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Menneisyys
Administrator
3531 Posts |
 Posted - 08/26/2005 : 11:27:41
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Everything you wanted to know about Internet connection setup utilities for mobile phones
Noone debates the connection manager introduced into the Pocket PC/Windows Mobile operating system with Pocket PC 2002 is very hard for a beginner to understand and, additionally, it has limitations that are very hard to combat (you can’t, unlike under Palm OS, define modem scripts and even the extra modem string length is constrained to, 40 characters, while Hayes modems must be able to access commands up to 57 characters, of which 55 characters can be given by the user because of the leading ‘AT’ characters).
This is why third-party connection creator/manager/script runner utilities are good to have in some cases. Some of these apps offer script running capabilities, which is vital for, say, logging into PPP hosts (see and this on this subject), others allow for defining long(er) APN’s etc. All of them, in addition, make it possible to set up GPRS connection far more easily – particularly apps that have built-in lists of GPRS operator server addresses.
In my roundup (which is also related to the Pocket PC Magazine Best Software Awards 2005 Communication / Phone and Fax category – I always scrutinize apps that I judge so that I can be absolutely objective), I’ve collected all the available connection creator/manager applications so that you can decide whether they’re worth purchasing/using, or, it’s still better to learn to use the built-in Connection Manager (CM for short) in PPC2k2+ Pocket PC’s. (If I weren’t forced to use scripts, I’d do the latter beause, then, you’ll be able to configure and troubleshoot anything – not just GPRS. I certainly understand the hurdles involved. This is why I’ll write a complete, comprenensible tutorial on the CM as soon as my Pocket Loox 720 receives the WM5 upgrade and I can find out in what ways its CM is different than older versions.)
Please note that this article has been published in a series discussing phone-related Pocket PC applications. To learn more about the reviewed apps that also manage cellular phones, you may want to read this article.
There’re, basically, two types of connection creator applications: ones that create/use CM-compliant connections (c2i and RVGSM) and ones that don’t (all the other).
CM-compliant connections can be advantageous because they can be used even without running the application that created them (in cases, you can even uninstall them). Also, applications that automatically connect to the internet (for example, Pocket Inbox/Messaging or weather/journal/stocks Today plug-ins; or, even Web browsers if you start them manually) will be able to use them and you won’t end up having to start the communication manually. The latter would seriously hamper the usability of autoconnect applications.
Non-CM-compliant connections (and the third-party applications that use them) can have the above-mentioned disadvantages. However, if written properly, they can offer a lot of things that the CM, and, therefore, the CM-compliant connections doesn’t offer:
- support for scripts of any length (see DialupMaster)
- support for settable QOS settings and/or additional modem commands (pocket PhoneTools 4, Alice Connect, and, to a certain extent, c2e); for example, resetting (see the Hayes command Z) the modem before setting the APN (which is a must with phones like the the S-E k700i) or sending out the ^sgauth=1; command, which is a must with Siemens GPRS phones.
First, however, I discuss how GPRS is set up and what commands are sent to the phone so that it actually connects. This discussion will be quite technical – you don’t necessarily need to understand it to understand most of the stuff in this roundup, so, feel free to just skip it! For tech geeks/everyone that wants to know how GPRS works/wants cool links, it’s a must, however.
GPRS behind the curtains
GPRS is vastly different from ‘traditional’ dial-up technologies in that it uses pseudo dial-in numbers instead of real ones. This means the modem (I call GPRS-capable mobile phones ‘modems’ too because they are, just like their non-GPRS cousins, modems, and must be talked to as you’d talk to a modem, that is, using Hayes commands) doesn’t dial to the given number but initiates a connection to a so-called APN (Access Point Name), which must either be pre-defined in a so-called data account in the phone.
Incidentally, you can find a great article on Hayes commands here, here; and, some excellent test commands can be found here.
Pre-defining the APN is done by an extended (+C in modem parlance) Hayes command, +CGDCONT. If you don’t set the APN name in the phone, you must pass this command to the modem before you actually dial.
Incidentally, references to/explanations of the +C commands can be found here, here, or straight at the ETSI repository here (note that you’ll need to register yourself to access the latter; however, it’s free).
