Saturday, May 03, 2003
New midlet version released. If you did an over-the-air install originally, you should be able to do 'check version' on your phone and it will automatically update to version 1.1.0; otherwise browse to http://sms.vgsmail.com/ota or download the jar and jad directly. Changes:
Support for aliases (in the 'destination number' screen, select 'enter alias');
Threaded-sending: sending of the message is now performed in the background;
Bug fixes including the bug which appeared to delete the stored userid and password at random intervals.
Support for aliases (in the 'destination number' screen, select 'enter alias');
Threaded-sending: sending of the message is now performed in the background;
Bug fixes including the bug which appeared to delete the stored userid and password at random intervals.
Friday, May 02, 2003
Midlet reported to work on Nokia 3650 and hence the 7650. Watch this space: new version out at some point over the weekend including alias support.
Two issues at the moment:
First, delivery of messages. I have had a few reports of non-delivered messages. Happily, it seems that the new delivery reports are working (see yesterday's item): I have had no reports of messages having been marked as 'delivered' when they haven't. In total, the failure rate seems to be about 3%, of which most of those appear to correspond to phones which were switched off at the time of sending. I promise I am investigating each and every message, and won't stop until I get the failure rate down to 1% over a 5 day period: this is what I estimate the Orange SMSC to be based on my usage over a number of years.
And payment. The beta-test is costing me a fair bit, so I've reduced the free allocation for any subscribers signing up to GBP1.00 (which is still 30 free messages!). I am quite generous in giving more free messages to people who help up with suggestions, bug reports and general support. If you need more credit, I can currently accept NoChex (Paypal to arrive soon). Just click on the link above. You can send any quantity you like and it will appear on your account as soon as I receive notification (currently, this is not automated so it will take a short while, especially over night or weekends). Please note: this is a non-profit venture. At present, I am hoping to recupe my costs by a very very small (about 1%) mark-up on the cost of sending messages. Therefore, please be sensible in the quantities you send via NoChex (if they are too small, the relative costs will get too big and I'll have to increase the cost of sending messages).
Two issues at the moment:
First, delivery of messages. I have had a few reports of non-delivered messages. Happily, it seems that the new delivery reports are working (see yesterday's item): I have had no reports of messages having been marked as 'delivered' when they haven't. In total, the failure rate seems to be about 3%, of which most of those appear to correspond to phones which were switched off at the time of sending. I promise I am investigating each and every message, and won't stop until I get the failure rate down to 1% over a 5 day period: this is what I estimate the Orange SMSC to be based on my usage over a number of years.
And payment. The beta-test is costing me a fair bit, so I've reduced the free allocation for any subscribers signing up to GBP1.00 (which is still 30 free messages!). I am quite generous in giving more free messages to people who help up with suggestions, bug reports and general support. If you need more credit, I can currently accept NoChex (Paypal to arrive soon). Just click on the link above. You can send any quantity you like and it will appear on your account as soon as I receive notification (currently, this is not automated so it will take a short while, especially over night or weekends). Please note: this is a non-profit venture. At present, I am hoping to recupe my costs by a very very small (about 1%) mark-up on the cost of sending messages. Therefore, please be sensible in the quantities you send via NoChex (if they are too small, the relative costs will get too big and I'll have to increase the cost of sending messages).
Thursday, May 01, 2003
By popular demand, the web form now includes a character count. Thanks to Neil for the javascript code. I hope it doesn't break anyone with a limited functionality browser: if so, let me know and I'll maintain a script-free page.
The new provider I am using provides delivery reports back to me, which (in theory) should accurately confirm delivery. I have updated the 'account history' page to reflect these reports. You can test this by turning off your phone and sending a message to yourself: the status should go 'pending' to 'submitted' to 'waiting' (and then when you turn your phone back on) to 'delivered'. Again, let me know if the reports are inaccurate.
Request: I'm now routing messages through two different providers in order to maximize reliability. However, I need to be informed if a message does not arrive so that I can update the routing tables. If you know a message has not been delivered (and for this purpose, a message which takes more than 5 minutes to arrive should be counted as having "not arrived"), please email deliverfail@vgsmail.com with an approximate time of sending and the destination number (or at least the first 5 digits of the number). If you know the destination network, that would also help.
13:58 BST: Report: I have had no response from my current provider, so I have temporarily rerouted UK-bound messages. They are now coming through again. Sorry about the on-going issues, but I guess that's what a beta-test is all about. In future, I now have a mechanism in mind to enable this switch at the first hint of a problem. I have re-queued all messages sent since 8.30 this morning: you won't be charged for the redelivery (although the 'send time' might appear a bit strange on your account history).
Outage: Once again I have been failed by my SMS provider. They are accepting messages, but they seem to be disappearing. I've logged a fault with them and will report back as soon as I get a response. I have set a deadline: if this issue is not resolved conclusively today I will switch providers (I've got an alternative up and ready... just a matter of flicking the switch).
