Free, All Ports GPRS Access Through T-Mobile?

[Pat Logsdon]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=270481#270481' target='_blank'>http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/for...p=270481#270481</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/logsdon_20040727_tmobile.jpg" /> <br /><br />I'm not sure if this is a mistake or a policy shift, but it appears that T-Mobile has removed all port restrictions from their free GPRS access. Review Team member Ryan Joseph broke the news <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=270481#270481">in this thread,</a> which I was able to confirm almost immediately. Prior to this, Pocket MSN Messenger would not work, nor would any secure site. Now I can use MSN Messenger without a hiccup, and Ryan was able to make a Handango purchase over the air. This seems a bit odd, especially since T-Mobile sells what appears to be the exact same access for $20/month. I'm happy, since the free GPRS was the primary reason why I chose T-Mobile - this is making a good deal even better. What are your thoughts?

[alabij]

Actually all ports on the wap.voicestream.com gateway had been opened since February of this year(2004). I noticed it when I was able to sign in with MSN Messenger, I tried other secure sites immediately and they worked. I'm suprised its just making news now.

[arebelspy]

Yeah, I've actually been able to use secure sites (like paypal) for quite awhile.. hopefully it stays this way, and they don't close GPRS entirely, as some fear right now..

-arebelspy

[yada88]

T-Mobile's annoying in that they never make press releases about GPRS access. The only way to find out about rate and policy changes are by reading sites like PPCT (which i do anyway, but still!).

[ricksfiona]

Yes, I've been using MSN Messenger on my iPAQ for a while now via T-Mobile... Though it makes it harder not to use IM... :D

[gorkon280]

I had posed this question to T-Mobile support as I now have a GPRS card with them. If GPRS is truely free now, then I am switching my voice lines to T-Mobile if the data is free. Hopefully this won't ruin it for you! :|

[kcwester]

Now I'm confused. I've been paying for $20 a month for the last 1 1/2 years and now you're saying it is free. What is different and how do I get the free one? Do I need to have different settings? Now I just connect through vpn. Thanks in advance for your help.

[Jon Westfall]

Yea, us $20 a month people are a bit aggrevated about this. I don't mind you having free access (In fact, I'd love to see that) - I just don't want to keep paying for $20 a month that is free to others... So I'd like them to Stop charging me for data!

[HomeDad]

I use it constantly (and pay the $20 8O ). I suppose I would use it less after I upgrade to the HP 6315 and am able to use the higher speed WiFi connection. Maybe that is part of their reasoning for it?

[foebea]

As i am a frequenter of odd ports (streaming radio) I have noticed a shift this week versus last.

It is always a struggle on shoutcast to find people who are streaming on ok ports. I never cared enough to set up a http proxy at home, but today no matter what I tried they all played perfectly (instead of server error due to port unreachable).

I think there was a change about the same time as the free wap pull. They may have lifted the https restriction in february or so, I didn't know that as I rarely use them on the go, but I think there was a much bigger lifting more recently.

&lt;rant>If this was intentional, then I will forgive them for removing my precious, yes, foebsees loves my precious . . &lt;/rant>


As for the 20$ thing. I had that for exactly a day or so. Roughly.
I bought my phone along with a friend, and we had heard of the confusion surrounding this setup in US and abroad. I got the unlimited internet plan and my friend got nothing. base plan no fixins.

We set the phones up by searching google, and when we finished we found they worked identically with one difference. The base plan with no fixings can't access t-mobiles wap page t-zones, but it could access every other wap site. And the second difference (i did say two differences, didn't i?) was the inabillity of the base plan to access anything but ports 80(web) 25 and 110(pop and smtp) and... i think 421.. or something. there was a fourth port i think..

So basically, cancel your unlimited internet plan, and then PM me if you have problems connecting. There may be a change on the ipaq or the phone you need to make, probably turn a 1 into a 2 or a 3 or somesuch. T-Mobile support may make you suffer in the world of transfers between departments before getting you to someone who can help, but if I get a PM, I will build up a little walkthrough from stuff I find on google and post it in off-topic.

There was another rumour of a speed difference between the two, gprs unlimited and free version, but I assure you there is none. Its the same thing, just the ports were limited.

Good luck!
:)

[alex_kac]

Tell me more. I would love to save my $20 a month...

I can put my wife's SIM into my XDA II and test it if you can tell me how to set it up properly...

[palmsolo]

I used the $20 plan for about 5 months and then saw that people were getting basic ports for free so I dropped it last year. I have been using the free GPRS access for about 8 months or so, but could never access secure sites like my work Groupwise web access page or MSN Messenger. Then last Friday on vacation my free access stopped working. I thought it was temporary, but after about 6 hours it still didn't work so I ordered the $20 plan again. It sure is nice getting my work email and being able to finally use MSN on my MDA II and E200. I use data for at least a couple hours a day, I have a long vanpool commute, and don't mind paying the $20 a month.

However, free access to all the ports is even better. I wonder if this is a function of where you live since that seems to be what people are talking about on the howardforums.com site. I also wonder how long this free access will last. I think I'll stick with the $20 plan until I can confirm it is working in my area, Puget Sound in Washington State.

[DiGiTYZED]

Free GPRS you say? How do I take advantage of this even though I'm not a T-Mobile customer?

Do I just need a GPRS CF card and point it to wap.voicestream.com?

[Jon Westfall]

Free GPRS you say? How do I take advantage of this even though I'm not a T-Mobile customer?

Do I just need a GPRS CF card and point it to wap.voicestream.com?

I'm assuming they authenticate somehow to that address. Since we don't put in a username or password, its probably someway of identifying if you're on their network or not. I doubt just getting a GPRS CF Card would work.

[foebea]

I dont have anything very pretty looking, no photos or whatnot :D

But for those that want to try now without waiting for me to do anything, here is my current pool of information. I did not write it, it was found as is, and preserved incase i have to hard reset or have to replace my phone. All the information i use is there, as well as other info which probably is not needed.

