Windows live messenger problem

[githanis]

I have the mogul and installed the windows live messenger on both my home computer (laptop) and both mine and my wives mogul. We each have a seperate user ID (hotmail account) that we sign in under on our phones. On one the computer and one signed in on the phone. Here is the problem I have been having.

When signed in on our laptop computer, when someone signs in it shows up and works great. When we are signed in on our phones though we always see everyone as offline, even though we are signed in on the phone, or other family members are signed in with the same phone. We have done the initial process of putting them into the contacts and accepting the prompt for them to see us when we are online, and visa versa. Even when I'm signed in on my phone and my wife is signed in on hers, and we are right next to each other, both phones show we are each offline. Is this a bug, since the one on the computer works fine, and it seems to be just the phone? Is there a fix? Should I change to a different IM type system.

The reason we went with this one in the first place was to communicate with family on the East coast, since we live on the West coast. We like it for the video conferencing on the laptop and thought it would be great for the IM purpose on the phones. What can I do to fix this? Or should I change to something different (which means having all of my family change as well if we have to give up messenger)?

Any help wouled be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for any advice you ight have.