Problem With Direct Push on T-Mobile

[Guest StuBFrost]

Well it seems to have been a lot better over the weekend which does make me think there is a congestion problem during the week.

[Guest chucky.egg]

Likewise - mine's only "hung" once this weekend and battery life seems to be better (perhaps as a consequence)

[Guest Honest John]

Can I home in on 3 points here please without hijacking the discussion.

1. The roaming triangle when the phone thinks you are roaming. I rang T-Mobile about this as some of my company's devices had stopped syncing. Tech Support said that they knew of this problem and put the fault at Microsoft's door who had "updated their software recently". Now just how they have managed to update my MDA Compact / Vario's firmware over the air without my knowledge eludes me for the moment, but the very helpful lady actually rang HTC and came back within a couple of hours telling me that as a temporary fix, to set the "Allow connection when roaming". (I had already twigged that!) However, I still have the conical triangle and, yes, I have reset, taken out the battery, etc. So why this has just arisen over the last few days is a mystery. (T-Mobile say it only affects a small number of devices.)

2. Device not connecting at times. We have a couple of users with this problem away from base at times although it does connect when they arrive in the office. This suggests that there is a T-Mobile fault due to reception or congestion in their area.

3. Sync cycle resetting from "as it arrives" to "manual". This has happened to a number of my users and I don't know why. Anyone else suffered or got an idea why?

Lastly, are these problems only with T-Mobile or do any other networks have these sort of faults? (Obviously I am using Exchange Server and we have not made any changes to it to cause the current problems that only appear to be a couple of weeks old. ) Any help would be appreciated.

Edited August 30, 2007 by Honest John

[Guest Confucious]

A coleague at work asked me what thbe triangle was on his vario. He is on T and was not roaming, I didn't get it on my Ameo in the same office and have never had a problem syncing, maybe it just affects certain devices7

My coleague doesn't sync and it's a bog standard vario, mine is an Ameo running WM6 with lots of s/ware installed.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Let's stay on topic please!

I haven't had the sync problem since the original post btw...

P

[Guest chucky.egg]

I've noticed it a couple of times this week, but nowhere near as bad as before.

The real problem for me now though is that it eats the battery on my I600, which doesn't have the best battery in the first place. On a couple of occassions the battery drain has caused me real problems.

I'm still investigating swapping networks, on the basis that it appears to be a congestion problem and there are no plans for new masts near me. V's 120Mb for £8/m would do me, but I need to test coverage before I change.

[Guest Honest John]

Let's stay on topic please!

I haven't had the sync problem since the original post btw...

P

Much as I hate to upset the main man, but isn't the topic "Problem with direct push on T-Mobile"? and isn't that what is actually in the latest correspondence? Determininig if it is just T-Mobile or also affecting other carriers seems relevant as does the fact that the devices seem to be resetting and that T-Mobile are pointing the finger at Microsoft.

For business users who have chosen to implement Windows Mobiles rather than Blackberry devices, losing contact intermittently is a genuine problem that causes problems for the technology department and having a forum where we can see "we are not alone" and when someone gets a reolution is actually very important.

I go further - there is no point in salivating over the latest slightly different micro-jump in hardware if the wretched carrier service is beginning to fail and get unreliable.

Rant over.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I'm confused, I was just pointing out that since my original reply in the topic saying I was having sync issues, everything has been fine. Just my experience... ;)

P

[Guest Honest John]

I'm confused, I was just pointing out that since my original reply in the topic saying I was having sync issues, everything has been fine. Just my experience... ;)

P

It was the "Let's stay on topic please" I was on about as I believed that the thread was doing just that.

Further information. The losing connection problem is also affecting the T-Mobile MDA Mail devices which are slightly different technology, I believe (???). So, yes, T-Mobile do seem to ne having some form of congestion problems as well as the other ongoing one of the Varios believing that they are on holiday abroad.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Ah gotcha, my bad ;)

P

[Guest StuBFrost]

Having problems again this morning. Anybody else ?

[Guest chucky.egg]

Yep still getting this regularly. Over the weekend it sat there "waiting for network" for over 3 hours, all the while I had a dozen emails waiting!

Not a happy bunny.

I've got hold of a Vodaphone data card SIM, which I shall be trying for the next few days. If it's good/better then I'll be porting to V when my contract is up.

Shame, because I like T. Their Flext and WnW changed my use of these devices. I will be sorry to go, but I need the data service!

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I have an idea on how we might be able to fix this one, watch this space ;)

A clue - does anyone with this problem have SSH access to a server anywhere?

I'm thinking map a local port (e.g. 10443) via a SSH tunnel to the Exchange server SSL port (443), avoid T-Mo doing anything to the traffic, and it could fix the problem.

Should be possible, all free, so long as you have a SSH account to a server somewhere.

P

[Guest StuBFrost]

Yep still getting this regularly. Over the weekend it sat there "waiting for network" for over 3 hours, all the while I had a dozen emails waiting!

Not a happy bunny.

I've got hold of a Vodaphone data card SIM, which I shall be trying for the next few days. If it's good/better then I'll be porting to V when my contract is up.

Shame, because I like T. Their Flext and WnW changed my use of these devices. I will be sorry to go, but I need the data service!

I would be very interested in your findings. My t-mobile contract is up in a few weeks time and I am thinking of moving to Vodafone.

[Guest tsutton]

1. The roaming triangle when the phone thinks you are roaming. I rang T-Mobile about this as some of my company's devices had stopped syncing. Tech Support said that they knew of this problem and put the fault at Microsoft's door who had "updated their software recently". Now just how they have managed to update my MDA Compact / Vario's firmware over the air without my knowledge eludes me for the moment, but the very helpful lady actually rang HTC and came back within a couple of hours telling me that as a temporary fix, to set the "Allow connection when roaming". (I had already twigged that!) However, I still have the conical triangle and, yes, I have reset, taken out the battery, etc. So why this has just arisen over the last few days is a mystery. (T-Mobile say it only affects a small number of devices.)

I don't use Direct Push, but I do get that icon a lot more often and yes I do remember receiving the software updates... ever since it happens, I get the icon! I contacted T-Mobile about it and they said that I was not being charged for roaming calls. And that was it, no other explainations.

I think I'll contact them again now thta more people are reporting the issue.

And my phone is an MDA Vario.

[Guest StuBFrost]

I have an idea on how we might be able to fix this one, watch this space ;)

A clue - does anyone with this problem have SSH access to a server anywhere?

I'm thinking map a local port (e.g. 10443) via a SSH tunnel to the Exchange server SSL port (443), avoid T-Mo doing anything to the traffic, and it could fix the problem.

Should be possible, all free, so long as you have a SSH account to a server somewhere.

P

I have my own Small Business Server (2003). Could I use that ?

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I've not had the roaming icon at all...

P

[Guest chucky.egg]

No, me either

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

chucky.egg - i'll send you a PM shortly, see if we can work this out ;)

P

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

chucky.egg - can you do a test and see if you still have this problem with the MoDaCo Plus proxy setup on your device?

P

[Guest chucky.egg]

Just PM'd you the Proxy password

I'm already out of my depth, so I may have to come back with a selection of "stoopid questions"

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Grab me on IM (see PM) if you have any Qs!

P

[Guest chucky.egg]

Well I've had the V SIM in my phone tonight and it's been working just fine.

As soon as the T SIM went back in I've been getting errors and it's not sync'd a thing.

I've even done a Hard Reset, and restored from my Sprite "base build" (made months ago, before I got this issue), just to make sure it's not some dodgy app I've installed.

Oh the relief! I know it sounds dumb but it's a big issue to me, and the annoyance alone of knowing that it's just sitting there not sync'ing is huge.

Paul's Proxy plan hasn't worked yet (still interested if you have some cunning plan Baldrick... er, Paul)

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I do indeed chucky.egg, i'll PM you now ;)

P

[Guest jchamier]

I was getting "waiting for network..." a lot when manually syncing with my exch 2k3 server (www.servelogic.net), but I discovered that was only occuring if I'd not recycled the phone (flight mode on/off) after using my TomTom Go which does a DUN connection over bluetooth. Not had a problem since. Its only the TomTom using bluetooth that causes the issue, voice calls are fine.

2G and 3G

Although at home, I live pretty much next door to a T-mob mast, and where I work are the company that put the damn masts up for quite a few telcos including t-mob....