WAP Push Work-Around for AT&T USA

Posted by on Apr 12, 2013 in Support Blog

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Some of our customers have been frustrated by an AT&T policy that blocks the sending of mobile originated WAP Push messages.  This prevents WAP Push messages from being sent over a GSM modem.  This blocking affects all messages that are sent via WAP Push, not just service indication messages, but also blocking OMA OTA settings and MMS notifications.

A NowSMS customer discovered a potential work-around by changing the TP-Protocol-ID (PID) value in the SMS message.

Note: AT&T has now blocked this work-around, but we are keeping this page available as this may be potential work-around for other environments.

NowSMS has been updated to use configurable DCS and PID values when sending all types of WAP Push messages (including OMA OTA config). Previous versions of NowSMS only allowed the DCS value to be configured for WAP Push. These settings are available in NowSMS version 2013.04.01 and later.  (An update that supports these configurable values is available at https://nowsms.com/download/nowsms20130401.zip.)

By default, NowSMS uses a DCS value of F5 (binary, message class=2, ME specific) and a PID value of 0, which would be considered normal values.

It has been previously noticed that some providers will not accept DCS=F5 over a GSM modem connection and require a value of DCS=4 (generic binary).

One of our customers noticed in testing that by changing the PID value to 1 allowed WAP Push messages to be sent over a modem on the AT&T network. Technically speaking, PID=1 is an odd setting as it technically means the message originated as a Telex. We are suggesting that customers instead try using PID=41, which is a more normal setting, meaning replace short message type 1.

To set DCS or PID overrides for WAP Push messages generated by NowSMS, it is necessary to manually edit SMSGW.INI and under the [SMSGW] header, add:

PushDCS=F5
PushPID=41

(or try PushPID=1 if 41 does not work)

Please note that it is possible that AT&T may also decide to prevent this work-around. And note that cross operator WAP Push continues to be unavailable for messages submitted via a GSM modem in the USA.

Additional discussion of this issue can be found on our discussion forum at https://nowsms.com/discus/messages/1/71586.html.

For comments and further discussion, please click here to visit the NowSMS Technical Forums (Discussion Board)...