Smartphones/PDAs not connecting to TTF

ttf_rlb · Post by **ttf_rlb** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 6:05 am

If you are one of those unfortunate souls whose smartphone is no longer connecting to TTF, please do the following.

1. Visit http://www.whatsmyip.org/ and discover what IP your device is broadcasting, and,
2. Post a reply in this topic with what that IP is.

This will assist me in tracking down the issue.

r

ttf_ddickerson · Post by **ttf_ddickerson** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 6:51 am

I use a BB pearl with T-Mobile and my IP address is: 77.158.132.214

Thanks

ttf_rlb · Post by **ttf_rlb** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 7:13 am

Dusty, are you in Germany?

Also, all: When you post your IP, please also add where you are geographically located. Thanks.

r

ttf_ddickerson · Post by **ttf_ddickerson** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 7:16 am

I'm located in Houston Texas.

ttf_rlb · Post by **ttf_rlb** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 7:36 am

I thought so.

However, a lookup on your IP is...interesting.

General Information

Hostname:   77.158.132.214
ISP:   freenet Cityline GmbH
Organization:   freenet Cityline GmbH
Proxy:   None detected
Type:   Cable/DSL
Blacklist:

Geo-Location Information

Country:   Germany
State/Region:   10
City:   Kiel
Latitude:   54.3333
Longitude:   10.1333
Area Code:

ttf_Griffin · Post by **ttf_Griffin** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 7:39 am

1.236.9.147

I use a Sprint BB Curve.

Houston, TX

ttf_sly fox · Post by **ttf_sly fox** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 7:51 am

I'll ask my teenage son if he knows what you want, b/c i have no idea.

pm with instructions if you would like, otherwise......

the only time I ever got TTF on my phone was via the internet and the pages were too big to read.

ttf_tbone62 · Post by **ttf_tbone62** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:27 am

Richard,

I have a BlackBerry Curve. My provider is Verizon and the query you requested says 68.171.235.248

I'm located in Montgomery, Alabama.

And thanks for working to find a solution for this. I know it's probably a frustrating problem to try to track down.

Alea

ttf_jakeway1 · Post by **ttf_jakeway1** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:54 am

Richsrd,

Blackberry World Edition-Verizon-101.220.166.134. Located in Manasquan, NJ.

I was unable to connect through the server at work for a while, but that is not happening now.

ttf_Orestes · Post by **ttf_Orestes** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 6:55 pm

Richard--

I have a Blackberry Curve 8330 from Verizon Wireless, and my IP on the Blackberry is 141.208.222.29 I am located in Walla Walla, Washington.

Thanks for working on this.

ttf_BFW · Post by **ttf_BFW** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 8:11 pm

216.25.247.247
Located in Massachusetts.
I get a 403 error when I try to connect via phone.

ttf_JimArcher · Post by **ttf_JimArcher** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:27 pm

[AOL doesn't connect either - I use alternates.]

ttf_RedHotMama · Post by **ttf_RedHotMama** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 11:41 am

I don't know if it's a connected problem, but I can no longer access TTF from my works computer. Richard, I think you have details of this.

ttf_mwpfoot · Post by **ttf_mwpfoot** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 12:35 pm

Hey, look at that. My "smart" phone no longer connects to the forum.

What's My IP gives me a blank square as my IP, but other sites indicates 166.216.224.9 and 166.216.224.15.

Just let me know if anything else is needed!

POS Motorola on AT&T in CA, btw.

ttf_jnoxon · Post by **ttf_jnoxon** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 12:39 pm

Blackberry 9700 from T Mobile the IP is 68.171.234.155

ttf_Malec Heermans · Post by **ttf_Malec Heermans** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 3:56 pm

219.210.169.230 BB Curve Tmobile Brooklyn NY.

ttf_Brisko · Post by **ttf_Brisko** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:55 am

216.25.247.247, LG Env3, Minneapolis MN area

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 6:26 am

I don't know if my operator has any interference with TTF or not.

ttf_bgibson · Post by **ttf_bgibson** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 9:57 pm

TTF works just fine on my cellphone (Nokia) here in Oz, on IP address 203.202.52.112.

However, like RHM, I can't access it at work - I get a 403 error. I'm not at work now, so can't give you the IP address at work.

I don't know if it's connected, but I think it's been like that since that DNS issue a while back. Could it be some weird DNS propagation thing on services that use private DNS servers? I know BlackBerry uses it's own infrastructure / proxy for surfing, for example, rather than the ones maintained by the cellco/ISP. Similarly at work, where out IT dept has their own DNS servers.

