New here, with a 'push' email question

[ticcel]

I only recently upgraded to a smartphone. I started out with the BB Pearl 8130 but just couldn't deal with the keypad, so now I'm on the Treo 755p. I had a Palm pilot years ago and really liked all the applications, but I also really want automatic email. After reading through several posts here, I downloaded the trial version of Chattermail, but I'm confused as to why this is better than VersaMail. It looks like the only way to get instant emails on either one of them is to set them up to check for emails every 5-10 minutes, which seems a waste and a battery drain, since I might go a few hours without getting any emails, and then get several in a row.

Is this setup right, or did I miss a step? Is there any way to get automatic emails on the Treo the way you do with Blackberry? I don't use Outlook, I've got Mac and Verizon accounts, so I don't think ExchangeSync will work for me, will it?

Thanks so much for any help.

[benjie]

ChatterEmail supports PUSH and POP. If you require quick access to email or deal heavily with email, PUSH is the way to go. It does require a bit more in the way of battery life, but the convenience it provides is worth it. The company I work for relies heavily on email and to a lesser degree text messaging. As a ChatterEmail user with 3 PUSH accounts, any emails sent hit my device in seconds versus minutes and at times those minutes are too long.

In addition, when one considers over-all performance, ChatterEmail far out performs Versamail.

[ticcel]

Thanks, I understand push is what I want, but being new to phone PDAs, I don't know if what I'm doing is considered Push. My question was, is setting up my phone to check every 5-10 minutes the only way to get quick emails? Is that Push?

Thanks.

[benjie]

No, what you are doing is polling for your mail. Push means that your device logs in to the mail server and when an email hits the server, the server PUSHes it to your device - your device does NOT poll for mail. Push mail with a good service means getting mail in seconds instead of minutes.

Ben

[ticcel]

Is the server and/or Chattermail supposed to do this automatically when the email account is originally added to Chattermail, or is there a particular way to set it up?

[benjie]

Once logged in to a server that supports PUSH/IDLE, ChatterEmail will sit there until the server receives mail for the device and pushes that mail to the device. Again, the device is just sitting there logged in to the site - doing nothing to the site, just saying "HI, I AM HERE."

What ChatterEmail does upon logging in to the site is to attempt to maintain a constant data connection, which is done by once in a while checking to determine if it is connected to the site. Other than that, it sits quietly in the background singing its song without disturbing anyone. When an email is pushed to it, depending on the settings chosen, a prompt of the email is displayed for you to do whatever you want to do with it.

Ben

[mddoane]

No, what you are doing is polling for your mail. Push means that your device logs in to the mail server and when an email hits the server, the server PUSHes it to your device - your device does NOT poll for mail. Push mail with a good service means getting mail in seconds instead of minutes.

Ben

Ben, I just downloaded ChatterEmail and get the following error/msg after hotsyncing:
Failed to backup 8 file(s)

• Gmail IMAPChatterDB
  
  • Protocol Error: Handheld file could not be opened. (4004)
    
    • SYNCERR_FILE_NOT_OPEN

Any help would be appreciated!
Mike

[ticcel]

So if my emails aren't getting through except when ChatterEmail does the timed checks that I set up, my server probably doesn't support PUSH/IDLE, right? Or do I have it set up wrong? I've got Mac OS X Leopard, which I thought was supposed to support IMAP/PUSH, from what I've read so far.

If I've got it set up wrong, can you (or anyone) tell me where I could find specific instructions on how to set it up right? I haven't had any luck so far with searching this board and Google.

Thanks.

Once logged in to a server that supports PUSH/IDLE, ChatterEmail will sit there until the server receives mail for the device and pushes that mail to the device. Again, the device is just sitting there logged in to the site - doing nothing to the site, just saying "HI, I AM HERE."

What ChatterEmail does upon logging in to the site is to attempt to maintain a constant data connection, which is done by once in a while checking to determine if it is connected to the site. Other than that, it sits quietly in the background singing its song without disturbing anyone. When an email is pushed to it, depending on the settings chosen, a prompt of the email is displayed for you to do whatever you want to do with it.

Ben

[mddoane]

Ben, I just downloaded ChatterEmail and get the following error/msg after hotsyncing:
Failed to backup 8 file(s)

• Gmail IMAPChatterDB
  • Protocol Error: Handheld file could not be opened. (4004)
    • SYNCERR_FILE_NOT_OPEN

Any help would be appreciated!
Mike

I just fixed my problem with FileZ - I unchecked the "backup" on the Chatter files.

[benjie]

Not all mail sites support PUSH/IDLE. Somewhere on the site should be an indication of its capabilities. I know nothing about the Mac, though there are 2 Mac laptops in the family. What email server are you using?

Ben

So if my emails aren't getting through except when ChatterEmail does the timed checks that I set up, my server probably doesn't support PUSH/IDLE, right? Or do I have it set up wrong? I've got Mac OS X Leopard, which I thought was supposed to support IMAP/PUSH, from what I've read so far.

If I've got it set up wrong, can you (or anyone) tell me where I could find specific instructions on how to set it up right? I haven't had any luck so far with searching this board and Google.

Thanks.