Week1: Getting to know my AT&T Fuze…

Yesterday, I didn’t even bother trying to adjust my new Fuze.  I spent the remainder of the day (and so far today) just getting to know the new device and seeing how it operates.   There are so many new things to play with on this device.

It is a totally wonderful device, and has pretty much everything that I could ever want.   It certainly has absolutely everything I want now, but I phrased the previous sentence that way because there’s always the chance that I could discover that there is something else that I want but that this device does not provide.  I’m sure there will be a few, but I doubt they will be all that important to me.

So, I’ve already read the manual twice over, and there is so much stuff on this device that the manual barely scratches the surface.   I’m going to have to do some serious digging…

The Touch Flo 3D (TF3D) interface shown on the commercials really is that good, but is completely alien to me since I came from the standard “Today” screen interface, so this will likely prove a very illuminating experience for me…

I finally picked-up an AT&T Fuze (Touch Pro)

After a lot of soul searching, I came to the conclusion that while I could not afford to buy an AT&T Fuze on a financial basis, I also discovered that I could not afford to keep my original HP iPAQ h5555 and put-off buying the AT&T Fuze until later. 

The HP iPAQ h5555 has outlived it’s usefulness for me.  It has WM2003 as the OS (putting me five versions behind the current OS), 128Megs of memory, no VGA, no Phone (so I have to carry a separate cell phone), no GPS (so I have to carry a separate GPS receiver), no slide-out keyboard, and no data plan to be able to surf the Internet from anywhere.

For example, I most certainly need a newer mobile device in order to continue to be able to provide useable technical support to users in the Windows Mobile Total Access forums.  Almost all of the new users in those forums have a newer device with Windows Mobile 5, or the newer WM6 and WM6.1, so it becomes infinitely harder to provide technical support when you don’t have the benefit of owning a newer device yourself. 

Yet again, I most certainly need a newer mobile device in order to be able to provide technical support to users in the GPS Tuner forums.  This device, like a lot of other devices that GPS Tuner users own, provides users with a built-in GPS radio, so that I can use 3rd party GPS Navigation software right on the device.  GPS Tuner also makes use of various online maps (Google Maps, Topo Maps, etc), so having a device that is capable of using an Internet data plan will go a long ways towards helping me troubleshoot additional capabilities of the program.

As a Microsoft MVP for Mobile Devices, it helps to have a newer mobile device in order to compare notes and professional opinions on the very same newer devices that my peers own and use on a daily basis.

As a Product Reviewer and Writer at MobilitySite, it helps to have a more recent mobile device in order to properly evaluate 3rd party programs and software, since most of the newer programs won’t even install on older PDAs.

And finally, as a Mobile Technology Enthusiast, Professional Writer, and Independent Consultant, it helps to have all the best tools available in order to help you perform your job, no matter where you might find yourself.

So, I bought the AT&T Fuze, and I’m ever so happy that I did!   I expect to continue delving into this device for at least the next month or so, as this is my first modern day device in the last 5 years.

More to come in the following days (presuming I remember to come up for air).

2Wire Technical Support passing the buck to AT&T UVerse.

I’m having problems getting the necessary functionalities back that I used to enjoy while using standard DSL.   Namely:

  • VPN Client: Client Access to IP Pool requires additional “spare” IP’s to use on the home network if a VPN client connect to the network.
  • Dynamic DNS Agent:Since I lost the ability for Static IP, I must now rely on Dynamic DNS services to link my current IP Address with a personalized domain name.

 

Neither of these services are provided by my new 3800HGV-B 2Wire Router, so the best solution at this time is to try inserting my old Router (Linksys WRVS4400N Business class Router) into the 2Wire.

Understandably, AT&T UVerse Technical Support does not support such a configuration since the service works with just the 2Wire Router in place.   Likewise, Linksys cannot assist me in configuring an “upstream” router.  Logically, 2Wire would be the best party to provide additional help in supporting my desired configuration, but instead of trying to be helpful, they are instead referring me back to AT&T. 

I’ve since replied back to them and advised them that AT&T won’t assist since the service works, and Linksys shouldn’t be asked to assist since the problem is with a piece of upstream equipment. 

 

We’ll see what their response is…

Trying to setup a good Dynamic DNS solution

Since I had to give-up my Static IP Address as part of my UVerse installation, I am looking around for a way to setup a Dynamic DNS Solution that would provide consistent access to my Home Network from the outside world.

The Problem: The challenge is that since I am now using PPOE to connnect to AT&T, my IP Address changes frequently.   Since the IP Address changes frequently, I cannot consistently know when the IP Address changes, and what it changes to. 

The Partial Solution: Enter Dynamic DNS, or DynDNS.  This is a solution that works to automatically detect the new IP Address assignment and update DNS “Dynamically” whenever a change occurs.  The Router (or software package running on one of the Private Network PCs) would detect this change, then notify the DynDNS Host Server (which is always consistent) of the new IP Address.  The downside of this particular solution is that the DynDNS Host Server will traditionally only allow the new user to pick a name for a subdomain of their existing domain choices (in my case, helpdesk.dyndns.org), and some users like myself do not like this kind of restriction.  

The Rest of the Solution (I hope):  So I’m working with my provider to see if I can create a new subdomain of matson-consulting.com and have that setup to redirect incoming traffic to the helpdesk.dyndns.org URL.

I hope I can get this setup…