I also note that, when at work, if I type the TTF URL I get a 403, but if I enter the IP address (216.139.89.3) I get a database error (which I also get at home), which indicates they are pointing at different things.

Disclaimer: I barely know what I am talking about, so that last bit might be complete gibberish.

Supplementary question: Why isn't it possible to access the TTF using the IP address, rather than the URL? Is it because of some need to parse the http request to discover which database to connect to?
If it were possible to get to TTF from the IP address, it might work as a work-around for people having connection issues - for example to default to the TTF database in the absence of a URL.

ttf_Orestes · Post by **ttf_Orestes** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 2:00 pm

I still remember the DNS issue. It actually occurred approximately a day (maybe two) after my BlackBerry gave up the TTF. (It continues not to function) The Dept. Veteran's Affairs computers also give the same error. incidentally, both the BlackBerry and the VA System are on proxy servers. My home computer is not. I too suspect that there is a problem with proxy server handling. I sure wish I had the access I used to have. You would think that it wouldn't be that big a problem for someone with access to the forum system to correct but then,

ttf_play_louder · Post by **ttf_play_louder** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 10:39 pm

In a further update, I did a 'tracert' at work today to see where tromboneforum.org resolved to when at work.

It resolved to 216.139.89.3, which seems to be correct (the trace didn't finish, however, it timed out after about 4 hops). But I still get the 403 error (or the database error, depending on whether I enter the URL or IP address)

I don't know whether that helps.

ttf_ddickerson · Post by **ttf_ddickerson** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 5:35 am

Bump...

Has their been any findings on the causality of the BB's not working?

FWIW, I'm able to login into other forums, but not able to even view this one, still.

Thanks
Dusty

ttf_sly fox · Post by **ttf_sly fox** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 5:41 am

i can get on w/ no problem with my verizon's motoralla droid

ttf_Griffin · Post by **ttf_Griffin** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 6:41 am

Quote from: ddickerson on Apr 23, 2010, 05:35AMBump...

Has their been any findings on the causality of the BB's not working?

FWIW, I'm able to login into other forums, but not able to even view this one, still.

Thanks
Dusty

I dont see why you'd want to. Mine worked at one point and all it would show was text. You couldn't access your account and everything was really blown up. It was honestly more trouble than it was worth. IMHO.
If you have an Ipod/Iphone, I've found that the forum browsing experience on that was pretty acceptable. But definitely not on the BB.

ttf_The Bone Ranger · Post by **ttf_The Bone Ranger** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:14 am

I get a big "FORBIDDEN" when I try to access the forum on my iphone.

IP: 58.163.175.133. I'm in Adelaide, South Australia.

Andrew

ttf_Todd Jonz · Post by **ttf_Todd Jonz** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:38 am

ddickerson writes:

> Has their been any findings on the causality of the BB's not working?

The owner of the "tromboneforum.org" domain is the only person with the capability to deal with problems like this, and it does not appear that he has attended to any maintenance or support issues for a very long time now. He does not appear even to have logged in here since last December. To the best of my knowledge he does not even communicate with the staff on a regular basis anymore. In short, the site is on autopilot.

ttf_John Beers Jr. · Post by **ttf_John Beers Jr.** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:52 am

I haven't had any issue with connecting to my forum via a Palm Treo 700P over verizon's standard broadband network (Not 3G), for whatever it's worth.

If anything, it's been more stable than my PC being able to connect.

ttf_sly fox · Post by **ttf_sly fox** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 12:05 pm

I hope nothing is wrong

I think the site is running fine (I know that this could be see as a "suck up" - but it is my truthful opinion.)

I can sympathize - it must take a lot of work to run this site and some of you folks are lucky enough to be employed and have families you have to split your valuable time. I'm just lucky enough to have family and perhaps some trombone friends here on the forums

ttf_Todd Jonz · Post by **ttf_Todd Jonz** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 1:03 pm

The Bone Ranger writes:

> I get a big "FORBIDDEN" when I try to access the forum on my iphone.

I would hazard to guess that this happens when your iPhone is connected to the outside world via your cellular carrier's network, but that everything works just fine when you're connected via WiFi. Is this correct? AOL users have reported similar problems. When they try to access TTF using the browser in AOL's client software they see the "forbidden" message, too. If they just use the AOL client to establish the network connection and then use another browser to reach TTF, everything works just fine.

What do these two scenarios have in common? A proxy server. AOL's native browser handles page requests through an AOL proxy. Data traffic on a cell phone is also handled through a proxy server, which must encapsulate TCP/IP traffic from the Internet in the protocol used on the cellular carrier's network to get it to the customer's phone.

