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AFT - Use your free webtexts from your mobile - costs a fraction of a cent per text!

dal

I have created an J2ME application to run on (java-enabled) mobile phones through which you can use your online quota of webtexts.

Basically the application communicates with WebMonkeys' O2text program (link) so only the very mimimum amount of data is transferred from the phone to the web.

The cost of each message is a lot less than a cent (O2 currently charge 1c/kb for data). I have sent more than 4 without my balance changing, thats about .25c per text! This works with international numbers which are normally 25c for O2, so there are huge savings to be made.

Been working on this for a few weeks now so it is fairly well tested (tested on SonyEricsson k750i and Motorola v525, but should work on any java phone).

The application is designed to be as close to normal texting as possible.
Features:
- Saves your login details so you never have to enter them again (although you can modify them if desired).
- Supports predictive T9/predictive texting (if your phone has it) and contacts lookup (again if your phone supports it).
- Saves the 5 most recent phone numbers in memory for quick access.
- Tells you how many free texts you have remaining.
- Supports international numbers.

Would really appreciate any feedback on this, especially to see if it works on different types of phones. Currently the app only works for O2 but there is no reason why it can't be adapted for vodafone and meteor further on down the line if there is enough interest.

Many thanks to Webmonkey for his server-side work and for helping me test the app.

The application is called AFT (Almost Free Texts) and is available here:
http://www.killarneyonline.eu/o2text/aft.jar

So either save it to your computer and then transfer to your phone through USB/bluetooth/infrared or else use your phones web brower to go to the URL above.

Update 5th Sep 06 - Now has support for Meteor!

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dal

mfield wrote: »

Sam many thanks for all your help on this great application.

It seems to be working spot on for me but when I send a text through Vodafone on my Nokia 6234 it tells me that There was a problem sending your message. All I would like to know, is this normal, as the message sends either way. It would be nice to be certain the message sent to make sure the recipient receives the text.

That is not normal, no. Does anyone else have this problem on vodafone?

pop.1280

Sam Vimes wrote: »

do you mean the k800? it works fine on mine. you don't necessarily get it by pressing the centre button. press the two soft keys (the ones you use for back/more etc) and look for a "look up" option

That's the phone. After I type my message i'm then asked to enter a phone number or use an AFT contact; i don't get a chance to use my phone book

dal

pop.1280 wrote: »

That's the phone. After I type my message i'm then asked to enter a phone number or use an AFT contact; i don't get a chance to use my phone book

When the "focus" is on the phonenumber field, there should be an option somewhere to do a lookup on your phonebook.

pop.1280

Great, that's working now. Thanks.

The_Hustler

dal wrote: »

That is not normal, no. Does anyone else have this problem on vodafone?

I have that problem on O2, I've seen some other posters say the same.

mfield

I have tried everything to get this working on my Nokia 6234 and I am having no joy at all. I deleted all the settings and started from scratch. Here is what I put in-

First I got the settings from the Nokia site.
-Activated in all apps

Config Settings
Account name>live.vodafone.com
Homepage>http://live.vodafone.com
User name>dublin
Password>dublin
Use preferred access pt.>no

Acess point settings
Proxy>Enabled
Proxy address>10.24.59.100
Proxy port>8080
Data Bearer>Packet data

Bearer Settings
Packet data access point>live.vodafone.com
Network Type>IPv4
Authentication type>Norrmal
Username>BLANK
Password>BLANK

Finally I have Packet Data Access Point set to live.vodafone.com

I have looked at this for a very long time and gone over it about 20 times but still no joy. Any help would be great!:)

Sam Vimes

here's what you should try:

firstly, the second username and password should also be dublin, not blank. try that before anything else. if that doesn't work:

delete all the settings and create a new web profile in personal configurations. fill in the details as you have them there but set it to use the preferred access point.

then again in personal configurations, create a new access point with the settings you posted. remember the username and password are dublin.

in config settings, set your preferred access point to the newly created one and set your default configuration settings to your new web profile. then activate default in all applications.

at that point it should work. if it doesn't, get a different vodafone sim and try it in your phone

laoisfan

hi

have not been able to sent txt using AFT today so far and all of yesterday - is AFT server down? using AFT 1.3 on a SE W810i on Meteor network - keep getting "There was a problem sending your message" and message is never received by recipient.

thanks in advance - laoisfan

DieSkiver

Hi guys,

Just wondering if there are any plans to get this excellent application up and running using the wifi access the newer phones now offer.

