Help for MSN Mobile

Getting started with the MSN Mobile SMS Service

First, in order to use the MSN Mobile SMS Service you need have
    a MSN Hotmail account
    a mobile phone which supports the SMS technology
    and be a customer of one of the supported carriers.

To open a free MSN Hotmail account you can either go to the MSN Hotmail web site and click on Sign up from the Hotmail home page as shown below.

or you can create a MSN Hotmail account during the sign up process to the Hotmail SMS Service.
If you already have a MSN Hotmail account, you can use it to sign in to the MSN Mobile SMS Service. No change to your account is necessary.

Once you have your MSN Hotmail account, signing up and configuring the MSN Mobile SMS service is easy. You will go through a total of 4 steps. You can cancel the procedure at any stage to resume it at a later time. Signing up is currently done from your PC only, and requires an active internet connection.

From your PC, open an internet browser session while connected to the Internet. You can navigate to your local MSN Portal from where there will be a link to the service sign up pages and information about the service, otherwise type the service URL directly in the address bar.

The Welcome home page as shown, briefly explains what the service is and what features are available for your use after you have created your Mobile account.

You can get further information on each feature by clicking the feature name on the left navigation bar. On the left navigation bar there is also a list of the languages which the MSN Mobile SMS service supports. If one of those languages is your preferred language then click it in order to sign up to and use the service in that language. You can also choose your preferred language later in the sign up process.

New users can begin sign up to the Mobile SMS service by choosing the "Join now" button or link on the home page, or if you are using Microsoft Windows Xp then you can also click the Microsoft Windows Xp Sign up button.

Existing users can choose the "Already have an account. Click here to sign in" link.

After choosing an entry point to the service, you will then be prompted to login to Passport (Step 2).

You are prompted to type in your Passport user name and password. This is your Passport to use the service. This is the same account you use when using MSN Hotmail and MSN Messenger.

Microsoft Windows Xp users are prompted with a slightly different log in dialog box as shown;

For both log in procedures you need to provide your MSN Hotmail user name and password.

Sign in Step 3: Information you need to provide

* If you are successful in signing into passport then existing users are directed to the Registered Users home page where you can manage your account.

* If you already have a MSN Mobile account which was set up via a different language or from a different site then MSN Mobile will recognise this and prompt you with a screen like the following. Just follow the instructions provided and decide if you want to create your mobile account on the current site/language or if you want to keep your existing one.

* If you are a new user -> New users need to provide the following information to MSN in order to create a MSN Mobile account:

- Country/Region - select the appropriate country/region where you are located or where your carrier is located.

- Language - choose the preferred language you wish to use during the sign up process and during the use of the Mobile SMS service.

- Carrier or phone provider. Note: only carriers that are supported will appear on this list. Carriers not listed are not supported at present.

- Mobile phone type - if you are not sure what type of phone you have then choose a generic brand name e.g.. Nokia (Other)
- Mobile phone number. Note: your country code is not requested.

    Example:
    Tom’s number is "1234567890".
    Tom’s country code might be "41", but Tom does not have to type in "41 1234567890", only "1234567890"

3a. Change language

At this stage of the sign up process, if you wish to change the language that you are currently viewing to a different language you can do that here. Once you choose a different language then the pages you are viewing are also changed if you accept the new language. Note. the language you have chosen is carried throughout the entire sign up process and more importantly this is the language that the service will operate in for your Mobile account.

3b. Carriers Terms & Conditions & MSN Mobile Terms of Usage

Information on your Carriers terms and conditions are available from the "Get more info" link on this account provisioning page. If this link is chosen then you will be presented with a page like the following. The information displayed is very important and should be read carefully. It is advised that you read and understand the charges you can incur from your carrier for use of the MSN Mobile SMS service. These conditions may contain amongst other information, the maximum number of SMS per month you can receive, as well as the costs per SMS. Sent and received SMS's may be charged differently depending on the carrier.

The charges per SMS are dependant on which carrier you use. Microsoft does not charge users directly.
Also displayed are the MSN Mobile terms of use which too should be read carefully and understood.

As further carriers are added to this service they will be activated and be displayed at this page.

Once user information has been entered, click Continue to proceed with the sign up.
Click Back to go to the previous step, or Cancel if you wish to cancel the sign up.

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Sign in Step 4: Confirmation Code

If you have correctly provided your mobile information and continued with the sign up, you will then receive a SMS to your mobile phone. This SMS will contain your unique confirmation code so that you can continue to create your MSN Mobile account. Please expect a delay of a maximum of 5 minutes for the code to get to your mobile phone.

