Free CROSS-NETWORK MMS and some configuration difficulties

[Guest benjytrainer]

Hello all,

Apologies if this has been raised before but I checked and couldn't find it elsewhere.

I've found a public MMSC with associated website where you can register for free MMS ! It also means you can do cross-network MMS-ing !

Now, before I get to the URL for it, let me explain the problem ( and this is where I need your ( collective ) help.

Essentially, the MMS browser ( yes, it's a browser ) for the Smartphone platform is by EZOS - within the software I cannot find the place where you can alter the "Homepage" for MMS collection - check ALL other MMS capable phones and you'll find this setting. I also cannot find the option to alter which internet/WAP profile the MMS client uses to collect messages. These two things at the moment are stopping me from getting the service working I think.

I checked the directories in the SPV and found lots of EZ ( as in EZOS ) references ( I was hoping for a flat text file with config settings ! ). But no such luck ! I think Orange may have protected or "hard-coded" these settings to force you to use their service - well, I want to send cross-network MMS so knackers to that !

Unfortunately, without the ability to change certain settings, I think the service may not work. In the end, I edited the GPRS connection settings for GPRS, and put in what I could of the new service settings - however, I cannot download a message. I can get a test MMS sent to the phone from the new service, and the following happens :

1) SMS arrives in INBOX saying I have new MMS

2) Click on

3) Viewer/Browser for the MMS ( EZOS ) starts up and tries to get the message ( there must be invisible URL embedded in message ), but the download of the MMS fails

Now, I know there are some very clever people on this forum, so I am hoping you'll be able to get it working ( I am pretty sure this will work with Voda in the UK , have not tried it yet ) - both from the point of view of finding the place in the software to change settings, and also getting a working download.

My only other thought was to buy and install a neutral MMS client from EZOS, but their website isn't the clearest, and knowing the other quirks of the present client ( and the fact it's intertwined with other functions on the phone ), I didn't want to try it.

Here is the URL you need to try this out : www.nowmms.com

Give it a go and let me know your results !

benj

[Guest gareth]

Hmm..

Well.. I think I found the screen you're looking for. Now I've played around with my folders (sorry!) but for me it was in 'Applications' and it's an app called 'MMS Setup.'

Within there I could set the Mmsc address to the suggested:

http://mms.now.co.uk/UserName=Password

(and yes, I substituted my username & password! :D )

There's also an IP field in there too.. not sure whether to change that, or what to. The MMSNow site has a listing of operator settings, but the ip address listed for Orange UK doesn't reply to a ping.

So, anyway, I've got them to send an MMS to me, but I can't pick it up either..

It seems to begin dialling the GPRS call, but then immediately fails.

Hmm..

[Guest Danlance]

I imagine the problem is that the MMS GPRS gateway will only allow access to the homepage for Orange MMS

Probably if you set MMS up to use your internet GPRS connection it would work????

[Guest benjytrainer]

hey guys. thanks for the input. @danlance : i thought the same too, but there is no place to alter this. @gareth : thanks for the info , i will have a look at there settings. regarding the ip address not responding to a ping - thats quite normal for a wap gateway. more testing to do i think to see if we can get this thing to work !

[Guest Danlance]

hey guys. thanks for the input. @danlance : i thought the same too, but there is no place to alter this.

urmm - yes there is

you can select the connection to use from within the MMS setup utility...

[Guest Mark]

Sounds like a good service to look into!

[Guest benjytrainer]

Hello again

@danlance : I think you maybe have ALL locations explorer or something, because at the moment I can't find a way to get at the files within the folders ( although I've browsed them using activesync ).

By the way, I ordered ALL location explorer and the GPRS counter, but ALL locations have not delivered the bloody registration keys, so I am stuck without them at the moment

More on the MMS thing when I have spent a day getting all my stuff on to one memory card and then going from there ...

benj

[Guest sbsdegb1]

Used the MMS setup utility but even though I have set the MMSC gateway the ip address keeps coming back when I delete it. Also fails to pick the message up.

I have a feeling that the mms settings for this phone might be hardcoded in thus forcing us to use Orange.

At the moment I have free MMS on Orange but no one to send them too.

I tried to send MMS messages to Vodafone before I realised that cross network MMS doesn't work. Don't tell you that on the TV adverts.

[Guest sbsdegb1]

Used the MMS setup utility but even though I have set the MMSC gateway the ip address keeps coming back when I delete it. Also fails to pick the message up.

I have a feeling that the mms settings for this phone might be hardcoded in thus forcing us to use Orange.

At the moment I have free MMS on Orange but no one to send them too.

I tried to send MMS messages to Vodafone before I realised that cross network MMS doesn't work. Don't tell you that on the TV adverts.

[Guest DJHope]

Wicked just used this to send a picture to an o2 phone, works but took me a few trys also tried sending an mms to my phone and that worked too, amazing!

To use it,

Goto the mms setup util (StartMenu->Accessorys) and scroll left to Orange WAP then use the settings the website tells you to use. Cant believe no one else worked this out!

