iPhone Tethering Alternative

May 28th, 2010

Tired of not being able to tether your iPhone? There’s now a solution on the market that’s legal and won’t cost an arm and a leg. Last year Verizon introduced the MiFi Mobile Broadband device. It’s a Wireless Access Point that connects to the Internet via a cell data connection instead of a wired connection. It’s about half the size of a cell phone and runs on batteries.

Functionally, this means that you can leave the MiFi in your briefcase, connect to it from your laptop via WiFi, and get an Internet connection anywhere that Verizon offers data service. And you’ll be running on Verizon’s data network instead of AT&T’s much smaller network.

The game changer is that Verizon now offers Prepaid Mobile Service. When the MiFi was introduced, you had to sign up for two years of service at $60 per month, making the final bill well over $1500.  Now you can buy a MiFi off of eBay for $125 and pay for service by the day, week, or month.

A week of service costs $30 and a month of service costs $50. Starting this week, the monthly plan has been upgraded from 500MB to 1GB. These rates are very attractive for the person who travels rarely. The only downside is that you have to sign up for the service from an existing internet connection. Note that you can’t use the MiFi to buy more prepaid service unless you already have an active service plan.

I bought one for myself this week with a month of prepaid for our vacation this summer. The first time you configure it, you have to connect it to your PC or Mac via a USB cable and you have to install Verizon’s VZAccess software. The installation process was a little time consuming but not complicated. Once you’ve activated your prepaid service via the USB connection, you can do everything via WiFi.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Epicenter FAQ – Outlook

April 6th, 2010

The following Frequently Asked Questions help explain how end users work with Outlook when receiving updates from Epicenter Server.

Do my users have to run Outlook for Epicenter to work?

Most users do not need to run Outlook. All update are done server-side in Microsoft Exchange and do not require involvement from the Outlook client. The only exception is if you are distributing updates via attachments, in which case the users must be running Outlook on their computer.

We use Outlook Web Access (OWA). Our users don’t use the Outlook client. Will Epicenter still work?

Yes. The only exception is if you are distributing updates via attachments, in which case the users must be running Outlook on their computer.

Is there a  way to prevent users from adding or removing contacts in the Epicenter folder?

In short, no. However, if a user deletes any contacts, Epicenter will recreate them the next time during the next update. (Note that Epicenter only updates the address book when changes are detected in the source address book.)  To force deletion of any contacts that users may have created in a folder managed by Epicenter, select the task, open the Task menu, select Strict Updates, then click Send Now.

Why are my phone numbers being changed by Epicenter?

Epicenter does not change your phone numbers, but Microsoft Outlook reformats all phone numbers to standardize them. If you are having difficulty with part of phone numbers being lost, such as international dialing prefixes, then you need to properly configure your phone number settings on the computer running Epicenter Server. Go to Control Panel / Phone and Modem Options. Edit “My location” and make sure the telephone information is correctly configured.

Why did Epicenter change my display names from First/Last to Last/First, or vice versa?

Epicenter does not reformat display names, but Microsoft Outlook reformats them to standardize them. You will see exactly the same behavior if you manually create a new contact in Outlook. This is is on our issues list and we are investigating solutions for future versions of Epicenter Server.

[ Return to table of contents ]

Posted in Epicenter | No Comments »

Epicenter FAQ – Exchange

April 6th, 2010

The following Frequently Asked Questions help explain how administrators can make the best use of Epicenter Server when used with Exchange Server.

Can I select which items in the GAL get synched to the users?

In Epicenter Server, edit the task, go to the Address Book page, click the Folder button, and select the desired address list. You can create a new static or dynamic address list from the Exchange Console if you have some other subset you wish to distribute.

How can I configure Epicenter to make it easier to manage?

The preferred way to configure Epicenter is to use an Exchange dynamic address list as the source address book and an Exchange distribution list (dynamic or static) as the recipient. With this strategy, Epicenter will automatically send to new recipients who appear in the distribution list, and will automatically include contacts that appear in the address list.

What’s a dynamic address list?

A dynamic address list allows you to define an Exchange address list based on a query instead of a specific list of people. This means that if people are added to or removed from Active Directory, the address list will automatically update.

How do I create an address list in Exchange?

Please see Microsoft TechNet:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124384(EXCHG.80).aspx

Please note that Connected Software cannot provide free support for how to use and configure Microsoft Exchange. This information is provided as a courtesy to our customers.

I use Hosted Exchange and I’m not allowed to create a new address list. What can I do instead?

Use a script for filtering. See the Downloads for Epicenter for an example of filtering by category.

I want to send just the Users in my GAL, not the Contacts. How do I do that?

Create a dynamic address list and set it as the source address book as follows: In Epicenter Server, go to the address book tab, choose Global Address List, click the Folder button, and select the new address list. Also see the next FAQ.

