define a “Local Host Name or IP Address” in the MMSC settings that is 19 characters or less.

This host name setting is only used in MMS message-id generation, and in the URLs that are generated by the MMSC for MMS notifications. This host name does NOT need to match the MMS Server name that is configured on the handset. Therefore, the host name can be changed at any time, as long as the new host name resolves properly to the server that is running the MMSC.

While this particular incident was noticed when certain handsets were used to submit an MMS message to the MMSC, similar problems with the MMS message-id length can occur when defining MM4 inter-operator connections. Unexpected problems can sometimes occur with MM4 connections if the MMS message-id length is larger than 40 characters. For this reason, it is always advisable to limit the “Local Host Name or IP Address” in the NowSMS MMSC settings to a name that is 19 characters or less.

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Topic Category: MM1, MM4, operator MMSC