Using “Internet Call” through 3G

Nokia phones with “Internet Call” feature are very useful gadgets.eg:E71,E51,E66,N80,N95… They provide very reliable internet connection thru WLAN. Often there are complaints regarding the 3G/GPRS connection, the main being the difficulty in using “Internet Call” thru 3G.

The users wonder, “it works thru WLAN, they it should work thru 3G”. ie they assume the settings are 100% correct. But not always this is true. Especially in the case of SIP settings, most providers dont really need the proxy settings to get things work. The Internet Telephone wizard provided in Nokia phones use Gizmo as the provider, and this particular provider perhaps need the proxy settings. So when the users “copy-paste” the settings , they use the proxy settings too,

But cheap Internet call providers like FreeCall, ActionVoip etc doesn’t like the Proxy Settings. Though the connection works thru WLAN even with proxy settings, it doesn’t work thru 3G.

Try removing the proxy settings from the SIP settings for these providers and you’ll never need third party software like Fring and Nimbuzz for SIP calls. These are good programs in their own, but when we have a native capability, why should we bother others’ servers ?

Complex replication scenario with Jet 4

We need a Jet replication which should involve direct and indirect replication. There wont be any need for conflict resolution as there wont be any conflicting data by design. The main db , the design master is to be kept at the HQ with very limited access on a Windows server. There should be a production replica which should update the master files at the HQ and this replica will be kept on a Linux server (smb share) with the users of the HQ having rw access to the db. There can be another replica at the Windows server inorder to facilitate indirect replication. The db is to be replicated(cached) at each user’s windows terminal, so that reporting can be  faster by avoiding the “wire”. Now the db is to be replicated to over 20 remote locations by VPN. All remote locations can talk to each other. The software take cares of avoiding input conflicts in the transactions done at these locations. Many of these locations are also multi-user and there is a requirement for syncing a copy at the local pc. At the remote locations too, the users write to the “server” and read from the local copy for reports.

The requirement is the copies at each location must be in sync when a report  is needed by a node, so a direct sync is preferred here before a call for report generation.

Also all the “servers” at the remote locations need be in sync every day, and as and when a new update is issued from the HQ. All the “servers”  replicas  must be synchronized using indirect replication here.

Most important, none of these terminals , other than the “Design Terminal”, has Access installed !

Having local replication , while helping to generate faster reports, also help to have an additional backup too. The client pcs can run only specified applications, so there is no problem in having a local copy either. The users won’t have direct access to the data folder through the windows explorer.

Is this a weird scenario ?

[ I know it is possible with VB6, TSI and MS Synchroniser , and actually tested the implementation with dialup clients (actually it will be ADSL clients) , but I don’t know still it’s worth the trouble ]

Exporting to “Excel” from Xceed Grid

Xceed Grid has a fairly easy one line code to export a grid to Excel file. What’s the  catch (at least for me) ? It simply doesn’t allow multiple sheets in a file.(Please correct me if I am wrong).

But I don’t need a multitude of files for a group of reports. And I don’t have Excel installed either !

I have three grids to export.So I created three temporary  .xml (excel) files using the ExcelExporter Class from Xceed., say file1.xml, file2.xml and file3.xml

sample:    Dim excelExp As New Xceed.Grid.Exporting.ExcelExporter()

excelExp.Export(grid1, “c:\temp\file1.xml”)
Now loaded these three files to three different strings string1, string2 and string3 using IO.StreamReader Class.

sample:    Dim sr As IO.StreamReader = New IO.StreamReader(“c:\temp\file1.xml”)
Dim string1 As String = sr.ReadToEnd()
sr.Close()
then:

string2 = string2.Substring(string2.IndexOf(“<ss:Worksheet”))

string3 = string3.Substring(string3.IndexOf(“<ss:Worksheet”))

these two lines are used to extract the sheets from their books (including the last </Workbook> tag).

string1= replace(string1,”</Workbook>”,string2)

string1= replace(string1,”</Workbook>”,string3)

These two lines simply insert the worksheets into the first string.

Now use a IO.Streamwriter to Write the string1 to the desired Excel file !

No Excel application is needed to create this excel file.

You can further improvise the code to manipulate the Header, Footer etc. It is very easy to use the replace command and insert the desired tags !

If someone has an easier solution , please comment..

Using Mail For Exchange on an N80

For some strange reason, Nokia stopped supporting N80 for their new Mail for Exchange client software. So you have to get the 1.3.0 version from them.

Now, I have the client. How do I test, ‘coz I dont have an Exchange server. No worries. Mail2Web provides you a FREE account for synchronising your email, contacts and calendar LIVE !

Get an account from them and enter the  details in MailforExchange Client as such:

Server name:mobile.exchange.mail2web.com

username: youraccount@mail2web.com

password: yourpassword

Domain: ad2

Important:

1.Make sure you make you select ” Keep Items on phone” for Contacts, Calendar etc on Initial Sync option

2.Make sure you select “Phone wins” option for In case of conflict option

Otherwise you can be sure that you lose your contacts from the phone, as the default options are “Delete Items on the Phone” and ” Server wins” .

Anyway, it will be wiser to make a backup of your contacts and other data.

If you wish to receive email alerts as an when they arrive, you have set this explicitly in the option.

Now you can forward your e-mail to the web2mail account….If you have a gmail account you can even have a rule based forward so that only some important messages get forwarded and “pushed”.

Live Desktops

In these days of broadband, why should we keep our desktop static and boring ? Get best pictures from Flickr using John’s Excellent freeware utility Background Switcher direct to your desktop.

You never know what picture will be next. Very interesting .And Expect the UnExpected.

