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.

Using Opera 8.65 With My W960i

The web browser application supplied by Vodafone with my W960i is Opera 8.65 for Symbian OS ("701") and I have no idea what the ("701") refers to.

Note that this version of Opera will only work on mobile phones and is commonly referred to as Opera Mobile.

It is important to appreciate that your experience of Opera 8.65 is totally dependent on your mobile phone company and their customised web service which in my case is Vodafone and their web service which is called Vodafone Live.

Launch the Opera Mobile web browser by selecting the globe icon on the standby screen or the main menu.

My W960i is locked to Vodafone so by default my homepage is locked to Vodafone Live which is slightly annoying.

With Vodafone Live the soft-core porn at extra £££ is just one click away.

My W960i is locked to Vodafone and the Opera Mobile bookmarks are preloaded and although I can add and delete my own bookmarks I an not able to delete any of the bookmarks shown above which again is slightly annoying.

I can synchronise my Vodafone Live mobile favourites with my desktop PC favourites. Note that these favourites are stored on the Vodafone Live web server. Lets chose My Sony Ericsson W960i Smartphone as an example.

The default web browsing experience is for Vodafone Live to adapt non-mobile friendly sites which means that Vodafone Live adds a custom toolbar and breaks the page into fragments. You are expected to view one fragment at a time which is not a particularly satisfying way to surf the web. In particular the custom toolbar takes up too much screen space.

If you zoom out then you get a page at once view and you can select a section to view.

When you select a section to view the result is not very satisfactory as the fragment only contains a small amount of content and is incomplete. It would probably take hours to view an entire page in this way.

A small improvement can be achieved by turning on Fit to screen and Fullscreen.

At least in full screen mode you can use the whole screen without wasting valuable screen space with toolbars.

Finally here is a reminder of the version of Opera 8.65 for Symbian OS ("701") provided with the W960i. Remember that your web browsing experience is totally depended on the web service provided by your mobile phone company.

This article is one of a series about the Opera Mobile web browser and is intended to be an out of the box description using the Vodafone mobile phone network. I will describe alternative ways of using Opera Mobile in future articles.

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

Good luck with your web browsing and please post your thoughts in the comments section.

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.

Contract Wap Vs Contract Internet

It is very confusing knowing which Internet account to use for which application. If you get it wrong the best that can happen is that an application won't work. The worst that can happen is that the application will connect using an expensive data tariff and run up a huge bill before you realise it.

Use the Internet accounts application to specify your Internet Accounts and Internet Groups.

If Vodafone is your mobile service provider your W960i should have been supplied with preconfigured Internet connections which are called Contract Wap and Contract Internet?

Use Contract Wap For Web Browsing

Contract Wap allows you to access specific Vodafone content such as Vodafone Live and Mobile TV.

Using Contract Wap will allow you to connect the live.vodafone.com portal and will ensure that all images that you download are downsized for your mobile. Controlling image sizes is important because it helps you to stay under your monthly 120Mb Mobile Internet download limit.

The Contract Wap connection will also allow you to turn on the optional Vodafone facility to tailor your web pages for mobile viewing by breaking a page into numbered sections although I don't recommend using this feature as I don't think it is needed on the large screen W960i.

You can also access your on-line favourites stored on the Vodafone website.

If you use Contract Internet for web browsing then you will not be able to access Vodafone Live and your images will be downloaded full size as they would be normally for a desktop PC. Downloading full size images on a mobile phone is unnecessary and uses up more of your download allowance.

Use Contract Internet For Applications

Use Contract Internet for ActiveSync and other data applications.

Contact Internet makes a direct connection to the remote server which is ideal for data applications. The data will not be interfered with or modified by Vodafone. Be aware that if you download a large email attachment then you could use up your entire monthly download allowance in one go.

How To Specify The Connection

The Vodafone supplied web browser uses the Internet connection specified by your default group. Your default group is the one shown in italics.

Other applications such as ActiveSync have a tab where you can specify the connection to use.

For Java applications such as Google Maps or Opera Mini you can set the connection on a per application basis using Control Panel, Security, MIDlet accounts. In my experience the Java applications will work using either Contact Wap or Contact Internet so to be on the safe side I use Contact Wap.

If you have a Vodafone PAYT service then you need to substitute PAYT Wap and PAYT Internet for Contact Wap and Contract Internet respectively.

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.

Good luck and please post your progress in the comments section.

Using Google Maps On My W960i

Google Maps is possibly the best ever application provided for mobile phones and it is totally free!!!

This article will show what to expect if you install Google Maps on your Sony Ericsson W960i.

For a guide to installing Google Maps from the Vodafone website look at this article Installing Google Maps On My W960i

When you start the Google Maps application it will usually default the previous location that you were viewing when you last used Google Maps.

If you are connecting using 3G then Google Maps will show a blue button.

Press the blue button and the map will centre on your approximate current location. Google Maps determines your location by triangulating nearby mobile phone masts. It is only accurate to 1/2 a km but it is a very useful feature for locating your approximate position.

I downloaded Google Maps from the Vodafone website. When Google Maps starts it briefly shows the Vodafone logo so the application must have been customised by Vodafone. I don't know if the location feature will work if you obtain your Google Maps elsewhere.

You can also connect using WLAN (WiFi) in which case the blue button is not shown and it is not possible to find your current loaction.

Zoom out and you can view the entire country or even the whole world!!!

Choose between map view and satellite view. Of course the satellite pictures were really made using a low flying aircraft but they really work well even on a mobile phone. My favourite use for satellite view is looking for side roads which might allow free parking.

