Question about Exchange use on iPhone 3G

[ninethirty]

Hey Everyone,

I'm a bit confused about how Exchange works on the iPhone. I use my current iPhone for mostly personal use, but I do check my work email on it (pretty much the only email address I use - our IT dept made a version that would work on our iPhones) and would love to sync my work calendar as well.

Now that the phone supports exchange I'd like switch the account to exchange is it possible for me to do this with a consumer plan or do I have to purchase a business plan and pay an extra $45 for all this? That would seem really stupid to me if that's the case

Thanks in advance,

 

[greenmymac]

Hey Everyone,

I'm a bit confused about how Exchange works on the iPhone. I use my current iPhone for mostly personal use, but I do check my work email on it (pretty much the only email address I use - our IT dept made a version that would work on our iPhones) and would love to sync my work calendar as well.

Now that the phone supports exchange I'd like switch the account to exchange is it possible for me to do this with a consumer plan or do I have to purchase a business plan and pay an extra $45 for all this? That would seem really stupid to me if that's the case

Thanks in advance,

No i think a consumer can use it but you do have to pay for the added feature which i think is the$45

 

[PoitNarf]

The business data plan is only required if your iPhone is on a business account and not your own personal account. Exchange will work fine on either data plan.

 

[greenmymac]

The business data plan is only required if your iPhone is on a business account and not your own personal account. Exchange will work fine on either data plan.

but isnt there a feature fee

 

[PoitNarf]

but isnt there a feature fee

Exchange is built into the 2.0 firmware and there isn't any way to shut this capability off. I'm 99.999% sure that Exchange will work fine regardless of data plan. Most iPhone users that will utilize Exchange will probably be on business plans anyway, so why would they bother going after the small amount of non-business users that will use their iPhone's to check their work email?

 

[greenmymac]

Exchange is built into the 2.0 firmware and there isn't any way to shut this capability off. I'm 99.999% sure that Exchange will work fine regardless of data plan.

Ok i just thought I heard somewhere that the feature would be de activated until at&t put it on the account

 

[PoitNarf]

Ok i just thought I heard somewhere that the feature would be de activated until at&t put it on the account

It's all unsubstantiated rumor at this point, but I don't see any realistic way for them to block Exchange access... even if they could it would only work when you're going through the AT&T network... as soon as you're on WiFi then there's no way for them to put restrictions on what types of data or which ports your iPhone can communicate with.

 

[greenmymac]

It's all unsubstantiated rumor at this point, but I don't see any realistic way for them to block Exchange access... even if they could it would only work when you're going through the AT&T network... as soon as you're on WiFi then there's no way for them to put restrictions on what types of data or which ports your iPhone can communicate with.

Ah that makes sense.....thanks

 

[ninethirty]

Yes, thank you very much!

It's all unsubstantiated rumor at this point, but I don't see any realistic way for them to block Exchange access... even if they could it would only work when you're going through the AT&T network... as soon as you're on WiFi then there's no way for them to put restrictions on what types of data or which ports your iPhone can communicate with.

 

[danny_w]

If Apple has implemented an Exchange feature enable flag (which they could do, we just don't know), there IS a way for at&t to prevent Exchange from working if the feature is disabled by default and they fail to enable it b/c you didn't buy the feature. Conversely if you DO buy the feature and then later delete it from your account, they could simply disable the feature in the phone. This would be easy enough for Apple and AT&T to implement if so desired. I have no idea if Apple has implemented such a feature enable flag or not, but don't ever say it's not possible.

 

[PoitNarf]

I have no idea if Apple has implemented such a feature enable flag or not, but don't ever say it's not possible.

Very well, improbable but not impossible. It would be very underhanded of them to implement an Exchange enable/disable flag...

 

[danny_w]

Very well, improbable but not impossible. It would be very underhanded of them to implement an Exchange enable/disable flag...

For some reason though it is just the kind of thing that smacks of Apple...

 

[gazzer82]

Well if there is no flag specifically turning the feature off then O2 will not be able to block exchange activesync connections as the use standard http and https ports (80 and 8080) which connects to a web server on your exchange server and then passes through to the application.

So if they are going to block it they would need to either inspect every packet to check for specific header (i can't see them doing this, huge overheads!!) or block ports 80 and 8080, which the absolutely cannot do!!

So i think you will be fine without the business plan.

Cheers

Gareth

 

[ScottInTheOC]

I spoke to AT&T Business today (7/8) and they told me that in order to get Exchange support and VPN capability and future business app support you have to use the Enterprise plan.

The Personal Data Plan is for use with .ME services.

In addition, if you are getting the Enterprise plan, you can only do that at AT&T stores according to them.

 

[kenelbow]

Logically, you wouldn't need an enterprise plan for ANY of the extra features. ActiveSync and remote wipe are both supported by Exchange Server 2003 SP2 or Exchange 2007 SP1 via http or https. As far a AT&T knows this is only web traffic, especially if you are using https which is encrypted so they have no idea what the packets contain.

As far as VPN goes, that is also just a service provided by hardware owned by the business and has nothing to do with AT&T's network other than it acting as a dumb pipe. The only thing preventing it from working is if they actively blocked IPSEC, or PPTP traffic unless you have an enterprise data plan which would suck. Likewise Intranet is something made available by the business. You would most likely need a VPN tunnel established just to access this.

So I see now reason WHY one would need an enterprise data plan. This is simply a cash grab from AT&T as you need nothing more than an unfiltered Internet connection for ActiveSync or VPN to work. AT&T could potentially block access to these services via a flag on your phone or actively blocking VPN traffic or unencrypted http traffic that is detected as ActiveSync. If I need to sign up for an Enterprise Plan on my personal phone just so I can use it with my work's Exchange Server and VPN (both of which I admin) I will not be happy.

 

[mbaran]

I spoke to AT&T Business today (7/8) and they told me that in order to get Exchange support and VPN capability and future business app support you have to use the Enterprise plan.

The Personal Data Plan is for use with .ME services.

In addition, if you are getting the Enterprise plan, you can only do that at AT&T stores according to them.

I've never understood why people call ATT and ask. Thats like calling and asking if you can have service for free, just because. Of course thats what they will tell you, thats what the website says in more or less words.

The basic gist of it, is that businesses paying for service, will require the 45 dollar line. 95 percent of personal users, have no idea what exchange is, and will never use it. The business people all use it probably and thus justify the extra costs.

Personal Data plans are able to get on active sync, as plenty of people with tilt's and BJII's can. Plus, no other vendor has said anything about "business" plans, so we can pretty much say apple has no "switch" that ATT can control.

 

[rudini]

So, now that it has been out of a couple of days, can anyone confirm that with a Personal Data plan, ActiveSync would actually work?

thanks!
rudy

 

[Jack Dangers]

So, now that it has been out of a couple of days, can anyone confirm that with a Personal Data plan, ActiveSync would actually work?

thanks!
rudy

It works perfectly on the Personal Data Plan. You do not need the enterprise plan. It does a great job, better email experience than my blackberry

 

[rudini]

It works perfectly on the Personal Data Plan. You do not need the enterprise plan. It does a great job, better email experience than my blackberry

Sweet! Thank you so much! That's all i wanted to hear!

 

[mrtune]

Jack Dangers is correct. I only have the personal ($30/month) data plan and exchange activesync works flawless!

Also, I am using mobile me service and I have set for both services to push my contacts and calendars. They coincide on the phone together nicely. I had heard from some of these news bloggers that you can't have both, but I found out they are wrong.