Sprint ending PCS Mail service 12/2008, outgoing mail on Mogul

[Extrikate]

Originally Posted by LoneSnark

I think you need to sign up with another free-carrier, such as gmail to route your E-Mails for you.

During RR setup, leave everything they same, but change the smtp server to smtp.gmail.com, fill in the information for that account, and it will send using that account.

If I do this, won't it show that my email was sent from a Gmail address instead of my RR account? I don't want the recipient to see any difference between me sending mail from home or mobile.

[tmorris52]

Don't be sorry for trying, not finding your answer, and then asking for help. We are here to help. Those who complain and assume that people don't search first are not helping at all and that's waisting the thread more than some one asking a question.

[LoneSnark]

If I do this, won't it show that my email was sent from a Gmail address instead of my RR account?

Actually yes... evidently gmail changes the reply address on mail it forwards for you...
Well, in that case, I don't know how to do what you want to do. But did not sprint do that too, so it looked like mail was from you sprint e-mail account?

That is what I do, but I have my phone check both E-mail addresses, so I get replies regardless.

[Extrikate]

Originally Posted by LoneSnark

Actually yes... evidently gmail changes the reply address on mail it forwards for you...
Well, in that case, I don't know how to do what you want to do. But did not sprint do that too, so it looked like mail was from you sprint e-mail account?

That is what I do, but I have my phone check both E-mail addresses, so I get replies regardless.

With Sprint email I was able to change the displayed address to reflect my Roadrunner instead of SPCS when sending email. I don't think I can do this with Gmail but I put in a support question about it.

[Chimmer]

Originally Posted by Darkflame808

Enable SMTP authorization and put your login and password into the details.

I can confirm that this does not work with RR accounts at least in Texas. You would think they would allow authentication but they don't.

[jcrick]

Originally Posted by madman16420

we already know this if u search u wold find how to do it

madman16420, you are an A$$. If you can't contribute to solving a problem just sit there and appear stupid rather than make your caustic and unnecessary remarks, removing all doubt.

Now to the business at hand...

My solution to this problem works for myself and other who have used it. I have a Palm Treo 650 (Palm OS) running VersaMail v3.1b, connecting to the Sprint network. Open VersaMail and go to 'Account Setup' then select the account profile for your Roadrunner account. Select 'Edit'. Check/Enter the following values where needed in the basic settings:

Protocol: POP
Username: your username (only the part of the email address before the @)
Password: your login password
Email address: your full email address (IE: Myuserid@nc.rr.com)
Incoming Mail Server: pop-server.nc.rr.com
Outgoing Mail Server: smtp-server.nc.rr.com

Select 'Advanced' button for advanced settings and check/enter the following settings:

Incoming Server Port Number: 110
Use Secure Connection (SSL): leave unchecked
Use Authentication (APOP): leave unchecked

Outgoing Server Port Number: 587
Use Secure Connection (SSL): leave unchecked
Use Authentication (ESMTP): Ckeck the box
Username: Your full email address (not a username as the prompt suggests)
Password: Should be the same as your login password from basic settings

Click 'Done', then click 'OK'

Test this by sending an email to either yourself or your work email. If you receive the email correctly, reply to it to make sure you can return a response correctly.

I am in North Carolina and this works for me with my local Roadrunner. The server names and port numbers may vary for your particular location, but I have been using this configuration successfully. Port 587 is generally implemented on most all mail servers for submitted email and uses authentication. This is a common practice since it reduces the risk from spammers on their systems.

Hope this helps.

[Joeriginal]

Wait Sprint shutting down their email service does that mean that sprint mobile email wont work anymore? I use it to push my email, if it is shutting down what are my options.

[jcrick]

That is correct. The solution I provided in a previous append does work on my Palm Treo. However, it does not work on my wifes Instinct. I cannot figure out a solution and Sprint is of absolutely no use either. They don't even think they have a problem with disconnecting their email servers. I told them well wait until some time after Jan 1, 2009 when the complaints start rolling in and people start canceling their service and go to a competitor who can meet their needs.

I put a call into Samsung looking for help with the Instinct. They were even less helpful. so maybe next year they will rename the model and call it Extinct.

But will keep looking for a solution (for a little while anyway) otherwise this phone will wind up back at Sprint.

[Hafrust]

The only thing that is being shut down is the free email account sprint gives you (suchandsuch@sprintpcs.com). Not sure what the big fuss is about since they have such tight restrictions on that e-mail anyway (You can't send e-mails larger than 2mb from a sprintpcs email account). Sprint Mobile Email will continue to work as before.

[jcrick]

Originally Posted by Tripdub1

The only thing that is being shut down is the free email account sprint gives you (suchandsuch@sprintpcs.com). Not sure what the big fuss is about since they have such tight restrictions on that e-mail anyway (You can't send e-mails larger than 2mb from a sprintpcs email account). Sprint Mobile Email will continue to work as before.

For you it might not be a big deal if communication is not an important ingredient to your business. The suggested solution from Sprint is to use gmail. Using gmail, yahoo, and the likes reminds me of the American Express commercial where the business man lays his super hero credit card on the table to pay for the business lunch meeting, and the prospective clients all laugh at it. Likewise gmail looks like a toy for an occasional work at home mom & pop selling on ebay or perhaps a fly by night start up business, but not the person with a longstanding stable business. Impressions count, and you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. Furthermore, keeping in touch with people doesn't usually require 2MB responses, usually only a kilobyte or two at most. But getting those messages and responding in a timely manner can very much be a big deal. Not being able to respond to a clients urgent needs can be translated by the client that their issues aren't that important to you. The result is they can choose to take their business to someone who will treat them with importance.

I have been on the phone with several different techs over the past 3 days discussing this issue with my wife’s new phone, the Instinct. Nice phone for her needs, but I need something a little beefier. I was told yesterday that the HTC Diamond would work with Sprint/Roadrunner, so I went to the Sprint store today to kick the tires and take a test drive, but after 30 minutes we couldn't get it to work.

I called Sprint again this evening, and worked with an L2 tech and a supervisor for well over an hour and they even tried several different phones including several Win Mobile versions, none worked.

I'm not sure this is really a Roadrunner problem or even a Sprint network problem either. I say that because with my Palm OS based Treo 650, the connection to RR works with the existing network configuration (and is documented in a previous append). But since Sprint has to support the phones they sell, they are the best ones to exert pressure on the phone manufacturers and OS developers to address this problem.

From what I can tell, the problem is how authentication is implemented by the phone manufacturers of both proprietary OS and Microsoft Win Mobile based phones, at least as far as RR is concerned. The two things that cannot be specifically configured are the 'Username' and 'Password' for the authentication. I think the configuration dialogs make some incorrect assumptions for the values to use for these two required parameters for authentication to work correctly. It might be OK to prefill a field with an expected value, but the user should be allowed to change that value if needed. To prove this, I can configure these separately in my Palm but not in any of the phones that we tested tonight. And the Palm works, period.

I did learn tonight during my conversation that there is a group working directly with Time Warner on this issue, although i didn't get .to talk directly with them. They cannot tell me if there is ever going to be a fix or not. I suggested that there certainly will be a fix following the settlement of a class action suit; there usually is. If there is a group working on this, then Sprint has to be aware of the potential impact in the bigger picture. Once again it was suggested that I set up a free email account. I explained that that is only a toy solution, and even the Sprint rep agreed.

I suppose there is possibility that RR is implementing something incorrectly, but so far that is not obvious to me they are. I will take another look at some requirement specs on how authentication is normally set up.