Push message for Windows Phone (WNS): Blocked channel URL

Question

I have a Windows Phone application running on a Windows Phone 8.1 device, and I am using Windows Push Notification Services (WNS) to deliver a push message to the device. Delivering push messages has worked for approximately 8 days, until I received WNS headers in the responses similar to these:

X-WNS-NOTIFICATIONSTATUS: dropped
X-WNS-STATUS: dropped
X-WNS-ERROR-DESCRIPTION: Blocked channel URL
X-WNS-MSG-ID: 2DC1361376C2827E
X-WNS-DEBUG-TRACE: DB5SCH101121937

I have not changed the push server implementation, nor the code on the Windows Phone device. There was literally no change in the build of either component. I went home at the end of a work day, and the next day, I ran a simple test only to be presented with that particular error. I have tried the following in an attempt to solve the problem:

• Re-created the channel URL on the device.
• Re-associated the existing Windows Phone application to the store.
• Create a new Windows Phone application in Visual Studio (after association to the Store).
• Re-created the Windows Phone application on the developer portal.
• Used a different physical device.

Each without success. The documentation regarding WNS is sparse, there are no additional support channels that I am aware of, so I am stumped. What could be causing this particular error "Blocked channel URL", or, how do I solve it?

Funereal

Have you tried msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh465407.aspx? – Regardant

@AlexLebedev Yeah, authentication is no problem at all. This has worked before, and still works, without any issue whatsoever. – Funereal

Have you looked at azure and the change of the servers? The server types are going to be migrated. This has to be chosen manually for some and solved a similar problem for me. – Brooch

@Brooch I'm not using Azure, but could you elaborate a little on what this change involves? It might be applicable to my situation as well (assuming it's something in the dev center options). – Funereal

@RoelvanUden Then it is not applicable. The server categories/types in azure has changed, and should be migrated automatically. This influenced me that I did not receive any WNS. Then when I forced a specific migration, it fortunately started up again. Since you have issue with dev center, it has similarly been updated, maybe you should try creating a new submission and update your app with the new uri, maybe it can help? – Brooch

I just tried that @JITM. Alas, no success. I have no idea where to go from this point. Nobody on SO seems to know the answer, nobody on Twitter seems to want to give a response. Where could I go for help? – Funereal

@RoelvanUden have you tried login in with different account to get the notifications to another account? If you have no login, I think that it could be the issue that you have "spammed" the user, and the system has blocked it? – Brooch

@Brooch No, I have no tried logging in to another account. That's because getting another account up and running would cost a good chunk of money. The account that is in use even has a MSDN subscription tied to it. I would be willing to try a different account, but not for that associated price.. – Funereal

Answer 1

from your windows phone app you need to renew the url for the notification channel, because the url can be valid up to 15 days.

from the microsoft documentation:

"Request a channel each time the app launches. Channel URLs can expire and are not guaranteed to remain the same each time you request one. If the returned channel URL is different than the URL that you had been using, update your reference in your app server."

Edit:

see this link for reference https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh761462.aspx

Ganiats

Thanks for the answer. Unfortunately, this was one of the things that I listed as the first attempt to solve this particular problem. – Funereal

I have almost spent 2 weeks looking for the solution, in my case I get 2-3 notification successfully and after that it keeps showing this error 'dropped'. I feel WNS service is highly unreliable and the worst part is they are aware of this and still don't improve them selves. – Duron