Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

I've been an Orange subscriber for a long time now, longer than I can remember. I've been through the whole WAP boom with them, through the first smartphones, and through more devices than I can remember.

However today I called up and asked for my PAC. Orange still hasn't launched a flat-rate data service, so it's time to go somewhere else.

I've decided to move to another operator with a lower-cost data tariff, and off-the-shelf mobile email. My current thinking is to go to T-Mobile with Web'n'Walk and Flext, and probably get a Blackberry Pearl. I did rather like the one I reviewed for IT Pro. The alternative is Vodafone's similar service, and a Treo 750W.

The one big question, of course, is the cost of getting mail while I travel....

It's a pity T-Mobile have't launched the Dash over here, as that might have tipped the odds one way or another. Still, I have 30 days to decide now.

Decisions, decisions.

I'd be interested in understanding what other folk have been looking at, and what you all recommend...

My Orange SPV C600 arrived this morning. It's a lovely little phone, and it looks like it will quickly become my regular hand-held device.

However the usual fly in the ointment appeared when I tried to connect it to my mail server using Exchange ActiveSync.

It wouldn't work. The phone refused to accept my server's perfectly valid security certificate.

This was not good. I need mobile email like I need oxygen.

So why was I having problems? Like many small businesses I self certify my server. marypcb and I (and a couple of trusted folk) are the only people who need remote access to the server, so there's no need for us to spend money on a commercial certificate.

The standard trick of running Small Business Server 2003's sbsmobconfig.exe to load my server certificate on the phone didn't work - Orange's default setting for their Windows Mobile 5 devices locks down the certificate store, and the server certificate can't be loaded.

Any why is this? The answer's quite simple: Orange doesn't trust its users.

However there are ways around the impasse.

A bit of frantic googling and I found this thread on MoDaCo.

The instructions weren't quite right for a SBS installation. Here are my modified steps.

1. Download RegeditSTG.zip and SDA_ApplicationUnlock (there's a zip file in the thread with them both in).
2. Connect your phone to your PC and make sure that ActiveSync 4.1 is running.
3. Copy RegeditSTG.zip onto the phone without unzipping, and unzip on the phone. Run and install RegeditSTG.
4. Run RegeditSTG and change the value of HKLM\Security\Policies\Policies\00001017from 128 to 144.
5. Run SDA_ApplicationUnlock on your PC. This should remove the application lock on the phone.
6. Power cycle the phone.
7. Run sbsmobconfig.exe from your PC.
8. Power cycle the phone.
9. Check your phone settings for your server certificate.

Exchange ActiveSync should now work.

You can now breathe and read your email wherever you may be.

However, that is too many steps, and too difficult for the end user. Orange needs to stop being paranoid about application installation and ship its phones unlocked. Microsoft needs a more user friendly certificate installation tool than one that only ships with Small Business Server 2003.

There's a reason why Blackberry is successful. It's easy to use one to get mobile email from any source.