Having finally successfully completed our first XDA GPRS application, this is an open post to anybody else who has developed GPRS applications. Thanks to all those who have answered my questions.
We have had major problems getting GPRS stable, resulting in many hacks. Like continously testing network roundtrip. With stuck packets, nono-recoverable connections, GPRS connection times of over 45 minutes (M25 J26 - J23), ghost connections etc...
Is this this the norm for GPRS? Can we expect it to get better? Will it get worse as more people use it? I would be very interested in knowing.
Are there any design rules which can be used to generate more reliable applications? Like optimum time to keep a TCP/IP connection open, and still expect it to work?
The best of luck for any other GPRS developers out there.
Ben
Related
Upgraded from Xda II to Xda IIs end January and initially WLAN worked fine, but no GPRS. Went though process of creating GPRS connection (with O2 Support) and now cannot get IE to connect through WLAN. It always tries GPRS! Has anyone experienced this and/or got a solution?
Mike,
You will need to give us some more info on your settings.
If its an O2 unit with original firmwware if you back stuff up try a hard reset to get default settings back and ensure GPRS works then add the WLAN.
I live in Caldecote just outside Cambridge if you get really stuck we could meet up and you can try and copy my settings and check your SIM has GPRS enabled using mine that kind of thing.
Cheers Wayne
Many thanks Wayne. I'll do a backup and hard reset (with trembling hand no doubt) and see where I get to before getting back to you. Many thanks for the offer of help. I'm in Barrington, so it's not a million miles to come to talk if necessary.
you might already know this mike and if so at least it may be of help to others.
if your gprs connection is active then it doesn't matter wheather the wireless lan is on or off, internet explorer will always connect to gprs.
switch off gprs by clickiing on (in my case O2) your service providers icon and if "mobile web" is highlighted then click on it to switch it off.
Thanks, but I'd tried that and more. Eventually, as Wayne suggested, I did the dreaded hard reset and restored everything from scratch. I now have WLan working on my home LAN, but as I have such lousy GSM/GPRS coverage here I haven't yet tried to see if the GPRS side is now going to work. That's for tomorrow and where I started in the first place when I found it wasn't working! :?
Thank everyone for the suggestions.
Hello Mike
I had the same problem, and after thorough search I found the solution:
start->settings->connections -> advanced
select networks : both drop-down boxes are set to
"my work network"
This prevents the automatic gprs connections.
If you want gprs you can use the wireless manager
(start->programs->wireless manager)
and there tap the red gprs icon
In other words RTFM....
Here is the link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=13869&highlight=wifi +gprs
Hanan
Hanan
I have recenty been trialling a push email solution from Qore.
basically, I set up my email program (in my case outlook) to forward my emails to the T-Mobile email service. This service then sends me a text to indicate I have an email. The pusheffect program intercepts this text (there's no text indication etc) and then connects via GPRS to my T-mobile connection and downloads my email from my server.
works perfectly...EXCEPT, it doesn't close the GPRS connection afterwards.
so, my queston is how much (if any) data is transmitted while I'm connected via GPRS (little G with the two arrows) but not actually using it??
I don't want to find myself with a huge bill at the end of each month
Many thanks
According to GPRS data usage there should not be any data transmision if the connection is not used. No data - no traffic. If you want to be sure I would recomend GPRS Tweak (http://www.gb-soft.cz/XDAII/product_gprs_tweak_en.htm) soft that enables you to close the connection after predefined inactivity time. That should solve your problem.
perfect...that'll be the gadget to have then
many thanks
at least it would have been if it worked!!
set to close connection after 10 mins...left it for 20....still connected!!
looks like I'll just have to keep doing it manually
Sorry, I have been using it a short time only but been more interested in saving battery than the traffic. I'm on unlimited data tarrif so I keep the connection constantly (no major difference in power consumption).
Maybe the author has a solution?
P.S.
Did you try with the device switched off ?
The option implies that it's more the device that needs to be inactive than the connection.
I just learned the hard way that it appers that the Tytn with WM6 does not seem to automatically choose the wifi connection over the 3G data-connection. This is horrible!
I have the 3G data connection set to allways on and I thought when I connected to Wifi that would be the connection the system used, but no, just got a large 3G data-traffic bill.
It's so many things I can't belive that is so wrong with WM6, does the developers use this themselves?? So many things ar very unlogical and non user friendly that I think M$ should fire the people responsible for Windows Mobile.
Is there any hack to force wifi to be used when connected, or at least get some warning that 3G connection is used even though Wifi is activated? Seems crazy that I have to turn phone of to use wifi and not be charged 3G data traffic.
No one in 50 people finds this to be a problem, strange...
There's something called 'Comm Manager', and strangely there is a button for disconnecting the data connection, and by accident it won't reconnect if there's an active wifi connection... I wonder how did you come up whith the idea of soft-reseting your phone to disconnect the data connection..
jompao said:
I just learned the hard way that it appers that the Tytn with WM6 does not seem to automatically choose the wifi connection over the 3G data-connection. This is horrible!