Why doesn’t my new Exchange address list appear in Epicenter?

Epicenter uses the Outlook Offline Address Book (OAB) to resolve names. A new address list will not appear in Outlook until Exchange has updated the OAB on the server and Outlook has downloaded it. To make the address list appear immediately, you can force the OAB to update on the Exchange server, then click Send/Receive in Outlook to download the change.

I’d like to send just part of a Public Folder. How do I filter it?

Epicenter supports using scripts for filtering. See the Downloads for Epicenter for an example of filtering by category.

[ Return to table of contents ]

Posted in Epicenter | No Comments »

Epicenter FAQ – Licensing

April 6th, 2010

The following Frequently Asked Questions help explain how Epicenter Server is licensed.

How many licenses do I need?

Licensing is based on the number of mailboxes that receive updates. The number of Exchange CALs does not matter and the number of BES licenses does not matter.

Does Epicenter track how many licenses I use?

Yes. Epicenter tracks which email addresses are currently assigned a license.

If I have two tasks distributing different address books, and a user is in both lists of recipients, does it count for two licenses or just one

One license.

What happens if I accidentally exceed the license count? Does Epicenter stop working?

Epicenter will send updates to all licensed users. Unlicensed users will not receive an update. A warning message will be written to the log in Epicenter.

Can I add licenses?

Yes, please contact your sales person. Once your purchase is completed, you will be notified that your license has been updated. Go to Epicenter, open the Help menu and select Sync License. You may need to restart Epicenter for the change to take effect.

If I buy Epicenter and I do not renew after a year, does the product still works?

Yes, Epicenter will continue to work. However, you will not be entitled to upgrades or to technical support. If you choose to renew later, you’ll need to pay for all of the intervening time, or buy a new license if it’s been more than three years.

[ Return to table of contents ]

Posted in Epicenter | No Comments »

Slow WiFi 802.11g on the iPhone 3GS

April 3rd, 2010

Recently I downloaded the Speedtest.net application for the iPhone. This app tests your upload and download speeds. I ran it on my iPhone 3GS yesterday and got a speed of 0.5 Mbps downstream and 5 Mbps upstream. That’s right – downstream was 10 times SLOWER than upstream. This is on a 50 Mbps connection to the Internet and there was nothing else running.

After seeing this terrible result, we tested an iPhone 3G with the same wireless router. It ran at 2.8 Mbps downstream. Thinking it might be a problem with the Speedtest app, we used the App Store to download the same purchase to each phone. The 3G finished in about 30 seconds. The 3GS took about four minutes. So there was certainly a problem with the newer iPhone. The question was, where?

I spent an hour reading blogs this morning. There were all the normal recommendations about resetting the iPhone (no effect), turning off encryption (not a chance!), resetting the router, resetting the WiFi connection on the phone - all of which were useless.

I finally found the answer at the SupremeTechs blog.  Version 3.0.x of the iPhone has trouble with the default settings on many routers for the Fragmentation Threshold and CTS/RTS Threshold. I dropped those values back to 2305 and 2304 respectively, set the Preamble Mode to Long, and suddenly my iPhone 3GS started working. (This was with a NetGear WNDR3700 router.) Here are the results immediately after the fix – a 5x improvement, making it on par with the iPhone 3G:

You’ll notice that there’s a very high ping time. I’m not sure what’s causing that as the typical ping time to the Tucson server is 100ms. However, I tried later in the day and got substantially better downstream results:

The ping time for this last measurement is down to 120ms, which is about right.

This measure is still 4x slower than the rated performance of the Internet connection. If you look at the reviews for Speedtest.net, you’ll see a lot of low ratings for the app for just this reason. However, there’s a very good reason for this difference. The iPhone is running a relatively slow processor with very limited RAM and is desperately trying to conserve every minute of battery life. So the lower performance is expected .

Posted in iPhone | No Comments »

Using Epicenter Server With Hosted Exchange

February 25th, 2010

Outsourcing your Exchange Server to the cloud is becoming increasingly common. We do it ourselves and have been very happy with the result. Because we use Hosted Exchange internally, Epicenter Server has supported Hosted Exchange since version 5.0, released summer of 2009.

Epicenter Server sits on top of Microsoft Outlook. If Outlook works, then Epicenter will work. Epicenter Server does not require any software to be installed on the Exchange Server, so there are no issues with custom protocols, firewalls, or complicated configurations. 

The one thing that does change with Hosted Exchange is the security configuration. With Hosted Exchange, the Exchange Server is usually on a different domain than your workstations. It also means that you don’t have unrestricted administrative control of the Exchange Server. This makes it a little more difficult to set up your permissions so that Epicenter Server can open mailboxes for other users.