The +CGDCONT command is as follows:
+CGDCONT=< data account (CID) number>,"<type of connection (IP in almost all cases)>","<APN>"[,"<the IP address given by the server; if we send 0,0,0,0 or just an empty string, we get a dynamic address>"[,< V.42bis (also referred to as ‘d_comp’ in tech specs [1:on, 0 - default: off]>,[<header compression (‘h_comp’)[0]>]]].
Note that you won’t always need to send this command. In cases (for example, Sony-Ericsson phones), you can just define an APN in the phone itself and just pass in the CID data account number as a parameter of the pseudo-dialing number. With some other modems, however (for example, Nokia or Siemens phones), you must pass them (and, with Siemens phones, also a leading ^sgauth=1; command).
You can supply this command to the modem in the so-called “Extra or init modem string” (from now on, ‘init string’).
You can supply this string in the Extra dial-string modem commands even in the built-in CM of Windows Mobile. If it fits in there, that is. Note that everything inside square brackets ([]) is optional as, as I’ll point out, V.42bis doesn’t seem to help with newer GPRS phones – everything after the APM can safely be left out. With extremely large APN’s, however, even leaving the optional parts won’t suffice because the Windows CE operating system, starting right with version 1.0, has always had a silly init string textfield length limintation of 40 characters, while modems would even allow for 55-character-long init strings. For example, if you try to enter the APN (vitamax.internet.vodafone.net) (it’s an existing one; that of Vodafone Hungary) in here, you won’t succeed because the +cgdcont=1,"ip","vitamax.internet.vodafone.net" command is over 40 characters – that is, you will only be able to enter +cgdcont=1,"ip","vitamax.internet.vodafo. In these cases, you may turn to solutions like using an external connection creator program (almost all the in this roundup reviewed applications, except for e2c, are able to create long(er)-than-40 chars init strings) or registry hacking.
In the +CGDCONT command, the data account (CID) number is, in general, 1 or 2, particularly with older GPRS phones; with Sony-Ericsson phones, it may be as high as 10. You’ll need to pass the same number here than in the GPRS pseudo dial-in number, which has the following form:
*99***<CID number>#
Please note that the GPRS pseudo dial-in number also has a shorter form, *99#, which, generally, either refers to the first or the last-used CID. Some mobile phones, however (for example, some Nokia models) are known not to like it; therefore, you may want to stick to the ‘long’ form (*99***<CID number>#).
It’s also worth pointing out that the V.42bis mentioned in the +CGDCONT command, as opposed to non-mobile modems, delivers no speed advantage (at least on new) mobile phones. When I tested it on my t610 with my favourite testpage, this 596 kbyte-long Pocket PC Magazine snapshot, it produced 633/30 kbyte (down/up) data transfer down/up with both disabled and enabled V.42bis compression. With older phones, however, explicitly enabling V.42bis compression may be advantageous (make sure you test it with your particular phone! It may result in a great speed increase if it works). And, don’t forget that you may really want to use hard-core compression tools to reduce HTTP, or even SMTP/POP3 traffic.
To enable V.42bis, you can do the following:
- if your mobile phone makes it possible to configure enabling V.42bis and you don’t pass the APN name to the phone upon connection, enable it in the phone. For example, with the Sony-Ericsson r520m and the t68(i), you can do this at Connect/Data comm./Data accounts/<your data account>/Edit/Advan. settings/Data compr. and Header compr. ).
- or, if you can’t do this, and you can define a ‘long’ init string which has the ‘long’ version of the +CGDCONT command, pass the phone the following command:
+CGDCONT=1,"IP","<APN>","",1,1
Please note that there’re two ‘compression’-related checkboxes in the Pocket PC Connection Manager: Advanced/ TCP/IP / Use software compression and Use IP header compression. They, however, don’t help at all and are in no way related to V.42bis.
You may also want to read, for example, this,
this and
this threads. Also make sure you follow the linked threads in there too!
Now, we have some idea of how GPRS must be configured and what are the problems (for example, the 40-character-limit of the init string under Windows Mobile) of the built-in CM of Windows Mobile that can and indeed must be combatted.
