Mobile Internet

With the new generation of smart cell phones and handheld devices, mobile users are fast becoming a major part of the web scenario. Having a mobile website can open your services and products to the millions of mobile users being added to the world wide web everyday. This means more and more people can access your services and products irrespective of the way they connect to the internet.

From information about orders, to learning about products and services, to database access, customers are increasingly demanding access to information and services from mobile devices.

Wireless Access Protocol or WAP applications can be accessed from hundreds of millions of WAP-enabled mobile phones. These can be simple but powerful applications allowing mobile phone users access to vast databases of information.

Some of the most common mobile internet applications are Order Tracking, Stock Availability, Directory Services, and Accessing Product Catalogs, Mobile Email etc.

Contact Us today to get a free offer for your mobile internet application development.

How many SMS can be sent per minute using a GSM modem?

The exact number of SMS messages that can be sent or received using a GSM modem depends on depends on various factors like GSM network quality (signal strength, network congestion etc) and quality of GSM modem used etc. However, it is safe to assume that GSM modems can send/receive 8 to 10 SMS messages per minute.

What is a SMS Application Server?

SMS Application Server is a software tool that allows configuration and deployment of mobile messaging applications.

A SMS Application Server has inbuilt connectors for mobile enabling of enterprise information from various sources like:

- Database: Using SQL queries
- ERP: Using tools like BAPI for SAP R/3 etc or using database connector.
- Web Server: Using HTTP(S), Telnet etc
- Email Server: POP3, SMTP, IMAP etc.
- Enterprise Network: Using WMI, ADSI, Telnet etc.

SMS Application Server allow deployment of various types of mobile messaging applications like:

- Query response (Info on demand)
- Static & Dynamic Content Broadcasts
- Manual & Scheduled Content Broadcasts
- Mobile Email Notifications etc

What is a SMS Gateway?

SMS Gateway is a interface between software applications mobile networks. An SMS Gateway allows interfacing software applications to send and/or receive SMS messages over mobile network.

Typically a SMS Gateway uses either one or more GSM modems or a direct network connection (HTTP(S), SMPP, CIMD etc) with the SMSC to send and receive messages to and from mobile networks.

Software applications generally interface with the SMS Gateway either using ASCII text files, XML/SOAP or database tables. A good SMS gateway will provide the developer with a ActiveX component or a API to interact with the gateway to read/write SMS messages, thus reducing the development time for implementing mobile messaging features in software applications.

What is a GSM Modem?

A GSM Modem modulates outgoing digital signals from a computer or other digital device to signals for a GSM network and demodulates the incoming GSM signal and converts it to a digital signal for the computer or other digital device.

Strictly speaking a GSM Modem can be considered as a GSM phone without the conventional keypad and display and that it is not battery operated as the conventional GSM phone. However, most GSM phones of today have the modem functionality inbuilt into them which allows them to be interfaced with a PC and to be used as a GSM Modem.

A PC or any other digital device uses AT Commands to interact with a GSM modem. AT Commands allow a host of functions to be performed viz sending/receiving SMS, Making a voice call, Accepting a incoming voice call, Modem configuration etc.

What is the maximum length of a SMS?

Each short message is up to 160 characters in length. The 160 characters can comprise of words, numbers, or punctuation symbols.

The actual limit of size of SMS is 160 characters if Latin alphabets are used. If non-Latin alphabets like Chinese or Arabic are used, the limit is 70 characters.

Most mobile phones these days however support "long messages". When enabled, long message feature splits up messages longer than 160 characters in to multiple messages. If the recipient mobile phone has long message feature enabled then on reciving the split up messages it would join them together and display as a single message. If the long message feature is not enabled in the recipient phone then it would be displayed as multiple messages.

What is GPRS?

General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) is a packet-based wireless communication service that promises data rates from 56 up to 114 Kbps and continuous connection to the Internet for mobile phone and computer users. The higher data rates will allow users to take part in video conferences and interact with multimedia Web sites and similar applications using mobile handheld devices as well as notebook computers. GPRS is based on Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication and will complement existing services such circuit-switched cellular phone connections and the Short Message Service (SMS).

In theory, GPRS packet-based service should cost users less than circuit-switched services since communication channels are being used on a shared-use, as-packets-are-needed basis rather than dedicated only to one user at a time. It should also be easier to make applications available to mobile users because the faster data rate means that middleware currently needed to adapt applications to the slower speed of wireless systems will no longer be needed. As GPRS becomes available, mobile users of a virtual private network (VPN) will be able to access the private network continuously rather than through a dial-up connection.

GPRS will also complement Bluetooth, a standard for replacing wired connections between devices with wireless radio connections. In addition to the Internet Protocol (IP), GPRS supports X.25, a packet-based protocol that is used mainly in Europe. GPRS is an evolutionary step toward Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) and Universal Mobile Telephone Service (UMTS).

What is WAP?

WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) is a specification for a set of communication protocols to standardize the way that wireless devices, such as cellular telephones and radio transceivers, can be used for Internet access, including e-mail, the World Wide Web, newsgroups, and Internet Relay Chat (IRC). While Internet access has been possible in the past, different manufacturers have used different technologies. In the future, devices and service systems that use WAP will be able to interoperate.

The WAP layers are:

- Wireless Application Environment (WAE)
- Wireless Session Layer (WSL)
- Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS)
- Wireless Transport Layer (WTP)

The WAP was conceived by four companies: Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, and Unwired Planet (now Phone.com). The Wireless Markup Language (WML) is used to create pages that can be delivered using WAP.

There are other approaches to an industry standard besides WAP, including i-Mode.

What is SMSC?

SMSC is an abbreviation for the words Short Message Service Centre. An SMSC provides a number of services, in particular the regulation of the transfer of text messages between mobile phones. When a user sends a text message (SMS message) to a recipient, the phone actually sends the message to the SMSC. The SMSC stores the message and then delivers it to the destination recipient when they are available. The SMSC usually has a configurable time limit for how long it will store the message, and the user can usually specify a shorter time limit if they want.

Additionally the message centre will take care of any charging that needs to take place. Generally speaking there is at least one Short Message Service Centre (SMSC) per network. For bulk transmission and reception of SMS messages, SMSC's have conventional, fixed, network interfaces as well as mobile network interfaces. A number of protocols have been defined to support this sort of wire-line access. SMPP is the most commonly used of these protocols.

How does SMS work?

Short message service is a mechanism of delivery of short messages over the mobile networks. It is a store and forward way of transmitting messages to and from mobiles. The message (text only) from the sending mobile is stored in a central short message center (SMSC) which then forwards it to the destination mobile.

The figure below shows a typical organization of network elements in a GSM network supporting SMS.

The SMSC (Short Message Service Center) is the entity which does the job of store and forward of messages to and from the mobile station. The SME (Short Message Entity), which is typically a mobile phone or a GSM modem, can be located in the fixed network or a mobile station, receives and sends short messages.

The SMS GMSC (SMS gateway MSC) is a gateway MSC that can also receive short messages. The gateway MSC is a mobile network’s point of contact with other networks. On receiving the short message from the short message center, GMSC uses the SS7 network to interrogate the current position of the mobile station form the HLR, the home location register.

HLR is the main database in a mobile network. It holds information of the subscription profile of the mobile and also about the routing information for the subscriber, i.e. the area (covered by a MSC) where the mobile is currently situated. The GMSC is thus able to pass on the message to the correct MSC.

MSC (Mobile Switching Center) is the entity in a GSM network which does the job of switching connections between mobile stations or between mobile stations and the fixed network.

A VLR (Visitor Location Register) corresponds to each MSC and contains temporary information about the mobile, information like mobile identification and the cell (or a group of cells) where the mobile is currently situated. Using information form the VLR the MSC is able to switch the information (short message) to the corresponding BSS (Base Station System, BSC + BTSs), which transmits the short message to the mobile. The BSS consists of transceivers, which send and receive information over the air interface, to and from the mobile station. This information is passed over the signaling channels so the mobile can receive messages even if a voice or data call is going on.

What is SMS?

Short Message Service (SMS) is the ability to send and receive text messages to and from mobile telephones. The initial standards were first discussed in the early 1980s but the world’s first commercial SMS service by Radiolinja Oy in Finland was not introduced until 1992. SMS was created as part of the GSM Phase 1 standard.

Each short message is up to 160 characters* in length. The 160 characters can comprise of words, numbers, or punctuation symbols. Short messages can also be non-text based such as binary.

The Short Message Service is a store and forward service, this means that messages are not sent directly to the recipient but via a network SMS Centre. This enables messages to be delivered to the recipient if their phone is not switched on or if they are out of coverage at the time the message was sent - so called asynchronous messaging just like email. Confirmation of message delivery is another feature and means the sender can receive a return message notifying them whether the short message has been delivered or not. In some circumstances multiple short messages can be concatenated (stringing several short messages together.

* The actual limit of size of SMS is 160 characters if Latin alphabets are used. If non-Latin alphabets like Chinese or Arabic are used, the limit is 70 characters.

What is GSM?

GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) is a digital mobile telephone system that is widely used in Europe and other parts of the world. GSM uses a variation of time division multiple access (TDMA) and is the most widely used of the three digital wireless telephone technologies (TDMA, GSM, and CDMA). GSM digitizes and compresses data, then sends it down a channel with two other streams of user data, each in its own time slot. GSM uses three frequency bands.

GSM 900 - operates in the 900 MHz frequency range and is the most common in Europe and most of the world.
GSM 1800 - operates in the 1800 MHz frequency range and is found in a growing number of countries already using GSM 900.
GSM 1900 (also called PCS (Personal Communication Services) 1900) - is used in the United States and Canada.

GSM is the de facto wireless telephone standard in Europe. GSM is available in more than 200 countries, according to the G

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SM MoU Association. Since many GSM network operators have roaming agreements with foreign operators, users can often continue to use their mobile phones when they travel to other countries.