OT: Tethering a BlackBerry: SMTP issue.

[dennis]

[dennis]

I meant to add..

gmail uses port 587

[Tim Watts]

John Rumm wibbled on Saturday 19 June 2010 05:34

It's worth mentioning that many SMTP servers support the newer port 587 which is targetted at email *clients* rather that server-server transfers (which continue to use 25).

So if your ISP blocks 25, try 587 for the remote server. 587 is usually used in combination with TLS encryption and SMTP AUTH (ie login).

Cheers

Tim

[Spamlet]

Interesting flurry of late replies there! But pay attention at the back!

To reiterate: I already found a way round, by using my Hotmail 'windows live' in POP3/SMTP mode, and by using eternal-september for news. Haven't therefore needed another g-mail account though it is worth reiterating that 'virgin' is more or less google anyway now.

I've now tried this other port 587, but the result is still the same: whatever port numbers I use, 'virgin' is still blocking any messages that come from T-mobile IP addresses: this even though 'virgin'mobile is really T-mobile!

I notice there is now another thread on phone choices. I think the whole issue of choosing the right/best phone deal for, say, a diyer who needs to browse the web and still keep in touch with uk.d-i-y while away from home and broadband, could do with a wider airing. What package/phone should I have bought before I came away? Are there any that give *really* unlimited data handling (just as we expect from broadband), and that have no penalty charges, and offer access that is fast enough to be of really practical use?

S

[Andy Burns]

Unlimited mobile data tarrifs all have small-print, but they are on the way out now, AT&T in America are dropping them, and O2 here, others making noises about following, looking like ending up at about a 500MB allowance with £5 charge for another 500MB if you exceed it.

When wires get full you put in more wires, when airwaves get full it's harder to acquire more spectrum.

That's an unanswerable question in general, you need to look at the coverage of each network in location(s) that are of importance to you, certainly they *can* provide fast access in good conditions.

[John Rumm]

Sounds like you just volunteered to write a wiki page on it for us! ;-)

Regarding the data services, this is worth a look:

specifically testing usb dongle data access, there will probably be parallels with the performance of 3G via a phone as well.

Regarding hardware, first thing to realise is that all mobile devices offer a relatively poor service for mobile internet when compared to a computer - mostly just as a result of the limited screen real estate and poor data entry options. Things like fold away bluetooth keyboards can help though. For serious use like shopping on SF or similar sites while "on site", then I would expect a netbook class of computer with 3G would offer a better and more usable experience.

[Tim Watts]

Spamlet wibbled on Saturday 19 June 2010 14:20

Summary: Virgin are gay.

The whole point of TLS/SMTP AUTH is to make it easy and safe to email *from* anywhere. I think this is a good description of why it's better to get a proper email account somewhere stable rather than using the ISPs bundled one.

Anyway, glad you found a way around it...

[Spamlet]

Ah, but when I listen to the radio (as yet undigital) and broadband at the same time the broadband - and even thev cable TV can be seconds and sometimes even minutes behind. On broadband the long lags are presumably from waiting for packets going different ways; I don't know how the TV progs get round this but even radio on the cable is behind the live air feed. So assuming that radio goes at the speed of light then my phone should be faster than my broadband: not glacially slow. Perhaps they should be going the other way round and broadcasting data in analogue: not digitising the radio!

S