WAP on prepaid

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felixcct@yahoo.com - 09 Mar 2006 00:00 GMT

First some news: Fido says that prepaid WAP access is now being charged
per Kbyte at the same rate as monthly accounts, instead of per minute
as previously. Apparently per minute turned out to be too good a deal.
Fido also confirmed that WAP GPRS access is enabled by default on all
accounts, including prepaid.

Unfortunately I can't get it to work. I picked up one of those unlocked
Sierra Voq Smartphones currently on end-of-the-line sale since Sierra
got out of the business, and I'm trying to get WAP working on it with
my old prepaid SIM. I read everything I can find here and on various
other web sites about how to do the configuration, but it's
complicated. Nothing quite matches the options available on the Voq,
and the only feedback is "Error: Unable to connect. Check your
settings." I'm trying to connect to http://wap.fido.ca.

Given the lack of information here on the forum, I'm guessing that not
too many people know much about troubleshooting these settings. But on
the off chance that someone does and can offer some help or advice,
here's what I've tried:

Under Data Connections, I can create a GPRS connection. I can then set
the Internet Network and / or the WAP Network to use the GPRS
connection I just created (or just leave them on Automatic, which
probably selects the only available connection).

For the GPRS connection I tried entering the following settings:

APN: wap.fido.ca (also tried internet.fido.ca)
Username: fido
Password: fido
DNS 1 and 2: blank (also tried a couple of DNS addresses given on the
web)
IP: blank (also tried 205.151.11.11 and 205.151.11.11:9201 and
205.151.11.11:8080)

There's no other options. None of these variations work. Sierra's FAQ
offers the first 3 parameters for Fido, and then says to consult Fido
about the others, which I did.

Pocket Internet Explorer is the browser in the Windows Mobile 2003 SE
operating system on the phone. Under IE Connection Options, I can pick
either Automatic or Internet Network or the WAP Network (tried all 3 -
probably no diff since GPRS is the only connection available).

The only other option available is to create a Proxy Connection. The
Proxy has to be set to connect from one Network to another, i.e., from
Internet to WAP or vice-versa, so I doubt it would help. Tried both
anyway. The Proxy Connection has fields for entering APN, Username, and
Password and IP address:port. I tried 205.151.11.11, 205.151.11.11:8080
and 205.151.11.11:9201. No dice.The Proxy is not mentioned anywhere
else in the settings, and can't be picked directly as an option for
connection.

I'm at a bit of a loss as to what else to try. With no specific
instructions and no feedback, it's impossible to tell what's going
wrong. Any ideas?

Reply to this Message

JF Mezei - 09 Mar 2006 01:03 GMT

> Under Data Connections, I can create a GPRS connection. I can then set
> the Internet Network and / or the WAP Network to use the GPRS
> connection I just created (or just leave them on Automatic, which
> probably selects the only available connection).

> For the GPRS connection I tried entering the following settings:
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> IP: blank (also tried 205.151.11.11 and 205.151.11.11:9201 and
> 205.151.11.11:8080)

For internet connection :

APN: internet.fido.ca
Usename: fido Pass: fido
leave DNS blank.

For WAP connection:
APN: wap.fido.ca
username fido pass Fido.
(there shoudl be no other options).

> Pocket Internet Explorer is the browser in the Windows Mobile 2003 SE
> operating system on the phone.

Sincere condolences.

> The only other option available is to create a Proxy Connection.

No need for that. WAP is a proxy protocol. wap.fido.ca is the proxy
server that converts some HTML into WML and all WML into compiled
compressed WML to be sent over airwaves to your phone.

When you try to access a wap site, what is the phone's behaviour ?
Instantly refuses to connect ? issues a message after a long while, or
tells you the content is not valid ?

Fido's wab web site looks at your browser ty6pe and gives you different
content based on browser type. (at least that was the case before the
rogers takeover).

if you want, you can test another wap site:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mobile/bbc_news/top_stories/?
or
http://wap.vaxination.ca for instance. (this si mine, it gives you WML
1.3 and doesn't check browser type.

Reply to this Message

felixcct@yahoo.com - 09 Mar 2006 06:42 GMT

> > Under Data Connections, I can create a GPRS connection. I can then set
> > the Internet Network and / or the WAP Network to use the GPRS
[quoted text clipped - 47 lines]
> http://wap.vaxination.ca for instance. (this si mine, it gives you WML
> 1.3 and doesn't check browser type.

I don't think the connection is getting anywhere. It comes back after
about 2 seconds and says "No Connection". Not much information there.
No diference no matter what I try. I don't detect any difference if the
phone is in "Flight mode" (radio section off), which suggests that it
isn't getting far. If I had to guess, I'd say that it might be that a
setting is wrong or missing in my Fido SIM - only because I've already
tried all the settings available on the phone, and everyone seems to
agree that they should work.

Reply to this Message

felixcct@yahoo.com - 09 Mar 2006 07:22 GMT

> > > Under Data Connections, I can create a GPRS connection. I can then set
> > > the Internet Network and / or the WAP Network to use the GPRS
[quoted text clipped - 56 lines]
> tried all the settings available on the phone, and everyone seems to
> agree that they should work.

