MTN Cellular Service Question / Challenge
Joe AutoDrill
answer...
I'm trying to send a text message to someone who is using the MTN cell
service in West Africa. But I'm trying to do it via my computer's e-mail
program.
Anyone out there have experience with MTN cell service or actually have an
MTN service equipped phone by any chance and would be willing to "e-mail" me
from it?
MTN says it is not possible to any of their subscribers - but I watched it
happen live while overseas... So I believe their tech is incorrect.
Thank you for any help you can offer.
Regards,
Joe Agro, Jr.
(800) 871-5022
01.908.542.0244
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V8013-R
tlvp
> I've exhausted my patience with Google and going direct to MTN for this
> answer...
>
> I'm trying to send a text message to someone who is using the MTN cell
> service in West Africa. But I'm trying to do it via my computer's e-mail
> program.
>
> Anyone out there have experience with MTN cell service or actually have an
> MTN service equipped phone by any chance and would be willing to "e-mail" me
> from it?
>
> MTN says it is not possible to any of their subscribers - but I watched it
> happen live while overseas... So I believe their tech is incorrect.
>
> Thank you for any help you can offer.
Any particular West African country? Following is all I could find, for S. Africa.
According to the page http://www.cellular.co.za/email_to_sms_gateways.htm :
| Format is 08312...@sms.co.za
| South Africa MTN only .
More information, perhaps, through http://www.mtn.co.za .
Actually, the page http://www.mtn.co.za/MTNServices/MessagingServices/Pages/Email2SMS.aspx confirms:
| Sending an SMS message:
|
| Each MTN subscriber has an email address corresponding to his/her
| cellphone number. This address looks as follows: cellpho...@sms.co.za.
|
| Send the email using this ‘email’ address, and remember that
| you only have 160 characters per SMS, including your subject line.
Or try Googling [ mtn cellular SMS gateway West Africa ],
or any subset thereof.
HTH. Good luck. And cheers, -- tlvp
--
> Regards,
> Joe Agro, Jr.
> (800) 871-5022
> 01.908.542.0244
> Automatic / Pneumatic Drills: http://www.AutoDrill.com
> Multiple Spindle Drills: http://www.Multi-Drill.com
> Production Tapping: http://Production-Tapping-Equipment.com/
> Flagship Site: http://www.Drill-N-Tap.com
> VIDEOS: http://www.youtube.com/user/AutoDrill
> TWITTER: http://twitter.com/AutoDrill
> FACEBOOK: http://tinyurl.com/AutoDrill-Facebook
>
> V8013-R
>
>
>
>
>
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP
Joe AutoDrill
> Africa.
Ghana to be exact.
> According to the page http://www.cellular.co.za/email_to_sms_gateways.htm
> :
>
> | Format is 08312...@sms.co.za
> | South Africa MTN only .
I've tried using that exact format for a Ghana-based number as well as
08312...@sms.co.GH but with no luck at all.
> More information, perhaps, through http://www.mtn.co.za .
Browsed there for a while, contacted customer support, spent a few hours
with them... And then came here. :)
> Actually, the page
> http://www.mtn.co.za/MTNServices/MessagingServices/Pages/Email2SMS.aspx
> confirms:
>
> | Sending an SMS message:
> |
> | Each MTN subscriber has an email address corresponding to his/her
> | cellphone number. This address looks as follows:
> cellpho...@sms.co.za.
> |
> | Send the email using this 'email' address, and remember that
> | you only have 160 characters per SMS, including your subject line.
Thank you for the excellent info. Best anyone has given me so far.
UInfortunately, I ran across all this prior to coming here. Seems their
info is valid for South Africa but may not be for Ghana even though I've
watched people use the service.
> Or try Googling [ mtn cellular SMS gateway West Africa ],
> or any subset thereof.
ibid.
> HTH. Good luck. And cheers, -- tlvp
Thanks again. Very thoughtful and right in line with the thinking I have on
how to solve this...
bo...@hotmail.com
<auto...@yunx.com> wrote:
>Ghana to be exact.
But there is no MTN operator in Ghana, so you can't use the format
08312...@sms.co.GH
and the domain sms.co.gh who does it belong to?
Joe AutoDrill
>
> But there is no MTN operator in Ghana, so you can't use the format
> 08312...@sms.co.GH
They are there...
I tried
08312...@sms.co.GH
08312...@mtn.co.gh
...And a bunch of others, including wild guesses. None worked.
> and the domain sms.co.gh who does it belong to?