Almost all smart phones now come with this.

Would be more than almost free then.,.., it's be 'Totally Free Texts' ;-)

Cheers

DS

Sam Vimes

DieSkiver wrote: »

Hi guys,

Just wondering if there are any plans to get this excellent application up and running using the wifi access the newer phones now offer.

Almost all smart phones now come with this.

Would be more than almost free then.,.., it's be 'Totally Free Texts' ;-)

Cheers

DS

it already works on wifi....

Sam Vimes

laoisfan wrote: »

hi

have not been able to sent txt using AFT today so far and all of yesterday - is AFT server down? using AFT 1.3 on a SE W810i on Meteor network - keep getting "There was a problem sending your message" and message is never received by recipient.

thanks in advance - laoisfan

no its working fine. to test if the server is working you can put this in the address bar:

http://www.dallan.co.uk/aft/serverside/send.php?u=YOUR_NUMBER&p=YOUR_PASSWORD&s=m/o/v&d=YOUR_PHONE_NUMBER&m=TESTMESSAGE

obviously replace all the things in capitals to your information

and change m/o/v to your network

if it returns a number, then its working. the number is the number of texts you have left

laoisfan

Sam Vimes wrote: »

no its working fine. to test if the server is working you can put this in the address bar:

http://www.dallan.co.uk/aft/serverside/send.php?u=YOUR_NUMBER&p=YOUR_PASSWORD&s=m/o/v&d=YOUR_PHONE_NUMBER&m=TESTMESSAGE

obviously replace all the things in capitals to your information

and change m/o/v to your network

if it returns a number, then its working. the number is the number of texts you have left

Thanks - it worked a treat.

I suspect the problem is either the Meteor Edge Network or my phone. My phone is an SE W810i. I have full signal coverage the "E" just above my "5 bars" is faded out. Is Meteor's Edge coverage down or something? I have not modified my internet settings/account on the phone since I last set AFT up.

Any ideas?

laoisfan

laoisfan wrote: »

Thanks - it worked a treat.

I suspect the problem is either the Meteor Edge Network or my phone. My phone is an SE W810i. I have full signal coverage the "E" just above my "5 bars" is faded out. Is Meteor's Edge coverage down or something? I have not modified my internet settings/account on the phone since I last set AFT up.

Any ideas?

lol powered off the phone, waited a few secs, powered on and hey presto...everything fine. the "E"dge symbol is active again.

sent myself a successful test message.

thanks for the help!!

mfield

Sam Vimes wrote: »

in config settings, set your preferred access point to the newly created one and set your default configuration settings to your new web profile. then activate default in all applications.

When I go to Preferred access point it is empty - should there be something in there to select?

Ok, I got the above done - In Personal accounts I have the web and access point settings but it's still no working.

When I add the access point it doesn't allow me to add Proxy or Port details. Perhaps that could be causing a probleM

DieSkiver

Sam Vimes wrote: »

it already works on wifi....

HI Sam,

i have tried the wifi, and not been able to get it to work. i get an error message saying thre was a problem sending your message.

i selected the access point i have at home, and its active.

any ideas??

i have a nokia E65

Cheers

DS

OK actually i think it could be the meteor server or something like that, i can actually define my wifi access point... anyone know if AFT is working on meteor?? i tried the links and tried to send from the web based AFT, and it fails there too..

thanks again guys

Paul

DieSkiver

laoisfan wrote: »

hi

have not been able to sent txt using AFT today so far and all of yesterday - is AFT server down? using AFT 1.3 on a SE W810i on Meteor network - keep getting "There was a problem sending your message" and message is never received by recipient.

thanks in advance - laoisfan

ok just seen Laoisfan's post, and he's having similar problem.... new to this so u guys gotta bear with me.. lol ;-)

mfield

Sam Vimes wrote: »

here's what you should try:

firstly, the second username and password should also be dublin, not blank. try that before anything else. if that doesn't work:

delete all the settings and create a new web profile in personal configurations. fill in the details as you have them there but set it to use the preferred access point.

then again in personal configurations, create a new access point with the settings you posted. remember the username and password are dublin.

in config settings, set your preferred access point to the newly created one and set your default configuration settings to your new web profile. then activate default in all applications.

at that point it should work. if it doesn't, get a different vodafone sim and try it in your phone

Sam, many thanks for all the help! I have done exactly as you say above, the program acts as if it is sending, the GPRS logo pops up and all but then it vibrates and tells me 'There was a problem sending your message.'