This step has been added to the sign up procedure to prevent others signing up to use the MSN Mobile SMS Service using your mobile phone/number. It also enables you to check that the information you have provided is correct.

MSN Mobile SMS Service sends a Confirmation code to your mobile phone. This code is unique to you, and will show up on your mobile phone in the form of an SMS as shown.

When you receive the confirmation code, you must enter your confirmation code in the space provided on the sign up web page on your PC as shown below and then click the Next button. This in order to verify you and create your MSN Mobile account.

By entering the code and choosing the Next button you are agreeing to the terms and conditions of the service.

If the correct code was typed then MSN Mobile will attempt to activate your account. You may see a page like this example. Please follow any instructions provided. When your account is created you notified of this by the MSN Mobile Thank you page. To proceed you should choose the Done button. You will then be directed to the Registered users home page where you can find out more about the service or manage your account.

If you enter an incorrect code, have deleted the SMS containing the code or never received the code then there are ways in which you can find out how to proceed:
1. Double check the code received on the phone with what you have typed into the web page on your PC.

2. Click "Didn't receive confirmation code? Click here". You will be shown other options to help you to proceed with the sign up =>

        b. Check if phone number entered was correct (click the given link)
        c. Resend confirmation code (click the given link) Note. You can only get your code resent 5 times.
        d. Contact your mobile phone carrier to make sure that your mobile phone can receive SMS messages
        e. Contact technical support (click the given link)

Contact technical support

If you choose to contact technical support you may see a page like the given example. Your mobile phone number will already be populated in this page. The only information you need to provide is 1. A contact email address. This can be the same as your hotmail address or it can be different.

Once you are finished you should press Send to send this information to MSN's support personnel, or you can press Cancel to cancel this action.

You will be shown a confirmation page to say if your Issue/Suggestion was sent correctly or not. To proceed you should choose the Done button.

Note:
There is no need for you to keep the SMS containing the confirmation code once you have activated your MSN Mobile SMS Service account.

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Once the confirmation code is verified and your MSN Mobile account created through the online sign up process, you will have completed the sign up process and your MSN Mobile SMS service account will be automatically activated. There is no need for you to keep the SMS containing the confirmation code once you have activated your account.

Upon the account activation, you will receive two further SMS messages. One SMS each for each of the MSN Mobile SMS services.

"MSN Hotmail service! For help with this service, reply to this SMS with the letter H. Save this number to your phone to view your inbox anytime."

"MSN Messenger Service! To retrieve your contact list, reply to this message with CL. Save this number in your phone to view your contact list anytime."

If you wish, you can save the numbers each of the SMS were sent from to your mobile phone. These numbers can then be used to send SMS's with commands to initiate and start using the services at any time. You will also be able to get such numbers from the registered users home page, where you can also find out more information about managing your account.

Once you are completely signed up to MSN Mobile you can view the Registered users home page. This page provides you full access to manage your MSN Mobile account.

The following are some of the functions you will find in order to manage your account & use the service.

* Resend Messenger SMS service number to your mobile device. You can also get this number from the Manage Messenger section

* Resend Hotmail SMS service number to your mobile device. You can also get this number from the Manage Hotmail section

If you are a registered Mobile user then, any time you return to the service url you will now see the Registered users home page.

Manage Hotmail SMS service

From this page you have access to fully manage your Hotmail SMS account. You can

Resend Hotmail SMS service number

This sms can help you get started on using the Hotmail SMS service

Get a SMS sent to your mobile phone which would contain a MSN Hotmail Service number for use with the MSN Hotmail SMS service. This number can be used to send SMS with commands in order to use MSN Hotmail SMS on your mobile phone. This can be useful if you did not save the phone number from which the Welcome to Hotmail SMS was sent from, or if you deleted that SMS from your phone.

Configure your Hotmail Junk Filters directly

Configure your Hotmail Alert Filters directly.

Customize whether an alert should be sent to your phone or not when you receive a new message in your inbox, and specifiy which alerts you want to receive.

Download the Alerts Manager application to help you manage your incoming alerts.

