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.

Setting Up ActiveSync On My W960i (long)

If you are considering getting a Sony Ericsson W960i of another UIQ 3.0 phone and you want to use Direct Push email or ActiveSync but you are not sure what in involved then this article may help you to know what to expect.

ActiveSync allows you have your latest Email, Calendar and Contacts to be always available and up to date on your phone.

ActiveSync is responsible for downloading the data to your phone. Your existing applications for Email, Calendar and Contacts are then used to view the data. ActiveSync will then upload any changes to your Exchange Server.

The most important thing to know is that to use ActiveSync you MUST use a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 or later for your email.

Sony Ericsson have been nice enough to bundle ActiveSync with the W960i free of charge. The screenshot above shows how ActiveSync looks on a Sony Ericsson UIQ 3.0 phone

The actual ActiveSync product is really a program called RoadSync which is produced by a company called DataViz http://www.dataviz.com.

Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync is a protocol developed by Microsoft which enables a remote device to talk directly to MS Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 or MS Exchange Server 2007. This means that your W960i will connect directly to your Exchange Server and it will not use any intermediate server.

Obviously the connection over the Internet is made through any necessary routers or firewalls.

The most obvious implication is that your email service MUST use Microsoft Exchange Server and your Exchange Server MUST have the necessary available connections to the Internet and the ActiveSync connections may be in addition to the standard SMTP and POP3 connections that email servers use.

The About screen shows the version of ActiveSync supplied with the W960i.

The SE W960i uses Symbian OS v9.1, UIQ 3.0. Sony Ericsson bundles ActiveSync 2.015 with the W960i which according to the Sony Ericsson website is the latest version but if you need another copy then it is available on the website as a free of charge download.

The version of ActiveSync supplied with the W960i is Version 2.015 (342).

According to the DataViz website the equivalent product to ActiveSync is called RoadSync and the current version is 2.003 - Released September 25, 2007.

Note that RoadSync for Symbian UIQ 3.1 is NOT compatible with Symbian UIQ 2.0 smartphones (Sony Ericsson P900, P910, and Motorola A1000). Similarly, RoadSync for Symbian UIQ 2.0 is NOT compatible with UIQ 3.1 smartphones.

The Server Tab allows you to specify your server connection and to enter your user name, password, server name and domain name.

Use the Schedule Tab to specify how frequently your email will synchronise with your Exchange Server.

Select the Enable Push checkbox to turn on push email and have your email synchronised on demand. If you select Enable Push then you are warned that your Exchange Server 2003 must have Service Pack 2 or later installed.

If you don't use push email then you can choose a schedule of every 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, 12 hours and manual. You can also chose which types of data to synchronise from Email, Calendar and Contacts. If you select Calendar or Contacts then you are warned that turning on Calendar and/or Contacts data during scheduled sync may result in much longer sync times.

The Mail Tab is used to specify how long email is retained on your phone. You can choose 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks and 1 month.

Use Email Size to set how much the size of the email to be downloaded. You can choose 1/2 KB, 1 KB, 5KB and All. Most of the time you only use your phone to read the first part of an email so you can specify that only the first part of the email. The email client allows you to download the rest of the email although I have not had much success with this feature.

You can specify to reply with history and you can add a signature. I use a signature that explains that I an using mobile email so the recipient knows why my reply may be brief and perhaps a little terse.

The Calendar Tab allows you to specify the date range for calendar entries. You can choose All, 2 weeks, 1 month and 6 months.

My impression is that all future calendar entries are synchronised and the date range specifies how far back in time to keep entries on your phone.

The Contacts Tab is used to enable the syncing of Contacts.

The Lock Tab is used to turn on Corporate Lock.

According to Help, Corporate lock activates after a pre-determined period of inactivity and requiring a password. I don't use it myself but assume that once the corporate lock has activated you have to enter a password to continue reading your email.

The Advance Tab allows you to turn on extra logging which can be useful when trying to diagnose connection problems with your Exchange Server.

You can also turn on Use SSL. SSL (Secure Server Link) uses an SSL Certificate to encrypt the data transferred between your phone and your Exchange Server. Using SSL is certainly a good idea which I recommend but so far I have not been able to get ActiveSync to work with SSL. The problem could be becuase I use self-signed certificates with my Exchange Server so perhaps my W960i does not trust me...

The Chose Data Connection selector allows to chose what data connection group will be used by ActiveSync.

The list of groups displayed is dependent on your connection configuration. Each group can contain one or more accounts. Some points to consider are to use a data connection which does not use your service providers WAP connection and to use a WLAN (or WiFi) account as the first account so that you will connect using WLAN if the service is available and connect by 3G when you are away from a WLAN connection.

Once ActiveSync is configured it will soon connect to your Exchange Server and your latest Email, Calendar and Contacts will be downloaded to your phone.

ActiveSync delivers the data to your phone but you use your excising Email, Calendar and Contacts applications to view the data.