Now this is from my home computer for myself and maybe 3 other people to go to, so it only pushes about 60KB a second, so if it doesn't work, try again in a minute.. I don't expect you guys will kill it, but anythings possible. :)

Check out http://www.deadleech.com/archives/2004/08/what_i_know_of.html#more for the info. If it's not clear enough, it has all the keywords to help you on google, and is all public knowledge. As far as I know this is not a trick or anything, it's just that the t-mobile website is not very helpful.

[Ainvar]

T-Mobile is in the middle of actually locking down GPRS to paying customers and t-zones for basic wap page browsing and email.

t-zones is 4.99 a month
unlimites gprs with all ports open is 19.99 a month


There has been a huge debate about this on howardforums.com in the T-Mobile forum.

Some people have gotten free gprs for a while now even though it is not suppose to be. I am waiting for it all to get lcoked down correctly since I am one of the 20 dollar a month customers. If you want to use then pay for it. Same as your software practices that people seem to love to preach about here.




================ EDIT ========================

Think about it here (common sense if you have it). Why would Tmobile have free wap for people but also have a 2.99/9.99 plans (old plans) and the new 4.99/9.99 plan that replaces the 2 previous plans if they were just going to give it away for free????

Old plan
2.99 1meg
9.99 unlimited

New plan
4.99 Unlimited t-zones
9.99 unlimited t-zones pro (corp email)

Then to top it all off why spike it to 19.99 a month for the people that need telnet, shh, vpn, or any ofther service you would want to use at a 20 dollar a month premium if all they are going to do it give away for free. There is no such thing as a free lunch but nobody wants to see this due to they dont want to fork out 5/10/20/30 a month depending on their service plan with Tmobile and what they want as a internet option that Tmobile actually offers.


I do not understand how people say tmobile meant this it to be free due to a loophole, stupid engineers, bad software/misconfigured software, or some fluke that they were having issues fixing in timely manner.


Ignorance may be bliss but I doubt it was ever FREE.

Also before some other person wants to try to argue with me on aim or any other im medium and say thay Tmobile producrd a flyer, ad, commercial, radio announcement, or any other Official Tmobile advertisement and not some rumor or he said she said crap that was posted on any other website besides www.tmobile.com or a corporate store then dont bother.

[ADBrown]

T-Mobile is in the middle of actually locking down GPRS to paying customers and t-zones for basic wap page browsing and email.


People have been saying that for months. Doesn't neccessarily make it true. And by the way, I don't care what kind of ethos you have, if someone hands you a free bonus for using their service I defy you to show how that's 'stealing.' You could just as easily argue that they're phasing out the $20 per month platform for unrestricted internet to draw more customers, like they do with the massive phone subsidies.

Moving on... God, I wish I could get T-Mobile. I have what I'm pretty sure is AT&T GSM coverage here, but I don't believe that they have an active roaming agreement with T-Mo. Ugh.

[Ainvar]

T-Mobile is in the middle of actually locking down GPRS to paying customers and t-zones for basic wap page browsing and email.


People have been saying that for months. Doesn't neccessarily make it true. And by the way, I don't care what kind of ethos you have, if someone hands you a free bonus for using their service I defy you to show how that's 'stealing.' You could just as easily argue that they're phasing out the $20 per month platform for unrestricted internet to draw more customers, like they do with the massive phone subsidies.

Moving on... God, I wish I could get T-Mobile. I have what I'm pretty sure is AT&T GSM coverage here, but I don't believe that they have an active roaming agreement with T-Mo. Ugh.


A loophole is not a free bonus no matter what angle you look at it. Trying to justify it for your own good to make it look all pretty and innocent does not make it right.

Yes they have been saying it for months and in and out of those months about 15 to be exact they have been trying to lock it down with the current hardware.software they had. If you recall some of the posts on here (I think) and especially on Howardfoums about tmobiles gprs there have been sparatic downtimes and lockdowns as they try diffrent configs and pushing it out to all the toiwers during there upgrades for other technologies like edge and better voice technologies.

I will give it another few months tops before it is all locked down and people will actually have to *GASP* pay for a service they should have been paying for all along.

There is no such thing as a free lunch cause somebody somewhere had to have paid for it for you to have been able to eat it.

[OneAngryDwarf]

Ainvar - I sure hope that you are paying PBS every year to watch their programming because there are no free lunches... just because there is an option to pay for something doesn't mean you should be obligated to. Have you ever changed the tv or radio station when commercials came on? Guess what buddy, those commercials are how they pay for those shows and by not watching them you are getting that show for free (the price you are supposed to pay is the commercial viewing). You should also insist on paying sticker price for your cars because how dare you get a better deal than somebody else. Also did you click on the banner ad up at the top of this page? There are no free lunches and Jason Dunn is going to have to pay for your lunch if you don't click on it cuz that's how he makes his money (or some of it)... thats just silly. As much as Jason would like us all to click on the ads, i don't think he would say we are stealing from him if we are not interested in what the ad is offering.

I am fairly positive that T-Mobile knows about these "free lunches" and gives them on purpose... look at it from a money making point of view. They have their normal customers who they are getting business from and some of them like the idea of internet access so they get it. These people don't know about the free gprs and probably aren't heavy users anyway so why invite them to use the service more. Instead, why not give free access without announcing it and then get a whole new crop of customers... the techies.... I can credit 6 T-Mobile accounts (personal friends and family) to the free access... if T-Mobile didn't offer it we probably wouldn't have come over to them. I imagine there are thousands of accounts that they are receiving for the very same reason. Thats thousands of extra accounts while not sacrificing the revenue from others who are paying for the similar or as of recent same service. Those of you who are paying well thats great, at least you have a dedicated server to you that has less chances of getting bogged down. Us "free lunchers" may run into performance issues if too many people start using it.

And on a side note there are free lunches... I've been getting free internet access (free lunch) and so have many others for about a year. Whether that ends tomorrow or the next day or never we still have already received a lot of free lunches. Personally I think you are disgruntled that you have been throwing away 20 dollars a month without getting anything extra from it. Thats not our fault, thats yours, and if you say otherwise then i'll help you find a good psychiatrist so you can complain about how everybody is more or less stealing from you... they all want what you have and you are providing it for them (paying the bills)... sounds like paranoia to me buddy. If you have a real problem with it why don't you call up TMobile and alert them to this sudden epidemic of over a years length of access leakage. See what they say to you. Personally I hope they laugh but i guess i do have a bit of a sadistic side to me. Let me finish by stating that T-Mobile knows about all of this already, if they didn't, it would have been locked up long ago. So maybe its a technical barrier which used to work but doesn't work now... well there sure are a lot of other companies who don't seem to be having these "problems" so whats wrong with T-Mobile. It all comes back to this... T-Mobile for the time being wants us to have the access to suck us into their German based company. Once we are sucked in we can't leave. Its like one big European black hole.

[surur]

OneAngryDwaft Hear hear!

I would move like a shot to a company in UK who made data cheap. Ive been envious of the T-mobile unlimited deal for a very long time. Im sure they have gained many more cunstomers because of it, and probably make it up on an other side by e.g more expensive phones.

Just remember the cost a company charges has no relation to the actual cost of a service to provide, but more to do with how much people are willing to pay. The most expesive data in the world is SMS messages at 10p for 160 bytes. Thats £625 per megabyte. Do you want to pay that too, and are you ready for SMS users to complain to you that you are stealing from them by only paying $20 for megabytes of data?

Surur

[Ryan Joseph]

T-Mobile knows about us using the free plan.

I know because I called them. Originally, when I tried to set up the free GPRS plan, it didn't work. So I called T-Mobile and asked for it. The rep gave it to me and said that there would be no additional services charges.

It's worked perfectly since. So I do not believe we are getting anything we are not supposed to be getting. And I agree with what many of you have said, this brings in more customers for them.

I have two or three friends who have moved to T-Mobile because I told them about the free GPRS. I know I'll NEVER switch carriers simply for this reason.

We're paying them large amounts of money each month anyway for the voice. So why not throw GPRS into the deal for free? Makes sense to me. :mrgreen:

[alabij]

The wap.voicestream.com gateway is really meant for the mobile phones. Tech support really has no idea about it. If you notice your Pocket PC phone is preconfigured with internet2/3, 3 being VPN.

Now T-Mobile definitely knows about this open gateway and who accesses because on my bill they still show my total usage in megs, which is a lot since I stream a lot of media.

[foebea]

For some reason this really seems to have become a potential powder keg.

When I cancelled my 20$ a month plan almost a year ago, I told them why and they didn't scream bloody murder, so I don't think they will start now.

When they changed policy and disabled wap access on the phone for free I called them to find out what happened. They told me that the free internet was still listed on my account, so I should be able to access from my iPaq, but not my phone. I would have to sign up for t-zones if i want wap from phone. They actually told me the free internet plan was still listed on my account. I'm such a thief.

The free gprs is the only reason I am a T-Mob customer, and I brought 5 people along with me since then, and in a month my family's plan is about to finish, and they are going to switch thier 4 phone plan from Verizon, so T-mobile will win again.

I think they have a great price point for voice, and the free data plans are great.

[Ainvar]

Ainvar - I sure hope that you are paying PBS every year to watch their programming because there are no free lunches... just because there is an option to pay for something doesn't mean you should be obligated to. Have you ever changed the tv or radio station when commercials came on? Guess what buddy, those commercials are how they pay for those shows and by not watching them you are getting that show for free (the price you are supposed to pay is the commercial viewing). You should also insist on paying sticker price for your cars because how dare you get a better deal than somebody else. Also did you click on the banner ad up at the top of this page? There are no free lunches and Jason Dunn is going to have to pay for your lunch if you don't click on it cuz that's how he makes his money (or some of it)... thats just silly. As much as Jason would like us all to click on the ads, i don't think he would say we are stealing from him if we are not interested in what the ad is offering.

I am fairly positive that T-Mobile knows about these "free lunches" and gives them on purpose... look at it from a money making point of view. They have their normal customers who they are getting business from and some of them like the idea of internet access so they get it. These people don't know about the free gprs and probably aren't heavy users anyway so why invite them to use the service more. Instead, why not give free access without announcing it and then get a whole new crop of customers... the techies.... I can credit 6 T-Mobile accounts (personal friends and family) to the free access... if T-Mobile didn't offer it we probably wouldn't have come over to them. I imagine there are thousands of accounts that they are receiving for the very same reason. Thats thousands of extra accounts while not sacrificing the revenue from others who are paying for the similar or as of recent same service. Those of you who are paying well thats great, at least you have a dedicated server to you that has less chances of getting bogged down. Us "free lunchers" may run into performance issues if too many people start using it.

And on a side note there are free lunches... I've been getting free internet access (free lunch) and so have many others for about a year. Whether that ends tomorrow or the next day or never we still have already received a lot of free lunches. Personally I think you are disgruntled that you have been throwing away 20 dollars a month without getting anything extra from it. Thats not our fault, thats yours, and if you say otherwise then i'll help you find a good psychiatrist so you can complain about how everybody is more or less stealing from you... they all want what you have and you are providing it for them (paying the bills)... sounds like paranoia to me buddy. If you have a real problem with it why don't you call up TMobile and alert them to this sudden epidemic of over a years length of access leakage. See what they say to you. Personally I hope they laugh but i guess i do have a bit of a sadistic side to me. Let me finish by stating that T-Mobile knows about all of this already, if they didn't, it would have been locked up long ago. So maybe its a technical barrier which used to work but doesn't work now... well there sure are a lot of other companies who don't seem to be having these "problems" so whats wrong with T-Mobile. It all comes back to this... T-Mobile for the time being wants us to have the access to suck us into their German based company. Once we are sucked in we can't leave. Its like one big European black hole.


For one your reasoning beind PBS, tv, radio, and car prices is like splitting hairs. There are only a few things you can haggle with Tmobile about in prices and that is fine. You can choose to watch PBS and donate if you want since they *ARE* a public broadcast system and donating to them is your option (think this was a really stupid comparision since it is not ecen in the same category). Now lets see buying a car and paying sticker price for it. That is also your choice. Getting free internet for something so plainly obvious that if you do see the logic behind it is also an issue. I am not disgruntled since I pay 20 a month for the internet3 vpn so I can have a real ip address that is not natted to do vpn and a few others things I choose to do that does not work so well through the wap and internet2 apn. Plus even if I did not need the internet3 apn I would still pay for the data since it is a paid for service. Alot of your comparsions were like some of the movies out today with bad plots and you could fly 747s through. Using something that is really truely free and then using something that is caused by a loophole (until you can proove T-Mobile was doing this as a gimic or they did not care, and I want official proof not some half thought out cock brained post or comment on a webpage) then I will think the same way due to the logics behind it. I love getting a free lunch but not at the expense of screwing someone over. I also dont need a shrink and I am a pretty sadistic person also, I just try to do the right thing as much as possible on everything I do.

I could also argue with you on comparsions since you used tv, radio, cars, and the banner on this website. You can use any piece of software you want by getting a crack, hack, or some serial found on the internet without having to actually pay for the software. I guess that is ok to do also with the comparisons you laid out in your post. Hell everyone or most everyone is doing it, it is pretty much a free lunch, and if you dont do it then you are just mad cause you cant fine that hack, crack, or serial and you have to pay for that piece of software. I could also use the comparison of hey I just moved into this house/apt and the cable is still turned on. AWESOME I dont have to pay for cable until they catch that it is on if ever. So that is ok too by the way you used all these comparisons and sine you can get free cable everyone is who does not have this free cable is just angry cause they have to pay that monthly bill also?

What other hairs do you want to split and also what other half cocked comparisons do you want to use?

Like I said common sense if you have it goes a long way.

[gorkon280]

I do not understand how people say tmobile meant this it to be free due to a loophole, stupid engineers, bad software/misconfigured software, or some fluke that they were having issues fixing in timely manner.


Ignorance may be bliss but I doubt it was ever FREE.

Also before some other person wants to try to argue with me on aim or any other im medium and say thay Tmobile producrd a flyer, ad, commercial, radio announcement, or any other Official Tmobile advertisement and not some rumor or he said she said crap that was posted on any other website besides www.tmobile.com or a corporate store then dont bother.

This exactly as I see it. It's wrong and I have reported my findings to T-mobile as well. I have been paying 20 a month for a long time and this is just not right. They are exploiting a loophole. Yes T-Mobile probably won't charge you for this now, but that's going to change. Also, if they locked it down and raise the price because of this loophole, then I personally am going to hunt you down(not really, but I will be really mad!). :bad-words:

[DiGiTYZED]

Check out http://www.deadleech.com/archives/2004/08/what_i_know_of.html#more for the info. If it's not clear enough, it has all the keywords to help you on google, and is all public knowledge. As far as I know this is not a trick or anything, it's just that the t-mobile website is not very helpful.

so all i need is a GPRS CF card and plug in those settings on that site?

and I don't need to be a t-mobile customer right?

[foebea]

DiGiTYZED what you are asking IS theft. you have to be a customer to use the services. Don't ask that again. Those ip addresses dont ask for a username, but they check the number you are calling from, and require the SIM card to be on a t-mobile network. If it is not it will not work. Simple as that. Sign up for service if you want to use the internet. I think thier gprs only service without voice plan is 20 bucks a month. go to www.t-mobile.com and find out.

I just called 611 to verify this information and they say there is a free data plan for gprs which is the default. I asked about the ports which were usually closed which are currently open. They were not aware of any policy change opening those ports. But they also are not aware of any policy change removing free wap access from the phone. They do things quietly.

Let me repeat this. They told me that I have the free internet which is the default if you have no other data plan.

If you are annoyed by this, then please call them and complain that someone on the internet said they were using the internet for free (not counting my 600 minutes a month) and tell them how angry it makes you. If enough disgruntled people do this, then the free plan will likely go away.

However if enough disgruntled people contact t-mob and ask why the free data plan has not been advertised, and switch to it by cancelling thier current data plan then maybe they will go public with what the plan is. They may say it is a promotional plan which they have been giving away for the past year or so, which will end on so and such date, or they will say yes, there is a free data plan which you dont have to sign up for.

Either way, call them. Don't call me a thief, because according to the company i'm stealing from I am not. Unless when they say free internet plan they mean thief plan.

And for the record, I am stealing weekend minutes from Friday 12:01am until Sunday 11:59pm every weekend and also every night from 9pm till whenever i wake up in the morning. In addition to this I am making long distance calls all over the US for the cost of a local call. I'm such a terrible person. In fact I am using a loophole to get that. When I signed up for my phone that was on my plan. Along with the internet. :wink:

[Jon Westfall]

There is a big difference between actively searching out loopholes and simply taking advantage of something right in front of your eyes. If I actively buy a cable descrambler and use it to get premium channels on my TV, than I'm breaking a law & stealing. If the channels have been unscrambled at the cable company, than its legal for me to watch them.

In this case, T-Mobile knows about this (They don't live in a box - they have reps that probably read this every day, and probably use the free GPRS themselves), and they are doing what they please with it.

Until they lock it down, I see absolutly no problem using it. Comparing use of free GPRS to finding cracks for software is absurd.

