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How to Configure TAP Carriers and Recipients in NotePager Pro Transcript for Video:
Welcome to the video tutorial on how to configure a TAP carrier to deliver SMS or pages in NotePager Pro. In this tutorial, we’ll be going over what the TAP protocol is and how to use it to send SMS and pages.
TAP stands for the Telelocator Alphanumeric Protocol and NotePager Pro supports delivering this protocol by dial-up modem. If you’re looking for an RS232/Serial method of delivery, have a look at our other program, PageGate. To use TAP in NotePager Pro, you must have a dial-up modem as the TAP protocol will dial a carrier’s TAP messaging terminal to deliver the message.
TAP is most often supported by paging companies like SPOK and American Messaging. Support for the TAP protocol from SMS providers has been flagging in recent years and the only two major US cell phone carriers that still support the protocol are AT&T and Sprint; Verizon, T-Mobile and US Cellular have all deactivated their TAP systems.
To start, go to the Tools – Settings – Connection section.
Specify the modem’s COM port in the ‘Modem Port’ field, then click Apply.
Next, go to Carriers – Add.
Next, we’ll want to give the carrier a name. The name is completely arbitrary and can be anything you like but I do recommend naming it something straightforward, like SPOK or AmericanMessaging.
Change the protocol to: TAP
In the ‘Phone Number’ field, enter the phone number of the TAP terminal you want to connect to. For a list of known TAP terminals, have a look at this section of our support site: https://www.notepage.net/tap-phone-numbers.htm
Click Advanced.
Set the Baud, Parity, Data Bits and Stop Bits to match the TAP terminal’s requirements. Most TAP systems use 1200 baud, even parity, 7 data bits and 1 stop bit.
Leave the ‘Init String’ on auto to have NotePager Pro automatically detect the best initialization string to use with the specified communication parameters. You can also manually enter or modify the init string by clicking inside the field and entering the appropriate values.
The ‘Max Chars’ field is half of a two-part equation in NotePager Pro. The carrier ‘Max Chars’ field determines the maximum number of characters a single message may contain. The recipient ‘Max Chars’ field determines the maximum number of characters you want to send to that person.
So, if the recipient ‘Max Chars’ value is higher than the carrier ‘Max Chars’ value, the program will break up long messages in to multiple messages based on the carrier’s value.
For example, let’s say we’re sending SMS; that means we would want the carrier ‘Max Chars’ value to be 160 since an SMS may only contain 160 characters. However, let’s say that we set the recipient’s ‘Max Chars’ value to 500. Let’s then also say that we sent a 300 character message to that recipient. NotePager Pro would break that up in to one 160 character message and one 140 character message.
For SMS, we recommend setting this field to 160. For pages, set it to 240.
If your host can only accept a certain number of messages in a single session, specify that number in the ‘Msg Limit’ field.
For more information about the ‘Priority’ value, have a look at the ‘Prioritizing Your Messages’ video tutorial.
If your TAP host requires authentication, enter the credentials in the password field.
When finished, click Back, then click Apply to add the carrier to the list.
Now all that remains is adding a recipient that uses the new carrier. To do that, go to Recipients – Add.
Give the recipient a name.
Select your TAP carrier from the list.
In the ID/PIN, enter the 10 digit cell phone number or pager number required by the host.
Click Advanced. Set the ‘Max Chars’ value to the number of characters you want to send to this person. Click back, and then click Apply. Click OK and your recipient is now available to message.
This concludes the video tutorial on how to create a TAP carrier to send pages or SMS in NotePager Pro.
For more information, including how to configure the other internet and hardware methods of message delivery, please visit our website, www.notepage.net
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