Vista - Can't understand types of contacts

I'm using WLM2009 and my Hotmail account has long been converted to a
Windows Live Hotmail account.

I'm having tremendous trouble understanding Microsoft's concept of
contacts.

(1) I don't know how to anticipate if a contact is going to be a "Windows
Live" contact or not.
(2) I get different results if I make a messenger contact out of an
existing hotmail contact then if I make a hotmail contact out of a
messenger contact.
(3) Windows Live contacts that have enabled SMS behave differently if I add
them to messenger with a phone number than if I add them without the phone
number.
(4) Sometimes the contact will be added with an attached name, and
sometimes the name is nothing more than the e-mail address.
(5) Sometimes the SMS contact will appear as an SMS contact, and other
times not.

Let me point out: This is all for the same contact! It's making me crazy.
This whole problem started out because I'd send the contact an SMS message
which she couldn't reply to, yet I can reply to hers. An examination of the
reply to address in her SMS text message is an invalid number.

Can I be pointed to an explanation somewhere that defines these contacts
and how data flows between them?
--
Mike H

Greetings Mike,

Logging in with your Live ID to http://contacts.live.com should at least present how your
different contacts are laid out, which ones are in your Windows Live profile, and those in
Messenger - and those in both.

Both Messenger and Profile contacts are part of your Windows Live "Network" however.

SMS actually works differently in various locales (country), so it would be a bit helpful to
know which locale you and your contact are in. I can tell you however, that in some locales
and carriers, people cannot respond to your messages. Or, they can only respond to certain
contacts. In which case, they'll get an invalid command when they try to reply or something
similar.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2009 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--

"Mike H" <mkREMOVEhuskeyALL@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:l463zzrmrg31$.nfufabopifgb$.dlg@xxxxxx

Greetings to you, Jonathan. I appreciate your attention.

I experimented with your link, just to make sure that I'm not missing any
new areas that I haven't learned yet.

As to my area, it's Verizon - United States/Nevada. I registered my phone
number at home.mobile.live.com, enabled the messenger capabilities (and
hotmail as well), and made sure to tick the mobile access check box in
messenger phone options.

I'm sure there's a pattern to the connections between Messenger/Windows
Live Contacts, and I see some of it, but part of it still eludes me.

For instance, I now see that my best luck with SMS contacts comes by
including their phone number manually, rather than, what appears to me,
linking to their Windows Live profile. Furthermore, if that contact is
touched by, say, Outlook Hotmail Connector, and the leading "1" is changed
to a "+1", I have bad luck, with Messenger telling me it's an invalid
number. For instance, "12125551212" looks good to Messenger; "+12125551212"
does not, and it's impossible if the number is in the format "+1 (212)
555-1212".

The remaining issue is recognizing linked Windows Live contacts. Sometimes
I'm told that I'm trying to edit a Live contact, but other times, not. When
I'm not warned I'm guessing the linkage isn't established. I'm lost on this
one, since I can't guess how to establish that link in the first place.


On Sun, 10 May 2009 23:49:04 -0400, Jonathan Kay [MVP] wrote: