Palm Treo and 3G Australia problems

[Warren1]

This is a copy of a post I sent to a 3 forum (with slight adjustments) but thought I may get answers here.

Hi all, I have a Palm Treo 750 phone and use the 3 network with the phone. Overall I love the phone and find the network excellent. Definitely the best phone I have ever had and the first truly well put together PDA/Phone IMO. I also love the fact it’s windows based and especially love the smooth sync between the phone and Microsoft Outlook. It’s great that with the Palm 750 you can download your messages as an email and subsequently listen to them as an email through windows media and not have to pay to collect voice mails. I had a few hiccups originally but most of them have been smoothed out. That aside, I still have a few problems with the phone/network that I have spoken to both Palm Australia and 3 Australia (in India) and neither organization have been able to fix up the problem. So this and the 3 G network forums are my last port of call.

1 The first problem is that I occasionally travel interstate to remote locations where Telstra works but 3 doesn’t (even though 3 is suppose to roam on Telstra’s network it doesn’t work in all locations) and I’m unable to put a pre-paid Telstra card in my Palm phone. I had another Palm Treo 750 which broke down and under warranty they replaced it. The old phone had no problems with me taking out the 3 SIM card and replacing it with a Telstra SIM card when I was in locations where the 3 network didn’t work. With this phone it simply can’t be done. 3 have tried by giving me unlocking codes but it still won’t work.

2 This is an obscure one and probably more a Palm issue than 3 issue. When I have a business as a contact and the business has 2 people in it with 2 mobile numbers, I am able with some businesses to put the name of the person next to the mobile number and it works when I try and call the number from my phone even with the name in it and next to the number. IE “0411000000 Fred” With other businesses where I have two numbers and I put the name next to the mobile number it won’t work as it can’t register the number as there are letters in the number. IE “0411111111 John” It gives this message “cannot complete the call. The signal may be unavailable or the phone number may not be valid. Verify the number or try again later” Of course when I take out Johns name it works fine. Very odd!

3 The third and final problem and biggest problem of all is the deleting of emails from my phone. When I delete emails from my phone from both my inbox and deleted items box it opens up a “deleted items” folder in the three webmail page. Unless I go in there every couple of days and delete it using my computer, then it builds up, uses all my storage and I’m unable to collect emails or have people leave voice mails on my phone is my storage is full. Is there a way of deleting emails off your PDA which then delete it off your webmail for good and not open up a “deleted items” folder which you need to subsequently delete through a computer. Very difficult if your traveling and unable to get to a computer over a three or four day period. 3 have tried to fix the problem numerous times with no success.

As I said, love the phone and love the network. For anyone who owns a Palm Treo 750 and finds the battery life a little light on I recommend getting an off market long life battery. It’s a bit fatter but well worth it for the extra time you get. It limits your phone protector to simply a silicon cover but I find that more than adequate.

Thanks


Warren

[bille]

This is a copy of a post I sent to a 3 forum (with slight adjustments) but thought I may get answers here.

Hi all, I have a Palm Treo 750 phone and use the 3 network with the phone. Overall I love the phone and find the network excellent. Definitely the best phone I have ever had and the first truly well put together PDA/Phone IMO. I also love the fact it’s windows based and especially love the smooth sync between the phone and Microsoft Outlook. It’s great that with the Palm 750 you can download your messages as an email and subsequently listen to them as an email through windows media and not have to pay to collect voice mails. I had a few hiccups originally but most of them have been smoothed out. That aside, I still have a few problems with the phone/network that I have spoken to both Palm Australia and 3 Australia (in India) and neither organization have been able to fix up the problem. So this and the 3 G network forums are my last port of call.

1 The first problem is that I occasionally travel interstate to remote locations where Telstra works but 3 doesn’t (even though 3 is suppose to roam on Telstra’s network it doesn’t work in all locations) and I’m unable to put a pre-paid Telstra card in my Palm phone. I had another Palm Treo 750 which broke down and under warranty they replaced it. The old phone had no problems with me taking out the 3 SIM card and replacing it with a Telstra SIM card when I was in locations where the 3 network didn’t work. With this phone it simply can’t be done. 3 have tried by giving me unlocking codes but it still won’t work.

2 This is an obscure one and probably more a Palm issue than 3 issue. When I have a business as a contact and the business has 2 people in it with 2 mobile numbers, I am able with some businesses to put the name of the person next to the mobile number and it works when I try and call the number from my phone even with the name in it and next to the number. IE “0411000000 Fred” With other businesses where I have two numbers and I put the name next to the mobile number it won’t work as it can’t register the number as there are letters in the number. IE “0411111111 John” It gives this message “cannot complete the call. The signal may be unavailable or the phone number may not be valid. Verify the number or try again later” Of course when I take out Johns name it works fine. Very odd!

3 The third and final problem and biggest problem of all is the deleting of emails from my phone. When I delete emails from my phone from both my inbox and deleted items box it opens up a “deleted items” folder in the three webmail page. Unless I go in there every couple of days and delete it using my computer, then it builds up, uses all my storage and I’m unable to collect emails or have people leave voice mails on my phone is my storage is full. Is there a way of deleting emails off your PDA which then delete it off your webmail for good and not open up a “deleted items” folder which you need to subsequently delete through a computer. Very difficult if your traveling and unable to get to a computer over a three or four day period. 3 have tried to fix the problem numerous times with no success.

As I said, love the phone and love the network. For anyone who owns a Palm Treo 750 and finds the battery life a little light on I recommend getting an off market long life battery. It’s a bit fatter but well worth it for the extra time you get. It limits your phone protector to simply a silicon cover but I find that more than adequate.

Thanks


Warren

Warren I'm in Perth, Australia with a Treo 750 (Telstra) I have only had the 750 for about 5 weeks and it is great but.... Not on the Telstra 3G - It was pretty bad, lots of dropouts where I live, about 10 klm north of Perth, but I have now locked it to Edge (GSM)and it works great, haven't been into the country area so haven't tried it on NextG.

Answer 1. I think is probably a Network thing.

Answer 2. I enter all numbers and names through CONTACTs and don't seem to have the problem.

Answer 3. I haven't experienced this problem (Yet) but don't get that many emails to the Treo because they usually get picked up by the computer.

Incidently I was given mine by Telstra on my existing $60 Plan with nothing up front if I went into contract for 24 months.

The other day I tried an OPTUS prepaid card in the Treo from another of our mobiles and had the option to choose Telstra,Voda or Optus, so surprisingly it's not locked to the Telstra Network.

[fastlerner]

As for number 1, most phones provided by a carrier are pick-locked to their SIM cards only. The only way for a GSM phone to work with multiple carrier's cards is if it is "unlocked". If this is the case, the phone should give you an error message when you boot it up on the foreign sim, most likely asking you for an unlock code. If this is the case, the carrier should be able to provide you with an unlock code. There are also services on the web that can do the same for about $20-$25.

Are these the same SIMs that you used in your old phone with no troubles? Have you tried any other SIMs? There is always the possibility that one got damaged.

As for number 2, if you use your contacts to store your entries (not on your SIM), you shouldn't have an issue. Make sure each person has their own contact entry and each phone number is stored in the correct field. Then when you start typing the first few letters of the contacts first or last name, their available numbers should pop up.

For number 3, it sounds like you're using webmail. You would need to see if the webmail interface will allow you to clear the folder from pocket IE. Most email providers allow you to retrieve your messages using POP3. I would suggest finding the server address and configuring it in Pocket Outlook. By default, when messages are retrieved with a POP client, they are removed from the server at the time of retrieval (unless you set it to leave a copy there.)

If you are already using Pocket Outlook for your email and syncing via IMAP, then try this. Open up your email. After deleting something, hit Menu>Go_To>Folders and select the "deleted items" folder. Highlight the email and select delete. It will prompt you if you want to permanently delete the item.

