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Push email and GPRS

I now have the push email working through mail2web.com, but the phone wants to be constantly connected to GPRS and seams to sychronise 4 or 5 times an hour even though no new emails have been recieved.
Is this normal behaviour as i'd rather it just dial GPRS and synchronise when a new email arrives.
Thanks
James

With the push email, the GPRS session will stay open.
As far as sync'ing when there is nothing new, that is NOT normal. I have gone hours without sync'ing (due to no mail, contact changes, or Calendar changes), then when a new mail comes in it still gets it right away.
There was a good explaination of how the push email works via a technet blog... I think this is the link, but can't get to it right now for some reason. It's a good read... http://blogs.technet.com/exchange/archive/2006/04/03/424028.aspx

That's right - for Direct Push the GPRS connection will be permanently up, so that the server can flag to the handheld when a new message comes in. If the connection is dropped (ie. passing through a no coverage area), then it's up to the handset to re-establish it, and it does this with a timeout of 15 mins. Maybe this is what you're seeing. The other explanation is that the router/firewall at the server end is killing SSL sessions after too short a timeout. I believe the Microsoft recommended timeout is 30 mins. Hope this helps. br

Thanks for that guys, i suppose GPRS doesnt run the battery down too much. It still seems to be syching a couple of times an hour with no change to my exchange contents.

have you got your settings on "when items arrive" or do you have it set to periodically check? particularly in off peak times.
open activesync on the device and check the schedule.

Direct Push 'Heartbeat interval'
Using Direct Push on Tornado/imate sp5, the gprs 'heartbeat interval' can be set in the registryHKCU/Software/Microsoft/ActiveSync/Interval, as well as MinHeartbeat and Max Heartbeat. I've got mine set to 1800(30mins) for Min and Interval and 2700 (45 mins) as Max.
Most Servers run between min8mins and max 45mins, so your device should 'ping'or be 'pinged' by the server within this time frame.
I'm using 4Smartphone. Works like a dream. Heartbeat is about 3kb/hour, ie 2 beats an hour
I tested Mail2Web, and the heartbeats from the server come at a rate of 1 kb per minute 60kb/hour ! ouch! regardless of my device settings, i mailed them and they're looking into it !
good luck

I've done a bit of reading on the mail2web service and it seams that is the problem. Some users have been finding that the download costs have been huge because the heartbeats have been coming so rapidly. I've stopped using push on mail2web on the phone. I'll have to wait until work gets its certificate sorted and i can use my exchange box there.
Thanks for the replies

Any problem using Mail2Web lately?

Hi,
Just to check anyone facing problem using Mail2Web lately especially this week?
On my side I'm having problem synching my set to Mail2Web
Thanks

RE
Sorry, I mean using 3G/GPRS?
Thanks

Mail2Web
possibly check yr settings in Active Sync, sometimes the schedule gets mixed up by synciing with yr PC,....btw, is the 'heartbeat' interval with Mail2Web still at 30 seconds, in other words is your phone sending and receiving data every 30 secs ? Mine was getting data 'heartbeats' continuously which was killing my battery and my data usage was 6kb/minute, just for the heartbeat, regardless of my registry settings. I've switched to another exchange server, and it uses 4kb per HOUR, and battery life not affected at all !!!!

YES YES YES
I am glad it is not only me. Mine started working again 5 minutes ago, but I don't know if it is something I did, or a host file I made with the ip address in it. I was always able to sync over wifi though. Maybe cingular DNS lost them.

FOSA said:
Just to check anyone facing problem using Mail2Web lately especially this week?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, since yesterday no sync via GPRS is possible (o2 Germany).
With wifi via my home cable connection syncing is possible.
When using https://mobile.exchange.mail2web.com in Pocket IE via GPRS I get a certificate warning and after that a login page with a cisco logo, http-connections work fine.
Unfortunately I need a secure connection for active sync :-(

Certificates
That makes sense, that is what the error code points to. Anyone else up and running? What ever it was, I am glad it is fixed.

there is a problem.....I confirm...tried syncing with 4 differrent operators..every time got the error message " Sync cannot be com,pleted.Try again Later" :shock:

I can't sync via gprs either.
I'm on T-Mobile's network in the USA. I can surf the web via GPRS, but syncing via activesync and mail2web is not working via GPRS. Certificate error, which means its an issue on their end...
It IS working via any WiFi connection though...

...wow...
I submitted a trouble ticket at http://services.mail2web.com/About/Contact/
I used "mail2web exchange email" in the subject drop down box.
They replied w/n 10 minutes...!!! Thats better than my Verizon, T-Mobile and Direct TV customer service...and I PAY for those...!
The message:
"Greetings,
Please try doing a hard reboot of your device, by powering your device
off and then on again.
If you are using SSL with your account, please try then turning off your
SSL in your device and sync with the severs, then turn SSL back on and
try to sync again.
If this does not help, please verify that the time and date settings on
your device are correct, as this can also cause an issue when using SSL.
If you continue to experience difficulties syncing your device with your
account, please let me know and I will look in to the issue further.
If you need any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact
our 24/7 support team at [email protected].
Thank you for choosing mail2web.com!
Regards,
Marya
Customer Support"

...and wow...it worked...!
Try turning OFF the SSL option in your Active Sync Exchange options. Then hit the sync button.
I feel bad, like I should be paying for this...lol...its a rare thing that a CRS over email can INSTANTLY solve a tech issue for me...!
Gotta give em credit for this one...
I am still having an SSL email issue and they are looking into it...but I dont have an issue w/ sending non-ssl email for a few days...
Give it a try...

Specific Steps:
Go to your Active Sync Screen, then:
-- Menu
-- Configure Server
-- UN-CHECK the "this server requires an encrypted (SSL) connection" box
-- dismiss the password warning if you get one
-- Next, then re-enter your password (removing the SSL kills your password)
-- Keep hitting "next" then "finish"
-- Hit the "sync" button
This worked for me. I got my full gprs syncing back...
Again, hats off to them...

Doesn't work for me. Do you use GPRS?

Sync without SSL doesnt work either
Hi, urksaddy
Are you using SSL to synconize? Because, if I swith to Sync without SSL, the active sync shows that the sync couldn't reach the Server and an error code of 80072f78 is given. What server and Domain did you use for the sync without SSL?
thanks in advance.

No SSL
Mine is working without SSL only, switching it back on does not let it sync.

Doesn't work for me either, because my O2-Wap-Flatrate in Germany needs SSL-Connection!
The MS-Support-Code is 0x80072F17

Re: Mail2Web
kashortie said:
possibly check yr settings in Active Sync, sometimes the schedule gets mixed up by synciing with yr PC,....btw, is the 'heartbeat' interval with Mail2Web still at 30 seconds, in other words is your phone sending and receiving data every 30 secs ? Mine was getting data 'heartbeats' continuously which was killing my battery and my data usage was 6kb/minute, just for the heartbeat, regardless of my registry settings. I've switched to another exchange server, and it uses 4kb per HOUR, and battery life not affected at all !!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What exchange server did you switch to? always looking for an alternative.
thanks,

Direct Push mail
I eventually unwillingly switched from Mail2Web because of the heartbeat interval ( possibly to do with the firewall settings at their server ) the device/server connection was pulsing every 30 secs, using data in ídle'mode and draining my battery. Ï mailed them often and they couldn't/wouldn't resolve it ( but I agree, they always reply fast, !! ) 4Smartphone is an alternative, althought there is a U$ 3.99 per month fee, I calculated it to be cheaper than the "ïdle"data cost per month with Mail2Web. (2kb every 30 secs adds up if you're connected 24/7 !! ) and i'm not on an unlimited plan ! Battery life is also a big issue for me when i'm "on the road". Interesting off topic, for anyone using a non-windows device, push mail is coming to 'normal' mobile phones. Search net for Tricastmedia and/or "Alwayssend" due July 06

thanks for the info, I keep hoping Mail2web will resolve the heartbeat issue, however they seem happy the way it is.

i have mail2web and got no problems connecting.
HOWEVER, my battery life has decreased dramatically once I started using the service. How do I know the pulse interval?
Also, i really dont know if this is an issue with activesync or with mail2web, but sometimes it takes FOREVER to get an email. Sometimes more than FIVE minutes. this way its even more effective to turn on automatic check every five minutes on outlook. Its really not push at all!
I used to have "chatter mail" on my treo 650, and any account that supports IMAP idle (a LOT of providers support it, many of them free) makes it true push. It would take, on everage, 2 to 6 seconds to receive an email. Now THATS push!

urksaddy said:
Specific Steps:
Go to your Active Sync Screen, then:
-- Menu
-- Configure Server
-- UN-CHECK the "this server requires an encrypted (SSL) connection" box
-- dismiss the password warning if you get one
-- Next, then re-enter your password (removing the SSL kills your password)
-- Keep hitting "next" then "finish"
-- Hit the "sync" button
This worked for me. I got my full gprs syncing back...
Again, hats off to them...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks your information , when I took off SSL it work fine.

lots of questions about Pushmail and blackberry

Hello all
I have several questions that I haven’t been yet able to find answers to yet. I am new to all this and I would really appreciate it if you can help me answer them:
1. If MS Direct Push is free and can even be used on Nokia phones (mail for exchange) and other other platforms. Then why do many companies are still stuck with BlackBerry?
2. What are the advantages that BB has over direct push? And are they enough to convince many corporations to stick with BB
3. Are there any numbers that compares the data (gprs)usage between the two technologies. I read somewhere that the cost to get BB device connected is about %30 less than directpush. If that number is true, why?
4. Would someone refer me to good articles that explains how BB or direct push work.
5. Are there any articles that contain tips and tricks that would help get the data usage direct push to the bare minimum. GPRS here is just way too expensive (around $1.5 per meg)
6. In the interest of saving cost, Is it possible to get the exchange server to only push unread messages or even not push at all if I am connected to the exchange server using outlook from my desktop.
7. I read somewhere that microsoft pushmail is not true push like RIM’s BB, why? And should we care if it isn’t. Is there an advantage of having “real” push solution.
8. Which uses less data and better battery life: enabling push mail or auto-synching every 1 hour. I honesly couln’t care less about push if its going to end up costing much more than normal.
9. My friend (uses BB and direct push) says that BB is a little faster than direct push. Why? My understanding is that BB uses a Blackberry enterprise server BES server (connected to the exchange server) and some kind of e-mail relay server (connected to the BES and the phone) somewhere in the internet. So why is direct push a little slower even though there is no middleman (exchange server talks directly to the phone)
10. My friend also claims that BB proved to be more stable than direct push (many times stops receiving e-mails for no apparent reason) in his company. If that is true everywhere else, why? In principle, shouldn’t direct push be more stable\reliable as its design is simpler => less things are likely to go wrong.
11. can you have more than one account pushing to the same device on wm5
Thanks. Thats all I have for now will post more if I get more

Hi, welcome to the forum!
Wow, that is a lot of questions for your first post
Let me try to answer some of that:
1) Push mail is not free. You need to install MS EXCHANGE 2003 with SP 2. Most companies that use BlackBerry already have dedicated expansive RIM servers so they don't want to invest in changing the infrastructure.
2) Don't really know the answer to this one, but here is an interesting article I ran in to a while ago.
3) Also not sure but I remember reading somewhere that without transfer of any mail MS PUSH takes about 12MB a month.
4) Here is a link that might be helpful.
5,6) Sorry do not know the answer to that.
7) It's true. You'll see after reading the article in the previous link that while it is not "true push" it is fast enough to appear as one. I've been using push mail for the last 4 month and noticed an interesting phenomenon: When my phone is next to my desktop at the office I often get new mail notification on the phone as much as 1min before the desktop outlook pics it up.
8) Auto sync each hour uses much less data and battery. That is because to have push mail MS sends about 400 bytes each 2 minutes over the connection to keep it alive.
9, 10) As I never used BlackBerry all I can say is that I never had late arrival or dropout in push in four month nor did anyone else in my company. Still MS products are known to be buggy.
11) No. You can only define one server and one account on it.

thanks for the exellent replay and the links
many questions are still unanswered though, still need your help guys
thanks

13. what are some of the improvments to direct push that we are expected
to see in the future (exchange 2007 and wm6)
14. i tried MS direct push on Nokia e61 and N80 using wifi (free+faster) and it seems to work just fine. why no wifi on wm5 push mail.
15. is it possible to automatically switch to wifi active synching (not push) when you then switch to pushmail over gprs if the phone gets dissconnected from wifi.
16. i have tried MS direct push and its working great but the data usage is too much. yesterday i logged 1.9 MB of gprs traffic(only pushmail working and i only recieved 12 simple text e-mails. i talked to the security people to varify that the https connection time-out is more than 15 min and they confirmed that it was set to 30 mins. i talked to exchange people and they confirmed that the heart rate signal was set to 8 mins. so what else can i check to see the root of the data-use and battery problem.

