ActiveSync via BT Phone connection

[Deus]

I have done a lot of playing with wireless connections but I am still unsuccessful at getting my ipaq to sync via ActiveSync with my home computer when connected to the internet via Bluetooth phone.

Does anyone have any helpful info on doing this?

[Willmonwah]

That might not be possible because when you use bluetooth to synchronize with your computer, it's opening up a direct port. Same when you used USB. But, unless your computer is running server software (Exchange?) you won't be able to connect to it from the internet.

Some ISPs offer this service for Smartphones exclusively, but I'm not sure.

-Will

[Underwater Mike]

On PPC2002, I used to be able to get RAS working over my Sprint Vision connection by setting up port forwarding on the router. With WM2003, however, nothing seems to work any more. Very frustrating!

Since MS is so bad at designing a workable interface for this stuff, it'd be nice if someone wrote a third-party app that let you specify all the settings in an intuitive way and then wrote that info to the relevant files.

[Carlos]

You guys are asking for quite a bit here, and you need to understand a lot of technical details to make this work. First off, there is the problem of name resolution. Your home computer is probably named something like "JoeComputer" and not with a true internet name. In other words, when your PPC tries to sync, it is not looking for a resolvable internet name, and won't find it.

I remote sync all the time, but I do it via a VPN. No, you cannot easily set up a VPN at home. I use my corporate LAN. If you have a company VPN that you use, and both your computer and PPC connect to it, you should be able to remote sync over that.

You could probably work around this with a hosts file and port forwarding on your home router. I've never done it, so I can't give you a step-by-step on it. To get you started though, look for the utility which allows you to create a hosts file on your PPC, and find out what port is used by AS, then forward that in your router. Enter your home IP address in your hosts file for the name that your PPC uses to connect to your home computer.

[Underwater Mike]

Thing is, using the combination of DynDNS, Pocket Hosts and port forwarding, it used to be no problem. (Well, it WAS a problem, but at least I got it to work.) Now, with WM2003, it's broken. :cry:

VPN would definitely be my preference, rather than open even those few ports on my router. But I have absolutely no clue how to set up something like that on CP Pro without buying dedicated software.

[Carlos]

My experience is that DynDNS often loses sync and ends up with the wrong IP address. Double-check what your IP address is, or hard-set it with a hosts file.

[Underwater Mike]

Actually did that. I just use DynDNS with Direct Update on the PC to provide a remote way to be sure the hard-coded IP in Pocket Hosts is current, since my ISP assigns dynamically.


My experience is that DynDNS often loses sync and ends up with the wrong IP address. Double-check what your IP address is, or hard-set it with a hosts file.

[Carlos]

That's my point; DynDNS often has the wrong DNS entry for my home computer/network, so it can't always be trusted. The only way to know is to look at your router and see what its address is.

[Underwater Mike]

Ah, got it. In this case, though, the IP is correct. It's just not working like it used to...

That's my point; DynDNS often has the wrong DNS entry for my home computer/network, so it can't always be trusted. The only way to know is to look at your router and see what its address is.

[Carlos]

Have you tried temporarily setting your router's DMZ to point to your computer? This will forward ALL ports to it. Just in case you've missed a port or the sessions aren't being properly maintained.

Don't leave it that way of course, as it exposes the machine to the world.