CM-compliant connections (RVGSM and c2i)
Running Voice GSM (RVGSM) 3.2
A good all-in-one phone manager program with decent connection creation capabilities. (Please note that I couldn’t test GPRS Manager 2.1 because it has no trial version. Based on version 2.0, I think it’s the same as the connection manager built into RVGSM – without the excess memory consumption/price.)
First, you can define long APN names (which you wouldn’t be able to do if you directly tried to enter the +CGDCONT command into the init string field in CM):
Second, you can define additional commands (reset / authorization / QOS etc), which is also a big plus:
However, as can be seen, it generates (you don’t need to supply it as with most other apps, except for e2c) the pseudo-number *99# instead of the full-length *99***1#, which won’t be the best idea with some (for example Nokia) phones. (That is, some Nokia users will end up editing the connection themselves in CM. Fortunately, they can do it because RVGSM generates CM-compliant connections.):
Connections are added to the Flexport Data group:
This group must be manually mapped to a physical device in the Device tab in order for the group to work:
It also creates a new Dialing Location, Mobile, with location-independent data (“G” only, unlike the pre-defined dialing prefixes in WinCE); connections created by RVGS all use this (most other connection creators also do this; they call their new Dialing Location “Cell” or “Cellular Line”):
Its traffic counter is very nice; without doubt the prettiest and most responsive of all. It’s also very fast (particularly when compared to c2i opening the stats screen).
(Note that you can hide the both the lower and the upper window area; then, only the upper, two-row thin window / only the command bar icon will be visible. The icon on the command bar models a speedometer. It can’t really be reconfigured, unlike with Spb GPRS Monitor, for showing more/less at a given speed and/or to also show the block usage.)
Fortunately, you don’t need to run the memory-hog RVGSM to be able to use the connections created in it. You, however, will need to run the following two processes in order to be able to 1, use the connection in the first place 2, use the traffic counter:
- ComSwitch (started from \Windows\Startup at boot time; dynamic memory consumption 200k): needed for mapping between the Flexport Data connection and the physical device. If you don’t run it, then, you won’t be able to use any RVGSM-created connection from the CM.
- DataMonitor (also started from \Windows\Startup at boot time; dynamic memory consumption is also around 200k): needed for displaying the counter. It, unlike, say, the above-mentioned Spb GPRS Monitor (which can monitor any defined connection in the PDA – even USB connections), only monitors Flexport Data connections.
Please note that, in addition to the relocation hacks I’ve described here (you will need them if you want to free up some 2 Mbytes of RAM!), you should keep in mind that, after uninstall, comswitch.exe and the driver DLL, PPMuxDriver.dll, remains in the device; so does DataMonitor.exe. It, however, removes the four new connection types from the registry and the GPRS connection counter won’t work any more either. The uninstaller doesn’t delete the four HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\PP* drivers it registers (all referring to “PPMuxDriver.dll”) in the Registry; this is why the DLL file can’t be deleted. You must delete these registry keys by hand and reboot the device. After this, you’ll be able to remove the two remaining files.
Bottom line: a nice application with a pretty traffic counter and mediocre-to-good phone/SMS/contact transfer capabilities. You may want to give it a try (I wish it had a trial version though).
connect2internet PRO 3.1 (c2i)
The connection it creates are also CM-compliant. It also has a built-in traffic counter. The latter is much slower to display and lacks the nice graph capabilities of RVGSM, though. Its command bar icon, however, is much cleaner/better than that of RVGSM (it also shows, in addition to the current speed, how many percent of a pre-defined, in default, daily connection traffic has already been consumed). It’s very easy to configure because it has the APN’s of almost all the GSM operators – my ‘is it up-to-date? Is it big enough?’ tests always yielded positive results. That is, if you choose this app to create your connection and/or monitor your GPRS traffic, you won’t even need to know the APN to enter (as opposed to most other tested apps). Also, you will be able to use the connection it creates even after uninstalling the app, unlike with RVGSM (and, as you may have guessed, any of the non-CM-compliant applications). In addition, it supports long(er) APN’s.
It has a weak-to-mediocre phone manager part, however. Also, it has quite big RAM storage consumtpion, which, fortunately, can easily be helped - you may want to read my article here on this subject.
Another thing to mention: some mobile phones (for example, some 4-5 year old Ericsson phones) require the GPRS data account to be put in CID 1. c2i puts it in CID 5, which may be a problem with them. Also, I haven’t tested the app with phones that only have 1 or 2 data accounts.
Bottom line: if you don’t know what your APN is and can’t find it out, give this app a try – it’ll be the easiest app to configure. If you, however, look for a CM-compliant app with a cool-to-look-at traffic counter and better phone handler modules, go for RVGSM.
Non CM-compliant apps
Alice Connect
It is an OEM app, ditributed by (some) GSM/GPRS operators; for example, Vodafone, which provides it under the name ‘Vodafone Connect Me’. However, with some very minimal config file hacking, you can make it work with any GPRS operator because the APN name is stored in a textual configuration file.
It excels in many areas (scripting capabilities etc), in addition to being free.
It, however, has a big problem: as it doesn’t use CM-compliant connections and isn’t rewritten for WM2003+ (the situation is the same on the Palm OS: it doesn’t work on Palm OS 5 devices either), no current Pocket PC can run it.
Bottom line: there is no point in trying to make it work under WM2003+. It just won’t work. Which is a pity, because this app is both free and excellent in many areas.
pocket PhoneTools 4 Pro
Nothing particular to write home about. Its strengths are the ability to set and pass QOS parameters (no other app is able to do so) along with additional (extended) Hayes commands. It may, however, be a bit pricey for a tool like this, particularly if you don’t plan to use its faxing capabilities (its phone – SMS, phonebook – handler capabilities are mediocre).
Bottom line: I only recommend this app for setting up and starting your connections if you, for example, already have the app, so, you don’t end up paying 50 bucks for it. Even if it seems indispensable (because of the QOS/additional command capabilities), its price is too steep if you compare it to, say, DialupMaster (to be introduced later), which is also able to send out (any number of) (extended) Hayes commands to the modem at a much lower price and memory consumption.
CONNECTMOBILITY-E2C Prof. 3.0
This app is only meant for Fujitsu-Siemens devices.
Because it uses its own connection engine (that is, it doesn’t depend on that of Microsoft), it, in cases, may be better to use than the latter (for example, with Wi-Fi, you don’t need to reply on the very weak and sometimes annoying Wireless Zero Configuration to look for/connect to networks).
It has both advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages:
- you can supply any extra string because the app doesn’t have just an APN input field, but also an extra string field too (the two reset each other, so, you can only fill in one of them). Its size, however, is limited (as with the APN field).
- It also makes it possible to use not previously pre-bonded phones (bonding in the Bluetooth Manager may be complicated for a beginner) because it actively polls the available Dial Up Networking service-enabled phones in the vicinity at setup:
- It can also transfer the (see the ‘VPN’ tab) execution to a selected VPN client after building up the connection and also set the proxy information in-application (see the ‘Proxy’ tab):
Disadvantages:
- no built-in APN list (unlike in c2i)
- you need to supply the dial-in number yourself (the app doesn’t create it itself unlike with the other apps if you enter the APN/the init string), which may be too complicated for non-tech-savy users:
- Furthermore, people that have a very long APN won’t be able to use it either (unlike other apps) because of the APN length restriction. Of the APN name ‘vitamax.internet.vodafone.net’, for example, you won’t be able to enter the last two characters:
Bottom line: it has both advantages and disadvantages – you have to decide whether the former outweigh the latter or vice versa. You may still want to give it a try, especially if you use Wi-Fi often and are sick of the WZC bubbles/the runtime hit on the maximum achievable Wi-Fi transfer speed, introduced by WZC.
Note that I discuss script runner utilities in this section too. Much as, per se, DialupMaster doesn’t explicitly create connections (semi)automatically, it must be run by hand because you can’t make the PPC execute them automatically.
DialupMaster 1.7-d23
This is not a configuration manager/creator tool per se; however, it can be used to configure modems that are, otherwise, impossible to use. You can pass any number of (extended) Hayes commands to the modem both before (typically, the place where you reset the modem (z/&f), set the APN and other parameters (+CGDCONT), set the QOS (+CGQREQ) and so on, which are all required for building up the connection) and after the connection (for example, initiating a PPP connection by hand).