You can navigate by dragging the stylus over the screen which causes the map to scroll.

Google Maps support favourite places. A favourite place is shown as a star on the map.

I had a problem when I started using Google Maps because the map seemed to be locked to my home location which was also the  favourite in slot number one. While the favourite was in slot number one I couldn't scroll away from that location. When I removed the favourite from slot number one the problem went away.

The Search facility is very useful and really easy to use.

Search for fast food, pizza or just a local pub.

Search for a pub and Google Maps will populate the screen with little markers showing the location of nearby pubs. Use the left and right arrow buttons to scroll from pub to pub.

Select a pub to see full address details and even the telephone number.

More details and a website too are just one click away.

Directions too are just one click away.

If you select directions then Google Maps will plot your route and give you step by step directions.

Click the left and right scroll buttons to view the next instruction in sequence.

Although supported by Google Maps there is currenly no traffic information in the UK.

Configuring Connection Manager On My W960i (long)

Use Connections Manager to configure connections on the SW W960i.

I have a 125Mb data allowance from Vodafone which costs me £10.00 per month. If I exceed 125Mb then it costs me £1 per Mb. It is therefore crucial that my W960i is configured with the correct connection settings.

The documentation and help is fairly sparse but I think I have figured out how to configure network and internet connections on my SE W960i.

Accounts
First setup your accounts such as WAP, Internet and WLAN and then organise the accounts into groups.

Groups
Each account can be assigned to one or more groups.
In each group the accounts are placed in priority order.
When an application needs to make a network connection it will connect using the highest priority account in the group.

Default Group
The group name displayed in italics is the default group used by most applications.

Connections Manager displays the list of current connections. Connections shown above the Log line are active connections and connections shown below the Log line are connections that were in use but are not currently connected.

From Connections Manager select Settings and then Internet Accounts.

The Accounts Tab displays a list of configured accounts.

You can also use the Connections application in Control Panel to open Internet Accounts directly.

Accounts
The Accounts Tab lists each account that has been setup on my W960i.
At the moment I'm not sure what the Ad-Hoc Bluetooth PAN account is actually used for.

The Accounts Tab displays a list of configured accounts.

On my W960i the Contract Internet account is a 3G data connection that is pre-configured by Vodafone.

I use the Contract Internet account to connect directly to a remote site or server and without using a proxy server. I use the Contract Internet account for applications like ActiveSync and Google Maps.

Be careful which applications you allow to connect using the Contact Internet account as images are not compressed which means that you may be using up your 3G data allowance more rapidly then if a WAP connection was used.

On my W960i the Contract Wap account is a 3G data connection that is pre-configured by Vodafone.

I use the Contract Wap account with the default Web Browser. The Contract Wap account uses the Vodafone proxy server which down sizes any images so that they use less Internet allowance.

The Free Public WiFi account is a WAP account is pre-configured by Vodafone.

The Free Public WiFi account can be used you connect to any available public or unsecured WiFi service. Using a WiFi connection where available can be faster and cheaper than using your service providers 3G data connection.

The Public WiFi account does not have a SSID (Service Set Identifier) or security specified so it will connect to any public or unsecured WiFi service.

InlaserWLAN is my home wireless LAN. I added this connection to the list of accounts on my W960i.

The InlaserWLAN account is configured with the SSID (Service Set Identifier) and security is set so no hacking.

I don't use the PAYT Internet account as I have a contract with Vodafone.

I don't use the PAYT Wap account as I have a contract with Vodafone.

Groups
The Groups Tab lists the groups that have been setup on my W960i.
Accounts can be placed in groups.
Each account can be placed in multiple groups.
The priority of each account can be specified.
The name of default group is shown in italics.
Many applications connect to the Internet using the default group.
Other applications have a setting to allow the connection group to be specified.
The application tries to open a connection using the highest priority account.
If the connection fails then the next account is used and so on.

I have setup 3 network groups on my W960i.

 

I created the Internet Group on my W960i to only have WLAN (WiFi) connections. I use the Internet Group when I want a faster connection or I don't want to incur and 3G data charges.

The Vodafone Internet group was pre-configured by Vodafone when I received my W960i and it contained the Contract Internet account. I added Free Public WiFi and InlaserWLAN.

I use the Vodafone Internet group for applications which need a direct connection to the Internet and do not need or will not work using the Vodafone Wap proxy server.

The Vodafone Internet group will use my home Wireless LAN or a public WiFi or finally the Vodafone Contract Internet Account.

An application that works using WLAN (or WiFi) should work equally well using the Vodafone Internet group and visa-versa.

Be careful which application you allow to use the Vodafone Internet connection as images are not compressed which means that you may be using up your 3G data allowance more rapidly then if the Vodafone Wap group was used.

Application that use the Vodafone Internet  group are Opera Mini and Google Maps.

The Vodafone Wap group was pre-configured by Vodafone when I received my W960i and it contained the Contract Wap account. I added InlaserWLAN.

I use the Vodafone Wap group for applications which do need to use the Vodafone proxy server.

The Vodafone Internet group will use my home Wireless LAN the Vodafone Contract Wap Account. This configuration means that when I am at home my W960i will use my home Wireless LAN which provides a faster connection and does not use up my 3G data allowance.

Some applications such as Mobile TV only work when they are connected using the Vodafone WAP connection so if I want to use one of the affected application then I simple turn off WLAN on my W960i and the network connection defaults to Contract WAP.

Application that use the Vodafone Wap group are Web (using the installed browser) and Mobile TV.