Reply to PC email is broken

This is evidently an old problem with Cingular and certain phones.
I just discovered it with my RAZR. It also occurs with Motorola
V400, V551, and probably others:

From a PC email client, I send a message to the phone.
The "From" address is:

[email protected]

The "To" address is:

<phone number>@mobile.mycingular.com

The phone receives the message and displays the
announcement:

"1 New Message from 36245"

When I press the "Read" button, the message is
displayed:

Subject: A test
Msg: The test.
From: My Email
<time and date>

The "My Email" name corresponds to an entry in the
RAZR phonebook for "[email protected]", my normal
email address. This reveals that the software does
know about the correct reply address. If a person
sends an email from a source that is not in the
phonebook, the actual email address is displayed
as the "From:" address.

When I press the "Reply" button, enter some text,
and move on to the "Send" screen, I see:

Msg: A reply
To: 36245
Subject: A test
Receipt: No

The message cannot be sent because the "To"
address is the number 36245, rather than
the sender's email address (or phonebook
entry name.)

On some phones, changing the email gateway
number will fix this problem. For example, on
a Motorola V551, using the gateway 121 as
frequently suggested by Cingular tech support, will not
work, but using the gateway 36245 will fix the problem.

So far, nothing I've tried on the RAZR will make
email replies work correctly.

Is it possible to reach a responsible person in
engineering at Cingular who might be interested
in fixing this problem?

Any help or insight will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Hugh Sparks, [email protected]

---

› See More: Reply to PC email is broken

This isn't a Cingular, or even a phone, issue. The basic problem is that this
is an SMS message that is being received from the email-to-text gateway
(36245). When you reply, it's an SMS reply, not an email reply, and it will
go back to the same gateway (36245). If you want to reply by email, then you
need to send it to the SMS to email gateway (121), properly formatted.

In <[email protected]> on Thu, 02 Dec 2004 02:30:25 GMT, "Hugh
Sparks" <[email protected]> wrote:

>This is evidently an old problem with Cingular and certain phones.
>I just discovered it with my RAZR. It also occurs with Motorola
>V400, V551, and probably others:
>
>From a PC email client, I send a message to the phone.
>The "From" address is:
>
> [email protected]
>
>The "To" address is:
>
> <phone number>@mobile.mycingular.com
>
>The phone receives the message and displays the
>announcement:
>
> "1 New Message from 36245"
>
>When I press the "Read" button, the message is
>displayed:
>
> Subject: A test
> Msg: The test.
> From: My Email
> <time and date>
>
>The "My Email" name corresponds to an entry in the
>RAZR phonebook for "[email protected]", my normal
>email address. This reveals that the software does
>know about the correct reply address. If a person
>sends an email from a source that is not in the
>phonebook, the actual email address is displayed
>as the "From:" address.
>
>When I press the "Reply" button, enter some text,
>and move on to the "Send" screen, I see:
>
> Msg: A reply
> To: 36245
> Subject: A test
> Receipt: No
>
>The message cannot be sent because the "To"
>address is the number 36245, rather than
>the sender's email address (or phonebook
>entry name.)
>
>On some phones, changing the email gateway
>number will fix this problem. For example, on
>a Motorola V551, using the gateway 121 as
>frequently suggested by Cingular tech support, will not
>work, but using the gateway 36245 will fix the problem.
>
>So far, nothing I've tried on the RAZR will make
>email replies work correctly.
>
>Is it possible to reach a responsible person in
>engineering at Cingular who might be interested
>in fixing this problem?
>
>Any help or insight will be appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Hugh Sparks, [email protected]
>

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

"John Navas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> This isn't a Cingular, or even a phone, issue. The basic problem is that
> this
> is an SMS message that is being received from the email-to-text gateway
> (36245). When you reply, it's an SMS reply, not an email reply, and it
> will
> go back to the same gateway (36245). If you want to reply by email, then
> you
> need to send it to the SMS to email gateway (121), properly formatted.

Thanks! I never understood the significance of the gateway numbers.
But when I change my gateway on the phone to 121 and try to reply,
the message is lost because, evidently, it isn't in the proper format:

Here is what I see on the phone when I'm about to press the "Reply"
button after getting an email from the PC:

[email protected](A test)The message.
From: 36245
<time and date>

I've heard it said that the lack of a space between the
email address and the (A test) subject is giving the
121 gateway indigestion.

The odd fact remains that the setup I described in the
previous post works perfectly on the Motorola V551
with the gateway set to 36245 AND it doesn't work
if I use gateway 121. If 121 is used on the V551, the
symptoms are the same as shown above for the RAZR.

When gateway 36245 is used on the V551, the From
address shows up as the sender and the reply works
correctly. So how can this be consistant with your
explanation. (I'm not challanging you, I just don't
understand why the V551 works and RAZR does not.)

Is there an on-line discussion someplace about how the
gateway numbers function: 121 vs 36245 vs etc?

Thanks very much,

Hugh Sparks, [email protected]

> Is there an on-line discussion someplace about how the
> gateway numbers function: 121 vs 36245 vs etc?

Ah! I see that I'm an idiot: I just noticed your excellent
web page in your signature.

http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular

Thanks!,

Hugh Sparks, [email protected]

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Thu, 02 Dec 2004 05:24:49 GMT, "Hugh
Sparks" <[email protected]> wrote:

>"John Navas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>
>> This isn't a Cingular, or even a phone, issue. The basic problem is that
>> this
>> is an SMS message that is being received from the email-to-text gateway
>> (36245). When you reply, it's an SMS reply, not an email reply, and it
>> will
>> go back to the same gateway (36245). If you want to reply by email, then
>> you
>> need to send it to the SMS to email gateway (121), properly formatted.
>
>Thanks! I never understood the significance of the gateway numbers.
>But when I change my gateway on the phone to 121 and try to reply,
>the message is lost because, evidently, it isn't in the proper format:

When you reply to an SMS message (including email forwarded by an email-to-SMS
gateway), the reply will be just another SMS message, and even if sent to the
SMS-to-email gateway, it won't get forwarded to the email address unless it's
formatted properly. How to do that depends on the phone. The simplest
solution may be to Compose a New email over SMS rather than Reply.

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>