Since the AOL problems and the cellular problems all started to occur at the same time, they are clearly related. The question is who is sending the "forbidden" response (HTTP error code 403), the TTF host or the proxy? To put it another way, is the TTF host denying access to these third-party proxy servers, or are multiple proxy servers supported by multiple carriers all denying their customers access to the TTF host? The first possibility seems far more likely than the second.

That, FWIW, is my arm's distance analysis of the problem.

ttf_John Beers Jr. · Post by **ttf_John Beers Jr.** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 1:06 pm

Todd- proxy or DNS?

Try using Google DNS in place of your router's DNS (Server 1: 8.8.8.8, server 2: 8.8.4.4) and see if you experience the same issues maybe?

ttf_Todd Jonz · Post by **ttf_Todd Jonz** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 1:53 pm

John writes:

> proxy or DNS?

A DNS problem would result in an inability to complete a connection. Nothing in this scenario suggests there is any problem establishing a connection. The fact that there's an HTTP response code indicates that communication has, in fact, been established. If the proxy couldn't reach the target host, it would not return an HTTP 403 error. Once the HTTP request reaches the target host, DNS is not involved; a socket between the proxy and the web server is already open, so there's no need for the server to resolve a name to an IP address.

> Try using Google DNS...and see if you experience the same issues

I'm not experiencing the problem myself, but others who are might want to give this a try (assuming their phones permit them to select a DNS server, which some probably don't.) Nevertheless, I wouldn't expect this to have any effect.

ttf_tbone62 · Post by **ttf_tbone62** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 4:27 pm

Quote from: Todd Jonz on Apr 24, 2010, 01:53PMJohn writes:

> proxy or DNS?

A DNS problem would result in an inability to complete a connection. Nothing in this scenario suggests there is any problem establishing a connection. The fact that there's an HTTP response code indicates that communication has, in fact, been established. If the proxy couldn't reach the target host, it would not return an HTTP 403 error. Once the HTTP request reaches the target host, DNS is not involved; a socket between the proxy and the web server is already open, so there's no need for the server to resolve a name to an IP address.

> Try using Google DNS...and see if you experience the same issues

I'm not experiencing the problem myself, but others who are might want to give this a try (assuming their phones permit them to select a DNS server, which some probably don't.) Nevertheless, I wouldn't expect this to have any effect.

I'm finding it frustrating, but am hopeful it will be resolved. I get messages related to Forum issues sometimes and need to be able to check in during the day, but can't. I've tried every browser configuration available on my BlackBerry Tour (Verizon is my carrier) and still no dice. I can access the Open Horn, which looks like it uses the same forum software (perhaps a different version) but not TTF. The site manager had mentioned at one point, I think in Announcements, that he hoped to have some sort of solution by January or so of this year. Obviously that didn't happen for some reason.

Perhaps he'll stop in here and give us an update at some point.

ttf_play_louder · Post by **ttf_play_louder** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:02 am

Another option to try if you can't get your normal smartphone browser to work is to try Opera Mini.

Opera Mini works through an Opera server that connects to the web, before packaging up the page to send to your phone, so bypasses your normal route to the internet. It might just work. Or it might not.

(Make sure you get Opera Mini, not Opera Mobile. Opera Mobile is a regular browser, so will get the same issue.)

ttf_ddickerson · Post by **ttf_ddickerson** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:30 am

Well, I just traded in my BB pearl for a BB Curve, and I still get the same message. Forbidden, I think, and Todd is correct. His scenario makes the most sense, since we're theorizing second hand.

Thanks!

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 6:32 am

Quote from: ddickerson on Apr 27, 2010, 05:30AMWell, I just traded in my BB pearl for a BB Curve, and I still get the same message. Forbidden, I think, and Todd is correct. His scenario makes the most sense, since we're theorizing second hand.

Thanks!

i have the new BB Bold. i am connected via my wi-fi at home and still can't access the site. i'm forbidden.

dg

ttf_ddickerson · Post by **ttf_ddickerson** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 6:40 am

Quote from: D Gibson on Apr 27, 2010, 06:32AMi have the new BB Bold. i am connected via my wi-fi at home and still can't access the site. i'm forbidden.

dg

I use T-Mobile. If this could be an ISP issue, are there any T-Mobile users that can access this site?

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 7:08 am

Quote from: ddickerson on Apr 27, 2010, 06:40AMI use T-Mobile. If this could be an ISP issue, are there any T-Mobile users that can access this site?

for the record, i'm tmobile, too. but, i'm accessing via my wi-fi signal.

dg

ttf_John Beers Jr. · Post by **ttf_John Beers Jr.** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 7:18 am

Dave- could you take a digipic of your error message when you try to access the site on your blackberry through your WiFi?