[OneAngryDwarf]

Ainvar - apparently your logic/common sense does go a long way... a long way to draining your bank account. Listen, cuz you obviously aren't... T-Mobile is not publicizing this plan... thats how they are making extra money from doing this by getting some to pay while those who don't want to basically don't have to... so you aren't going to see official proof on the internet... but as people said earlier, call them up and talk to them... apparently thats the only way for you to find out and I can't do that for you since as soon as i tell you, you will cast it aside as some stupid web page... if i knew the president of t-mobile i'd have him call you but i don't so you will have to check yourself... and the comparisons I made are valid... you are supposing that tmobile cannot do anything about this and that they didn't mean to do this... at the very least, its an easy thing for them to fix if it isn't what they mean to do... NO OTHER SERVICE PROVIDER HAS THIS "PROBLEM"... therefore rest assured they are meaning to do it... heck if they couldn't figure out how to do it they could call the European division which does not have unlimited access and ask them how to restrict it... its a big company with lots of resources and they are not idiots... they make more money by doing what they are doing now, i'm sorry if you failed economics... I however had the highest grade in all my economic classes back in college and well this is a completely logical move on T-Mobile's part... This is kind of like the concept of coupons or rebates... the company can charge full price for their service getting the money of everybody willing to pay... but those who want a better deal can get their hands on coupons or rebates... the company then gets the business of people who will pay all and the business of those customers who aren't willing to pay as much (without having to lower their prices for those who are willing to pay)... this is a common practice and its too bad more carriers aren't also doing it... your logic is flawed by not accepting any possibility but one... the world is not black and white my friend... there are many levels of gray... this for instance is quite a different thing than cable theft which is against the law and carries consequences... You have to basically hack the system with special boxes and whatnot... where are the hacks here, the special boxes... there are none... its an open system for all those who have a tmobile plan.

[foebea]

exactly.

And as for the page of info i put on my webpage. It is not a hack or a crack either.

if you look about halfway down where it starts listing the info I use on a regular basis, if you dont want to enter the numbers manually, "If you call T-Mobile customer support, they can email you a file which will automatically configure these settings, but you may be on hold for awhile!"

I posted it for that reason. You can call and deal with customer service and transfer transfer transfer till you get to the tech people who actually know things rather than reading from a screen and they will send you a file through wap push or sms or whatever it is, which will set it up for you. I dont like to sit on hold for 45 minutes to do this, so I keep the manual info handy.

[ADBrown]

&lt;Snip nuttiness>

This exactly as I see it. It's wrong and I have reported my findings to T-mobile as well. I have been paying 20 a month for a long time and this is just not right. They are exploiting a loophole. Yes T-Mobile probably won't charge you for this now, but that's going to change. Also, if they locked it down and raise the price because of this loophole, then I personally am going to hunt you down(not really, but I will be really mad!). :bad-words:

You guys are still crazy. Free GPRS, albeit port-limited, has been going on for many moons with the full knowledge of T-Mo. Let rephrase it--when my internet service provider offered users a new modem and $10 off their bill per month for a year, I didn't complain that the people who got in on it were 'stealing' $10 because I was paying full price, I called up and said that I'd like to take advantage of their offer. T-Mobile quite intentionally started giving away free GPRS to draw new customers, people like us who drag a half dozen friends and family with them. It's something that T-Mo does to compete versus the larger coverage of Cingular and Verizon, just like the 'make $100 after rebate' phone subsidies that they offer--or do you complain that the people who buy those phones are 'stealing' too?

[ADBrown]

Addendum--I just figured out why T-Mo dropped the limitations on free GPRS. They're planning on rolling out EDGE coverage nationally in the near future, starting with 18,000 lamp-post antennas in NYC. Make GPRS free to draw customers and get them hungry for wireless data, then offer the much faster EDGE service for an additional fee. Very savvy.

[PPCRules]

I wish AT&T Wireless were that savvy.

[Jon Westfall]

I wish AT&T Wireless were that savvy. I wish AT&T Wireless were intelligent at all. But that's another story.

Anyone know if the new 6315 will support EDGE?

[SHaubner]

I've also been subscribing to the $20 plan for almost two years. After reading all of the info on "free GPRS" I dropped it last week. However I couldn't get anything to work without it (HTTP or POP) and read at howardforums.com that T-mobile had locked everything down last week (how convenient!)--so I added the $20 plan again yesterday.

Can anyone give me the *real* lowdown on what is the true story here? Do you actually have to call T-Mobile and ask for the "free" GPRS to get access? Are the settings different than the pay access?

[palmsolo]

There is a ton of talk about this on the Howard Forums and nothing seems very clear right now. I personally bought the $20 data plan back in 2002 with my Sidekick and then kept the $20 plan with my resulting smartphones. Last fall, I heard GPRS was free (with limited open ports) so I cancelled my $20 plan and used it for about 8 months for free. I could not access secure sites or use MSN Messenger. Last Friday on vacation, my free GPRS access through wap.voicestream.com stopped working. I called up and ordered the $20 plan and was zooming away within an hour.

Today, my friend in Boston (I am in the Seattle/Tacoma area) told me his $4.99 T-Zones plan didn't block any ports. So I called up this morning and switch from the $19.99 plan to the $4.99 T-Zones plan. I can now use MSN Messenger, access my businesses secure (https) Groupwise web access site, etc. using only the $4.99 plan. I think the $20 plan is an excellent deal, but $5 is even better and I am willing to pay this for reliable access.

My loss of free GPRS access may have been a temporary deal, but I don't mind paying $5 to gain MSN Messenger and secure access.

By the way, I have posted a few times on PDAGeek about the free access and even told a couple of T-Mobile reps, but no one seems to care or have a clear answer. I know that may people have come to T-Mobile based on my recommendations so I have no regrets about the data access plan pricing structure. It would be nice if it was clearer though.