The IRL Cinema Guide does the same sort of thing. Just downloads nothing.

Internet access isn't working either. It says 'Link not working try again later.

Do I need to ring Vodafone to turn on GPRS?

I'll get this working some time in the next 20 years :P

Sam Vimes

mfield wrote: »

Sam, many thanks for all the help! I have done exactly as you say above, the program acts as if it is sending, the GPRS logo pops up and all but then it vibrates and tells me 'There was a problem sending your message.'

The IRL Cinema Guide does the same sort of thing. Just downloads nothing.

Internet access isn't working either. It says 'Link not working try again later.

Do I need to ring Vodafone to turn on GPRS?

I'll get this working some time in the next 20 years :P

i'm trying to get the meteor settings working myself and its not working for some reason. i can get the meteor isp settings working, probably because they don't use a proxy but with the wap settings the phone's browser works fine but no java apps can access the internet. i think its a problem with the phone, ie you should be able to define a proxy when you create a new access point but i'll keep trying anyway

Sam Vimes

yes it is a problem with the phone:

http://discussion.forum.nokia.com/forum/showthread.php?t=79252

"Prior to the introduction of OMA Device Management in S40 phones, MIDlets used the Browser network settings, which allowed MIDlets to use HTTP Proxies when accessing the network. With the introduction of OMA Device Management, MIDlets now by default use the Default Internet Access Point, which does not support HTTP Proxies. This is an issue for some MIDlet developers who want to use HTTP Proxies with their MIDlets, they want to use Proxies to authenticate the MIDlet requests before they are passed on.

MIDlets can use HTTP Proxies if the settings downloaded using OMA Device Management include proxies and the Application Id matches the MIDlet Application Id. But it is not possible to do this using the User Interface of the phone."

Which suggests that there MAY be some possibility to provision settings to the phone which allow this - just not possible via phone UI. I think, our Chief Architect, can confirm if this is in fact true (!) and comment if this is something the average MIDlet developer can realistically do.

so you won't be able to manually enter the settings to get it to work but it might be possible to get it to work with the configuration texts the networks send out. at least i think that's what it means. i'll keep looking

Sam Vimes

basically the problem here is that on some nokias, java apps use the preferred access point regardless of your internet settings and for some reason nokia decided that the preferred access point shouldn't support proxies.

the vodafone isp access point doesn't use a proxy so if you set java apps to use it, they should be able to access the net.
the settings below are how to set it up on a 6230i. it should be the same on most other Series 40 nokias.

settings->configuration->personal configuration settings->add->access point

account name: vodafone isp apn
go into access point settings
data bearer:gprs
go into bearer settings
GPRS access point:isp.vodafone.ie
authentication type:normal
username:vodafone
password:vodafone

settings->configuration->personal configuration settings

highlight vodafone isp apn and press options->activate

and then java apps should be able to access the net. i just did it on a meteor phone and it worked fine. the account name etc are different of course but its the same idea so should work.

a word of warning. vodafone's 99c a day internet deal is only valid on the live access point which none of your java apps will be accessing. you'll be paying 1c per kb which is fine for AFT and the cinema listing app but would be no good for something like opera mini that uses a lot of data

if you still want to be able to access the net using the phones browser on the live access point, i'll post up a guide for that, or you can just get the settings sent to your phone. this problem only affects java apps, the default browser supports proxies

mfield

Sam Vimes wrote: »

basically the problem here is that on some nokias, java apps use the preferred access point regardless of your internet settings and for some reason nokia decided that the preferred access point shouldn't support proxies.

the vodafone isp access point doesn't use a proxy so if you set java apps to use it, they should be able to access the net.
the settings below are how to set it up on a 6230i. it should be the same on most other Series 40 nokias.

settings->configuration->personal configuration settings->add->access point

account name: vodafone isp apn
go into access point settings
data bearer:gprs
go into bearer settings
GPRS access point:isp.vodafone.ie
authentication type:normal
username:vodafone
password:vodafone

settings->configuration->personal configuration settings

highlight vodafone isp apn and press options->activate

and then java apps should be able to access the net. i just did it on a meteor phone and it worked fine. the account name etc are different of course but its the same idea so should work.

a word of warning. vodafone's 99c a day internet deal is only valid on the live access point which none of your java apps will be accessing. you'll be paying 1c per kb which is fine for AFT and the cinema listing app but would be no good for something like opera mini that uses a lot of data

if you still want to be able to access the net using the phones browser on the live access point, i'll post up a guide for that, or you can just get the settings sent to your phone. this problem only affects java apps, the default browser supports proxies

You have the data bearer above as gprs but that option isnt available, so I left it at data packet and guess what.....it worked! Ha ha! It still tells me that there was a problem sending my message but it worked all the same. Why would this be? ***EDIT*** I tried again and it worked perfecto! Gave me how many messages I have left and all! SWEET!!

