SMTP Messages not being received

[cstanley]

We are currently using SMTP messages to Cell Phones through Cingular Wireless instead of pagers. We tested the configuration a couple of months ago and it worked flawlessly. Now, however, users are not receiving their text messages. I thought it was the server we were connecting to and my dialer logs show the following:

2/2/2006 10:50:24 AM ========================================
2/2/2006 10:50:24 AM Start connection to carrier: SMTP
2/2/2006 10:50:24 AM Sending via SMTP
2/2/2006 10:50:24 AM ----------------------------------------
2/2/2006 10:50:24 AM Working on message to: stanleycell from: testing
2/2/2006 10:50:24 AM Formatting message
2/2/2006 10:50:24 AM Message contained in single packet
2/2/2006 10:50:24 AM Looking up mailserver for mobile.mycingular.net
2/2/2006 10:50:24 AM Trying host: mx.mycingular.net
2/2/2006 10:50:25 AM Connected to: mx.mycingular.net
2/2/2006 10:50:26 AM Closing connection
2/2/2006 10:50:26 AM Disconnected
2/2/2006 10:50:26 AM Message not accepted
2/2/2006 10:50:26 AM Permanent failure. Message will not be retried
2/2/2006 10:50:26 AM FAILED Stn:0 To:stanleycell Frm:testing Msg:test mesg to both mycingular and cingularme
2/2/2006 10:51:12 AM ========================================
2/2/2006 10:51:12 AM Start connection to carrier: CINGULAR
2/2/2006 10:51:12 AM Sending via SMTP
2/2/2006 10:51:12 AM ----------------------------------------
2/2/2006 10:51:12 AM Working on message to: stanleycell from: testing cingularme
2/2/2006 10:51:12 AM Formatting message
2/2/2006 10:51:12 AM Message contained in single packet
2/2/2006 10:51:12 AM Looking up mailserver for cingularme.com
2/2/2006 10:51:12 AM Trying host: atlmail.cingularme.net
2/2/2006 10:51:13 AM Connected to: atlmail.cingularme.net
2/2/2006 10:51:15 AM Sending message
2/2/2006 10:51:16 AM Message sent
2/2/2006 10:51:16 AM Closing connection
2/2/2006 10:51:16 AM Disconnected
2/2/2006 10:51:16 AM SUCCESSFUL Stn:0 To:stanleycell Frm:testing cingularme Msg:test
2/2/2006 10:56:36 AM ========================================
2/2/2006 10:56:36 AM Start connection to carrier: CINGULAR
2/2/2006 10:56:36 AM Sending via SMTP
2/2/2006 10:56:36 AM ----------------------------------------
2/2/2006 10:56:36 AM Working on message to: stanleycell from: cstanley
2/2/2006 10:56:36 AM Formatting message
2/2/2006 10:56:36 AM Message contained in single packet
2/2/2006 10:56:36 AM Looking up mailserver for cingularme.com
2/2/2006 10:56:36 AM Trying host: atlmail.cingularme.net
2/2/2006 10:56:37 AM Connected to: atlmail.cingularme.net
2/2/2006 10:56:40 AM Sending message
2/2/2006 10:56:55 AM Message sent
2/2/2006 10:56:55 AM Closing connection
2/2/2006 10:56:55 AM Disconnected
2/2/2006 10:56:55 AM SUCCESSFUL Stn:10 To:stanleycell Frm:cstanley Msg:testing again

The messages sent to 10digit#@cingularme.com show to be successful, but they are never received. However, I can send an email thru Outlook to the same address and I receive the message from any of the cingular servers (cingularme.com, mobile.mycingular.com, mobile.mycingular.net).

[cstanley]

Problem may be related to the merger of AT&T and Cingular. They have implemented a new paging solution that requires users to subscribe to their Enterprise Paging solution in order to receive SMTP, SNPP or WCTP messages. Messages in the dialer logs may show to have been sent to the device but will not be delivered. They have also changed all of their protocol addresses. For SNPP the address is snpp.cingular.com port 444, SMTP is mobilenumber@page.cingular.com, WCTP is wctp.cingular.com/WCTP port 80.

[OzCom]

Below is the text of a Cingular memo clearly explaining their SMTP messaging policy:

Enterprise Messaging and the Consumer Email Gateway

There have been a number of recent cases where Enterprise customers have been using the Consumer
email gateway. We cannot support the use of the consumer email gateway for anything other than it's
intended use - individual, personal non-commercial peer to peer messaging. No application generated
messages of any kind are supported or allowed. Regardless of whether the customer has been able to
successfully use the consumer email gateway for their application – we cannot support use of the
consumer email gateway for enterprise messaging. Enterprise customers wishing to immediate, urgent,
reliable messages to their Cingular devices should use Enterprise Paging.
What is the Consumer email gateway?
Email messages sent to mobilenumber@mobile.att.net or mobilenumber@mmode.com and the web site
at http://www.mymmode.com/messagecenter and http://www.attwireless.com/messagecenter.
Why is the Consumer Email Gateway not supported for Enterprise use?
The consumer email gateway was designed, built and supported specifically and only for individuals to
send other individuals simple text messages. It was not designed to support the reliability and
performance necessary for enterprise applications. In addition, the feature/function set is specifically
tuned to consumer use. The consumer email gateway is subject to millions of SPAM messages a day
and extensive resources are employed to protect our customers from this flood of messages. As you
might expect, a corporate or government organization sending broadcast messages and urgent alerts to
their employees will look very much like SPAM messages and will likely be blocked or deleted.
Other carriers provide similar consumer email gateways and even free TAP gateways. How are
they different and how do we position our offerings against them?
1) The Cingular consumer email gateway is consistently ranked as one of the best performing
services of the major carriers as measured by Telephia. Even then, it does not provide the level
of performance and reliability necessary for enterprise applications. Consumer email gateways
typically fail to deliver between 0.2% and 2% of all messages. When you consider that these
gateways handle millions messages a day, that means tens of thousands of messages are lost
every day. It’s only a matter of time before an enterprise customer’s messages become part of
that statistic.
2) Broadcast messages sent from paging applications look very similar to SPAM, resulting in
messages being blocked or deleted.
3) All other US carriers charge to receive messages, subsidizing the cost of supporting their email
gateway infrastructure.
4) Many other carriers have explicit terms and conditions on their services stating that they are
provided for consumer use only and are not supported for enterprise use. We are currently
updating the T/C’s on our website and service to more explicitly address this point.
5) The only way to delivery immediate/urgent messages to mobile phones is to use enterprise grade
services like the Enterprise Paging offer.
What should we do when a customer uses the consumer email gateway in an unsupported fashion?
1) Inform them of the risks they are taking: They run the risk of their messages either not getting
through – being blocked by SPAM filters for example – or being delayed.
2) Present the Enterprise Messaging offers. In most cases Enterprise Paging will provide a simple,
quick and inexpensive solution to delivering their urgent/immediate notifications.

_________________
Aaron D. Osgood
Streamline Communications, LLC
* Authorized Notepage, Inc. Development Partner and Re-seller
TEL: 207-518-8455
AOsgood@streamline-solutions.net
Creators of AutoPage Spillman CAD interface for PageGate

[OzCom]

Forgot to add: My previous post contained the text of a Cingular memo that was distributed to Cingular employees and agents shortly after the completion of the ATT Wireless purchase

_________________
Aaron D. Osgood
Streamline Communications, LLC
* Authorized Notepage, Inc. Development Partner and Re-seller
TEL: 207-518-8455
AOsgood@streamline-solutions.net
Creators of AutoPage Spillman CAD interface for PageGate