EDGE, T-Mobile, and the MDA
 

How has everyone's luck been with getting EDGE service on T-Mobile's MDA? I have had two different MDAs, and I have the newer firmware, but I can't get the E icon, and the speeds I get are definitely GPRS. T-Mobile has "reset" the connection on their end a couple of times, and nothing has worked. They suggested I trade out the device and SIM. Any other thoughts - could I be missing a setting somewhere?

1) The "edge icon" is not on by default, T-mobile has EDGE on their GPRS network in 90% of the country, if you see a "G" you probably have EDGE.

If you want the "E" icon then you'll have to do some registry edits.

2) Swapping the sim is a typical BS T-mobile answer, the SIM can't be the cause of not getting EDGE.

3) When you say you are on GPRS speeds, what kind of speeds are those? On EDGE you can expect around 100kb/s.

So in short; you probably do have EDGE but just don't know it. EDGE is not a 3G kind of speed, it is only slightly faster than GPRS.

Some things to try: the MDA is set to the wap.voicestream.net GPRS access point by default, which is slow. If you want "full" speed you'll need to be on their $29.95 total internet plan (or the old $19.95 internet plan) and set the device to internet2.voicestream.net (or internet3.voicestream.net if on the VPN plan).

Head over to www.dslreports.com/mspeed and do a speed test then get back to us with the results.

FWIW, here is how to enable the Edge icon:

* Using a reg editor navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\RIL\

* Create a new DWord EnableDifferGprsEdgeIcon and assign it a value of 1

If you don't know what the above means, then please don't try it, you could seriously mess up your device.

Thanks so much for the help. The device was connecting with wap.voicestream.com, which T-Mobile said was correct. Imagine that. I changed it to internet2.voicestream.com (i do have the $29.95 total internet plan). I tried the test (great link by the way), and I got three different results - 79, 59, and 85, so I would assume I am in the right ballpark now. It certainly seems much faster. Am I still too slow, though?

Also - I am quite comfortable doing reg edits (even though I swore the manual for the new firmware said the E icon was automatic) - but can you rec a good reg editor for the device? Thanks.

Your speeds are in line with what you should expect on EDGE.

Here is the (free) reg editor I use: http://www.phm.lu/Products/PocketPC/RegEdit/

The EDGE icon is indeed MEANT to be default, but for some insane reason T-mobile decided not to include it in their version of the firmware.

The WAP access point is meant for access to T-zones, and is much slower, has almost no open ports and all kinds of other limitations.

Thanks so much. I wasn't able to get the PHM to install, but I did install TRE. The registry DWORD was already there but set to 0. I changed it to 1, but when I did a soft reset, it reverted to 0. Any thoughts?

Sounds like a reg editor without enough rights. Try PHM again (it really should install, try installing the CAB instead of using the setup installer). Otherwise, try the reg editor in Resco Explorer.

OK. It should require a soft reset to work, right?

Yeps, sometimes even 2. But for some reason, some reg editors are not "signed" so anything they change won't stick.

Now it's working. Thanks so much. On a side note - since you are clearly the guru of these things:
I previously had an hp6315, which I liked because of the profiles feature. The bluetooth on my MDA is good and bad - I love it for the connection to my car, but the battery drain is really bad. Is there a profile type software out there (preferably free) that would allow me to make quick changes to turn bluetooth on and off, and turn the ringer on the device on and off, in a rather easy fashion? Thanks.

Also, when you talk about reg changes not sticking - do you mean they require a reset?

http://www.pocketzenphone.net/PZPForum/index.php

That one should do the trick.

No - for some reason some reg editors don't seem to have enough rights or something, any change you make with them doesn't stay permanent. I've ran into that with the one in Total Commander and one other, some things don't change at all, others change after any reboot.

I just got a new RAZR V3t with EDGE support to replace my V3 which is only GPRS. I use it as a wireless modem with my laptop.

So far the speed tests have come out at 25-35 kbps, which is still GPRS, not EDGE. T-Mobile of course says that it all depends on wher you are and how heavily the network is loaded etc. etc. :(

Thanks again. Awesome.