[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III General] mdhensley5:
Is this the correct one G? http://forums.wireless.att.com/cng/board/message?board.id=cingular&message.id=49092#M49092

OK, isp.cingular and a real ISP has been discussed quite a bit in the past, especially after the new rom came out and the PDA Personal Max data plan. And this is when the trouble started. Many users lost the ability to use a real ISP and some didn't. Some of the fixes posted worked for some and others it didn't.

For me none of the fixes worked but using APN wap.cingular really did what I needed, so I decided to leave it alone. After I decided to upgrade my data plan to Data Connect, I now NEED to use isp.cingular. I cannot log in my company's VPN unless I use APN isp.cingular. So I was bound and determined to make it work. After much reconnaissance I found all the answers right here on the at&t forums. But there are many pieces to the puzzle and they were spread out all over the place. This is going to be an attempt to put the pieces all in one place so the picture will come together.

Update 05/06/07 1:40pm

I put this information together with the assumption of readers having some working knowledge of Windows Mobile 5 and mobile phone usage. If you are a complete NOOB to the whole WM5 thing this information will create more questions than answers. I am far from being a tech guru and if I can half learn this stuff with both my brain cells, then most other people can too. But still..... noobs enter at your own risk.

The Connection Profiles

Now, the new rom sets up the two network connections, "My ISP" and "Media Net". Refer to here Browser/internet Settings There is a link in that page also for configure and use the My ISP profile. For the MEdia Net connections follow the instructions to the letter. Now the My ISP instructions differ from what the new rom sets up automatically. (and if you call CS the data guys will walk you through those settings in that link) The new rom will have the settings for a "real ISP" connection. You will notice, if you follow those instructions it has you change a couple of things. For one it has you change the APN isp.cingular to wap.cingular. Well this won't give you a "real ISP" connection but it will make the My ISP profile work for web browsing. I did a survey of users on who had "My ISP" working and the ones that answered yes, I bet they were still using wap.cingular in the MY ISP profile. So they were/are not getting a real ISP connection. I will quote from that settings page and maybe it will give you clue on it's purpose for using wap.cingular in the My ISP connection profile:

# Additional features such as Wi-f and device based e-mail along with other 3rd party applications may not be compatible with the proxy settings associated with the MEdia Net profile.

# If there are connection issues with e-mail and/or Wi-Fi, configuring and using the My ISP profile as displayed below may resolve connectivity issues.

# Configuring the AT&T 8525 to use My ISP will disable MEdia Net (WAP) web pages when My ISP is used for connectivity. However, regular Internet (HTML) web page browsing will function as normal.

Now the best I can figure, all this does is give two profiles and both use APN wap.cingular, but one uses a proxy server and one doesn't. Which brings me to my next category.

The Proxy Manager cabs

There are two cab files in a folder called Proxy Manager, under your programs menu. These two cab files enable and disable the proxy settings via a registry edit. Now, to me, if I continue to use the MEdia Net connection for all internet use, and utilize these cab files to disable and enable the proxy, I am doing the same thing as above by setting up those two network connections and swapping back and forth from them. Now once you have the My ISP connection profile set up with "real isp" settings it will be no longer necessary to use these cab files. All you have to do is switch back and forth from MEdia Net and My ISP. The MEdia Net profile has the proxy settings built in and you will have to use it if you want access to the Media Net home page.

http://home or http://device.home

Now on to the next topic....

How Do I Get A "Real ISP" To Work?

After it is all said and done, the bottom line is you have to be on the right data plan. From what I have learn't, you have be on a PDA Connect Unlimited, or a Data Connect Unlimited before your account is provisioned to access through isp.cingular. There are a lucky few that when they switched to PDA Personal Max, isp.cingular was not turned off (lucky dogs who's names we shall not speak ). But if it is turned off, CS will NOT turn it back on untill you get on the right data plan and that is the FIRST step. PERIOD Once you do have the right data plan and isp.cingular is "turned on" then it is as simple as setting up My ISP with the "real isp" settings. And thats it! For a recap of those settings refer to RonAnnArbor's post here. You can consider this post a supplement to Ron's.

Something About PIE

Now lets assume you got on the right data plan and isp.cingular is provisioned, and the My ISP profile is set up to use the "real isp" settings but it DOESN'T WORK! You pull up PIE to view a web page and it times out and displays one of those dreaded error messages. Have no fear I found the answer on the at&t forums too. But credit for it should go to the folks over at the XDA site. (man there are some pretty tech savvy folks over there! I wish I was as knowledgeable as those guys) There are some settings in the registry for PIE to auto detect proxy settings. Let's keep it simple and say PIE is "hard coded" in the new rom to always use wap.cingular. So if your connected to isp.cingular, well... you get the picture. That may not be technically accurate, but I think it will be easy for most to understand. (at least for my two brain cells it is ) You will find that everything else that needs access to the internet will work, like email, weather programs, but one will assume they have no internet access if PIE doesn't work. Now lets fix that too, but it will take a registry edit to do it. If you don't know how to do registry editing, I suggest you get a reg editor like Resco or Total Commander and learn how to use it. Now here is what you do. Go to:

HKCU \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Internet Settings

There will be a Dword labeled "EnableAutoDetect". The default value that detects the proxy is "0", you can change it to a "1" but I recommend deleting the entire entry. Also after a reset go back and make sure it is gone. Sometimes the changes don't stick and you will have to do it again. Another thing to remember is DON'T use the Proxy Manager cabs again. The enable proxy cab will re-write those settings back in there.

Update 8/5/07 8:25pm: I have experienced an anomaly of the "EnableAutoDetect" Dword showing back up in the registry after a soft reset. No proxy cabs were used to cause it. At this time I have not figured out the "why" because it happened only twice. I will edit this update if I find the cause/fix. For right now I thought users should be aware of it and delete it again if necessary.

The Technical Side of APN (Or, what's the difference between isp.cingular and wap.cingular?)

Instead of me spouting off a lot of Geek language and acronyms I don't really know, I am going to link to this page. I have posted this link before and the entire page is some really good infomation. For the information related to the title of this paragraph, scroll down to the section labeled "There are two Cingular access points".

Multimedia Messages

If you want ot send/recieve MMSs, this "real isp" connection is not going to work. For over all web browsing, email, weather updates, ect, the MEdia Net profile should work just fine. I leave mine on MEdia Net most of the time. It is only when I am going to tether, or if a web site is acting flaking (that's a techincal term you know) I will switch over to My ISP. If you are connecting through My ISP when a MMS comes in, it will be a text message directing you to www.viewmymessages.com. (As of this writing this is how it seems to work)