The new provider I am using provides delivery reports back to me, which (in theory) should accurately confirm delivery. I have updated the 'account history' page to reflect these reports. You can test this by turning off your phone and sending a message to yourself: the status should go 'pending' to 'submitted' to 'waiting' (and then when you turn your phone back on) to 'delivered'. Again, let me know if the reports are inaccurate.
Request: I'm now routing messages through two different providers in order to maximize reliability. However, I need to be informed if a message does not arrive so that I can update the routing tables. If you know a message has not been delivered (and for this purpose, a message which takes more than 5 minutes to arrive should be counted as having "not arrived"), please email deliverfail@vgsmail.com with an approximate time of sending and the destination number (or at least the first 5 digits of the number). If you know the destination network, that would also help.
13:58 BST: Report: I have had no response from my current provider, so I have temporarily rerouted UK-bound messages. They are now coming through again. Sorry about the on-going issues, but I guess that's what a beta-test is all about. In future, I now have a mechanism in mind to enable this switch at the first hint of a problem. I have re-queued all messages sent since 8.30 this morning: you won't be charged for the redelivery (although the 'send time' might appear a bit strange on your account history).
Outage: Once again I have been failed by my SMS provider. They are accepting messages, but they seem to be disappearing. I've logged a fault with them and will report back as soon as I get a response. I have set a deadline: if this issue is not resolved conclusively today I will switch providers (I've got an alternative up and ready... just a matter of flicking the switch).
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Outage: At 20.43 last night the SQL server process shut-down, basically meaning that nothing was working thereafter. I did not realise anything was wrong until 5.42 this morning when service was returned. At the moment I have no idea what caused mysql to die. I will also look into creating some mechanism for informing me (by email and SMS) of problems so that I can fix them as soon as possible.
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
Wap-to-SMS client now accepts aliases.
Outage: I have just learnt to never commit a change (however small) without running my full set of test-cases against the live code. Anyone trying to send a message via the WAP page will have had trouble for the last hour or so: this is fixed... sorry.
Slight decrease in cost of messages to reflect a bulk purchase I have just made.
The java client has now been reported to run on the following Nokia phones: 6100, 6310 and 7250. As yet, no-one has contacted me with a non-Nokia phone.
'Aliases' can now be defined in the web-interface. They are also currently only active for SMS sending in the web-interface, but will shortly be used in all interfaces. Email sent to myalias@alias.vgsmail.com will be redirected appropriately, and the aliases will also be used in the sms-to-email interface.
Outage: I have just learnt to never commit a change (however small) without running my full set of test-cases against the live code. Anyone trying to send a message via the WAP page will have had trouble for the last hour or so: this is fixed... sorry.
Slight decrease in cost of messages to reflect a bulk purchase I have just made.
The java client has now been reported to run on the following Nokia phones: 6100, 6310 and 7250. As yet, no-one has contacted me with a non-Nokia phone.
'Aliases' can now be defined in the web-interface. They are also currently only active for SMS sending in the web-interface, but will shortly be used in all interfaces. Email sent to myalias@alias.vgsmail.com will be redirected appropriately, and the aliases will also be used in the sms-to-email interface.
Monday, April 28, 2003
OTA install of java client available. Just browse to http://sms.vgsmail.com/ota on your phone. The total download should be about 5k.
A couple of bug-fixes to the java client. If you have downloaded the java client, check that you have version 1.0.1. If not, get it here: jar and jad.
A couple of bug-fixes to the java client. If you have downloaded the java client, check that you have version 1.0.1. If not, get it here: jar and jad.
Sunday, April 27, 2003
Java Client now available for download and testing. It has only been tested on a Nokia 6100, but should probably work on any Nokia phone. Please email me if you have a different java-capable phone so that we can get it working. Download the following two files (version 1.0): jar and jad. Within the client, you need to set your vgsmail userid and password (under 'options'), and thereafter sending messages is identical to sending messages directly from your phone (but 1/3 of the cost :). The client requires web-access which you will probably have to enable on your phone.
Someone just reminded me that the following has not been made clear. If you wish to auto-login and cookies aren't working for you (i.e. as long as you don't click on 'log-out', a cookie will be stored on your machine/phone and next time you go to http://sms.vgsmail.com/cgi/default.cgi you should automatically be logged in), you can simply bookmark the following page to avoid having to type in your password each time:
http://www.vgsmail.com/cgi/default.cgi?.State=1&u=myuserid&p=mypassword
Someone just reminded me that the following has not been made clear. If you wish to auto-login and cookies aren't working for you (i.e. as long as you don't click on 'log-out', a cookie will be stored on your machine/phone and next time you go to http://sms.vgsmail.com/cgi/default.cgi you should automatically be logged in), you can simply bookmark the following page to avoid having to type in your password each time:
http://www.vgsmail.com/cgi/default.cgi?.State=1&u=myuserid&p=mypassword