[SHaubner]

Today, my friend in Boston (I am in the Seattle/Tacoma area) told me his $4.99 T-Zones plan didn't block any ports. So I called up this morning and switch from the $19.99 plan to the $4.99 T-Zones plan. I can now use MSN Messenger, access my businesses secure (https) Groupwise web access site, etc. using only the $4.99 plan. I think the $20 plan is an excellent deal, but $5 is even better and I am willing to pay this for reliable access.


I have no problem paying $5/mo, it was the $20 that was getting steep to check my mail on the iPaq (particularly when I was running over on voice minutes and having to pay a $200 T-mobile bill!). 8O

Palmsolo...are the settings for using the T-Zones plan any different than the $19.99 unlimited setup? Thanks for your help.

[palmsolo]

Yes, with the $19.99 plan I had internet3.voicestream.com (you may also have had internet2.voicestream.com. With the $4.99 plan you need to change it to wap.voicestream.com. I did not change any other settings and just did it about an hour or two ago so it is fresh in my mind.

[suhit]

So I have now configured my laptop and iPaq to connect to the web via my (old) T68 and both of them are connecting fine even though I don't have a data plan. However, I just wanted to know - how will I even find out if I am getting charged as I use GPRS? I am going to Hawaii in a week and this will be the perfect solution there, but my billing cycle doesn't end until after I get back so I could potentially be looking at a largish bill if the service is not really free.

Suhit

[Ryan Joseph]

So I have now configured my laptop and iPaq to connect to the web via my (old) T68 and both of them are connecting fine even though I don't have a data plan. However, I just wanted to know - how will I even find out if I am getting charged as I use GPRS? I am going to Hawaii in a week and this will be the perfect solution there, but my billing cycle doesn't end until after I get back so I could potentially be looking at a largish bill if the service is not really free.

You're assuming T-Mobile has coverage in Hawaii. :wink:
I went to Corning, NY two months ago and AT&T was the only provider up there. While I could still make voice calls because of T-Mobile's agreement with other carriers, the GPRS didn't work. I spent about two hours on the phone with T-Mobile and that was the conclusion we came up with.

So I've learned not to expect a signal everywhere I go.

But I've used the free GPRS for over 6 months now without a single extra charge appearing on my bill. I think you're safe there. :mrgreen:

[palmsolo]

I took a business trip to Honolulu in February and received 4 bars out 4 on my Motorola MPx200 Smartphone and used the free GPRS T-mobile access to check email, surf, etc.

[suhit]

You're assuming T-Mobile has coverage in Hawaii. :wink:
No doubt. In fact I checked on the T-Mobile coverage map whether there is coverage on the island where I am going and there is a tiny spot of coverage and I certainly hope I am within that spot.
But I've used the free GPRS for over 6 months now without a single extra charge appearing on my bill. I think you're safe there. :mrgreen:
Hmm, I certainly hope so.

Suhit

[suhit]

I took a business trip to Honolulu in February and received 4 bars out 4 on my Motorola MPx200 Smartphone and used the free GPRS T-mobile access to check email, surf, etc.
Yeah but Honolulu has good verage according to T-Mobile's site, I just hope that is the same case with Kauai which is where I will be going.

Suhit

[foldedspace]

The free access works in San Antonio. I got my t610 today, switched my phone number over from ATT and got online with my X30. And I went to a couple of secure sites and still got in. Pity it's so slow, though...

I guess I need to invest in Netfront now.

[palmsolo]

Someone asked me offline if there was any limit to the megabyte usage with the "Free" GPRS access. During the months I was using it nothing every showed up on my bill regarding this access. Back when I was paying the $20 a month I would fluctuate between 25 to 35 MB a month. The $4.99 T-Zones I signed up for is advertised as being unlimited so I don't think there are any size limits with any of the T-Mobile data plans.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Funny. I had downgraded to the $4.99 plan about a year ago and just abandoned using my PPC for GPRS purposes.

After seeing this thread, I "dusted off" my old configured GPRS connection on my PPC (using my Nokia 3650 as the dial-up modem) and can at least confirm that web-surfing is once again alive and well on my PPC.

I'll wait a few weeks for the dust to settle to see if I want to drop my $4.99 plan or not.

[foebea]

I don't think there are any size limits with any of the T-Mobile data plans.

That is correct. There is no plan on T-Mobile where data is limited either by mb download, or minutes. Many other companies do charge for mb downloaded, and some take net usage out of your minutes. Even if T-mob does away with all free plans, its still much cheaper than the alternatives.

[Trimble Epic]

I bought a t610 phone a month ago, and I found the information on the unlimited WAP access, and found it to be working...

Then I found the nformation to link my 5455 Ipaq to it via bluetooth, and that's working - I can browse we pages using pocket IE...

...for about 5 minutes. Then, my connection seems to die on the ipaq, and I cannot receive any more data from the phone via bluetooth AT ALL until I soft reboot the ipaq.

Is there some trick to getting a 5455 to connect using bluetooth reliably for any reasonable amount of time? 2-5 minutes just doesn't cut it for me. I've been tempted to buy the full service for $20, but I won't do it if the bluetooth on my PPC isn't working right.

...Of course, this thread seems to indicate that for the present time, I don't even need to spend the $20. But I still can't stay connected for mroe than 2-5 minutes! I hate rebooting every 4 minutes just to read the web.

Can someone point me in a direction to fix this thing?

Trimble

[JoshB]

You might be running low on memory on your iPAQ. I know that surfing can eat it up quickly, for two reasons. First, IE takes up a lot of memory for pages (especially with images), and second, it's storing those pages in the Temporary Internet Files. It's a double whammy. I had to manage the memory very strictly on my XDA to keep from having problems.

If you suspect that is the issue, you can hack the registry to redirect your Temp Internet Files to a storage card. That solves half of the problem. I recommend that you have at least 15-20 MB free for surfing with IE.