I'm after getting so pissed off with the whole thing, I'm just off now to buy a spanking new N95 as they are €189 on upgrade and I'm just due one! Beautiful!

Many thanks for the continued help Sam, your a patient man!

Sam Vimes

mfield wrote: »

You have the data bearer above as gprs but that option isnt available, so I left it at data packet and guess what.....it worked! Ha ha! It still tells me that there was a problem sending my message but it worked all the same. Why would this be?

I'm after getting so pissed off with the whole thing, I'm just off now to buy a spanking new N95 as they are €189 on upgrade and I'm just due one!

Many thanks for the continued help Sam, your a patient man!

GPRS is packet data. i wish they'd pick a naming convention and stick with it.
i don't know why it would keep telling you there was a problem. try the cinema guide app here and see if that works properly.

by the way, you won't have this problem with the n95 because its s60, not s40

DieSkiver

Hi Guys,

Is this service working with meteor?? can anyone confirm this for me please??

Thanks

Dieskiver

mfield

Sam Vimes wrote: »

GPRS is packet data. i wish they'd pick a naming convention and stick with it.
i don't know why it would keep telling you there was a problem. try the cinema guide app here and see if that works properly.

by the way, you won't have this problem with the n95 because its s60, not s40

Sam it is actually working now, many thanks mate, I really appreciate your help!

Sam Vimes

DieSkiver wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Is this service working with meteor?? can anyone confirm this for me please??

Thanks

Dieskiver

yes it is

mfield wrote: »

Sam it is actually working now, many thanks mate, I really appreciate your help!

no problem at all

i've been trying to figure out why that wouldn't work for ages.

DieSkiver

Hey Sam,

I'm still having trouble sending on my meteor account.

I set up another account using my wifes number (o2 network) , and sent message to my phone no problem, using the wifi on my E65. trying with my meteor account settings over the wifi it failed. I cant understand it. So i tried to send from the web based AFT....

When i try sent from the web based aft application using my meteor acount it says:

'The server encountered a General Error. Your message has not been sent.'

So does this mean meteor is down?

I know they have changed their webtxt portion of their website recently, is tat the cause?? JSMS wasnt working for while, but Keith sorted that out.

I just really want to get this working ;-)

DS

DieSkiver

OK guys, good news, its working now, created my account again and now its working... i only use it over the wifi cos it takes too long to get gprs signal where i live, signal is brutal...

What a program.. Ur legends

Keep it up

DS

Sam Vimes

meteor does appear to be down. when i said it was working i just typed the url into the browser and sent a message that way but it seems that the whole meteor gprs system isn't working. all i confirmed was that the texting system was working. it didn't occur to me that the whole gprs system might be down

i've spent the last hour pulling my hair out trying to get my version of AFT working on a friend's phone and then i realised that there was nothing wrong with the f*cking thing

i just called meteor there and the girl confirmed there's a problem with gprs at the moment and that's why its not working. so hang on and hopefully it'll start working tomorrow

and what web based aft application?

edit: ah i see you got it working

DieSkiver

Sam Vimes wrote: »

meteor does appear to be down. when i said it was working i just typed the url into the browser and sent a message that way but it seems that the whole meteor gprs system isn't working. all i confirmed was that the texting system was working. it didn't occur to me that the whole gprs system might be down

i've spent the last hour pulling my hair out trying to get my version of AFT working on a friend's phone and then i realised that there was nothing wrong with the f*cking thing

i just called meteor there and the girl confirmed there's a problem with gprs at the moment and that's why its not working. so hang on and hopefully it'll start working tomorrow

and what web based aft application?

edit: ah i see you got it working

This one???

http://sms.donutsoft.net/aftwebbeta/

Sam Vimes

DieSkiver wrote: »

This one???

http://sms.donutsoft.net/aftwebbeta/

ah i see. i didn't know that was there