“Blackberry”ing N80

I am not a frequent traveler and so I don’t need a Blackberry and real-time push email. But, as I’m a bit lazier to check(pull) my emails, it was nice to have my emails “pushed” out.

Nokia provides BlackBerry Connect only for their Business phones. So no luck for me. It was then I decided to check their “hidden” email client.

If we use the User Friendly Settings Wizard we will end nowhere ! But if we dig through their Messages Menu options, we can really setup email from POP and IMAP servers. The POP servers (my company server) provides me auto-check at 30 minutes and a free IMAP server (fastmail.fm) gives me auto-check at 5 minutes intervals.

[Update: Get an AOL Mail and you can have the UnOfficial IMAP and SMTP access. No worries about the bandwidth as in fastmail. If it is difficult to register a dotcom, try aol.in or other regions, the smtp and imap servers for aol.in are same as aol.com, here you have enter the complete email id as userid whereas in aol.com it is optional]

For die-hard Yahoo! users, Yahoo! Go on N80. This free utility also checks mail automatically and saves to the Local Inbox !

I can use my unlimited 3.5G data plan which would go wasted otherwise.

I can “pop” my hotmail accounts also to this fastmail.

Gmail and Yahoo(regional) , company mails are already accessible by the POP3 Client. So far so good ! So the backup mail client is ready !

Why should I switch on my PC, juz to check email ?

This is more than enough for me.

Why would I use a Blackberry now ?

Send Free Fax using N80

Imagine you are at an airport waiting for your flight, browsing Internet using the WiFi connection in the Lounge.. Now your agent calls you and asks whether it’s possible to FAX your passport copy to complete some Visa formalities. You can easily email, but the agent prefers a FAX. You don’t have to rush to any Comm.Center, if you have N80 or similar phones .

With the help of excellent freeware utility ScanR now you can Email or send FREE faxes to many International Destinations in North America, Western Europe, Middle East and Asia.

I have tested the same by faxing to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It’s really cool and useful.

Control your PC/Mac using N80

All the good things are always not free. If we can afford N80, then we can have a nice extensible software that enables us to control our PC or Mac using N80 or any of the 300 supported devices.

The software is Salling Clicker .

Some of the readily available capabilities are:

1. Phone Aware : The media player automatically stops/mutes when you receive/dial a call.

2.Can control Windows Media Player, iTunes, PowerPoint

3.Can control the mouse, shutdown the system etc

The main beauty of this app is its extensibility. You can write your own scripts to have more controls.

Now my N80 is a remote control also !

SIP Settings I use on N80

Gizmo

Profile name: Gizmo
Service profile: Standard IETF
Default access point: MyAccessPoint
Public user name:  sip:1747xxxxxxx@proxy01.sipphone.com)
Use compression: No
Registration  : When needed
Use Security : No
Proxy Server:
Proxy address: sip:proxy01.sipphone.com
Realm: proxy01.sipphone.com
Username: 1747xxxxxxx
Password: ****
Allow loose routing: Yes
Transport type: UDP
Port: 5060
Registrar server:
Registrar address: sip:proxy01.sipphone.com
Realm: proxy01.sipphone.com
Username: 1747xxxxxxx
Password: ****
Transport protocol: UDP
Port: 5060

FreeWorldDialup

Profile name: Fwd
Service profile: Standard IETF
Default access point: MyAccessPoint
Public user name:  sip:xxxxxx@fwd.pulver.com

Use compression: No
Registration  : When needed
Use Security : No
Proxy Server:
Proxy address: sip:fwdnat.pulver.com
Realm: fwdnat.pulver.com
Username: xxxxxx
Password: ****
Allow loose routing: Yes
Transport type: UDP
Port: 5082
Registrar server:
Registrar address: sip:fwd.pulver.com
Realm: fwd.pulver.com
Username: xxxxxx
Password: ****
Transport protocol: UDP
Port: 5060

VoIPCheap

Profile name: VoIpCheap
Service profile: Standard IETF
Default access point: MyAccessPoint
Public user name:  sip:userid@sip.VoipCheap.com

Use compression: No
Registration  : When needed
Use Security : No
Proxy Server:
Proxy address: sip:sip.VoipCheap.com
Realm: sip.VoipCheap.com
Username: userid

Password: ****
Allow loose routing: Yes
Transport type: Auto
Port: 5060
Registrar server:
Registrar address: sip:sip.VoipCheap.com
Realm: sip.VoipCheap.com
Username: userid

Password: ****
Transport protocol: Auto
Port: 5060

TruPhone

It’s better to use the TruPhone Wizard. The username is neither the userid nor the TruPhone number. So is the password. Both will be included in the TruPhone settings file. You have to make sure all the three profiles of the TruPhone doesn’t point to the same access point. These three profiles are provided as we have different names for AccessPoints at home, work and travel. We need to check only any of the profile, we currently use.

For getting Incoming calls on Truphone I had to route port 5060 on my router to the IP of my phone. For calling it was not needed.

True VoIP at 64Kbps !

After my initial success of VoIP and SIP on my N80 in the 128Kbps ADSL, i tried the same on my 64Kbps ADSL home connection. Same settings. I use the same name of my Office Accesspoint at my home also.

Thanks to Truphone, I could test VoIP to some real telco numbers in the US for free. I couldn’t believe ! The call was indistinguishable as VoIP call to the persons at the  receiving end. No lag , echo or delay. I must say the call was better than the PSTN calls I do to my parents in India.

Then I tried a pure VoIP to VoIP . Sharing the 64Kbps, I was able to get a perfect call to my computer.

I had GizmoProject at my home pc and using my N80 I was able talk to my kids (Just for fun) I could better talk to them direct !

It’s really amazing ! I remember the ISDN people telling you must have 128Kbps for two-way communication ! But then , it was Fifteen years back !