I have the 3G data connection set to allways on and I thought when I connected to Wifi that would be the connection the system used, but no, just got a large 3G data-traffic bill.
It's so many things I can't belive that is so wrong with WM6, does the developers use this themselves?? So many things ar very unlogical and non user friendly that I think M$ should fire the people responsible for Windows Mobile.
Is there any hack to force wifi to be used when connected, or at least get some warning that 3G connection is used even though Wifi is activated? Seems crazy that I have to turn phone of to use wifi and not be charged 3G data traffic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, man.
I have notice that the metric for the WIfi connection is lower than the one for 3G or GPRS in the routing table.
Thats mean the default route go trought Wifi if this is availabe. The exception are some software that needs the 3G or GPRS connection like PushMail.
For example, if you connect your Wifi and open the PIE or Opera and surf the web, no GPRS/3G data is trasmitted, sure... you can see by yourself.
Live Messenger can works to chat over Wifi, but if detects GPRS 3G connection, use this connection (bad done by M$). Try unconfig the connections and connect to wifi, you will chat over wifi, but the email sync don't work...M$ have done bad choice IMO.
Regards.
jcespi2005 said:
Hi, man.
I have notice that the metric for the WIfi connection is lower than the one for 3G or GPRS in the routing table.
Thats mean the default route go trought Wifi if this is availabe. The exception are some software that needs the 3G or GPRS connection like PushMail.
For example, if you connect your Wifi and open the PIE or Opera and surf the web, no GPRS/3G data is trasmitted, sure... you can see by yourself.
Regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I did get 20 mb of 3G trafic in 2 days, days when I had wifi active and 3G-data connection. Only thing I used was IE and Newsbreak RSS aggregator. If I have connection ro my router over wifi, but what if connection to internet temporarily stops working, will WM6 then use the active 3G connection without any notification?
gnick666 said:
There's something called 'Comm Manager', and strangely there is a button for disconnecting the data connection, and by accident it won't reconnect if there's an active wifi connection... I wonder how did you come up whith the idea of soft-reseting your phone to disconnect the data connection..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you think I'm stupid or what? I haven't been softresetting anything.. There is no button for disconnecting data connection in standard Comm Manger. This is not the issue anyhow, issue is how stupid can an OS be that uses an active 3G data connection when there is a wifi connection available at the same time... And if the wifi connection isn't working it notifies the user of that fact and informs it will switch to 3G data connection.
In other words how can the user know what connection is used. Only safe way seem to be to turn phone off in Comm Manager, which I will do forward on.
A logical system like iPhone will connect to wifi when available by itself. And I'm quite sure user is somehow notified of this fact.
There was a button for it in the wm5 comm manager, and after the updated, I didn't notice any difference whith the wm6 one, but there's always the option to change it to the Kaiser's comm manager (just a cab install, nothing hard or threatening). The 10 button comm manger has the 'Data Connection' button and that's a fact, and it looks better too (in my oppinion).
Sorry about the soft resetting thing, I misunderstood it a bit
And about the issue of the 3G connection, there are some countries that don't have city wide open wifi networks (like mine), so the only place I can use it is at home (or some open wifi network on the street but that's quite unreliable). So our operators divised the 3G internet connection plan accordingly whith prepaid MB -s or GB -s. So in my case it realy doesn't matter which do I use. (ohh btw 200 MB costs us around 11 USD and 5 GB is around 28 USD)
In all honesty there are a number of different solutions. Comm Manager, the NoData App, BandSwitch or it cousin program could help you with that. There are tons of third party apps. Worse case scenario just kill the phone and switch to Fly-mode. I mean, dude when you are going to do something with your phone and you are afraid that it might cost you money then research first before using.
Thank God you only used 20megs. Here in Canada that stunt would have cost you almost $1000!!
agovinoveritas said:
In all honesty there are a number of different solutions. Comm Manager, the NoData App, BandSwitch or it cousin program could help you with that. There are tons of third party apps. Worse case scenario just kill the phone and switch to Fly-mode. I mean, dude when you are going to do something with your phone and you are afraid that it might cost you money then research first before using.
Thank God you only used 20megs. Here in Canada that stunt would have cost you almost $1000!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I did test and then checked only to see if I was charged any traffic and I wasn't so I thought it was fine. Apparently the charge is a bit delayed.. Well it's no fortune here, a little more then 1 dollar per MB. Still would be nice to clearly see when wifi and 3G is used, I use wifi at work and at home and don't want to switch phone part off.
gnick666 said:
There was a button for it in the wm5 comm manager, and after the updated, I didn't notice any difference whith the wm6 one, but there's always the option to change it to the Kaiser's comm manager (just a cab install, nothing hard or threatening). The 10 button comm manger has the 'Data Connection' button and that's a fact, and it looks better too (in my oppinion).
