Hi all,
besides 'better coverage', 'more minutes', I did by chance fall into a
very different trap going to t-mobile (this concerns only t-mobile USA
which was acquired, but the old clueless idiots are still running the
show so it seems: no 'German quality' here!):
this is something everybody should also check when going to a
different/first mobile service:
they do have Internet features.
nice if it works.
simplest services that use the Intenet:
picture emails
sms (email between providers)
I found out the hard way:
no use of t-mobile for really professional stuff:
I cannot send screen shots supporting people, to most of them
I cannot, e.g., send sms to alltel
I found out why:
t-mobile has a grossly mosconfigured Internet communication setup
(t-mobile US ! what was that before? is still the same, the majority
share holder seems to have no influence):
trying to send pic emails:
getting on the phone: 'message sent'
Well no, on the other end, the message was actually refused:
for NXDOMAIN
t-mobile pic messages come from tmomail.net .
That domain is registered, has DNS servers listed, but, oh my:
the listed DNS servers don't know about tmomail.net.
And here the 'hammer': contacting their email support:
their support replies from t-mobilesupport.com:
and those emails are refused for NXDOMAIN
I guess the same issue arises when I try to send text messages to
alltel customers:
they don't get anything, I get 'messgae sent'.
Yes, this 'works' with attglobal.net, yahoo, hotmail, and probably most
'pay for volume/mbox size' providers as the receipient of t-mobile
messages from tmomail.net or t-mobilesupport.com.
That's because they do accept any unchecked email. At the end I explain
that part, not necessary for this here.
So if you need to really communicate, and not just send porn to a
hotmail address, but, e.g., a screenshot to a supported customer, then
you need to make sure that this works (oh yes, the picmails from
t-mobile don't render correctly either: while IE shows the embedded
picture, but not the framing around it, other mailers don't open
anything and just show a lot of unresolved attachments because their
email mime stuff is totally wrong!).
For 'real' people: don't go to t-mobile.
Not that I did not work with them:
clueless support: 'it is the other end' (of course, what was I
thinking!)
next level technical: understands the issue but no correction.
the t-mobile US Internec communication is originating from two
misconfigured domains:
no DNS service.
t-mobile support case #: 3255401
Now before I decide if I either terminate the contract for deception
(they seem to intentionally refuse to correct that, this is just a
'pretend' service that won't work for real, just with spam friendly
providers), and ask my money back for all messages ever sent, or sue
them for fulfillment of the contract (correct mime pic mail format,
correct misconfigured DNS), and sue on behalf of all people who ever
paid for this service while it is not working,
I will check other providers how they are configured.
Besides coverage, minutes: a handy is not just a phone, but a
communication device.
t-mobile does not seem to understand that all has to work, also the DNS
service.
Check with the provider you eye:
after cost
after minutes
after plans
:
when sending messages from a phone of your prospect next provider:
is the message format correct (for mime: does it render correctly, not
just the pic)
is the email configuration correct (their email server: do emails from
there pass normal header checks for correct HELO/EHLO, does the sending
domain exist (this means not just registered, but do the name servers
know about it)
if not: it will very probably not interoperate with other providers for
email and sms.
My .02 on how to chose a mobile communication provider, not just some
phone.
Mike
----here is a 'what about DNS'------
email:
98% of spam comes from 'bots', i.e. some SW slipped into someone's
computer.
It is not sent from an 'email' system. The messages are 'canned',
including some fake header.
This makes that normal email headers don't match: the sending IP is not
associated with the sending domain.
Also, 90% of all spam use fake sending system identification. That is
sent from the sending mail server to the receiving mail server or
client (called HELO/EHLO). Most spam has no matter what in there.
So just by not doing anything on a mail server, letting it verify
HELO/EHLO, existence of the pretended sending domain, and match that
the sending IP is part of that domain: you do reduce spam by 98%: only
spam from real mail servers will still get through. All the bots' (a
bot is an idiot's unprotected computer working for spammers and
scammers, willfully provided by directly connecting it unprotected to
the Internet, and with 'unprotected' I mean useless or misconfigured
firewalls ...) traffic will not get through.
Now why does, e.g., attglobal.net, yahoo, aol not do just that?
$$$
I found that all 'pay for volume' email providers do the same:
you get a 'free' account, or a 'cheap' one, with a pretty small
mailbox.
there is spam filtering
but you cannot configure automatic spam deletion, they all just 'mark'
some mark even in a form that a filter won't 'see' the mark so you
cannot just put up your filter to delete all messages where the subject
line starts with <<potential spam>>, because the system actually does
not contain the mark.
With 'normal' spam, that little mailbox will be full within a day or
two.
So if you don't go in and delete all spam, or if you don't download all
your spam (your bandwidth....) all the time and delete it then from
your computer, your mailbox will flag 'mailbox full' for the couple of
'real' emails that come in for you.
You need either to upgrade from the free service to a pay for with
larger mailbox (so you only need to do spam deletion or download every
5 days instead of every 2), or on your pay for service 'upgrade' for
the next higher cost bracket with a larger mail box.
