Blackberry-type push email service?

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Can someone PLEASE clue me in here. I've spent the entire day yesterday trying to find out who/how/when/where whatever... Is there a service similiar to the Blackberry email push service for the iPhone???



Of course ATT Wireless customer service didn't know, and the guy at the Apple Store in Norfolk wasn't too sure either. This is one HUGE thing that my wife needs since she owns her own business. We both want one, but this lack of service might keep it out of our hands.
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    iferdiferd Posts: 20member
    Yahoo provides free push e-mail to iPhone. I think that's it.
  • Reply 2 of 23
    physguyphysguy Posts: 920member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by His Dudeness View Post


    Can someone PLEASE clue me in here. I've spent the entire day yesterday trying to find out who/how/when/where whatever... Is there a service similiar to the Blackberry email push service for the iPhone???



    Of course ATT Wireless customer service didn't know, and the guy at the Apple Store in Norfolk wasn't too sure either. This is one HUGE thing that my wife needs since she owns her own business. We both want one, but this lack of service might keep it out of our hands.



    I've been wondering what the value of push email is when you have unlimted data access? I get my email now, with an audio and vibration indication, within less than fifteen minutes of its arrival at my email server. This is currently limited by the checking frequency that the iPhone email client imposes of not checking more frequently than 15 minutes. For me this is more than fast enough but what do people really require? Would 5 minutes be OK? This could be done by Apple with a software update but my real qaestion is what does push email do for you? I had originally thought that it was to address expensive, slow, and limited network access? Since this is no longer the case ( and please don't drag this off into an EDGE discussion) why do people need push email?
  • Reply 3 of 23
    Well, I honestly don't know. My wife likes it, but how does the email client in the iPhone work? You can set it up to automatically download mail from more than one email account?
  • Reply 4 of 23
    physguyphysguy Posts: 920member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by His Dudeness View Post


    Well, I honestly don't know. My wife likes it, but how does the email client in the iPhone work? You can set it up to automatically download mail from more than one email account?



    I currently have three email accounts active - gmail, .mac, and my business account. The iPhone checks each account every 15 minutes. Works great. BTW, this was all done from my iPhone while waiting on a plane Also wanted to add that I'd does this over the EDGE network in the background even when the phone is in the waiting state with the display off.
  • Reply 5 of 23
    spindriftspindrift Posts: 674member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by iFerd View Post


    Yahoo provides free push e-mail to iPhone. I think that's it.



    Yes, Yahoo do provide free push email to iPhone users.
  • Reply 6 of 23
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by physguy View Post


    I currently have three email accounts active - gmail, .mac, and my business account. The iPhone checks each account every 15 minutes. Works great. BTW, this was all done from my iPhone while waiting on a plane Also wanted to add that I'd does this over the EDGE network in the background even when the phone is in the waiting state with the display off.



    The sweet sound of music to my ears, sir. Thanks.
  • Reply 7 of 23
    tomkarltomkarl Posts: 239member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by physguy View Post


    I've been wondering what the value of push email is when you have unlimted data access? I get my email now, with an audio and vibration indication, within less than fifteen minutes of its arrival at my email server.



    Agree completely. Set it to auto check and it works just fine. I can't imagine how a wait of a maximum of 15 minutes could be the end of the world.



    Also to the OP (I believe): I am currently set up to check three different e-mail accounts and it works great.
  • Reply 8 of 23
    To tell the truth, I thought Blackberry Push email was the only way to get your email on to your smart phone, asides from just plain synching using HotSynch.
  • Reply 9 of 23
    physguyphysguy Posts: 920member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tomkarl View Post


    Agree completely. Set it to auto check and it works just fine. I can't imagine how a wait of a maximum of 15 minutes could be the end of the world.



    Also to the OP (I believe): I am currently set up to check three different e-mail accounts and it works great.



    That's good to hear. Is there a user of push out that could provide more of the pros? I'd really like to understand this. I've heard something about security concerns but we opperate secure pop and IMAP and haven't had any issues. Thanks in advance.
  • Reply 10 of 23
    dotcomctodotcomcto Posts: 130member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by physguy View Post


    I've been wondering what the value of push email is when you have unlimted data access? I get my email now, with an audio and vibration indication, within less than fifteen minutes of its arrival at my email server. This is currently limited by the checking frequency that the iPhone email client imposes of not checking more frequently than 15 minutes. For me this is more than fast enough but what do people really require? Would 5 minutes be OK? This could be done by Apple with a software update but my real qaestion is what does push email do for you? I had originally thought that it was to address expensive, slow, and limited network access? Since this is no longer the case ( and please don't drag this off into an EDGE discussion) why do people need push email?



    Well...if you're using e-mail and SMS for monitoring your systems, you might feel differently. I personally couldn't live with waiting up to 15 minutes to learn that a system was having an issue.







    --DotComCTO
  • Reply 11 of 23
    physguyphysguy Posts: 920member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DotComCTO View Post


    Well...if you're using e-mail and SMS for monitoring your systems, you might feel differently. I personally couldn't live with waiting up to 15 minutes to learn that a system was having an issue.