Interestingly, the otherwise, IMHO, far inferior Palm OS operating system has always supported defining and executing scripts and any number of modem commands. WinCE is definitely worse in this respect.
Please note that you don’t need to use DialupMaster to issue these commands to the modem because the WinCE operating system offers pre- and post-connection terminal windows, where you can enter these commands by hand (or, copy from the clipboard). If you enable Advanced / Port settings / Use terminal before connecting, you’ll be able to give any pre-connect command to the modem (and you can even dial with the DT/DP Hayes-command) in the terminal window that pops up; while, if you enable Advanced / Port settings / Use terminal after connecting, you’ll be able to issue textual commands for the server you’ve connected to in order to, say, start a PPP connection. (Again, see see and this on this.)
A script of using DialupMaster to set the APN and also V.42bis is as follows:
DELAY=1
SEND=AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","vitamax.snet.vodafone.net","",1,1<cr>
DELAY=1
This is how you can edit scripts from inside the application:
Make sure you assign the script to the connection you want to use:
Start the connection from the application (choose either ‘The Internet’ (if your connection is the active/selected in the The Internet Connection Manager Destination) or your particular modem connection, even if it’s not active inside, for example, The Internet:
Note that you can get rid of the unwanted, unused apps in the menu by configuring the ‘Menu’ Options tab. In general, only keeping ‘MODEM device entries’ will suffice.
Bottom line: if you have to run scripts and want to avoid manual pasting into the terminal window(s), you will love this app. Also, if your modem requires special commands (reset/QOS/auth) and you can’t otherwise send them because of the limited extra modem string size, you may want to give this app a try.
And, finally, a disqualified application
Mobile2Wear network manager 1.0
This app offers on-the-PC connection editing capabilities (with access to most of the parameters settable when defining a connection group (proxies) and a connection (username, IP, DNS, WINS)) and a Today plug-in (it’s the only component that is in the RAM; see the 15 kbyte NetMan.dll in \Windows) to easily change between them. You can define both your connection groups in it:
and your individual connection:
It, however, seems to be buggy. First, on the latter screen, while GPRS is the default in the Connection Type, if you don’t switch it to CSD and, then, back to GPRS, the connection created will be faulty – that is, the APN name you supply will be treated as the phone number.
Second, a fatal error: if you define a GPRS connection, the PDA-based client won’t be able to import it into the registry. I’ve tested this on both WM2003 and WM2003SE with all the possible APN configurations (to see whether it’s the long extra string name that made it unable to import), without success:
It seems it completely messes up the registry: after a registry import try, the other, pre-existing connection groups will be hidden:
This is a very nasty bug! You’ll lose all your pre-defined connection groups/connections if you use this app!
(I’ve tried to find out what it tries to import into the registry so that I can fix it, but its config file, Providers.xml, is encrypted.)
Bottom line: it’s plain useless for GPRS users. Avoid it.
You can find the summarizing table here
Speakers of Hungarian may also want to read my 170 kchar-long (not a tiny article, I'd say  article on everyything PDA Connectivity |
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Menneisyys
Administrator
3531 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2005 : 04:09:48
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I've just fixed a nasty bug in the text that made a lot of text undisplayed in the “GPRS behind the curtains” section. Sorry for not spotting it earlier.
BTW, the article gives an excellent overview of setting up GPRS connections and, in addition to this, discusses the following apps:
Alice Connect
FSC E2c Pro 3.0
c2i 3.10
RVGSM 3.2
pocket PhoneTools 4.1
DialupMaster 1.7-d23 (excellent scripting capabilities!)
Mobile2Wear network manager 1.0 (I've found this very buggy, avoid it!!)
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Menneisyys
Administrator
3531 Posts |
Posted - 08/29/2005 : 10:51:05
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| Sorry, I've just noticed that the RVGSM Traffic Counter image was also missing, due to a link problem. Fixed. |
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xcroxx
Starting Member
4 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2005 : 05:25:32
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Quote:Alice Connect
It is an OEM app, ditributed by (some) GSM/GPRS operators; for example, Vodafone, which provides it under the name ‘Vodafone Connect Me’. However, with some very minimal config file hacking, you can make it work with any GPRS operator because the APN name is stored in a textual configuration file.