So it is totally intentional that you get misconfigured spam messages
that sport very obviously fake headers.
different for corporations, professionals:
most corporations I deal with do not open their mail servers to let
everything in unchecked.
They do the 'normal' HELO/EHLO verification (e.g. some spam just sends
a '|; sign, that's forbidden in a HELO/EHLO string and there is no real
use for it), eliminating most spam.
They do the 'normal' sending system address verification (is it part of
the domain and is it congruent with the HELO/EHLO info received).
These two checks reduce spam by 98%.
However, a 'company' like t-mobile, with a misconfigured DNS, will not
be able to send mail to a 'real' or 'just configured, not even using
blacklists, no fascist exaggerations email system.
check for yourself:
t-mobile phone emails/sms come from tmomail.net.
whois says about tmomail.net:
Domain servers in listed order:
PDNS3.ULTRADNS.ORG
PDNS6.ULTRADNS.CO.UK
PDNS5.ULTRADNS.INFO
PDNS2.ULTRADNS.NET
PDNS1.ULTRADNS.NET
PDNS4.ULTRADNS.ORG
all of these return:
hquer:~ # for i in PDNS3.ULTRADNS.ORG PDNS6.ULTRADNS.CO.UK
PDNS5.ULTRADNS.INFO PDNS2.ULTRADNS.NEt PDNS1.ULTRADNS.NET
PDNS4.ULTRADNS.ORG; do nslookup tmomail.net $i ; done
Server: PDNS3.ULTRADNS.ORG
Address: 199.7.68.1#53
*** Can't find tmomail.net: No answer
Server: PDNS6.ULTRADNS.CO.UK
Address: 204.74.115.1#53
*** Can't find tmomail.net: No answer
Server: PDNS5.ULTRADNS.INFO
Address: 204.74.114.1#53
*** Can't find tmomail.net: No answer
Server: PDNS2.ULTRADNS.NEt
Address: 204.74.109.1#53
*** Can't find tmomail.net: No answer
Server: PDNS1.ULTRADNS.NET
Address: 204.74.108.1#53
*** Can't find tmomail.net: No answer
Server: PDNS4.ULTRADNS.ORG
Address: 199.7.69.1#53
*** Can't find tmomail.net: No answer
..... and trying to contact t-mobile support: bad luck!
t-mobile support sends from
t-mobilesupport.com
which has DNS servers listed, but no DNS service either:
from whois:
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1-AUTH.SPRINTLINK.NET
PRODNS03.VOICESTREAM.COM
and trying to check if the domain has service:
hquer:~ # for i in NS1-AUTH.SPRINTLINK.NET PRODNS03.VOICESTREAM.COM ;
do nslookup t-mobilesupport.com $i; done
Server: NS1-AUTH.SPRINTLINK.NET
Address: 206.228.179.10#53
*** Can't find t-mobilesupport.com: No answer
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached
(I tried a couple of times, one of them is currently down).
there are DNS tool sites available from where you can check if the
originating domains from our provider do even exist (i.e. name servers
do know about it).
here is t-mobile.com: now that works (but that's not done by the
acuired idiots at t-mobile US):
hquer:~ # for i in NS1-AUTH.SPRINTLINK.NET PRODNS03.VOICESTREAM.COM ;
do nslookup t-mobile.com $i; done
Server: NS1-AUTH.SPRINTLINK.NET
Address: 206.228.179.10#53
Name: t-mobile.com
Address: 65.161.188.152
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached
Besides minutes, plans, etc:
check the history of the corporation
if the corporation had been acquired or changed majority share holding:
how was the service before?
did people like it?
in this case, nothing did change: the new t-monile label on the set of
failing/ailing/nonperforming mobile companies acquired is still run by
the same people!
My choices are:
sue for contract fulfillment (promised services not rendered, pretended
to be rendered, deception),
or sue for termination (we all know now why they do 2 year
contracts.... it is more expensive to sue for early termination than
just leave it unused on the side and not renew)
My advice: stay with verizon (have someone check their originating
email domains and message format for pic/email/sms from that provider,
look for one who does it right)!
I had cingular......
Mike
Peter Pan schrieb:
> theguy@whatever.net wrote:
>
> > seems to depend on where you live. in the pacific northwest, cingular
> > is a ton better than verizon. not even close. out here, people are
> > leaving verizon wireless by the droves and the best coverage is with
> > cingular. verizon wireless has very very poor coverage in the west
> > and their customer non support is worthless.
>
> You may want to rephrase that and eliminate the bold faced lie(S).. I live
> in the PNW (rathdum Idaho), and while cingular has stores about 15 miles
> away, and will gladly sell you a phone, it will **NOT** work in this area,
> AT ALL! Funny, but verizon works great here, yet cingular/sprint/etc don't
> work at all! I was vacationing in Las Vegas (that's out west), using my
> verizon phone, and it not only worked great but switched to high speed evdo
> mode..
>
> So much for that c*** about the pacific northwest (lie #1), and the other
> c*** about out west (lie #2)...... 