Want a new phone BUT (thinking Evo 4G?)

Discussion:

(too old to reply)

Nate Nagel

2011-03-26 15:46:53 UTC

how can I find out where, if anywhere, I can try out a new phone before
I buy it? I've been to two sprint stores and the displays are just
that, none of the phones are powered up or activated. I walked out of
one because the customer "service" rep was having a loud argument with
someone on the phone in Spanish and then slammed the phone down and
disappeared into the back while I waited by the display for someone to
ask me why I was there. Is my only choice to call each store
individually? Or do none of them let you try first?

I'd really like to try an Evo 4G but I've had bad experiences with every
non-Motorola phone I've ever had. Other than poor reliability, a common
problem seems to be low voice volume. What's the point of having a
phone if I can't hear the person on the other end who's trying to talk
to me?

I hate Verizon, but I have to say, their stores in this area are the
right way to sell phones. Tons of phones on display and most if not all
are powered up and activated so you can pick one up, call a friend, and
see how well it works. I don't have a land line (because Verizon sucks
so badly) so having a well functioning mobile is important to me. My
old Razr V3 will have to be replaced someday...

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

N8N

2011-03-28 19:25:48 UTC

Permalink

Post by Nate Nagel
how can I find out where, if anywhere, I can try out a new phone before
I buy it? I've been to two sprint stores and the displays are just
that, none of the phones are powered up or activated. I walked out of
one because the customer "service" rep was having a loud argument with
someone on the phone in Spanish and then slammed the phone down and
disappeared into the back while I waited by the display for someone to
ask me why I was there. Is my only choice to call each store
individually? Or do none of them let you try first?
I'd really like to try an Evo 4G but I've had bad experiences with every
non-Motorola phone I've ever had. Other than poor reliability, a common
problem seems to be low voice volume. What's the point of having a
phone if I can't hear the person on the other end who's trying to talk
to me?
I hate Verizon, but I have to say, their stores in this area are the
right way to sell phones. Tons of phones on display and most if not all
are powered up and activated so you can pick one up, call a friend, and
see how well it works. I don't have a land line (because Verizon sucks
so badly) so having a well functioning mobile is important to me. My
old Razr V3 will have to be replaced someday...
nate

OK, 3rd store I tried was very helpful and friendly UNLIKE the first
two...

walked out with a shiny new Evo 4G. What an amazing device. No
problem hearing calls, and the capabilities of this thing are mind-
blowing compared to my old phone (which could place and receive voice
calls, and sort of text message.)

ONE PROBLEM - the email address that I use for most of my personal
email is with my cable/internet provider, and they won't let you use
their smtp server to send mail unless you are connected to their
network. So I got online, found that I was to use smtp.sprintpcs.com,
found my user name, changed my password, figured all was good...
still no ability to send email. Any ideas?

I will likely stop by the store where I bought the phone on my way
home from work, but I don't know how often this comes up. I should
have known better but I stopped at one of the other stores over my
lunch hour and I think I flabbered the guy's gast - he'd "never heard
of an issue like that before" (this was before I got online and found
the server settings myself - he didn't even know that sprint had a
smtp server...)

nate

Paul Miner

2011-03-28 20:18:45 UTC

Permalink

Post by N8N
walked out with a shiny new Evo 4G. What an amazing device. No
problem hearing calls, and the capabilities of this thing are mind-
blowing compared to my old phone (which could place and receive voice
calls, and sort of text message.)
ONE PROBLEM - the email address that I use for most of my personal
email is with my cable/internet provider, and they won't let you use
their smtp server to send mail unless you are connected to their
network. So I got online, found that I was to use smtp.sprintpcs.com,
found my user name, changed my password, figured all was good...
still no ability to send email. Any ideas?

Which ISP do you use for your personal email? Comcast, for example,
used to have a policy like you described, but they changed quite a few
years ago. Maybe your ISP also has a method to allow sending email
when off the network.

Secondly, are you getting any error messages when you try to send from
the Evo? If so, what are they, verbatim?

--
Paul Miner

Nate Nagel

2011-03-28 22:59:51 UTC

Permalink

Post by Paul Miner

cox dot net, and the smtp server that I use at home will not work
anywhere else. I tried that first before trying smtp.sprintpcs.com; I
do get an error message then.

Post by Paul Miner
Secondly, are you getting any error messages when you try to send from
the Evo? If so, what are they, verbatim?

Nope. But if I send a msg. to my hotmail or gmail account, it never
shows up. The odd thing is that when I go back into the account
settings for the cox email account (in the evo) after I think I have it
all set up, my username for the smtp.sprintpcs.com changes from what I
think it should be to "njnagel" (my username on cox) Also "delete mail
on server" was persistent for a few times but it seems to have finally
gone away. (probably unrelated?)

I stopped by the store where I bought the phone to see if I was doing
something stupid; the guy didn't seem to think so and recommended that I
contact sprint customer service, which I'll do in a bit just as soon as
I 100% verify that my other email accounts are working OK (although I
don't know why I even put the hotmail account on there as it's pretty
much a throwaway...)

thanks for the feedback

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

Paul Miner

2011-03-28 23:24:32 UTC

Permalink

Post by Nate Nagel

Post by Paul Miner

cox dot net, and the smtp server that I use at home will not work
anywhere else. I tried that first before trying smtp.sprintpcs.com; I
do get an error message then.