Actually the status icon G (GPRS data session active) briefly appears
on the screen when I enter a url in the browser. Stays for about a
second. Then the "No Connection" message. My account balance isn't
decrementing, so Fido obviously hasn't seen a successful connection
attempt. But the G doesn't appear if the phone is in Flight mode.

I don't know what else might be relevant. The Fido SIM is a replacement
I bought from the Fido store in 2002, was using it in a Mitsubishi
G310. I'm trying this in Vancouver, where Fido phones are always
"Roaming" on Rogers - I don't suppose GPRS has been down in Vancouver
today, or that it can't work in areas where Rogers shows as the network
(i.e., everywhere in Vancouver)?

Reply to this Message

JF Mezei - 09 Mar 2006 10:31 GMT

> Actually the status icon G (GPRS data session active) briefly appears
> on the screen when I enter a url in the browser. Stays for about a
> second. Then the "No Connection" message.

My guess is that your account doesn't allow GPRS.

Try changing wap.fido.ca to vap.fido.ca and

changing internet.fido.ca to winternet.fido.ca

and see if the phone behaves differently when it tries to negotiate GPRS connection.

(i.e. if you have invalid settings. does the phone behave differently)

Reply to this Message

felixcct@yahoo.com - 09 Mar 2006 15:26 GMT

I called Fido, explained what I was doing, and asked if there is
anything they need to change on my account to support GPRS. The CSR
said No, it should work. He said that all prepaid accounts now support
GPRS. He seemed to know what he was talking about, i.e., he wasn't just
reading from a script or anything like that. Maybe he wasn't a real
Fido CSR! :-o

Reply to this Message

gsm_experts - 09 Mar 2006 18:36 GMT

get a fido phone and test GPRS with it ... see if it's workig in there
first... sometimes somehow GPRS gets deactivated or screwed up on your fido
account (or fido profile) and tech support has to reset it for you! so if
it's not working in a fido phone it won't work in that other phone u have!

> > > > Under Data Connections, I can create a GPRS connection. I can then set
> > > > the Internet Network and / or the WAP Network to use the GPRS
[quoted text clipped - 69 lines]
> today, or that it can't work in areas where Rogers shows as the network
> (i.e., everywhere in Vancouver)?

Reply to this Message

felixcct@yahoo.com - 09 Mar 2006 19:20 GMT

After my experiments, I'm convinced that GPRS is not enabled on my
account, in spite of the Fido CSR saying that it was enabled for
everyone by default. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to visit the
local Fido store and see if they can help.

> get a fido phone and test GPRS with it ... see if it's workig in there
> first... sometimes somehow GPRS gets deactivated or screwed up on your fido
[quoted text clipped - 79 lines]
> > today, or that it can't work in areas where Rogers shows as the network
> > (i.e., everywhere in Vancouver)?

Reply to this Message

felixcct@yahoo.com - 11 Mar 2006 23:07 GMT

> After my experiments, I'm convinced that GPRS is not enabled on my
> account, in spite of the Fido CSR saying that it was enabled for
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> > account (or fido profile) and tech support has to reset it for you! so if
> > it's not working in a fido phone it won't work in that other phone u have!

Fido telephone customer support: F
Fido store: A+

I visited the local Fido store, and the helpful service rep there did
the experiment for me of swapping my SIM with the their demo phone SIM.
As expected, GPRS works with their SIM in my phone, doesn't work on
their phone with my SIM. QED: GPRS is not enabled on my account. The
store rep then called in for me, and after briefly being given the same
runaround as me, finally persuaded them to check my account settings,
whereupon they "discovered" that GPRS was not enabled. Now it works.

I half suspect that the Fido telephone support CSRs have been told to
be uncooperative and deliberately give misleading answers to anyone who
is trying to get an unlocked phone working. Anyway, helpful store rep
saves the day for Fido.

Reply to this Message

JF Mezei - 12 Mar 2006 05:42 GMT

> their phone with my SIM. QED: GPRS is not enabled on my account. The
> store rep then called in for me, and after briefly being given the same
> runaround as me, finally persuaded them to check my account settings,
> whereupon they "discovered" that GPRS was not enabled. Now it works.

When you said that you almost immediatly got a "not connected" message,
it looked like GPRS wasn't enabled on your phone. (otherwise, the phone
would wait a fair amount of time for a response before claiming that
there is no GPRS service).

The lesson for FIDO: Their 4 legged furry drones may have been trained
a certain way to save costs, but in the end, their training ended up
costing Fido much more. You spent a lot of time with the CSRs, and then
with a technician who then also spent time with the CSRs.

Dumming down the CSrs doesn't necessarily save money.

Reply to this Message

gsm_experts - 12 Mar 2006 22:45 GMT

I'm glad you finally did what I suggested! and glad it works now!

> > After my experiments, I'm convinced that GPRS is not enabled on my
> > account, in spite of the Fido CSR saying that it was enabled for
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
> is trying to get an unlocked phone working. Anyway, helpful store rep
> saves the day for Fido.

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