You can control alerts from going to your mobile phone when you are on your PC

Get further help about the Hotmail SMS service

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Manage Messenger SMS service

From this page you have access to fully manage your Messenger SMS account. You can

Resend Messenger SMS service number

This sms can help you get started on using the Messenger SMS service

Get a SMS sent to your mobile phone which would contain a MSN Messenger Service number for use with the MSN Messenger SMS service. This number can be used to start or restart using MSN Messenger SMS eg. to log on to Messenger on your phone and get your contacts list etc. This can be useful if you did not save the phone number from which the Welcome to Messenger SMS was sent from, or if you deleted that SMS from you phone.

View the messenger quick numbers of your buddy’s

This page also provides you with a list of your Messenger Contact Names and their corresponding Quick numbers. A Quick number is a number which is uniquely associated with one of your contacts. These numbers can be saved on your mobile phones' phone book and used to send messages to those contacts at any time. If you want to send a message to a specific contact then you send that message to your contacts "Quick number". Your message is then redirected to the appropriate destination depending if the person you sent the message to is online on the PC or their mobile phone with Messenger. This list on this page is very useful if you have lost or can't remember your buddy's MSN Messenger quick number. You can also get quick numbers of a contact when you are logged into Messenger on your mobile phone.

Get help information about the service.

MSN Messenger Quick Numbers

This page provides you with a list of your Messenger Contact Names and their corresponding Quick numbers. A Quick number is a number which is uniquely associated with one of your contacts. These numbers can be saved on your mobile phones' phone book and used to send messages to those contacts at any time. If you want to send a message to a specific contact then you send that message to your contacts "Quick number". Your message is then redirected to the appropriate destination depending if the person you sent the message to is online on the PC or their mobile phone with Messenger. The list on this page is very useful if you have lost or can't remember your buddy's MSN Messenger quick number. You can also get quick numbers of a contact when you are logged into Messenger on your mobile phone.

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Manage your mobile device

The Alerts Manager is a small application that you can download and install on your PC if you wish. It is not necessary to download this application in order to use the service but it may help you to organize and manage your Alerts.

This is available to download from the Hotmail section of the registered users home page as shown in the screen shot.

You can then use this to define if you receive Alerts on your PC or your mobile phone depending on if you are online using MSN Messenger or not.

To download and install the Alerts Manager you should click the "Download Hotmail Alerts Manager" link. You can then choose to install this directly by choosing Run or Open, or, you can save to your computer and install later. During the install follow the instructions as provided. This application will appear in your installed Programs.

You can run this manually from your installed Programs but it will also run when you restart your PC. When the application is running it will appear in the System Tray of your PC as shown:

If you use your mouse to left click the Phone icon in the System tray then this will bring you to the service in your browser.
If you use your mouse to right click the Phone icon in the system tray you can see the options available:

The application has three states and the icons change accordingly:
    - Automatic – When the user is Online, alerts won’t be sent.
    - Hotmail Alerts On – MSN Hotmail alerts are always on.
    - Hotmail Alerts Off – MSN Hotmail alerts are always off.

* In the Alerts Manager you can choose automatic to ensure that when you are your Messenger status is on-line, busy or on the phone this icon will appear and Alerts will not arrive at your phone. You can also set this manually.

* In the Alerts Manager you can choose automatic to ensure that when you are your Messenger status is Offline, Away, Out to Lunch or Be Right Back this icon will appear and Alerts will arrive at your phone. You can also set this manually.

For example: if you log into Messenger on your PC you might wish to run the Alerts Manager so you don't get Alerts of new emails at your phone and your PC.

Once you click the "Delete account" link you are presented with a dialog box which asks for your confirmation. If you decide to proceed and delete your MSN Mobile SMS account then you must click OK to confirm that you want to unsubscribe. Once this is done you will have un-subscribed from all MSN Mobile SMS services. Unsubscribing/deleting your MSN Mobile account does not delete your MSN Hotmail or Messenger account. After this action you will not be able to use the service unless you go back through the sign up process again.

	What is the MSN Mobile SMS Service?
	Getting started with the MSN Mobile SMS Service
	Sign up step 1: Sign up Sign up step 2: Passport Sign in Sign up step 3: Information you need to provide 3a. Change language 3b. Carrier & MSN Mobile Terms & Conditions
	Sign up step 4: Confirmation Code What is it for? What to do when you receive the confirmation code? What if code incorrect/lost? Correct code entered
	Your MSN Mobile SMS service account is activated!
	Manage your MSN Mobile account - Registered Users home page
	Manage Hotmail SMS service Manage Messenger SMS service Manage your mobile device Download the Alerts Manager Unsubscribe from MSN Mobile SMS service