Of course, there could be some other problem here, but IME, that might be the culprit.

[aristoBrat]

[quote=Ainvar]
&lt;Snip nuttiness>T-Mobile quite intentionally started giving away free GPRS to draw new customers, people like us who drag a half dozen friends and family with them.
FWIW, T-Mobile started "giving away free GPRS" so that all of its phones have the ability to get to their 'revenue producing' WAP deck (pay to download ringtones/wallpapers) without having to first subscribe to a monthly t-zones/Internet plan.

I think I read in one of their presentations that they made ~$12 million dollars off of the ringtones/wallpapers in the first few months.

I don't know how many friends YOU dragged over to T-Mobile for the free GPRS, but my guess that the total of EVERYONE dragged over for free GPRS is much much smaller than $12 million. :D

[hyedipin]

I bought a t610 phone a month ago, and I found the information on the unlimited WAP access, and found it to be working...

Then I found the nformation to link my 5455 Ipaq to it via bluetooth, and that's working - I can browse we pages using pocket IE...



I tried every way to get my T610 to work with free wap settings, but everytime it seems to fail.. Can you please include the steps you took to get access?

I used my own dial-up connection from ISP and went through IrDA to test if the connection & IrDA has any problems, nope I connected without a problem. But with GPRS & WAP settings given, i could not get any connection.. It is mostly because of different settings on T610 & P800.

Thanks

[Pat Logsdon]

I tried every way to get my T610 to work with free wap settings, but everytime it seems to fail.. Can you please include the steps you took to get access?
This is actually very simple to set up. I've never had to mess with any wap.voicestream address or anything similar. All I've done is this:

1] Pair phone with Pocket PC as a Dial-up Networking connection
2] When you step through the "New Dial-Up connection" wizard, give it a name (like t-mobile)
3] Ignore the country code
4] Ignore the area code
5] Enter *99# in the phone number field
6] Tap "OK"
7] When the network logon screen comes up, ignore the User name field
8] Ignore the Password field
9] Ignore the Domain field
10] Tap the "Save Password" box
11] Tap "OK"
12] You will then get the "Connecting" dialog bubble, and then you'll be online.

For future connections, all you'll have to do is go to the Bluetooth Manager, tap and hold the Dial-up Networking icon, and tap "Connect". Then you'll need to choose the connection name (t-mobile), and it'll connect. Easy as pie. :mrgreen:

[microchasm]

[quote=Ainvar]
&lt;Snip nuttiness>T-Mobile quite intentionally started giving away free GPRS to draw new customers, people like us who drag a half dozen friends and family with them.
FWIW, T-Mobile started "giving away free GPRS" so that all of its phones have the ability to get to their 'revenue producing' WAP deck (pay to download ringtones/wallpapers) without having to first subscribe to a monthly t-zones/Internet plan.

I think I read in one of their presentations that they made ~$12 million dollars off of the ringtones/wallpapers in the first few months.

I don't know how many friends YOU dragged over to T-Mobile for the free GPRS, but my guess that the total of EVERYONE dragged over for free GPRS is much much smaller than $12 million. :D

To be quite honest I think the reason for the sudden change to T-Mobiles business for GPRS data access might have something to do with the fact that the FCC recently ruled that wireless carriers have to report outages. If they are free services do you still have to report outages?

[aristoBrat]

I think the FCC was looking for voice outtages (i.e. you can't make/get phone calls).

[hyedipin]

This is actually very simple to set up. I've never had to mess with any wap.voicestream address or anything similar.

For future connections, all you'll have to do is go to the Bluetooth Manager, tap and hold the Dial-up Networking icon, and tap "Connect". Then you'll need to choose the connection name (t-mobile), and it'll connect. Easy as pie. :mrgreen:

Hi Pat..

Thank you very much for the details.
I just did a dry run on my laptop, and used dial-up and set it up as InfraRed connection and as the dial no. *99# .. I get the CONNECTING screen w/progress bar on my T610, but finally it fails and gives me the 777 Error, the Connection attempt failed because the modem on the remote computer is out of order.

Whoa!!

Let me try the way it used to work w/my ISP

Thanks! I hope we can solve it . It would be great to surf the net as GPRS instead of slow dial-up.

[hyedipin]

Just tried the dial-up with my ISP it worked, although I connected through 9.6kbps, but it worked.. So I assume I have something missing with my GPRS :evil:

[aristoBrat]

Just tried the dial-up with my ISP it worked, although I connected through 9.6kbps, but it worked.. So I assume I have something missing with my GPRS :evil:
You can check GPRS in general by going to t-zones from your phone. Even if you don't subscribe to a monthly plan, you should still connect to a generic WAP deck that will let you download ringtones, etc.

Also remember that CSD (the 9.6kbps connection) is billed by the minute in most cases. 8O

[hyedipin]

Yes ladies and gentelen.. I messed up my T610 ...

It freezes all over the place and acts weird now!


Anyway.. I tested it. When I try to go into "MegaTones" which connects to wap, I get following:

Connecting.
[Progress Bar]

Loading
[Progress Bar]

Connecting
[***]

Verifying
[Progress Bar]

Loading.
[Progress Bar]

-NOTHING-
Back to normal screen. :idontthinkso:

Second Try:
Connecting.
[Progress Bar]
And does not jump to the the loading any more.

I used to be able to browse all sites including google on my phone directly, using internal browser. (I went through MegaTones, and then Input URL and go to other sites..) I don't know what happened, now I cannot :grumble:

[hyedipin]

Also remember that CSD (the 9.6kbps connection) is billed by the minute in most cases.

I really wish there was a faster way to use above.. (Is that what it's called "CSD".. phew!)