Couple more answers:
13) No idea, but I wouldn't hold my breath for WM6. I think it's about a year - year and a half away (Crossbow should only be like WM5 SE).
14) M$ believes that push mail should always be connected. On most WM devices (including my Jamin) WiFi is turned off during standby, so push mail tries to force GPRS whenever possible. It will go through WiFi for a while if your device is on and you manually disconnect GPRS but it will not switch automatically to WiFi.
15) Starting with ActiveSync 4.0 MS removed WiFi sync option for 'security' reasons. I remember seeing an articles on setting up some kind of VPN or something to bypass this, but I don't remember the link and I am not sure it works past 4.1
16) I am not 100% sure but I think MS push ignores those settings and uses its own. Partially because it has to go through the cellular network and partially because its MS.

Partial answers:
1) As noted above, many companies have spent large sums of money on their BB infrastructure so aren't about to throw that away. There's also, in my opinion, a perception that BB devices are "for email" whereas MS devices are phones. Hence conservative big business goes for email devices rather than phones.
2) Personally I don't believe BB has any real advantage, but some people would disagree. Some like the BB devices more than the phones. Certainly from an IT and cost perspective, setting up a BB infrastructure is not for the feint hearted.
3) There's a huge amount of misconception about the traffic that DirectPush generates - it need be nothing like what many people make out (certainly nothing like the 400 bytes every 2 mins quoted above) but it does depend on - primarily - your firewall settings and how swiftly your firewall terminates the HTTP(S) connection.
5) Ensure you have good anti-spam software so that you're not getting spam pushed to your phone! Set it up so that only the first few K of any email is sent by default - you can always request the entire email if it's necessary. If you have access to WiFi periodically, then sync your mail then - that way, when you get a new email, it won't trigger a large sync. Likewise, if you're only using DirectPush occasionally then keep your Inbox lean - don't store loads of emails in your Inbox as those will get sync'ed down.
6) Umm... if you're connected to Exchange via Outlook on your desktop, then wire your phone via ActiveSync and you won't need DirectPush on... and then your phone will be fully sync'ed as soon as you unplug and go on the road.
7) <rant> Forget the moaners who tell you that DirectPush is not true push as there's a 'ping' sent from the phone. That's irrelevant - who cares!! When an email is received in Exchange, it's pushed to the phone. That's all that matters!</rant>
9) I don't believe that DirectPush is slower. There are many other factors that may affect the timescale by which an email is sent to either an MS or BB device and those factors are much more likely to have an impact on the timeliness than DirectPush itself.
10) Never had any problems with DirectPush myself.
16) It is the firewall settings as you describe that are key. But how are you deciding that you're using that number of Mb? Data traffic is charged by some operators in blocks, and hence a small 'ping' could be costing you one block even if it's only a fraction of a block. Also, some traffic monitors can be configured to count in blocks. So my first suggestion (if you haven't already) is to double-check that this 1.9Mb is what you are actually using, not simply whatever some piece of software is incorrectly reporting. Next up, how many K of each email have you set it to download per message? Secondly, remember that it's doing a sync when a new message arrives. So, if you're in Outlook on the desktop, and you get 10 messages which you leave in your Inbox, then you put DirectPush on, then you get 1 message, you'll be sync'ing 11 messages. I can be a relatively heavy user of DirectPush on any one day and still use nothing like 1.9Mb.
Hope this helps.

DirectPush: how to turn off activesync and connection?