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 7:28 am

Quote from: John Beers Jr. on Apr 27, 2010, 07:18AMDave- could you take a digipic of your error message when you try to access the site on your blackberry through your WiFi?

there's no option to do so within the browser program. the page says "403 Forbidden-you don't have permission to access/on this server"

dg

ttf_John Beers Jr. · Post by **ttf_John Beers Jr.** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 7:34 am

Quote from: D Gibson on Apr 27, 2010, 07:28AMthere's no option to do so within the browser program. the page says "403 Forbidden-you don't have permission to access/on this server"

dg

And you obviously don't have any error accessing the website through the same connection through your computer...

I can't help but wonder if it might be a problem with the base RIM browser with the blackberry...

Have you tried downloading Opera Mini for your BB, to see if maybe it's some code on the website that says "I don't recognize this browser, therefore I don't like it"?

ttf_Thomas Matta · Post by **ttf_Thomas Matta** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 8:30 am

I woould pitch-in $$$ to have a good iPhone app created for TFF.

ttf_Todd Jonz · Post by **ttf_Todd Jonz** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 10:48 am

Tom writes:

> I would pitch-in $$$ to have a good iPhone app created for TFF.

The SMF software on which TTF runs supports the concept of themes (sometimes called "skins") that allow a site to customize its forum's appearance. SMF 2.0, which is still in beta test, includes a theme called SMF4iPhone that optimizes SMF content on iPhones and other mobile devices (follow the link for screenshots.)

Alas, TTF is running a beta version of SMF 1.1 that's more than four years old. There's also the small problem that the site has no apparent system administration support anymore....

ttf_Burgerbob · Post by **ttf_Burgerbob** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 12:01 pm

My Zune HD running the ported IE won't view the site either.

Edit: I can only use my HD on a wifi network.

ttf_Todd Jonz · Post by **ttf_Todd Jonz** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 2:55 pm

PL writes:

> Another option to try if you can't get your normal smartphone
> browser to work is to try Opera Mini. Opera Mini works through
> an Opera server that connects to the web, before packaging up
> the page to send to your phone

That Opera server is a proxy. If my theory is correct, Opera Mini may fail as well. It would certainly be interesting to find out.

dg writes:

> i am connected via my wi-fi at home and still can't access the site.

Okay, this answers one question and begs the next: can anyone get *any* device that experiences this problem on the cellular network to connect successfully via WiFi?

It's possible that due to its design the Blackberry browser, like Opera Mini, requires its content to be preprocessed by a proxy server, presumably in an effort to reduce bandwidth requirements and improve performance. If this is the case all requests would have to pass through the proxy regardless of whether you're connected via WiFi or the cellular network.

ttf_BFW · Post by **ttf_BFW** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 4:06 pm

I can connect via my Droid smartphone.

ttf_sly fox · Post by **ttf_sly fox** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 4:47 pm

Quote from: BFW on Apr 27, 2010, 04:06PMI can connect via my Droid smartphone.

Quote from: sly fox on Apr 23, 2010, 05:41AMi can get on w/ no problem with my verizon's motoralla droid

that makes 2 of us

ttf_play_louder · Post by **ttf_play_louder** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 2:30 am

So I just tried Opera Mini. It works fine; I can connect to TTF.

That suggests that the Opera servers connect OK to TTF. However, I can also access TTF fine on my phone already, so it would be interesting for someone who can't to try this experiment.

The easiest way to get Opera Mini on your phone is to use your regular phone browser to go to m.opera.com. There should be a download link there for your device.

NB I can't check to see if I can log in, because my user name has an underbar (_) in it, and the implementation of text input in Opera Mini does not allow me to input characters not directly on the keyboard of the phone (I have a Nokia E72). Very frustrating, which would make Opera no use to me for this. So beware if you have funny characters in your username or password!

ttf_tbone62 · Post by **ttf_tbone62** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 4:25 am

Quote from: play_louder on Apr 28, 2010, 02:30AMThat suggests that the Opera servers connect OK to TTF. However, I can also access TTF fine on my phone already, so it would be interesting for someone who can't to try this experiment.

I'll give this a try today and report back in this evening. I have no access whatsoever from my BlackBerry at the moment, so if it works for me it will be great. Thanks for posting.

ttf_tbone62 · Post by **ttf_tbone62** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 2:57 pm

Posting with my BlackBerry using Opera Mini!!!!!!!!!!!!

ttf_play_louder · Post by **ttf_play_louder** » Thu Apr 29, 2010 12:07 am

hurrah!

Posting this from my phone too, but not using Opera!!