I guess gomadic's cube will let us get better throughput right? Has anyone tried gomadic's cable and use literally dial-up and let per minute work it's way out? Because if you have unlimited nights and weekends, well.. tough! :twisted:

[foebea]

I am not sure what service plan you agreed to, but in my T-Mobile, net connection is never billed per minute, per meg or anything else.

And as for the possibly corrupt t-610, two options i can think of off the top o my head.

1) call t-mobile and tell them you were playing with the settings and now it is acting funny, they can send you a configuration file which will usually put everything to right

or

2) do a reset on your phone. Be sure to copy all your contacts to the sim card first so you dont lose, them, and if you want to, backup your themes as well by bluetooth to the ipaq (or irda i guess)

and if all else fails, call sony ericsson and tell them the phone is freezing up all over the place and ask for them to replace it. This does happen, my roommate has had his t610 replace for system failure 3 times in the last 6 months and he doesn't much about in the system settings at all. so dont beat yourself up, all is not lost

[hyedipin]

thanks foebea


I better call them in order for them to send me the file and reset (at least the connection) settings.

I am not planning to reset the phone at this point, but i remember it solved most of my problems with my old T28 World.

Thanks. 0X

[aristoBrat]

I am not sure what service plan you agreed to, but in my T-Mobile, net connection is never billed per minute, per meg or anything else.
If you connect via CSD (not GPRS), it uses voice minutes.

Some folks who have unlimited Mobile-to-Mobile plans have noticed CSD calls show up as a Mobile call (and thus free for them), but most folks find CSD calls use voice minutes.

[hyedipin]

Like I said.. any 'net connection on weekends.. no problem ;)

Also, nothing like surfin the web on PPC via InfraRed on the car.

But noone mentioned their experience with gomadic & t-mobile pair.. :roll: Nobody ever tried that?

Thanks!

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

This is actually very simple to set up. I've never had to mess with any wap.voicestream address or anything similar. All I've done is this:

...
5] Enter *99# in the phone number field
...


That connect number actually seems to vary depending on what part of the nation you're located in. For me the connect string that works is *99***#

[Janak Parekh]

That connect number actually seems to vary depending on what part of the nation you're located in. For me the connect string that works is *99***#
Actually, it depends on what phone you're using, and whether or not it was preprogrammed by T-Mobile. In the case of Suhit's SE T68, we programmed wap.voicestream.com as the APN and used *99***1# as the dial string (1 referring to the first "data account" in which the APN was preprogrammed). We used "wap", "wap" as the username, password, but I don't know if those were necessary. I hope that was correct. :)

--janak

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

In the case of Suhit's SE T68, we programmed wap.voicestream.com as the APN and used *99***1# as the dial string (1 referring to the first "data account" in which the APN was preprogrammed).
Ah! I remember hearing someone say it was dependent on region and I guess I just took it as fact. But your explanation would make more sense as I have been able to use the same number in both New York and Los Angeles.

We used "wap", "wap" as the username, password, but I don't know if those were necessary. I hope that was correct. :)
Username and password can be left blank. That I know for sure.

[OSUKid7]

I just got a new T-Mobile plan and phone today, and am having some problems. I've posted them here (http://pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=272418#272418). Please help if you can!

edit: it works!!! all ports open - for free. :D

[thebrian]

This is actually very simple to set up. I've never had to mess with any wap.voicestream address or anything similar. All I've done is this:

...
5] Enter *99# in the phone number field
...


That connect number actually seems to vary depending on what part of the nation you're located in. For me the connect string that works is *99***#

I continue to get "The line is busy" when attempting this. Does anyone have an insgt into this by chancce? Also, does anyone know the number to dial on the h6315? Thanks for any tips.

[q-live]

i have a 6315 also and not sure that i am setting it up right..... can anyone help me out because its not working for me

[OSUKid7]

Is it down again? Haven't been able to use it this weekend. Can anyone confirm?

[galt]

Is it down again? Haven't been able to use it this weekend. Can anyone confirm?

There's an ongoing (confirmed) GPRS outage w/T-mobile today, it's not effecting everybody but quite a few different areas are out. That might be the issue...

[OSUKid7]

There's an ongoing (confirmed) GPRS outage w/T-mobile today, it's not effecting everybody but quite a few different areas are out. That might be the issue...Ah, good to klnow. BTW, where do you hear news like that?

[galt]

There's an ongoing (confirmed) GPRS outage w/T-mobile today, it's not effecting everybody but quite a few different areas are out. That might be the issue...Ah, good to klnow. BTW, where do you hear news like that?

A few ways... After the data service on my T-mobile Sidekick quit working...
I checked w/a few local & non-local Sidekick owners who confirmed a problem.
I also checked a resource for Sidekick users to report and view data service outages: http://signalstrength.org/index.html and noticed more frequent than normal reported outages...
My friend who works at T-mobile confirmed a widespread outage...
I called T-mob customer care, was transferred through the ranks until I got to someone (40 minutes later) who confirmed a GPRS outage that was rolling from West to East.

My data service returned a few hours ago, did yours?

[OSUKid7]

My data service returned a few hours ago, did yours?Yep, just tried it now and it works. :) Thanks.

[q-live]

can someone pm me and help me set my 6315 up.... i did all the instructions listed and it still wont connect

[q-live]

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME WITH MY 6315 BY PM ING ME... I WANT TO SURF ALSO :twisted:

[OSUKid7]

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME WITH MY 6315 BY PM ING ME... I WANT TO SURF ALSO :twisted:You've got to realize that the 6315 is new a new device. Not many people here have it. And those who do may never see this thread. I'd suggest posting on some T-Mo/6315 sites/newsgroups. I don't think this is handled on the 6315 the same as other Pocket PCs because you can't really connect two bluetooth devices - it's the same device.

Good luck, but if you haven't heard anything by now, I'd start looking elsewhere.

[q-live]

GOT IT..... i found the answer on another site .......it didnt work at first until i change my sim card to help the eco problem..... next thing you no its up and working :lol: :)