Hi people,
this must be a stupid noob question, but I couldn't find an answer in this forum.
I just wanted to try DirectPush service, so I set a Mail2Web Exchange account to have emails pushed right to my Diamond. I put all provided info in ActiveSync, and set it to sync "as items arrive".
Everything's working fine, emails sent to my Mail2Web account were pushed to my Diamond.
But... well, it doesn't work as I expected.
I thought that DirectPush worked like this:
- A new email arrives at Mail2Web account;
- Mail2Web Exchange server warns my device that there's a new email;
- ActiveSync starts up on my device;
- The connection (GPRS, EDGE or HSDPA) is opened;
- ActiveSync begins sync, the new email is received in my device;
- ActiveSync ends sync;
- The connection is closed;
- ActiveSync is turned off on my device.
This process would start for every new email arriving in my Mail2Web account.
In fact, this is what happens:
- ActiveSync starts periodically, even if there's no new email in Mail2Web, and even if I manually close it;
- Same thing for the connection;
- ActiveSync does not close automatically, my device keeps it always opened.
The problem with that is the battery drain. Since ActiveSync is always opened, and also the connection, battery is being drained faster than I would like.
Is this how DirectPush is supposed to work? Always with ActiveSync on and opening connections even without new emails? Is there a way to configure it in a different way?

Hey there,
Direct push needs a constant data/wifi connection for it to work, it does not work they way you described in that it wont establish a connection when a new mail arrives.
How ever, you can set times for on peak and off peak times for mail delivery so that the data connection is not open 24/7.
I have mine set mon-fri 730 - 5pm, the data connection is automatically terminated after this time.
Hope this helps you.

But still, besides the connection, ActiveSync must be on all the time for DirectPush to work? And with DirectPush on, the connection will be opened all the time if I don't define peak times?
I ask that because it's ActiveSync that keeps the connection alive. If I manually close it, the connection is closed as well. But minutes later, ActiveSync will start again... and open the connection.
I guess that push email drains more battery than a common mail account set to pull email once per hour.

Phantom1275 said:
But still, besides the connection, ActiveSync must be on all the time for DirectPush to work? And with DirectPush on, the connection will be opened all the time if I don't define peak times?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct Yes. You can always set it to manual sync if you dont want it to automatically sync email. It is supposed to be like that so any changes you make on your device are automatically synced to the server, keeping it upto date.
I ask that because it's ActiveSync that keeps the connection alive. If I manually close it, the connection is closed as well. But minutes later, ActiveSync will start again... and open the connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, this is how it is supposed to work.
I guess that push email drains more battery than a common mail account set to pull email once per hour.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to decide how you want it to work. i use mine during office hours and my usage is heavy. My battery lasts 24hrs before needing to charge. Obviously battery lasts longer if not using push email.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Im running into the problem of even though I have the e-mail set to check every 15 minutes, the data connection is always on. Any ideas?
(otherwise I love my energyrom)

ADHurt said:
Im running into the problem of even though I have the e-mail set to check every 15 minutes, the data connection is always on. Any ideas?
(otherwise I love my energyrom)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you using an exchange email? If so data connection will remain open even it is set for checking every 15 mins.
If you use gmail or pop mail, then that is different kettle of fish.
Cheers.

Symbol MC70/MC9090 - TCP/UDP data transfer calls SystemIdleTimerReset

Hi xda-developers,
I wonder if you can help me. I've been battling with Motorola(Symbol) over a major power saving issue. What they have done is whenever a TCP or UDP data packet is sent or received, they force a reset of the system idle timer. So, as you can imagine if the device were set to sleep after 5 minutes and a mail client checked for mail every 4 minutes the device would never sleep.
Please correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't that go against the design of the OS?
This is causing major problems with our application that retains an open connection for pushing data from our servers to our mobile devices. The application sends a keep alive packet every 45 seconds to let the server know the device is within GPRS range and online.
Motorola seem very reluctant to change this stating it's "the desired and better behavior for MOST customers".
They also state that it would be "impossible to transfer big file since the terminals will suspend before finishing". Surely this is why an application transfering a large file should call SystemIdleTimerReset function.
Please note, this feature is only implemented on 2 devices. Motorola claim that these two devices are "focused in different environments where the user needs and preferences are different".
Personally, I can't think of any scenario in which you'd want to force this functionality. Regardless of environment.
I don't really know where to go next on this issue. Motorola are not listening.
Any help or comments would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Tom Bradley