RFC 1861 (rfc1861) - Page 2 of 26
Simple Network Paging Protocol - Version 3 -Two-Way Enhanced
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 1861 SNPP - Version 3 October 1995 become even more realized when growing towards acknowledgment-based messaging such as ReFLEX paging--where it may be impossible to accurately predict costs associated with telco services such as 1-800 numbers. 2. System Philosophy Radio paging is somewhat taken for granted, because of the wide availability and wide use of paging products. However, the actual delivery of the page, and the process used (especially in wider area paging) is somewhat complicated. When a user initiates a page, by dialing a number on a telephone, or entering an alphanumeric page through some input device, the page must ultimately be delivered to some paging terminal, somewhere. In most cases, this delivery is made using TAP (Telocator Alphanumeric input Protocol, also known as IXO). This protocol can be a somewhat convoluted, and complicated protocol using older style ASCII control characters and a non- standard checksumming routine to assist in validating the data. Even though TAP is widely used throughout the industry, there are plans on the table to move to a more flexible "standard" protocol referred to as TME (Telocator Message Entry Protocol). The level two enhancements to SNPP (as described below) are intended for use with this forthcoming standard. The recently-added level three enhancements have been engineered for use, specifically, with acknowledgment-based paging. With the recent advances in wireless technology, two-way paging is fast approaching reality--therefore creating a need for a workable end-to-end acknowledged protocol. Two-way messaging, however, opens up several new areas of unpredictability. The most pronounced is the subscriber response time. Although deliveries from host to subscriber, and subsequent receipt-acknowledgments happen in a rather predictable manner, it is impossible to know when the subscriber will physically pull the unit out, read the message and respond to it. Therefore, it could well be cost prohibitive to conduct such transactions online using a phone line as medium--especially an 800-number. This makes the Internet an extremely attractive alternative because of its (generally) usage insensitive nature. However, acknowledging the complexity of task, and flexibility of the current protocols (or the lack thereof), the final user function is quite simple: to deliver a page from point-of-origin to someone's beeper. That is the simple, real-time function that the base protocol attempts to address. Gwinn Informational