It excels in many areas (scripting capabilities etc), in addition to being free.
It, however, has a big problem: as it doesn’t use CM-compliant connections and isn’t rewritten for WM2003+ (the situation is the same on the Palm OS: it doesn’t work on Palm OS 5 devices either), no current Pocket PC can run it.
Bottom line: there is no point in trying to make it work under WM2003+. It just won’t work. Which is a pity, because this app is both free and excellent in many areas.
/Quote.
hi, could you please explain how to configure Alice connect to work with any GPRS operator. i have downloaded from vodafones website and it wouldn't work with my local operator here in africa. pls find the time to help.
PS: it keeps telling me Disconnected,error....illegal operator
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Menneisyys
Administrator
3531 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2005 : 05:55:35
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quote:
Originally posted by xcroxx
hi, could you please explain how to configure Alice connect to work with any GPRS operator. i have downloaded from vodafones website and it wouldn't work with my local operator here in africa. pls find the time to help.
PS: it keeps telling me Disconnected,error....illegal operator
Please read this blog entry. |
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xcroxx
Starting Member
4 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2005 : 13:54:44
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i am actually using Vodafone connect me for PC. here's the exact message i keep getting:
GPRS, GPRS:Disconnected, your GPRS Operator/Service provider is not a lawful licensee of this software.
and i want to configure it so it works on any network. any idea?
thanks for you time.
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Menneisyys
Administrator
3531 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2005 : 14:22:59
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quote:
Originally posted by xcroxx
i am actually using Vodafone connect me for PC. here's the exact message i keep getting:
GPRS, GPRS:Disconnected, your GPRS Operator/Service provider is not a lawful licensee of this software.
and i want to configure it so it works on any network. any idea?
thanks for you time.
OIC. Well, the desktop version may have some kind of additional checking - this is why it's not working in non-Voda networks.
BTW, it's very easy to configure your desktop PC to use GPRS even without using Alice Connect. In my above-linked article, I've devoted a long section to this. I can translate it into English ASAP (for example tomorrow or the day after, after I have published my next two articles on Bluetooth PAN and multiplayer games) if, for example, you need it. |
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xcroxx
Starting Member
4 Posts |
Posted - 10/22/2005 : 08:21:02
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quote:
Originally posted by Menneisyys
OIC. Well, the desktop version may have some kind of additional checking - this is why it's not working in non-Voda networks.
BTW, it's very easy to configure your desktop PC to use GPRS even without using Alice Connect. In my above-linked article, I've devoted a long section to this. I can translate it into English ASAP (for example tomorrow or the day after, after I have published my next two articles on Bluetooth PAN and multiplayer games) if, for example, you need it.
thanks for the quick response. yes i would like for you to translate into english.looking forward to your reply.
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Menneisyys
Administrator
3531 Posts |
Posted - 10/22/2005 : 08:47:15
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quote:
Originally posted by xcroxx
quote:
Originally posted by Menneisyys
OIC. Well, the desktop version may have some kind of additional checking - this is why it's not working in non-Voda networks.
BTW, it's very easy to configure your desktop PC to use GPRS even without using Alice Connect. In my above-linked article, I've devoted a long section to this. I can translate it into English ASAP (for example tomorrow or the day after, after I have published my next two articles on Bluetooth PAN and multiplayer games) if, for example, you need it.
thanks for the quick response. yes i would like for you to translate into english.looking forward to your reply.
OK, will try to do it ASAP. I'm still working on my latest roundup, so it's possible I'll only have tomorrow. |
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xcroxx
Starting Member
4 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2005 : 14:25:47
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yes thanks,i've been able to configure the laptop without alice connect but i don't know what number to dial to. when i dial to *9***1# it gives me the following: 734 The PPP link control protocol was terminated. what do you think is wrong.
thanks once again. |
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Menneisyys
Administrator
3531 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2005 : 14:46:41
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quote:
Originally posted by xcroxx
yes thanks,i've been able to configure the laptop without alice connect but i don't know what number to dial to. when i dial to *9***1# it gives me the following: 734 The PPP link control protocol was terminated. what do you think is wrong.
thanks once again.
It should be *99***1# or *99#. |
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GPRS connection setup utilities for mobile phones