For a private Exchange Server, you’d run Epicenter Server under an account with “Receive-As” privileges. This is the same way that the BlackBerry Enterprise Server is configured. In our manual, we call this Technique #1. This can’t be used in a Hosted Exchange Environment.

The best strategy for Hosted Exchange, so-called “Technique #2″ in our manual, is for the administrator to configure the Exchange account used by Epicenter Server to have All-Access permission to each target mailbox. This allows all changes to be performed by your Exchange administrator, so users don’t have to be involved. Our primary hosted testing service is Sherweb. They allow end-user administrators to configure All-Access.

The final fallback, Technique #3, requires end-users to manually share their contacts folder and configure the permissions. This is done by each user from within Outlook.

So Epicenter Server works great with Exchange in the cloud, it just requires a change in how you configure the security.

Posted in BlackBerry, Epicenter | No Comments »

BlackBerry or iPhone? The Corporate View

January 5th, 2010

I routinely poll our customers about the question of “BlackBerry versus iPhone.” For most end users, the deciding factor is how much email they send. The keyboard on the BlackBerry wins hands down - the virtual keyboard on the iPhone slows most people down by half.

Today I was talking to Ryan Hawkins at www.pointandclicktulsa.com.  He’s evaluating Epicenter Server for his customers. He had several excellent points about why most companies might want to stick with the BlackBerry:

  • BlackBerries are extremely durable, much more so than the iPhone. They’ll keep working after significant abuse. The iPhone isn’t fragile, but the touch screen is easy to scratch and easy to break.
  • You can pay a few dollars per month and get insurance on BlackBerries, which generously covers theft, loss, damage – most of the common problems. You can’t get this insurance for iPhones. AppleCare doesn’t cover theft or loss.
  • BlackBerries are cheap, so much so that buy one get one free is common. iPhones can cost $600 or more if you buy one outside of the upgrade cycle.

In my own experience, the ability of the BlackBerry to automatically shut off at night and turn on in the morning is a real marriage saver – my wife and I have been woken up many times in the middle of the night by the iPhone when I forgot to shut it off.

Posted in BlackBerry | No Comments »

Does Epicenter Server work with BIS?

January 4th, 2010

Our web page that describes how Epicenter Server can update BlackBerry devices shows how updates are distributed using BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), but does not say anything about updates using BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS).

It’s not possible to distribute updates wirelessly through BIS, but BIS users can get updates through the USB cradle. Here’s how it works:

  • When you configure Epicenter Server, select “Attachment” updates instead of “Exchange” updates.
  • Updates will be sent via email. Users who receive updates must be running Microsoft Outlook.
  • When users receives an update, they must double click the attachment to update their local address book.
  • Finally, each user synchronizes the BB using the USB cradle.

Posted in Epicenter | No Comments »

Converting Large Filing Cabinets from AOL to Gmail

December 16th, 2009

Every so often we hear from a potential customer who has been using AOL for ten or fifteen years and has a very large personal filing cabinet. They are concerned about whether ePreserver can convert AOL to Gmail with such a large filing cabinet.

The answer is yes, and a customer recently sent us a screenshot to prove it:

95000 messages converted from AOL to Gmail
95000 messages converted from AOL to Gmail

This is the summary screen after ePreserver completed, showing that over 95,000 messages were converted to Gmail. Because the customer had a slow Internet connection, this took almost two days, but ePreserver completed the conversion successfully.

Posted in AOL, Message Conversion, ePreserver | No Comments »

Converting Multiple Lotus Notes NSF Files

December 14th, 2009

I am commonly asked how to use Address Magic Enterprise PLUS to convert Notes to Outlook archive, an address book, and a server-based mailbox are all in different NSF files. The solution is to provide a separate conversion path between each source and destination.

Most users want to do the following conversions:

  1. Convert the Lotus Notes names.nsf file to the default Outlook Contacts folder in the Exchange mailbox.
  2. Convert the Lotus Notes a_xxx.nsf archive file to a PST file on the user’s local hard drive.
  3. Convert the messages and calendar in the Lotus Notes server-side mailbox to the Exchange mailbox.

Performing these three conversions requires the following three command lines:

Addrload nsf pst
Addrload -mrv nsf:server!! pst
Addrload -mv nsf Archive.pst

The first command converts the names.nsf address book, the second command converts the server-side messages and calendar, and the third command converts the Lotus Notes archive to a PST file in the default Outlook data directory.

You would normally place all three command lines in a batch file so that they will be run all together.

Address Magic Enterprise PLUS provides the flexibility you need to convert Notes to Outlook, supporting virtually any required mapping from folders to mailboxes or PST files. You can also convert to files on file servers, non-default contacts folders, PST files at a particular path, or non-default mailboxes.

Posted in Lotus Notes, Message Conversion, Outlook | No Comments »

« Older Entries