Sorry about the soft resetting thing, I misunderstood it a bit
And about the issue of the 3G connection, there are some countries that don't have city wide open wifi networks (like mine), so the only place I can use it is at home (or some open wifi network on the street but that's quite unreliable). So our operators divised the 3G internet connection plan accordingly whith prepaid MB -s or GB -s. So in my case it realy doesn't matter which do I use. (ohh btw 200 MB costs us around 11 USD and 5 GB is around 28 USD)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm trying to keep a clean installation of the official Swedish rom, been having problems with wake up on notifications when using other comm manager and HTC Home plugin. Off course it's no major problem to go to flight mode, just weird that one even has to think about it on a modern os...
jompao said:
Well I did get 20 mb of 3G trafic in 2 days, days when I had wifi active and 3G-data connection. Only thing I used was IE and Newsbreak RSS aggregator. If I have connection ro my router over wifi, but what if connection to internet temporarily stops working, will WM6 then use the active 3G connection without any notification?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only thing you can do to be sure only Wifi is ised is to select The Work Network in Connections, so no 3G connections to your operator is done....
If some app uses 3G before Wifi, the OS don't notify, how can the OS notify this? The OS have in the route table metric to use Wifi first, 3G after...
Regards.
Dear all,
since one week I have the TP2 and like it a lot. Until the TP2 I used to have an Iphone3G and now of course I have to change my user behaviour a little bit.
There is one big topic I would like to discuss here: DataConnections!
I have the problem, that I dont have a flat option for data from my provider. I have to pay by time and not by traffic. Hence I like to keep the time I am connected to the Net to a minimum!
Is it possible to realise the following with the TP2 (maybe with extra software)?
1. Mobile data connection only manually with immediate cut off after the transfer (for example if I press send/receive for mail). If I want to manually access the net there should be a short message box asking me to connect. Currently I have to use the CommCenter to switch data connection on/off. As I already use nodata to really cut off the automated connection behaviour, maybe this tool can also be used somehow to allow access and cut it off after the sending/receiving is done.
2. Wifi Scan constantly in the background (after manually switching it on) to scan for open networks or prefered networks. If some network is found, it automatically connects, checks internet, do all the other automated updates and stays connected until I manually disable wifi.
As you can see, I want to have some kind of automated, cost efficient, connection behaviour of TP2. The tool nodata, which I currently use is great to cut off the automated connection but is not very flexible
I am looking forward to exchange with you on that topic.
Regards,
dvdjimmy
...does really nobody else need something like this? Or am I just too stupid to use the onboard tools of wm6.1 correctly?
Regards,
dvdjimmy
take a look at bandswitch or commmgrpro...
you can use this registry entry,
for example this will kill automatic the connection after 10 seconds,
or if you dont use...
HKLM\Comm\ConnMgr\Planner\Settings\
CacheTime = 10 (sec.)
SuspendResume = GPRS_bye_if_device_off
http://forum.xda-developers.com/search.php
Dear all,
thank you for your suggestions. The registry is already a good start for me. Many thx. The commgrpro also looks very good. It seems to allow also the disconnect after a certain amount of time.
Anyway, I think I have to program it on my own: My dream would be to have a software which I can tell that I allow Access to the net from now on. Then the software is switching on wlan in the background and constantly scans for open or prefered networks. If such a network is found I would like to get connected to it. If somehow the WLAN connection breaks down and access to the net is no longer possible, the app should ask if I would like to use UMTS instead of WLAN right now. If I answer yes, WLAN is switched off, the data connection is switched on, the transfer is taking place and afterwards the connection is cut off completely and WLAN is switched on again and hopefully finds another open access again
So the main benefit would be, that automatically only the WLAN is allowed to connect. All the dataconnection by UMTS have to be allowed and are immediately switched off.
I would like to program something like this if you can help me on how to start with it, as I have not programmed a lot for the WM Platform until now.
With best regards,
Joachim
Hi Y´all!
Tried searching for this but no cigar so here goes:
I´m having periodic trouble maintaining a stable GPRS connection.
For example i start Opera & open a web page. GPRS connection is established. So far so good.
Then the site is kept open for perhaps 15 minutes without utilizing a link (i haven´t clocked it but it´s in that general vicinity).
Then i use a link, and get connection error, or perhaps minimize the browser and chek for new mail, and get sync. error.
In any case it is clear that the GPRS connection i dead. Then i go to the connection center and shut down the data connection (which indicates green - up&running).
Then i restart the GPRS connection, Either from activating a weblink or checking for mail or pretty much anything else that depends on the connection.
Then BINGO... GPRS is up and running again for another 15 minutes or so.
The fact that i had (and lived with) the same problem on my old Kaiser leads me to think that this may be about a setting somewhere in WinMO??
Is the connection perhaps "hibernating" if it isn´t used for a period??
And mainly: Does someone know howto fix it??
Perhaps i should add that i live in a small town in the arctic part of the world and we have no 3G/HDSPA coverage, There is only the GPRS connection. At home i use my private Wi-Fi link wich is humming along fine&nicely.
Please help
Polar67
It's like the xDSL connections that shut down after some time of inactivity. In a normal xDSL connection you have a possibility in the equipment of selecting an "Always ON" option that sends random packets to keep the Internet session from being shut down automatically by the BBRAS/DSLAM/RADIUS equipment.
In terms of mobile world I do not know if exist a similar way of doing it.