HP webOS Profile and Services

[#1]

I purchased and unlocked AT&T Palm Pre Plus. I have an activated Bell SIM card (actually I have tried two), that both work for data and voice in a Google Nexus One. The phone starts, asks me to choose language (English or Spanish), and then I get to the palm profile screen. I have chosen to enter an existing profile (from my old Bell CDMA Pre). The Pre Plus attempts to sign in, and then says that the apn settings are incorrect, and gives me an option to enter the APN settings manually. I have chosen this and entered pda.bell.ca, with no username and no password. It then attempts to connect to data, and returns the message "Unable to Write Settings". This is the correct APN information. If you enter incorrect APN info, it returns the message "Invalid Internet APN Settings". I have a voice connection, as choosing the emergency call out option, erasing "911", and entering a phone number allows me to call out. I can also forward the number that is on the SIM card using the GSM codes and the dial pad, thus I know that the SIM registers for voice on the network (as calling out works, and call forwarding that number works). Bell is also listed as the network carrier in the upper left corner of the screen, and five bars appear for phone signal strength. Sadly, no 3G icon.

After doing all this, I used the AT&T version of Web's Doctor to reset the phone, and went through it all again. Still unable to sign into my palm profile because it won't allow me to input the APN settings.

So, my conclusion is that there is a bug in the Palm programming that won't allow it to recognize the Bell APN, and won't allow me to save the settings manually.

I have searched through many posts, and this is not an uncommon problem, being reported with European GSM units, and it occurs with some providers SIM cards and not others. One reported solution is to edit the carrier settings db3 file in /usr/lib/luna, but since I can't get it into developer mode I can't seem to access the device using novacom.

Hopefully there is a fix for this with the 1.4.5 update and I can Doctor it when available? Any other help? Has anybody used a Rogers SIM? Is the unlock "incomplete"?

Thanks.

[#2]

I am in precisely the same boat as mthillis. 

If anyone has managed to find a phone that can be activated on Bell Mobility, would a WebOS Doctor reset with that phone's configuration (I assume it would be a Pre Plus from a network other than AT&T) do the trick?  Alternatively, is there a way to extract the restore image from the WebOS Doctor files and edit the carrier information there, as the difficulty is that no developer mode is available with the current Bell sim?

I can't see finding a working AT&T sim to borrow being all that easy from Yellowknife.

Thanks in advance for any help offered.

[#3]

Ok..Got exactly the same problems as you do..Got a Palm Pre plus from the US at At&T. Unlocked it. Used a Rogers SIM card. (got the 3G icon though) but the Palm profile page was driving me nuts. I can't seem to bypass that freakin page. Did a bit of research and got to this.

http://developer.palm.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2051&Itemid=24

and used the activation by-pass tool. And at least with this I don't risk in accidentally call 911 by mistake by doing your procedure.

I see this as a temporary option so if anyone got the perfect solution or anything else please post.

By the way, can you surf on wifi? I just can't seem to connect on my network.

Thanks

[#4]

How do I actually do this?

My Phone is not unlocked nor is it unactivated.  Am on Rogers, I need to get this done.

[#5]

After several days of reading posts, I was able to get it working on Bell, with voice, data, sms and mms. Your Pre must be unlocked, and of course to run on the Bell network it must be AT&T Palm Pre Plus. The European GSM 3G bands do not work on the Bell network, and there is no 2G on Bell to connect to.

To get past the first use app you must create a WebOS Meta-doctor using the AT&T webOS Doctor by follwoing this thread:

http://www.webos-internals.org/wiki/Application:MetaDoctor

You must follow the instructions exactly, and it does require a little Linux (Ubuntu) knowledge. Particularly important is editing (using gedit) the file "Makefile". In this file there are options that may be uncommented to allopw bypass first use app, as well as putting the pre in dev mode from the start.

After you have created the meta-doctor jar file, you doctor (or "meta-doctor") your phone, using the meta-doctor application to reset your phone just the same way the WebOS Doctor is used.

Once you have meta-doctored the phone in this way, starting it will bypass the first use app, and place an icon on the launcher allowing you to run first use (to create or sign in to a Palm profile) when you are ready. Once the phone starts, it should have a Bell voice connection, but not data (yet). You can enable wifi, and connect to a network at this time. You can then run first use, or wait until you have 3G data enabled.

Next you must edit the file CarrierNetworkSettings.db3. This contains the settings that allow the phone to connect to 3G. There are settings in this file for Bell, but they are both incorrect and incomplete. The file can be obtained by taking the original AT&T WebOS Doctor jar file (not the metadoctored file, but I guess that would work too), and extracting it according to instructions found here:

http://forums.precentral.net/gsm-pre/211728-modifying-webos-carrier-network-settings.html#post200207...

http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pre/209222-few-questions-about-german-palm-pre.html

These posts describe how to extract the file, edit the database using a SQL database editor, and copy the edited file to the phone. Once this is done, reboot the phone and you have 3G.

Some of the relevant Bell settings are:

APN: pda.bell.ca

Proxy: web.wireless.bell.ca

Port: 80

Username: Leave Blank

Password: Leave Blank

mmsc: http://mms.bell.ca/mms/wapenc

MCC: 302

MNC: 610

It does work, and once I figured out what I needed to do, it actually only took about an hour.

The real problem is the db3 file - why Palm doesn't maintain and accurate db3 file, or allow you to manually input the settings, I don't know. There actually was an option to manually input settings before I meta-doctored, but it wouldn't accept the (correct) settings - that is they would not write to the phone.

There is a maintained list of data connection settings here:

code.google.com/p/cyanogenmod/wiki/APNlist

I suppose the same instruction would work with Rogers or Telus, as long as you have the correct settings to put in the db3 file.

Good luck.

[#6]

hey there, I'm in a same boat... i have tried 10 times to create meta doctor for att but no luck. any chance i could get a link to download already patched version for at&t with only bypass first app?

thx

[#7]

Unfortunately, I believe it is illegal to post or distribute altered WebOS Doctor files. It is, as I understand it,  legal to alter the file for your own use on your own hardware. I followed the instructions exactly, and it worked. I have also since created a meta-doctor for my old Bell Pre, so I could activate it under another Palm profile and use it as an mp3 player, and that worked.

What gave you trouble? Maybe someone can help.

[#8]

Well I just head hell of a time with patching webosdoctor...i would come to the final stage (make patch unpatch) and it would give me an error....BUT since i purchased nextgen software to unlock it...their support helped me get a patched doctor...Once i was able to activate it I was also able to unlock it I'm using it on rogers network...and everything works!!! 3g data etc. And i didn't have to update network database! thx for your reply though...I love palm community!

[#9]

I purchased a AT&T Palm Pre Plus on eBay and have an AT&T account.  I do not have e-mail or internet, and just want to use the phone and it's planner for now,  I am not major tech savy, and wonder if I am able to bypass the user profile setup and just use my SIM card to operate the phone.  (my kids bought Blackberry's and just plugged in their SIM cards and they worked)  I really do not want to renew my contact with AT&T to get this phone to work.  Any help is appreciated. 

[#10]

Yes, but to activate the phone (on at&t or unlocked on another newtork), you must sign in to an existing (or create a new) Palm profile. If you have an at&t sim, and have data access, the easiest way would be to use the at&t 3G connection, create the palm profile, and then go into the phone preferences and turn data off. You can then use wi-fi data if you wish, or just the phone for talk/text. Once the first use app has been run to sign into a profile, there is no need to further use at&t data.

If you don't want to use at&t data, even just to use the first use app to sign in to a Palm profile, you would need to create a webOS meta-doctor to bypass the first use app, so that the phone will start without signing in to a Palm profile. You can then use wifi to run the first use app, and if you have an at&t sim, voice should work. Remember to turn data off in the phone preferences, or it will look for a 3G connection whenever you are not in wifi range.

If you want to use it on another network, it must be unlocked (using the next-gen server method, or I understand that unlock codes are available from the usual GSM unlock companies). You then would definitely need a webOS meta-doctor to bypass the first use app.

I think at&t does have some prepaid data available (about $20 for 100 MB) which would get you activated. What you could do is get another at&t SIM ($5-$6 on ebay, don't know about local sellers), put a prepaid package on it just to get it activated, turn data off, and then put in the SIM you really want to use. I don't really know if that will work (I am in Canada), but I have heard that if you just put your SIM in, the at&t network will detect your device using data as a Pre an automatically add a data package to your account. May just be rumour. Might get a straight answer from their tech support.

Bell's network can only figure out that you have a SIM in an unlocked 3G capable phone, and that the IMEI doesn't match one of their devices. For all they know you are using any old flip phone.