A suitable modem and access to a TAP paging terminal
Why use TAP?
Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol (TAP) is a protocol for sending messages to phones and pagers over a modem. Most telephone companies already offer an Internet email gateway to their paging and messaging services. However TAP is a useful alternative because it does not require Internet access, so it can be used to send a message to your phone or pager when your Internet connection goes down. Sending messages using TAP may also be cheaper that using an email gateway.
How it works
The TAP gateway takes messages from EIMS in the Save as Files format and sends them over a connection, usually a modem, to a TAP terminal. The TAP gateway takes the envelope sender, the subject header, and the body of the message to make the short message to be sent.
Setting up
Preferences
If necessary, a password for the TAP terminal and a maximum message length can be specified here.
Connection Settings
Under the file menu, go to Connection Settings. The TAP gateway uses the Communications Toolbox to connect, typically the Apple Modem Tool should be used. The TAP standard requires XON/XOFF flow control, 7 data bits, even parity, 1 stop bit. Your telephone company should have details as to what they require. I recommend setting Error Correction to Optional and Correction Type to Hardware.
Configuring EIMS
For the TAP gateway to work, messages need to be delivered to it's Incoming Mail folder with addresses in the format <number>@domain. The @domain part will be stripped off and the <number> used to send the message. The easiest way of doing this is to add a domain for the TAP gateway in Mail Routing, set it to Route Via: Save as Files, and enter the full path to the Incoming Mail folder for the TAP gateway. The domain entered does not have to exist in the DNS. You can then create accounts in a real domain and set them to forward to 1234@tap-domain.company.com where 1234 is the number for the message to be sent to, and tap-domain.company.com is the domain in the Mail Routing.
Example
Here is an example of what the console in the TAP gateway will show when everything works.
processing file b69e2577
phone number: 5300123456
message: From: glenn@qualcomm.co.nz Subject: PPC TAP gateway test 3 This is a test message.
Connection opening
Connection open
Waiting for ID=
ID= matched
Sending login
<ACK> received
Waiting for go ahead
<ESC>[p received
Sending message
<ACK> received
Logging out
AT YOUR REQUEST
<ESC><EOT> received
Connection closing
Connection closed
What isn't implemented yet
Queuing and error handling is not implemented yet. The TAP gateway will only try once to send a message, and the message will not be bounced if it fails. You may want to set the Apple Modem Tool to redial if you are having problems with the modem not connecting.
Multipart MIME messages are not handled correctly yet, results may be unexpected if multipart MIME messages such as HTML formatted messages are sent to the TAP gateway. Rather than getting useful text, you will probably get MIME stuff.
The maximum limit on messages is 248 characters minus the length of the phone number.
Bug reports
Send bug reports and suggestions to tap@qualcomm.co.nz