...Doesn't seem to exist - which supports my theory. :)
John Henderson
>>>Ghana to be exact.
>>
>> But there is no MTN operator in Ghana, so you can't use the format
>> 08312...@sms.co.GH
>
> They are there...
>
> http://www.mtn.com.gh/
>
> I tried
>
> 08312...@sms.co.GH
> 08312...@mtn.co.gh
>
> ...And a bunch of others, including wild guesses. None worked.
>
>> and the domain sms.co.gh who does it belong to?
>
> ...Doesn't seem to exist - which supports my theory. :)
Try the sender's number in international format without the
leading "+". Ie, drop the leading zero and prepend "233"
instead.
Quoted from http://preview.tinyurl.com/6ax974x
"If the Sender's phone number is 024-4232323, then the
senders address in the EMail will be
233244...@mtn.com.gh.
Soon the Recipient can reply to the sender if the sender is
subscribed to the soon to be released EMail-2-TXT Service."
John
Joe AutoDrill
> leading "+". Ie, drop the leading zero and prepend "233"
> instead.
>
> Quoted from http://preview.tinyurl.com/6ax974x
>
> "If the Sender's phone number is 024-4232323, then the
> senders address in the EMail will be
> 233244...@mtn.com.gh.
>
> Soon the Recipient can reply to the sender if the sender is
> subscribed to the soon to be released EMail-2-TXT Service."
I'm pretty sure I tried that... But alas, I can't guarantee it. I just
sent some test texts to see if they would be received. Since it is around
8:30 PM there, it should be prime time for receiving such texts and I'll
know shortly if it worked.
I'll report back if it does indeed work.
Joe AutoDrill
Unfortunately, I just received three bounce reports.
John Henderson
> Unfortunately, I just received three bounce reports.
Perhaps it's not fully implemented to all subscribers yet,
especially given mention of the "soon to be released EMail-2-TXT
Service".
Have you tried asking the customercare email address
(@mtn.com.gh)? It's at least logically possible that they'll
answer a query.
John
Joe AutoDrill
>
> Perhaps it's not fully implemented to all subscribers yet,
> especially given mention of the "soon to be released EMail-2-TXT
> Service".
Could be it's partially rolled out. I did witness it work in person and I
know enough to distinguish plain 'ole e-mail on a phone from
text-to-email....
> Have you tried asking the customercare email address
> (@mtn.com.gh)? It's at least logically possible that they'll
> answer a query.
Contacted customer support, spent a few hours with them... And then came
here. :)
I even tried getting a number in South Africa to call their HQ, but alas
they couldn't even tell me how to dial them from the USA. Figured that one
out on my own, of course but got few answers from anyone there.
...It'll work some day.
Thanks for trying John.
John Henderson
> Could be it's partially rolled out. I did witness it work in person and I
> know enough to distinguish plain 'ole e-mail on a phone from
> text-to-email....
What about the significance of the word "subscribed" in "Soon
the Recipient can reply to the sender if the sender is
subscribed to the soon to be released EMail-2-TXT Service"?
It may well be an opt-in service and those you're sending to
haven't subscribed. This is more likely given that MTN is
unlikely to charge for incoming SMSs in general (in common with
most of the world's telcos).
Given that MTN can't charge email senders, free delivery of
EMail-2-TXT SMSs is both a gift to spammers and a potential
burden on MTN's infrastructure.
So perhaps charging for EMail-2-TXT receipt, and/or MTN accepts
email from (for example) only email addresses the
EMail-2-TXT-subscribed customer has previously sent a
TXT-2-EMail to, as well as from email addresses the individual
customer has specifically listed for the purpose.
John
Joe AutoDrill
> the Recipient can reply to the sender if the sender is
> subscribed to the soon to be released EMail-2-TXT Service"?
>
> It may well be an opt-in service and those you're sending to
> haven't subscribed. This is more likely given that MTN is
> unlikely to charge for incoming SMSs in general (in common with
> most of the world's telcos).
>
> Given that MTN can't charge email senders, free delivery of
> EMail-2-TXT SMSs is both a gift to spammers and a potential
> burden on MTN's infrastructure.
>
> So perhaps charging for EMail-2-TXT receipt, and/or MTN accepts
> email from (for example) only email addresses the
> EMail-2-TXT-subscribed customer has previously sent a
> TXT-2-EMail to, as well as from email addresses the individual
> customer has specifically listed for the purpose.
Could be... It would be the first such step that I've run into and I'm
currently e-mail-texting somewhere around 80-90 different carriers
world-wide for business. No, not spam either, usually, it's tracking info
on a delivery, etc. but in this case, Ghana is a personal project... I go
there to assist an extremely rural village with their infrastructure
improvements and my contacts in the city and even some in the village can
only access cell service. There is no electricity, water, etc.
tlvp
>>> Ghana to be exact.
>>
>> But there is no MTN operator in Ghana, so you can't use the format
>> 08312...@sms.co.GH
>
> They are there...
>
> http://www.mtn.com.gh/
>
> I tried
>
> 08312...@sms.co.GH
> 08312...@mtn.co.gh
>
> ...And a bunch of others, including wild guesses. None worked.
>
>> and the domain sms.co.gh who does it belong to?
>
> ...Doesn't seem to exist - which supports my theory. :)
Sniffing at the smell of these candidate addresses, I wonder if they're quite complete enough ... and if the prefix 083 is really appropriate for Ghana? Even what I first posted looks wrong (though it's what Wikipedia offers, too): that was
| Format is 08312...@sms.co.za
| South Africa MTN only
but surely there's a MTN missing there -- maybe 08312...@sms.mtn.co.za ? And ghana may well need a different TLD, as well, say something along the lines of
<phonenumber>@sms.mtn.co.gh .
Are you willing to try a paid service (of whose trustworthiness I know absolutely nothing)? If so: http://www.cardboardfish.com/sms/Ghana.html .
Good luck; I agree, there's surprisingly little info to be found easily on the web. Cheers, -- tlvp
Joe AutoDrill
> absolutely nothing)? If so: http://www.cardboardfish.com/sms/Ghana.html .
I've been resisting services like this but I think I may give one a try...
Seems to be a likely solution for now.
Another would be for me to get a phone with SMS/ texting ability as
presently, I'm resisting that too for other reasons. I may Google search a
place that provides a phone number with SMS that automatically goes to
e-mail... LOL.
Joe AutoDrill
> absolutely nothing)? If so: http://www.cardboardfish.com/sms/Ghana.html .
While talking to a representative via live chat at cardboardfish.com (where
the heck do they get these names from?), I learned of
http://www.fishtext.com/
...It seems they will let me "rent" a UK-based cell number to do online
texting with MTN subscribers in Ghana.
I'm going to search around and see if I can find a Ghana-based company that
does the same to save my friends some texting charges... But alas, it seems
like there might be a solution that works for now...
Thanks for the lead... And does anyone have any suggestions similar to
fishtext.com?
John Henderson
> Sniffing at the smell of these candidate addresses, I wonder if they're quite complete enough ... and if the prefix 083 is really appropriate for Ghana?
Agreed. MTN Ghana suggest their numbers begin 024 or 054.
http://www.mtn.com.gh then "Discover MTN" / "Network Codes".
If your addressees' numbers really begin with 083, is it possible
they're with a different carrier? A bit of searching reinforces
the suggestion that 083... numbers might belong to MTN South
Africa. Perhaps they're roaming in Ghana.
In which case, it'd be worth trying to address the messages as
South African, namely: 27831234567@{whatever the correct domain
name is for MTN SA SMS}.
John
Joe AutoDrill
>
> http://www.mtn.com.gh then "Discover MTN" / "Network Codes".
>
> If your addressees' numbers really begin with 083, is it possible
> they're with a different carrier? A bit of searching reinforces
> the suggestion that 083... numbers might belong to MTN South
> Africa. Perhaps they're roaming in Ghana.
>
> In which case, it'd be worth trying to address the messages as
> South African, namely: 27831234567@{whatever the correct domain
> name is for MTN SA SMS}.
I went looking at their numbers very closely from dialings I did in
January... There are three varieties... 024, 027 and 054...
Of course, that didn't guarantee anything and the e-mails still bounced. :(
I remember the days when 300 baud was slower than I could read... And now
I'm lost on these daggone cell phones?!? What's next, an Apple-branded
phone? <grin>
John Henderson
> I went looking at their numbers very closely from dialings I did in
> January... There are three varieties... 024, 027 and 054...
>
> Of course, that didn't guarantee anything and the e-mails still bounced. :(
I hope my succinct posting wasn't so subtle that you missed the
main point. I saw that possibility after I posted.
I'm suggesting that you try the number in international format,
but with South Africa (27) as the country code instead of Ghana
(233). And with the domain name suffix of the email address also
changed accordingly.
John
Joe AutoDrill
John,
Excellent advice. It's actually one of the first things I tried. I figurd
MTN's network might re-route the message for me... But alas, no success.