tomsmyth wrote
Has anyone tried to use smstools with the Sony Ericsson w205?
I have not tried, but it looks like this device is a "smart" device and receiving SMS will not work. Probably the sending SMS works, but without status reports. This type of phones are often problematic.
tomsmyth wrote
How about the modems supplied by a typical African mobile phone provider intended for 3G internet access? Do they need to be unlocked first? Can the carrier disable SMS functionality?
The smsd does not reguire 3G. When the SIM is used in the original phone, it does not need to be unlocked. Carrier can disable SMS functionality, if it's used against the rules. For example, some Carriers do not allow messaging made by machine.
tomsmyth wrote
I'm currently working on a project in a small town in Nigeria and have limited choice of phones and modems.
If anyone knows of any popular and low-priced current phone models of any brand that work well with smstools, I'd really appreciate to know about them.
As the W205 works on GSM/GPRS 900/1800 network, you should be able to use almost any real modem which is available. I do not know what devices are available in Nigeria. If looking for a cheap modem which works pretty well, check this:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12057. Here is also a discussion of this device in
this topic.
tomsmyth wrote
Does anyone know of an updated compatibility list? Shame that the one on the site is out of date!
As said, the
list is incomplete and very old, mostly from the version 1.x times and it's not actively updated. It is practically impossible to keep up the list which is always up to date and contains information about devices which are available in the market today. Some users have reported "xxx is working", but without required information about setup, initialization strings, status reports, and so on. Perhaps I should create a "Wiki" style compatibility list, but I have not yet created it because I believe that it will also stay incomplete and outdated.
There are general guidelines:
This Software needs a GSM modem with SMS command set according to the european specification GSM 07.05 (=ETSI TS 300 585), a character-based interface with hex-encoded binary transfer of message blocks ("PDU Mode") of it, and alphabet support according to the GSM 03.38 (=ETSI TS 100 900). And real GSM modem is often better than a phone. And RS-232 interface is more stable than USB...