[Warren1]

As for number 1, most phones provided by a carrier are pick-locked to their SIM cards only. The only way for a GSM phone to work with multiple carrier's cards is if it is "unlocked". If this is the case, the phone should give you an error message when you boot it up on the foreign sim, most likely asking you for an unlock code. If this is the case, the carrier should be able to provide you with an unlock code. There are also services on the web that can do the same for about $20-$25.

Are these the same SIMs that you used in your old phone with no troubles? Have you tried any other SIMs? There is always the possibility that one got damaged.

As for number 2, if you use your contacts to store your entries (not on your SIM), you shouldn't have an issue. Make sure each person has their own contact entry and each phone number is stored in the correct field. Then when you start typing the first few letters of the contacts first or last name, their available numbers should pop up.

For number 3, it sounds like you're using webmail. You would need to see if the webmail interface will allow you to clear the folder from pocket IE. Most email providers allow you to retrieve your messages using POP3. I would suggest finding the server address and configuring it in Pocket Outlook. By default, when messages are retrieved with a POP client, they are removed from the server at the time of retrieval (unless you set it to leave a copy there.)

If you are already using Pocket Outlook for your email and syncing via IMAP, then try this. Open up your email. After deleting something, hit Menu>Go_To>Folders and select the "deleted items" folder. Highlight the email and select delete. It will prompt you if you want to permanently delete the item.

Thanks for your comments however...

In respect of point 1. Yes, I have tried a couple of different SIM's including the one I used with my old phone. It made no difference. As previously mentioned, I was also given the unlocking code from Three. It also made no difference. We were unable to unlock it. After many hours on the phone to Three I gave up.

My contacts work fine. It's when one business has two different people with two different mobile numbers. So I have say mobile and car to put the two peoples mobile numbers in there. Unless you actually make a note of whose mobile it is how do you know whose mobile number it applies too? The easiest way is by putting the name next to the mobile number. As I said, sometimes it works, other times it doesn't work.

Point 3 - I use my external email to collect my emails on my phone through Pop 3. I also ask it to leave a copy on my server. That isn't the issue. The issue is deleting it from the Three wemail server from my Palm 750 and it not opening up a seperate "deleted items" folder just above the sent items folder.

Thanks

[fastlerner]

Thanks for your comments however...
My contacts work fine. It's when one business has two different people with two different mobile numbers. So I have say mobile and car to put the two peoples mobile numbers in there. Unless you actually make a note of whose mobile it is how do you know whose mobile number it applies too? The easiest way is by putting the name next to the mobile number. As I said, sometimes it works, other times it doesn't work.

It's best in those situations to make a separate contact entry for each person, even if they are part of the same business.

If you're stuck on having them listed AS the business in question, then you could always put the business name in the "last name" field, and put their names in the first name field. That way when you start typing the business name they will all pop up.

As for the SIM unlock, ofter after too many unsuccessful attempts, it will no longer let you unlock. There is a reset utility you can download from palm that clears more in the device than a simple hard reset. I believe it will reset your counter for unlock attempts as well, if that's holding you up.

Good luck!

[Warren1]

I actually figured out the problem with my "contacts" issue. Basically you need to go into the contact in your Microsoft Outlook. Click on the Business, Home, Mobile etc button next to where you put your numbber. This brings up Country, City, Local number and extension. You need to put the person's name next to "extension." You will then be able to make a call by simply going to the contact and pressing the middle button or call button.

[Warren1]

I have also managed to fix by biggest problem, item 3. Amazingly after about a dozen calls with 3 they finally figured it this afternoon. The actual problem was quite easy to work out. They probably should have sorted it out the first time but for whatever reason they were unable too. I’m just very happy it’s sorted out once and for all.

Put simply the “advanced setting” in the email setup gives you the option of “when deleting messages” either "delete them off the server" or "keep them on the server." Surprise, surprise I had mine on “keep them on the server. It should obviously have been set to "delete them off the server."

So two out of three problems fixed. Still working on final one - unlocking my phone to allow a Telstra pre-paid phone to work on my Palm 750 when I'm in an area where 3 doesn't work.