I've just been through the same installation problem with a new customer for the
nth time, and it's time to speak out about the cause, which is (you guessed it) the
carrier.

Aaron, a good friend in the US, just bought a shiny new Samsung t809 on a plan
from T-Mobile, a relatively internet-savvy US carrier (relatively speaking anyway.) We
went through setting up bluepulse, and it went beautifully until he'd installed it on
his phone and launched the bluepulse client.

The bluepulse client was unable to access the internet, and Aaron said the Opera
browser he'd installed couldn't get internet access either. I knew right away what it
was: old internet settings installed on the phone.

People ask, "what's the most common problem you face getting bluepulse installed
on people's phones?" They expect you to say "handset compatibility" since getting
most apps to run on a wide range of phones is the biggest problem for most
developers.

But no, we're miles ahead on that front: bluepulse supports so many handsets
(definitely more than 250, likely approaching 300 now) and our web server is smart
enough that it can compile a custom version of the client for your phone in most
cases.

The biggest problem we have is a problem many mobile app developers never get to
face: getting the correct carrier internet settings installed on the customer's
handset.

See, even relatively-savvy carriers like T-Mobile are quite lousy when it comes to
customer communications. When some proxy server admin guy makes a change to
the internet gateway somewhere deep in the bowels of your carrier's data centre,
how many levels of middle management do you suppose that news needs to filter
through before it ever reaches a customer?

The correct answer is: too many levels for the news to ever reach a customer.

Of course, the admin guy is unlikely to change anything that will block access to any
of the services installed on the carrier's default 'deck', but any other services you
might be accessing from your phone? Someone else's problem.

To employ a desktop internet analogy: it's as if your ISP requires you to access the
internet via their proxy servers, and won't give you reliable access to any internet
services not featured on their homepage. Very Web circa 1995 - the kind of attitude
AOL and CompuServe used to have towards the rest of the internet. And history tells
us AOL only just wizened up in time; CompuServe never did.

The good news is; getting the latest internet settings installed on your phone is only
as painful as ringing your carrier's tech support line, waiting on hold because
"you're a valued customer" for long enough to speak to a person, and then asking
them; "Please send your latest internet settings to my phone".

To be absolutely sure, ask them for updated settings for "internet, MMS, and WAP"
since carriers often maintain different settings for each.

You'll get a notification on your phone when the settings arrive a few seconds later,
and your phone will ask you if you want to install the new settings. Say 'OK' to them
all.

It's usually a good idea to turn your phone off for a second or two and then back on
(in the same way it's a good idea to reboot your desktop when you install an
update). Some carriers may also ask you to send one MMS to a standard carrier
address to verify the settings have been installed correctly.

Once you've done that, you should be ready to rock, jive, even jitterbug a little, with
bluepulse. And Opera Mini, and the whole rest of the dang internet (sheesh!)

Alan Jones is VP, Q&A for http://www.bluepulse.com - a Mobile 2.0 startup. Bluepulse
provides a free mobile internet client for >250 handsets and a free mobile widget
developer platform.