[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] gjbird999:
I've had a call logged with Three for weeks now, and to be frank, their Indian call centre makes a chocolate teapot in the middle of a Sahara desert look like a positively sensible idea.

They keep coming back saying that they can’t help, because the TYTN II isn’t a “3G” phone (meaning a THREE BRANDED PHONE) (they don’t seem to understand the difference between “Three” and “3G”)

So, as a first off, (as this is the only reproducible easy error I’ve found so far), can I ask you to try going to www.zdnet.co.uk and see if you get a web page or and error. If you get the same error as me, which is “Request Error (Invalid Request)” then it will give me a bit more evidence to go and beat them up over again as H3G are ADAMANT that they do not block ports and don‘t monitor traffic, however, I believe they have a bluecoat proxy server monitoring everything, and they are notoriously easy to stuff up if you don’t know what you are doing with them.

Anyway, on to the Messenger problem…..

From my testing so far…….

Test 1

If you have even so much as a whiff of a Three SIM in the phone, it won’t connect to messenger over the Three Data connection OR over Active Sync.

If you connect it up over active sync or wireless with either the radio (i.e. phone) disabled, or without a Three SIM card, Messenger WILL connect using your alternative data connection (e.g. ADSL connection)

Conclusion - A Three SIM card some how stuff’s messenger (Seen a similar thread with a Vodafone SIM, but I don’t have one of those to test with).

Test 2

If you pop a T-Mobile or Orange SIM in the phone and perform the same tests, messenger is fine over either active sync, wireless or the Mobile operators data connection. Conclusion - This backups the previous conclusion that having a Three (H3G) SIM in there kills messenger.

(At this point, if anyone from marketing at T-Mobile or Orange is reading, if either of you will offer the same data mobile broadband data tariff (obviously in a working format) as Three on PAYG, we will ALL drop H3G quicker than that chocolate teapot will melt).

Test 3

Three are various custom versions of WindowsLive.cab knocking around and some of the earlier ones will actually connect (even with a Three SIM card installed) and actually work, however the Live Mail part then gets stuffed, as its not got all the features of the current Live, with the Push Mail, and the download options, but it does give a Conclusion that earlier Live messenger clients will connect.

The later ones (including Dutty’s ones) still fail to connect, so Dutty, if you are reading, and have any ideas, please feel free to chip in.

Test 4

MSN Mobile (NOT live version)

I found an earlier version of MSN Mobile, and this seems ok ish (i.e. messenger will connect, but again, you lose the nice push mail functionality)

Other Tests,

I’ve tried various combinations of various Radio and OS Rom’s and live.cab installs, without success.

Tests I’d like to try, but don’t have the hardware for

The one test I haven’t been able to try yet (and would like to) is seeing if messenger can be made to connect from a non Three device (i.e. my TYTN II, or your Hermes) whilst using a proper Three Connection.

i.e. Messenger on my TYTN II, going through Active Sync to a laptop, which in turn is connected to the Internet via a Three branded phone or USB Dongle. If That fails to connect, then it’s a fair conclusion that Three do in fact block ports, as the Dongle would be doing the connection. If it worked, then it would be fair to say that the actual SIM is causing the problem. Either Way, it would be really good solid evidence to go and get support to actually take notice.

Which would lead onto another Test, which is if there are any Three Users out there who it works, for, trying you SIM in either of our devices to prove if its some Three SIMS that are actually causing the problem.

(In techie speak, does anyone know if its possible from a SIM card to have a hosts file, or do port redirection ON THE SIM?)

I work up in London, so if by any chance, you are in that Area, please PM me, and maybe we can meet up to try and come up with ideas.