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				FLASHMSG

PanuWorld FLASHMSG

Frequently asked questions

Here are some answers to common problems and questions on PanuWorld FLASHMSG.

Is it allowed to distribute the PanuWorld FLASHMSG zip file on my own site or a collection CD-ROM?

Yes it is. PanuWorld FLASHMSG is really freeware without any costs. However, you are not allowed to modify the archive contents in any way. Note that PanuWorld FLASHMSG is never complete. If you are going to publish the application on your web site, it is a good idea to have a link to NuukiaWorld for easy checking of new versions.

I downloaded PanuWorld FLASHMSG and I am able to save messages to my phone. When I forward it to another person, he just gets a message saying "Displays: o_o"or what ever. Why does it not turn on the indicators?

Old phones do not understand GSM Phase 2 UDH messages. More probably your message center does not understand UDHs, and deletes the effective part of the message during routing the message. It may be even made to delete them to prevent this kind of false usage of the indicators and reserving the indicator messages only for network services (i.e. for the voice mail service).

The problem can also occur if sending phone does not like the special codes in the message and deletes them. For example, if a Nokia phone gives an option to "Edit" a message, it has deleted the special codes from the message already. To avoid this, you can try to send the messages directly from the FLASHMSG without saving them first in your phone.

Can you explain how flashing/blinking messages work? Are they only compatible with certain types of phones or model numbers?

Blinking messages are not possible in all phones, probably only in Nokia phones support them (not all, for example the 6210 and 7110 does not blink the messages, but forwards them undistorted). It is a bug in Nokia phones because blinking may cause the message distort (like having one and half row spacing somewhere, repeated words, or the blinking words may be incorrect ones.) Many other special codes similar to the "blink" code in the message causes the phone behave very badly, like corrupted message options menus etc.

In addition to this, I have not found the definition of the blinking messages feature in the GSM standards, so it is really a brand-specific feature.

Does PanuWorld FLASHMSG work with my Sony Ericsson T68i (or any other phone). Is it possible me to send flash messages through my phone?

PanuWorld FLASHMSG has been tested mainly with Nokia 6110 & Nokia Data Suite 3.0. I am not interested in testing it with any other phones because Nokia 6110 is the only phone I use. I have published this originally personal tool in NuukiaWorld for free. It is everyones problem to find out if they have any use for it.

FLASHMSG uses standard GSM way to communicate with the phone. It should work with any standard-compliant phone that supports the standard PC interface. Some of the special messages work only if the messages are sent to (some specific) Nokia phones. However, you may still be able to send those messages with a non-Nokia phone.

I asked my friend to send me a blinking text message to my phone (an Ericsson T28) and it did not flash or blink, but the cool thing was that it just instantly appeared on the screen. Why I did not have to click or go to the message menu to read the message?

The direct display and "not saving in the inbox" is the behavior of class 0 messages. They are very standard and can be used almost on all GSM phones. It has nothing to do with the "blinking messages" thing. You can create also these "instant" messages (class 0) with PanuWorld FLASHMSG.

How exactly is blinking messages done? Many out there said they use the data cable and software, and people have mentioned that they can just type /f surrounding the message to make it blink.

The message must be coded in a special character set and message parts are made blinking by using a character code not defined in the standards. No phone allows writing those special characters, however, new phones may allow editing a message coded in the special character set. The special characters for blinking (and usually the blinking messages) must be written with a PC application. After that they can be forwarded as many times as required without PC.

PanuWorld FLASHMSG does not use any escaping character sequences to mark the blinking words. You just mark the blinking parts with "Blink style". The Blink style button works like underlining in word processing programs: Selected part of the message will toggle to blinking. To make it easier to edit the message, blinking parts will not actually blink on PC screen - instead of it they are shown in red.

When I compose a message without blinking parts, I cannot use words with accents. For example, "tête" changes to "tete" after sending to the phone. How can I avoid that?

It is a feature of GSM. The GSM default (7-bit) SMS alphabet contains only a few accented letters. There are no circumflexed (^) letters at all. You cannot enter such letters with a standard phone either. The GSM default alphabet supports only the following "accented" letters (according to ETSI's GSM Phase 2+ Technical Specification 03.38, Version 5.3.0): èéùìòÇØøÅåÆæßÉÄÖÑÜäöñüà

Of course it would be possible to encode messages with the UCS-2 character set (containing all required letters for "every" language) but it allows only 70-character messages. PanuWorld FLASHMSG automatically uses the default alphabet (allowing 160 characters per message) when there are no blinking parts (and message is not "hidden"). This is by design.

I tried PanuWorld FLASHMSG with an FBUS service cable with no success but LogoManager works fine. What is the problem?

PanuWorld FLASHMSG is not LogoManager. LogoManager is intended for Nokia phones only and can operate also through Nokia-proprietary service connectors. However, FLASHMSG is indended for phones of any brand (for example, Nokia, Siemens, etc.) and must therefore use the standardized way to communicate with the phone.

It may be possible to use an FBUS service cable (for example with the IR-only Nokia 8000 series phones) if you connect through the Nokia Data Suite (the software intended for 5110 and 6110 phones) drivers. See Nokia 3210, 3310, 3330 connection instructions for details.

I can send email messages to recipient's special email address and he will receive them as short messages. Can you improve FLASHMSG to support sending messages this way (without any cables or phones)?

Email-to-SMS gateways support usually only plain text messages. Most of the PanuWorld FLASHMSG special messages contain binary data. Therefore PanuWorld FLASHMSG encodes every message into binary (PDU) format. In that format even regular characters are encoded so that they unreadable without decoding. This kind of data cannot be sent to email-to-SMS gateways because they expect plain text messages.

Why I get the message +CMS ERROR: 38 when sending a void message to a foreign network? I can send void messages successfully to my home network.

When a message is routed from network to network, it must go through many gateways made by different manufactures. They may reject messages that they do not support. Special messages may be rejected with higher probability when sent to another network than when sent to the home network.

Note that some phones ignore void messages completely, so if there is no beep, it may still have been delivered!

Void messages have close relationships to indicator control messages: If indicator control messages do not work, it is evident that void messages will not work when sent through the same networks.

10.11.2002 nuukiaworld@gmail.com
No email support or answers to technical questions.