Make sure you're not using port 25 for the Cox smtp server, and enable
authentication. You'll want to use either port 465 or 587, I believe.

Some additional settings here, and Google has many more hits:
<http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/htc-touch-pro/57176-cox-outgoing-email-solved.html>

--
Paul Miner

Nate Nagel

2011-03-28 23:41:56 UTC

cox dot net, and the smtp server that I use at home will not work
anywhere else. I tried that first before trying smtp.sprintpcs.com; I
do get an error message then.

Make sure you're not using port 25 for the Cox smtp server, and enable
authentication. You'll want to use either port 465 or 587, I believe.
<http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/htc-touch-pro/57176-cox-outgoing-email-solved.html>

http://ww2.cox.com/residential/northernvirginia/support/internet/article.cox?articleId={a8fb24c0-6440-11df-ccef-000000000000}

465. you were right. I hadn't seen that before, I tried it, still does
not work. Won't connect w/o SSL but I get an error message with. Will
call Cox (soon as I dig out account no. and PIN) and see if they can
help. (Sprint CSR was not helpful, apparently smtp.sprintpcs.com isn't
supported anymore?)

exact error message (comes up when Evo tries to verify, before I can
even try to send mail) is:

Warning

Your outgoing server response:
554 eastrmimpo02.cox.net
bizsmtp connection refused
from (IP address elided)

thanks

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

Steve Sobol

2011-03-29 00:01:20 UTC

Permalink

Post by Nate Nagel
465. you were right. I hadn't seen that before, I tried it, still does
not work. Won't connect w/o SSL but I get an error message with. Will
call Cox (soon as I dig out account no. and PIN) and see if they can
help. (Sprint CSR was not helpful, apparently smtp.sprintpcs.com isn't
supported anymore?)

Of course it won't connect via SSL; port 465 is the SMTPS (SMTP over
SSL) port. But... all is not lost. Many ISP's use Port 587 as an
alternative to Port 25. According to industry standards, *only*
authenticated connections are allowed on 587. But SSL is not required.

Also, which email client are you using? My HTC phone shipped with HTC's
email client, not Google's, but I hear Google's client kinda sucks. You
may want to try K-9 Mail instead. I use K-9 now. It's open-source and is
a free download from the Android Market.

--
Steve Sobol - Programming/WebDev/IT Support
***@JustThe.net

Nate Nagel

2011-03-29 01:09:55 UTC

Permalink

Post by Steve Sobol

right, I had SSL checked when I tried to connect over port 465, still
epic failure.

Perhaps it is a subtle hint that I should just migrate to gmail, but I
would prefer to have the option of saving all my emails on my home PC (I
guess you can do that with IMAP but still. Old habits etc.)

Post by Steve Sobol
Also, which email client are you using? My HTC phone shipped with HTC's
email client, not Google's, but I hear Google's client kinda sucks. You
may want to try K-9 Mail instead. I use K-9 now. It's open-source and is
a free download from the Android Market.

OK, this is going to sound like a dumb question, but how do I tell?
It's whatever came with the phone, is just called "mail" and I don't see
any "about" option in the menus.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

Steve Sobol

2011-03-29 04:51:28 UTC

Permalink

Post by Nate Nagel
OK, this is going to sound like a dumb question, but how do I tell?
It's whatever came with the phone, is just called "mail" and I don't see
any "about" option in the menus.

then it isn't K-9... go get K-9 from the Market.

It's a nice piece of software... well worth it, does SMTP/IMAP/POP3
over SSL or not, and has lots of other neat features.

--
Steve Sobol - Programming/WebDev/IT Support
***@JustThe.net

Paul Miner

2011-03-29 00:07:58 UTC

Permalink

Hmmm, I thought this stuff about smtp.sprintpcs.com rang a bell and
did some checking around. Looks like Sprint shut down their email
server on 12/31/2008, from what I'm seeing. I'm sure you'll eventually
get Cox email working, though.

Some of the Cox-related links, (not the one I posted earlier nor the
one you posted), mention a requirement to authenticate before trying
to send email. Be sure you're doing that, or at least try it.

Lots of Google hits on your situation, so if Cox support isn't much
help I'm sure the answers are out there on the web. Good luck, and
enjoy your new Evo. My son picked one up in January and loves it.

--
Paul Miner

Ryan P.

2011-03-29 03:51:26 UTC

Permalink

Post by Paul Miner

This is only half true. Sprint shut down their INCOMING email
capabilities. smtp.sprintpcs.com is still functional.

Try this using "EMail." I just set this up to test, and it works fine
with my Roadrunner email:

1) Go to sprint.com, log into your account.
2) Go to the My Preferences tab, then select "Change email server
password" and select a new password.
3) Make a note of your Sprint smtp username.
4) Go to the "Mail" program in your Android.
5) Add an account. Set your incoming pop3 settings as required.
6) Set your smtp settings as follows:
Server: smtp.sprintpcs.com
Port: 25
Security: None
Make sure "require sign-in" is checked
Username: "{yourname}@sprintpcs.com
Password: {password your chose}

The catch is that you must be connected to the Sprint network for this
to work... If you are connected to a WIFI network, I don't believe this
will work.

Again, I just set this up on my Samsung Moment, and emails were sent
just fine over 3G, and appear as if I sent them from my Roadrunner pop3.

Shoot me an email if you need some more pointers.

Ryan