My Vodafone Logon Problem Is Fixed

I have been having a really annoying problem with my Vodafone data connections. The problem is that after a few minutes of using a 3G connection to view web pages I get a connection failure and my W960i screen displays the dreaded Logon Failed error.

I decided I needed help and so I called Vodafone and spoke to a very nice man in technical and I'm very sorry that I didn't make a note of his name because he spent 45 minutes working through the problem with me. He was certainly a Sony Ericsson enthusiast and said he had a dying W950i and was waiting to upgrade to a W960i.

Amongst other things we used http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/ to investigate which base station I was using from my home location and he was able to tell me how many successful connections the 3G mast outside my house had handled that day. I think that part of my 3G performance issues could be because my local phone mast was located where it is to provide coverage to the nearby Tesco Superstore so there are lots of people using my nearest mast.

Blame ActiveSync?

We also discussed the 3G account settings on my W960i and especially my Vodafone Wap and Vodafone Internet accounts. I was correctly using the Vodafone Wap account to view web pages but the Vodafone tech guy then suggested that Exchange ActiveSync could be causing my 3G data connection to disconnect.

The theory is that the W960i can only use one connection at a time. For most of the time I only use one mobile application at a time so if applications use different connections such as Vodafone Wap and Vodafone Internet then there is no problem if the phone changes the connection as I move from application to application.

My Exchange ActiveSync application was configured to use the Vodafone Internet account but remember that Exchange ActiveSync runs in the background and if Push Email is enabled then new connections will be made in the background at the same time as I am using the Vodafone Wap connection for viewing web pages.

To test if Exchange ActiveSync was the cause of my Logon Failed problems I have used my W960i for the last 24 hours with ActiveSync turned off and I'm very pleased to say that even though I have made heavy use of my 3G data connection I have not had a single Logon Failed problem in the time that ActiveSync has been turned off.

So far so good. I will monitor progress for a few days and then I will try turning ActiveSync back on but I will try using the Vodafone Wap connection instead of the Vodafone Internet connection.

A big thank you to Vodafone technical for their patience.

If this solution worked for my W960i then it might for other Symbian UIQ 3.0 smartphones such as P1i, W950i, P990i and M600i.

My Vodafone Logon Failed Problem

Since writing this article I have discovered that the cause of my failed login was having Exchange ActiveSync running in the background. See My Vodafone Logon Problem Is Fixed

I have a major "Logon Failed" problem when I use my Vodafone 3G data connection with my Sony Ericsson W960i.

Typically I am browsing the web using Opera Mini or watching Mobile TV and every few minutes I get a connection failure.

If I check my network status by selecting the signal strength icon on the status bar of my W960i then the error message displayed is Vodafone UK, 3G: Attached (Logon failed).

It is extremely annoying to get this error because it indicates that I have got a successful 3G connection and the actual problem is failing to logon to the Vodafone network. Obviously this is not the sort of logon where I an required to type in a username and password because I have a Vodafone contract so my W960i should always logon automatically. Only Vodafone can say why this problem is occurring.

I have discovered that I can temporarily resolve the problem by switching to Flight Mode and then back to Phone Mode which causes my W960i to retry the logon to the Vodafone network.

The screen shot above shows the desired result which is Phone Mode with 3G: Attached and successfully a successful logon to the Vodafone network.

This explanation applies to the Sony Ericsson W960i and it probably applies also to other Symbian UIQ 3.0 smartphones such as P1i, W950i, P990i and M600i.

Post your comments here if you you have problems with your logon to the Vodafone network.

Sitefinder (OFCOM)

Sitefinder is a website provided by OFCOM (in the UK)

The url is http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/

Sitefinder shows the location of mobile phone base stations in the UK.

I checked http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/ and the mast near where I live is shared by Vodafone, O2 and 3.