    --DotComCTO



    I understand your point butwhy do you need both?
  • Reply 12 of 23
    dotcomctodotcomcto Posts: 130member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by physguy View Post


    I understand your point butwhy do you need both?



    We use SMS for the initial alert, but that's limited to a whopping 160 characters per message. That's not enough for a descriptive message. Therefore, we send an SMS *and* an e-mail with the full details. The upside of sending an SMS alert is that SMS messages always get through to the device. If any of the servers/devices in the e-mail infrastructure go down, we'll always get our SMS messages. When RIM had their very long outage a few months ago, we couldn't get any e-mails, and our Blackberry-to-Blackberry IM was down. The only thing that worked was SMS messaging.



    Oh...and while I'm at it...aside from all the push capability I need for the iPhone, I also need the iPhone to have continuous alerting available. This way, if we set the device down for a few minutes and come back to it, the alerts should still be going off.



    --DotComCTO
  • Reply 13 of 23
    physguyphysguy Posts: 920member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DotComCTO View Post


    We use SMS for the initial alert, but that's limited to a whopping 160 characters per message. That's not enough for a descriptive message. Therefore, we send an SMS *and* an e-mail with the full details. The upside of sending an SMS alert is that SMS messages always get through to the device. If any of the servers/devices in the e-mail infrastructure go down, we'll always get our SMS messages. When RIM had their very long outage a few months ago, we couldn't get any e-mails, and our Blackberry-to-Blackberry IM was down. The only thing that worked was SMS messaging.



    Oh...and while I'm at it...aside from all the push capability I need for the iPhone, I also need the iPhone to have continuous alerting available. This way, if we set the device down for a few minutes and come back to it, the alerts should still be going off.



    --DotComCTO



    OK, so basically SMS is required and push is a convenience. Since the iPhone checks your email when you access the INBOX (or you just hit the check button) then you get the information you need when you need it.



    Regarding the alerts do you mean audible? The iPhone doesn't do that but the visual alerts for missed calls, voicemails, SMSs, alarms, etc. are persistent until you access the iPhone.
  • Reply 14 of 23
    dotcomctodotcomcto Posts: 130member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by physguy View Post


    OK, so basically SMS is required and push is a convenience. Since the iPhone checks your email when you access the INBOX (or you just hit the check button) then you get the information you need when you need it.



    Regarding the alerts do you mean audible? The iPhone doesn't do that but the visual alerts for missed calls, voicemails, SMSs, alarms, etc. are persistent until you access the iPhone.



    Not sure I would call push e-mail a convenience, but I guess that's a matter of personal opinion and perception...especially when you get woken up in the wee hours of the morning!



    The other aspects of "corporate integration" are also related to corporate calendar (e.g., having the calendar sync OTA to the corporate calendar) and access to the Global Address List (GAL). I have no intentions of adding the email address and phone numbers of everyone in the company to the iPhone. So, the iPhone has to be able to connect to the GAL and be able to look up that information.



    As for alerts, I presently use a tool called Message Alerts from WebMessgener. It basically sits in the background and looks at all inbound e-mail and SMS messages. Based on rules that I set up, I can have the Blackberry repeatedly alert me (sound/vibrate) when messages with a certain set of conditions (usually keywords) comes in. Actually, what I have it do on SMS messages is to ignore all SMS messages that have certain non-critical keywords in them. Any SMS messages that don't have non-critical keywords makes the alerts sound (kind of an inverse logic, but it saves me from having lots of rules).



    BTW - visual alerts don't necessarily work with the iPhone because the screen turns itself off. So, there's no way to know if something came in unless you wake up the phone.



    I'm half awake right now...does this all make sense?







    --DotComCTO
  • Reply 15 of 23
    physguyphysguy Posts: 920member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DotComCTO View Post


    Not sure I would call push e-mail a convenience, but I guess that's a matter of personal opinion and perception...especially when you get woken up in the wee hours of the morning!



    The other aspects of "corporate integration" are also related to corporate calendar (e.g., having the calendar sync OTA to the corporate calendar) and access to the Global Address List (GAL). I have no intentions of adding the email address and phone numbers of everyone in the company to the iPhone. So, the iPhone has to be able to connect to the GAL and be able to look up that information.



    As for alerts, I presently use a tool called Message Alerts from WebMessgener. It basically sits in the background and looks at all inbound e-mail and SMS messages. Based on rules that I set up, I can have the Blackberry repeatedly alert me (sound/vibrate) when messages with a certain set of conditions (usually keywords) comes in. Actually, what I have it do on SMS messages is to ignore all SMS messages that have certain non-critical keywords in them. Any SMS messages that don't have non-critical keywords makes the alerts sound (kind of an inverse logic, but it saves me from having lots of rules).



    BTW - visual alerts don't necessarily work with the iPhone because the screen turns itself off. So, there's no way to know if something came in unless you wake up the phone.



    I'm half awake right now...does this all make sense?







    --DotComCTO



    Yep it all makes sense. Just one more round before turning in as this one of the few objective discussions on this I've been able to find. Obviously the customisation you refer to is not (yet) availble but I would think the integration is already there since the iPhone require synchronization with a desktop which is presumably already sync'd with the corpoprate databases. Also, FYI, you can set the iPhone so the screen doesn't turn off. Don't know what that does to battery life but the setting is available.



    g'night
  • Reply 16 of 23
    dotcomctodotcomcto Posts: 130member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by physguy View Post


    Yep it all makes sense. Just one more round before turning in as this one of the few objective discussions on this I've been able to find. Obviously the customisation you refer to is not (yet) availble but I would think the integration is already there since the iPhone require synchronization with a desktop which is presumably already sync'd with the corpoprate databases. Also, FYI, you can set the iPhone so the screen doesn't turn off. Don't know what that does to battery life but the setting is available.



    g'night



    What you're saying is correct, but requires me to be tethered to a computer that is presently connected to the corporate network. The idea of "push" is to get your mail as soon as it comes in - like SMS in a way. The iPhone calendar doesn't sync wirelessly. If the calendar checked for appointments over-the-air every few minutes, that would be fine, too.



    --DotComCTO
  • Reply 17 of 23
    I could not perform my job w/o push email.



    As DotComCTO said, I rely on instant email for network alerts on a WAN/MAN. Although, we don't use SMS, we use Orion and SNMP traps.



    Until the iPhone licenses EAS, I can't use it as a business phone (at least not for my job)



    With Outlook active sync I can enter an address and contact information on my laptop and it instantly syncs with my Treo. Also, we have over 10000 contacts in the GAL. No way in he!! ima gonna enter those or usb sync all those.
  • Reply 18 of 23
    physguyphysguy Posts: 920member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by trailmaster308 View Post


    I could not perform my job w/o push email.



    As DotComCTO said, I rely on instant email for network alerts on a WAN/MAN. Although, we don't use SMS, we use Orion and SNMP traps.



    Until the iPhone licenses EAS, I can't use it as a business phone (at least not for my job)



    With Outlook active sync I can enter an address and contact information on my laptop and it instantly syncs with my Treo. Also, we have over 10000 contacts in the GAL. No way in he!! ima gonna enter those or usb sync all those.



    These comments always confuse me in that you say you wouldn't sync your iPhone but your Treo syncs automatically? Since the iPhone also syncs automatically when you charge is it the timing? You need that new contact instantly? Or is it that the Treo accesses the data over the web so you don't have them locally?



    I understand about the email and the appointments which are time sensitive.
  • Reply 19 of 23
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by physguy View Post


    These comments always confuse me in that you say you wouldn't sync your iPhone but your Treo syncs automatically? Since the iPhone also syncs automatically when you charge is it the timing? You need that new contact instantly? Or is it that the Treo accesses the data over the web so you don't have them locally?



    I understand about the email and the appointments which are time sensitive.



    Sure let me try to explain better.



    I am a network analyst for two hospitals in the same city. We have a MAN/WAN between both facilites and lots of time sensitive network equipment on each floor. We have software that monitors all the switches and routers and wireless equipment on every floor and between all facilities.



    If something goes down, we have fault tolerant systems in place, but I need to know ASAP when a switch goes down. We have monitoring software that alerts me as soon as a system goes down. Otherwise, we might have a meds despensing system not working or a MRI machine not communicating.



    Our email system is Exchange 2003 SP2. With this system we can push email to devices instantly that are Exchange Active Sync (EAS) enabled. Also, we can create security policies for those devices. In other words we can say "for every device that trys to connect to our exchange with their AD creditials we can force a security policy to that phone that we can control should it be lost".



    With the EAS device (ie my Treo) I get my alerts over air as soon as they appear in my email. I dont have to do anything.



    The adding contacts in my outlook and having the show up instantly on my phone is not a must have for my job but its a nice feature.



    The iPhone doesn't license EAS yet

    Im not usually at my desk anyway
  • Reply 20 of 23
    physguyphysguy Posts: 920member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by trailmaster308 View Post


    Sure let me try to explain better.



    I am a network analyst for two hospitals in the same city. We have a MAN/WAN between both facilites and lots of time sensitive network equipment on each floor. We have software that monitors all the switches and routers and wireless equipment on every floor and between all facilities.



    If something goes down, we have fault tolerant systems in place, but I need to know ASAP when a switch goes down. We have monitoring software that alerts me as soon as a system goes down. Otherwise, we might have a meds despensing system not working or a MRI machine not communicating.



    Our email system is Exchange 2003 SP2. With this system we can push email to devices instantly that are Exchange Active Sync (EAS) enabled. Also, we can create security policies for those devices. In other words we can say "for every device that trys to connect to our exchange with their AD creditials we can force a security policy to that phone that we can control should it be lost".



    With the EAS device (ie my Treo) I get my alerts over air as soon as they appear in my email. I dont have to do anything.



    The adding contacts in my outlook and having the show up instantly on my phone is not a must have for my job but its a nice feature.



    The iPhone doesn't license EAS yet

    Im not usually at my desk anyway



    Thanks. That makes sense.
Sign In or Register to comment.