[Guest The_Brickster]

What exactly do you have your settings in the Orange WAP profile? I have spent ages messing around with this, including using the settings on the website and have got nowhere.

[Guest DJHope]

Yeh well it takes a number of tries dont expet miracles the service isnt THAT good, but it works, try sending yourself an MMS first.

Here CC of my mms setup (not including nowmms user/pass hehe)

Orange WAP

IP: LEAVE THIS BLANK OR DEFAULT WHICH I THINK IS LITTERALLY ... (DOT DOT DOT)

PORT: LEAVE AS DEFAULT AGAIN 9210

MMSC ADDRESS: HTTP://MMS.NOW.CO.UK/USERNAME=PASSWORD

EVERYTHING ELSE DEFAULT

hope this helps :D

Works for me, tried about 20 times last nite gave up (kept saying failed) then my mate on o2 (with t68i) rings up and shes really impressed and says the photos great which leaves a beaming smile on my face :(

NOTE: I IMAGINE YOU HAVE TO HAVE WAP CONNECTION IN SETTINGS->DATA CONNECTIONS SET TO ORANGE GPRS.

And the test message works (just tried it)

[Guest The_Brickster]

Cheers, works a treat. Now I wonder when they're going to start the adverts.

[Guest arunhallan]

Yeh but is mms still free on orange thru these ppl?

[Guest aGeS]

In HTTP://MMS.NOW.CO.UK/USERNAME=PASSWORD is the username then the phonenumber or ??

[Guest DJHope]

Just your username and password thatyou signed up with.

As for charging it seems to indicate that youll be charged by standard GPRS/WAP not sure?

[Guest DJHope]

intresting were did my post go?

Anyways, charging not totally sure about this seems to indicate its charged by GPRS since its using WAP over GPRS.

as for username and password, this is just the username and password you signed up with :D

[Guest aGeS]

I might be a little stupid (I admit) but is the username the same as MMS E-Mail ID before the @ nowmms.com part ??

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

Excellent, it works!

You can also 'mail your phone' by sending to [email protected]!

:D

P

[Guest aGeS]

That answered my question, thnx! :D

[Guest spacemonkey]

Yeh but is mms still free on orange thru these ppl?

I imagine charging wise that even though these guys are free, what will be happening is that it'll be using bandwidth on your phone. So if your using NowMMS through WAP then the minutes it's dialed up to send the message will count or if you're using GPRS the data sent will count.

Not an issue while we all have the "unlimited" GPRS bundle but it means when free MMS and "unlimited" GPRS run out then your options will be MMS through Orange at 40p/message (and not cross network) or MMS through NowMMS at £2.5/Mb or whatever Orange is charging for GPRS at that time.

The "Crosss Network" of this, does that mean I can MMS to NowMMS and a Vodafone person will get it or do they mean that if I'm Orange and on NowMMS and my mate is Vodafone and on NowMMS then we can reach each other?

[Guest aGeS]

Just sent myself a text-only MMS and it worked!

Got a new problem though: Attached a 22.64k picture to a new MMS (to my GF) and tried to send it. This time it seems like the MMS takes alot longer time before it catches the GPRS/WAP and I get this message: "Failed to send message! Message was moved to Draft folder".

Plz note that I have got any Orange WAP/GPRS setting so I use that standard WAP/GPRS settings instead.

In short: It seems like the MMS times out when trying to send it with an attachment.

What do I do ??

[Guest spacemonkey]

Attached a 22.64k picture to a new MMS (to my GF)  

I get this message: "Failed to send message! Message was moved to Draft folder".

I've just been browsing the little Q&A forum on nowMMS. What might be happening is that the NowMMS message goes through the Orange WAP gateway. Unfortunately apparently this gateway has quite strict limits on sizes of transfers so it might be failing because the message is "too big".

They seemed to be talking about other WAP Gateways and whether these would work better but nothing too specific on that...

[Guest spacemonkey]

I've checked some details on the NowMMS discussion board and the responses I got are important for people looking at changing to this service.

Firstly, CROSS NETWORK. The system will not let you send a MMS from your phone on NowMMS to your friend who uses Vodafone MMS. It is only cross network in that if you are on NowMMS and your friend is on NowMMS it doesn't matter if you are each using a different network to access the service. So in summary, NowMMS will ONLY send MMS messages to other NowMMS users.

Secondly, FREE. While the system is free to use it will count as data traffic on your Orange account. This is fine at the moment when we get traffic all inclusive for $6/month but when that's over the free deal may seem less attractive. At that time Orange will charge us probably 40p/message but I would expect them to be excluding this from the traffic they were billing us for.

So, a good scheme but it's not the holy grail.

[Guest aGeS]

Just tried something: The mail I cant send over Internet GPRS can be sent fine over "Pass through connection" - when the phone is connected to a computer with internet access.

How weird is that ?

On the other hand - this means completely free MMS :wink: