Multimedia Messaging Service

Last updated

Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from a mobile phone over a cellular network. Users and providers may refer to such a message as a PXT, a picture message, or a multimedia message. [1] The MMS standard extends the core SMS (Short Message Service) capability, allowing the exchange of text messages greater than 160 characters in length. Unlike text-only SMS, MMS can deliver a variety of media, including up to forty seconds of video, one image, a slideshow [2] of multiple images, or audio.

Contents

The most common use involves sending photographs from camera-equipped handsets. [ citation needed ][ needs update ] Media companies have utilized MMS on a commercial basis as a method of delivering news and entertainment content, and retailers have deployed it as a tool for delivering scannable coupon codes, product images, videos, and other information.

The 3GPP and WAP groups fostered the development of the MMS standard, which is now continued by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA).

Multimedia messaging service was built using the technology of SMS messaging, first developed in 1984 [2] as a captive technology which enabled service providers to "collect a fee every time anyone snaps a photo." [3]

The commercial introduction of MMS started in March 2002. [4]

Between 2010 and 2013, MMS traffic in the U.S. increased by 70% from 57 billion to 96 billion messages sent. [5] This is due in part to the wide adoption of smartphones.

Technical description

MMS messages are delivered in a different way from SMS. The first step is for the sending device to encode the multimedia content in a fashion similar to sending a MIME message (MIME content formats are defined in the MMS Message Encapsulation specification). The message is then forwarded to the carrier's MMS store and forward server, known as the MMSC (Multimedia Messaging Service Centre). If the receiver is on a carrier different from the sender, then the MMSC acts as a relay, and forwards the message to the MMSC of the recipient's carrier using the Internet. [6]

Once the recipient's MMSC has received a message, it first determines whether the receiver's handset is "MMS capable" or not. If it supports the standards for receiving MMS, the content is extracted and sent to a temporary storage server with an HTTP front-end. An SMS "control message" containing the URL of the content is then sent to the recipient's handset to trigger the receiver's WAP browser to open and receive the content from the embedded URL. Several other messages are exchanged to indicate the status of the delivery attempt. [7] Before delivering content, some MMSCs also include a conversion service that will attempt to modify the multimedia content into a format suitable for the receiver. This is known as "content adaptation".

If the receiver's handset is not MMS capable, the message is usually delivered to a web-based service from where the content can be viewed from a normal internet browser. The URL for the content is usually sent to the receiver's phone in a normal text message. This behavior is usually known as a "legacy experience" since content can still be received by the user.

The method for determining whether a handset is MMS capable is not specified by the standards. A database is usually maintained by the operator, and in it each mobile phone number is marked as being associated with a legacy handset or not. This method is unreliable, however, because customers can independently change their handsets, and many of these databases are not updated dynamically.

MMS does not utilize operator-maintained "data" plans to distribute multimedia content; they are used only if the user clicks links inside the message.

E-mail and web-based gateways to the MMS system are common. On the reception side, the content servers can typically receive service requests both from WAP and normal HTTP browsers, so delivery via the web is simple. For sending from external sources to handsets, most carriers allow a MIME encoded message to be sent to the receiver's phone number using a special e-mail address combining the recipient's public phone number and a special domain name, which is typically carrier-specific.

Challenges

There are some challenges with MMS that do not exist with SMS:

Handset configuration can cause problems sending and receiving MMS messages. Useless, useless, O2 (346988504).jpg
Handset configuration can cause problems sending and receiving MMS messages.

Although the standard does not specify a maximum size for a message, 300 kB and 600 kB are the recommended sizes used by networks [9] for compatibility with MMS 1.2 and MMS 1.3 devices respectively. The limit for the first generation of MMS was 50 kB. [10]

Interfaces

MMSC Reference Architecture MMSCNA.png
MMSC Reference Architecture

Decline and discontinuation

Due to lower cost and improved functionality provided by modern internet-based instant messengers such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal, MMS has been discontinued by several telcos since the early 2020s.

Countries that have discontinued MMS include: India (BSNL; from 1 November 2015), [11] Philippines (Sun Cellular, Smart Communications, TNT; from 28 September 2018), [12] Singapore (Singtel, M1, Starhub; from 16 November 2021), [13] Kazakhstan (Kcell; from 6 May 2022), [14] Switzerland (Swisscom, Salt Mobile; from 10 January 2023), [15] [16] Germany (Vodafone; from 17 January 2023). [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SMS</span> Text messaging service component

Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text messages. An intermediary service can facilitate a text-to-voice conversion to be sent to landlines.

The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP, UMTS is a component of the International Telecommunication Union IMT-2000 standard set and compares with the CDMA2000 standard set for networks based on the competing cdmaOne technology. UMTS uses wideband code-division multiple access (W-CDMA) radio access technology to offer greater spectral efficiency and bandwidth to mobile network operators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vodafone live!</span>

Vodafone live! was the brand name for the multimedia portal service of mobile phone operator Vodafone, offering news content, picture messaging, instant messaging, email, and downloadable ringtones and games. The service officially launched on 24 October 2002, originally in eight countries. The first compatible phones were the Japanese Sharp GX10 and Panasonic GD87, and the Nokia 7650.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unstructured Supplementary Service Data</span> Communications protocol

Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), sometimes referred to as "quick codes" or "feature codes", is a communications protocol used by GSM cellular telephones to communicate with the mobile network operator's computers. USSD can be used for WAP browsing, prepaid callback service, mobile-money services, location-based content services, menu-based information services, and as part of configuring the phone on the network. The service does not require a messaging app, and does not incur charges.

The IP Multimedia Subsystem or IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IMS) is a standardised architectural framework for delivering IP multimedia services. Historically, mobile phones have provided voice call services over a circuit-switched-style network, rather than strictly over an IP packet-switched network. Various voice over IP technologies are available on smartphones; IMS provides a standard protocol across vendors.

Mobile content is any type of web hypertext and information content and electronic media which is viewed or used on mobile phones, like text, sound, ringtones, graphics, flash, discount offers, mobile games, movies, and GPS navigation. As mobile phone use has grown since the mid-1990s, the usage and significance of the mobile devices in everyday technological life has grown accordingly. Owners of mobile phones can now use their devices to make photo snapshots for upload, twits, mobile calendar appointments, and mostly send and receive text messages, listen to music, watch videos, take mobile pictures and make videos, use websites to redeem coupons for purchases, view and edit office documents, get driving instructions on mobile maps and so on. The use of mobile content in various areas has grown accordingly.

A Short Message Service Center (SMSC) is a network element in the mobile telephone network. Its purpose is to store, forward, convert and deliver Short Message Service (SMS) messages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Push Proxy Gateway</span>

A Push Proxy Gateway is a component of WAP Gateways that pushes URL notifications to mobile handsets. Notifications typically include MMS, email, IM, ringtone downloads, and new device firmware notifications. Most notifications will have an audible alert to the user of the device. The notification will typically be a text string with a URL link. Note that only a notification is pushed to the device; the device must do something with the notification in order to download or view the content associated with it.

Mobile marketing is a multi-channel online marketing technique focused at reaching a specific audience on their smartphones, feature phones, tablets, or any other related devices through websites, e-mail, SMS and MMS, social media, or mobile applications. Mobile marketing can provide customers with time and location sensitive, personalized information that promotes goods, services, appointment reminders and ideas. In a more theoretical manner, academic Andreas Kaplan defines mobile marketing as "any marketing activity conducted through a ubiquitous network to which consumers are constantly connected using a personal mobile device".

Wi-Fi calling refers to mobile phone voice calls and data that are made over IP networks using Wi-Fi, instead of the cell towers provided by cellular networks. Using this feature, compatible handsets are able to route regular cellular calls through a wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) network with broadband Internet, while seamlessly change connections between the two where necessary. This feature makes use of the Generic Access Network (GAN) protocol, also known as Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA).

An SMS gateway or MMS gateway allows a computer to send or receive text messages in the form of Short Message Service (SMS) or Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) transmissions between local and/or international telecommunications networks. In most cases, SMS and MMS are eventually routed to a mobile phone through a wireless carrier. SMS gateways are commonly used as a method for person-to-person to device-to-person communications. Many SMS gateways support content and media conversions from email, push, voice, and other formats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Femtocell</span> Small, low-power cellular base station

In telecommunications, a femtocell is a small, low-power cellular base station, typically designed for use in a home or small business. A broader term which is more widespread in the industry is small cell, with femtocell as a subset. It typically connects to the service provider's network via the Internet through a wired broadband link ; current designs typically support four to eight simultaneously active mobile phones in a residential setting depending on version number and femtocell hardware, and eight to sixteen mobile phones in enterprise settings. A femtocell allows service providers to extend service coverage indoors or at the cell edge, especially where access would otherwise be limited or unavailable. Although much attention is focused on WCDMA, the concept is applicable to all standards, including GSM, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA, WiMAX and LTE solutions.

Mobile local search is a technology that lets people search for local things using mobile equipment such as mobile phones, PDAs, and other mobile devices. Mobile local search satisfies the need to offer a mobile subscriber spontaneous access to near-position services and information such as businesses, products, events, restaurant, movie theatre or other local information. Mobile local search is the search and discovery of persons, places, and things within an identifiable space defined by distinct parameters. These parameters are evolving. Today they include social networks, individuals, cities, neighborhoods, landmarks, and actions that are relevant to the searcher's past, current, and future location. These parameters provide structure to vertically deep and horizontally broad data categories that can stand-alone or are combined to comprise searchable directories.

Mobile advertising is a form of advertising via mobile (wireless) phones or other mobile devices. It is a subset of mobile marketing, mobile advertising can take place as text ads via SMS, or banner advertisements that appear embedded in a mobile web site.

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network. A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that use the protocol. Introduced in 1999, WAP achieved some popularity in the early 2000s, but by the 2010s it had been largely superseded by more modern standards. Almost all modern handset internet browsers now fully support HTML, so they do not need to use WAP markup for web page compatibility, and therefore, most are no longer able to render and display pages written in WML, WAP's markup language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video Share</span>

Video Share is an IP Multimedia System (IMS) enabled service for mobile networks that allows users engaged in a circuit switch voice call to add a unidirectional video streaming session over the packet network during the voice call. Any of the parties on the voice call can initiate a video streaming session. There can be multiple video streaming sessions during a voice call, and each of these streaming sessions can be initiated by any of the parties on the voice call. The video source can either be the camera on the phone or a pre-recorded video clip.

SMS Home Routing is a modification to the original GSM specifications that changed the way inbound (off-net) SMS messages are treated by mobile telecommunications networks. Adopted by the 3GPP in 2007, Home Routing was devised to enable mobile networks to offer a full range of advanced services on both inbound and outbound SMS, giving more utility to phone users and enabling operators to generate additional revenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rich Communication Services</span> Mobile communication protocol

Rich Communication Services (RCS) is a communication protocol between mobile telephone carriers and between phone and carrier, aiming at replacing SMS messages with a text-message system that is richer, provides phonebook polling, and can transmit in-call multimedia. It is part of the broader IP Multimedia Subsystem. Google has added support for end-to-end encryption for all chats using RCS in their own app, Google Messages. End-to-end encryption is not a feature of RCS specified by GSMA.

The MMS Architecture is the set of standards used by the Multimedia Messaging Service in mobile networks. The standards are prepared by 3GPP.

GSM 03.40 or 3GPP TS 23.040 is a mobile telephony standard describing the format of the Transfer Protocol Data Units (TPDU) of the Short Message Transfer Protocol (SM-TP) used in the GSM networks to carry Short Messages. This format is used throughout the whole transfer of the message in the GSM mobile network. In contrast, application servers use different protocols, like Short Message Peer-to-Peer or Universal Computer Protocol, to exchange messages between them and the Short Message Service Center (SMSC).

References

  1. "How to send a PXT". Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Limited. 2015. Archived from [by Google.http://vodafone.intelliresponse.com/index.jsp?id=1576&question=How+to+send+a+PXT&requestType=NormalRequest&source=100 the original] on 2017-05-10. Retrieved 2016-02-02. PXT is a really easy way to send a picture, sound, video, animation or text to another phone or email address. They're also known as MMS, picture messages or multimedia messages. [...] If you're used to sending TXT messages, sending a PXT is pretty similar.{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  2. 1 2 "The History of Multimedia Messaging (MMS) - MMS London". www.mmsworldlondon.com. Archived from the original on 2017-05-04. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  3. Parks, Bob (October 2000). "Wired Magazine, The Big Picture - Philippe Kahn". Wired. Archived from the original on 2006-03-26. Retrieved 2006-04-20.
  4. Le Bodic, Gwenaël (2005). Mobile Messaging Technologies and Services: SMS, EMS and MMS (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. p. 208. ISBN   0-470-01143-2.
  5. "CTIA's Annual Survey Says US Wireless Providers Handled 3.2 Trillion Megabytes of Data Traffic in 2013 for a 120 Percent Increase Over 2012". www.ctia.org. Archived from the original on 2014-07-23. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
  6. "Overview of MMS" Archived 2009-08-27 at the Wayback Machine , mbuni
  7. "Sending MMS Notifications and Content" Archived 2009-09-25 at the Wayback Machine , now.sms
  8. Coulombe, Stéphane; Guido Grassel (July 2004). "Multimedia Adaptation for the Multimedia Messaging Service". IEEE Communications Magazine. 42 (7): 120–126. doi:10.1109/MCOM.2004.1316543. S2CID   4785100.
  9. "MMS definition", GSM Arena
  10. "MMS Developer's Guide" (PDF). Ericsson Mobility World USA. October 2001. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  11. "BSNL to shutdown MMS from November 1 - Times of India".
  12. "Smart, Sun to discontinue MMS by September » YugaTech - Philippines Tech News & Reviews".
  13. "Farewell, MMS: Messaging service set to end after mid-November - The Straits Times".
  14. "Kcell stops MMS service - Telecompaper".
  15. "Goodbye MMS: Swisscom to phase out MMS service ... - Swisscom Community".
  16. "Salt. - MMS Discontinuation".
  17. "Vodafone switches off the MMS - January 04, 2023 - MarketScreener".