WAP Steel News - FAQ

Frequently asked questions - wireless newsfeed help service

GENERAL

GETTING STARTED

OTHER QUESTIONS

WHAT IS WAP?

WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol, which is an application that is used to access information and services on handheld devices such as mobile phones. WAP is a protocol designed especially for micro-browsers (i.e. browsers for handheld devices, designed to cope with much less complex information than PCs). Just as PC based applications are written in HTML, so WAP applications for micro-browsers are typically written in WML (wireless mark up language).

WML is a relatively restricted language. It must be so, because micro-browser software can only make minimal demands on hardware, memory and CPU. As a result, mobile devices are normally unable to read internet pages designed for viewing on desktop-sized computers. Since the language is different, most computers are also unable to read WAP pages written in WML.

WHAT IS THE WAP NEWS SERVICE ?

The WAP news service allows the public to access the steelmaking sector news excerpts provided on the main steelonthenet.com website, via WAP devices. Although the news items shown on the WAP service come from the same sources as those appearing on the website, occasional news items containing non-standard or WAP-problematic characters are automatically filtered out of the WAP feed. All news items appearing on the WAP feed can however be viewed on the main website news page at http://www.steelonthenet.com/news.php, where original news items may additionally be accessed through the hyperlinks provided.

The WAP news service should thus be considered as an additional distribution channel for the industry news excerpts garnered by steelonthenet.com and displayed for free on our main steelmaking sector news page.

WHO PROVIDES THE WAP NEWS SERVICE ?

The WAP news reporting service is provided by Metals Consulting International ('MCI'), which is a UK-based limited company registered in England and Wales. MCI is the parent company which owns steelonthenet.com.

MCI may be contacted by email at wap@steelonthenet.com or by telephone at +44 (0) 208 504 2805. The Company's registered address is at 22 Nesta Road, Woodford Green, Essex IG8 9RG, United Kingdom. The Managing Director is Dr Andrzej M Kotas.

WHO IS THIS SERVICE FOR ?

The WAP news service is aimed at metals industry executives and others who have an interest in the steelmaking industry - but are often 'on the go'. Typically, the service will be used by users who are waiting at airports or who may be stuck in a cab, without PC access. The service is also aimed at executives attending conferences, seminars and other meetings, who wish to be informed about the latest developments in the industry.

Because the service is GPRS-based and 'always on', it is also especially well suited for the international business traveller who accesses the news items in exactly the same way - whether he or she is in London, Moscow or Paris - with no need for international dialling or other codes. In this sense, the WAP news service is truly global.

IS THE SERVICE 3G ?

GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) is a data service available to users of GSM mobile phones. It is often described as 2.5G, that is, a technology that is in between the second (2G) and third (3G) generations of mobile telephones. GPRS provides moderate speed data transfer, sufficient for example for transmission of short text passages and news excerpts, but it is not quite 3G. When 3G arrives, you will have online TV - and not just news reports - available on your wireless device ...

HOW DO I GET STARTED ?

The first thing for most people to do is to check that their mobile phone is WAP-enabled. This will be unlikely if your cell phone is three years old or more. How to check? Look through the user guide for your mobile device, and check the index for terms such as 'WAP', 'GPRS' or 'internet' or 'micro-browser'. Failing that, perhaps call your service provider ...

If you have a WAP-enabled device, the next step is to follow our simple setup instructions. Please visit our website at http://www.steelonthenet.com/wap/setup.html, where you will find some simple instructions for setting up your WAP device. Worry not - set up should take no more than sixty seconds to complete!

THEN WHAT ?

Once you have set up the free headline service you are free to use it as often as you like. On successfully accessing the news headline page for the very first time, we would strongly urge you to bookmark the page for future use.

From this point on, you will be free to access the WAP steelmaking sector news service as often as you wish. Although MCI considered access charges to be trivial during pre-launch testing (December 2005) - both in the UK and in Continental Europe - you are advised to check the access charges levied by your own service provider for both domestic and foreign GPRS/WAP access. Typically, these charges will depend on the amount of data transfer [~USD $0.10-$0.40 per loaded page] and not on user access time, but MCI cannot provide any assurances concerning current or future third party fees.

Site visitors are allowed to continue use of the free WAP news service, subject only to our terms and conditions of service. Please note that MCI reserve the right to change these terms and conditions of service at any time.

TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE

Still got problems with news retreival ? Worry not ! Try our troubleshooting guide.

CORPORATE ACCOUNTS

Would you like a corporate account for multi-user access, with emphasis on a specialist industry product or market segment? No problem - we can easily arrange this! Please contact wap@steelonthenet.com.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE

This is where you can download the full terms and conditions for the WAP news service.