Orange UMA & Carphone warehouse

davesnapeuk

I see from a few other posts that Carphone warehouse have come under some stick for selling non-branded blackberry handsets which lack the UMA feature. I only wish I'd have read here before I went and upgraded today.

I had done a lot of research on what handset was appropriate as an upgrade. I live in a mobile notspot and so have no signal. UMA is the only option for me where I can bounce my calls through broadband.

I went into CPW and stated, I am due for an upgrade, I live in a bad signal area and need UMA. I believe that means I need to upgrade to a new Blackberry. Is that right?
Sure, was the reply. 10 minutes later I'm wakling out with a new Bold 9700 and a shiny new 24 month contract. Imagine my surprise when I get home and find that the 9700 supplied does not have UMA enabled! I have checked the T's and C's of the store and think I may have a couple of clauses that are gonna help me out but would value your advise.

Terms & Conditions of sale
1.1: You shall be responsible for ensuring the Equipment you purchase is of the correct specification for its intended use and location. (I was unable to test UMA because the store only had dial up connected to 1 PC. I could therefore not reasonably connect to a wifi service to test that UMA was working):mad:

1.4: We may also have to make other necessary changes in the specification of the Equipment from time to time, but these will not materially reduce the quality or performance of the Equipment. (The Bold 9700 is openly advertised with Orange as a UMA handset. By delivering me a handset with this disabled on an Orange contract after being specifically told that this was the only feature that I required, I believe that they have materially reduced the quality and performance of the Equipment. Not least that they have knowingly sold me an inferior product that is not as advertised on the Orange website.):mad:

Any suggestions before I go and give them both barrells tomorrow? I've had a Blackberry 8900 for 2 years and the UMA is the only reason I have a Blackberry.

Guys_Dad

I would go back in, with a witness, approach a different salesman and ask the question "I live in a bad signal area and need UMA. I believe that means I need to upgrade to a new Blackberry. Is that right?" again as if you were a new customer. Or get the friend to ask. Or even get 2 friends to ask while you wait outside.

Assuming you get the same answer, then, having a witness, which you didn't say you had when you bought the phone, you are able to demand the manager's presence and reject the deal under Sale of Goods.

At present, however, you are in a "He says - She Says" situation and CPW could deny that you made the proper enquiry.

So be very careful.

davesnapeuk

I was hoping that I wouldn't have to enter into entrapment. What happened to the days when an individual could go into a shop, ask for something, be presented with what they asked for, pay for it and walk out happy?
When did we degrade so far as to require every purchase to be recorded by a witness, signed in duplicate and have any kind of chance of enforcing our legal rights?

jamesb1239

**************************************************
The instructions that I am about to provide have the potential to brick your phone if you do not follow them precicely!!!!
**************************************************

First you need to gain access to the Engineering Screens which for the Bold I believe you do this by pressing and holding ALT+CAPS+H.

Dependant on your phone you will either be presented with the engineering screen or a screen entitled Help Me!

If it is the Help Me! screen then please visit http://www.unlockberry.co.uk/server.php?action=bbeng
on that page enter your PIN, App Version & Uptime and click Generate DO NOT LEAVE THE HELP ME SCREEN AT ANY POINT.

Take the code generated in the top part of the screen and enter it into the Help Me! screen, you wont see the typing, if done correctly you will be presented with the Engineering Screen.

Some phones already have this enabled and the code is not needed.

Once you have access to the screen select MOBILE NETWORK ENGINEERING SCREENS then UTILITIES then SESSION MANAGER.

Press the BLACKBERRY KEY and select UMA OPTIONS.

Press the BLACKBERRY KEY and select NEW.

Enter the following;

Display Name = Factory Provisions
Operator Name = Orange
UMA Protocol = UMA V 1.0.3
Take the tick out of the USE DEFAULT UNC ADDRESS box
Enter UNC Address = unc.singlephone.orange.co.uk
Provisioning UNC port = 14001
Take the tick out of the USE DEFAULT PROVISIONING SEGW ADDRESS box
Enter SEGW address = singlephone.orange.co.uk
SEGW Certificate = Equifax Secure Certificate Authority

Press the BLACKBERRY KEY and select SAVE

Exit the Engineering Screen and goto OPTIONS > Mobile Network there should now be a new option called Connection Preference
select either WIFI Preferred or Mobile Network Preferred.

Save the changes and return to the Home Screen. Perform a battery pull and then when the phone comes back on enable wifi and watch as it should now provision and connect with Orange over UMA.

PS If you ever upgrade the firmware you need to follow these steps again as it overwrites them back to defaults.


Hope that helps

:beer:

davesnapeuk

Thanks. I'll keep those in reserve just in case they don't take it back and give me one that does what it's meant to!
Update expected by 12:00 tomorrow!

bubblesmoney

jamesb1239 wrote: »

**************************************************
The instructions that I am about to provide have the potential to brick your phone if you do not follow them precicely!!!!
**************************************************

First you need to gain access to the Engineering Screens which for the Bold I believe you do this by pressing and holding ALT+CAPS+H.

Dependant on your phone you will either be presented with the engineering screen or a screen entitled Help Me!

If it is the Help Me! screen then please visit http://www.unlockberry.co.uk/server.php?action=bbeng
on that page enter your PIN, App Version & Uptime and click Generate DO NOT LEAVE THE HELP ME SCREEN AT ANY POINT.

Take the code generated in the top part of the screen and enter it into the Help Me! screen, you wont see the typing, if done correctly you will be presented with the Engineering Screen.

Some phones already have this enabled and the code is not needed.

Once you have access to the screen select MOBILE NETWORK ENGINEERING SCREENS then UTILITIES then SESSION MANAGER.

Press the BLACKBERRY KEY and select UMA OPTIONS.

Press the BLACKBERRY KEY and select NEW.

Enter the following;

Display Name = Factory Provisions
Operator Name = Orange
UMA Protocol = UMA V 1.0.3
Take the tick out of the USE DEFAULT UNC ADDRESS box
Enter UNC Address = unc.singlephone.orange.co.uk
Provisioning UNC port = 14001
Take the tick out of the USE DEFAULT PROVISIONING SEGW ADDRESS box
Enter SEGW address = singlephone.orange.co.uk
SEGW Certificate = Equifax Secure Certificate Authority

Press the BLACKBERRY KEY and select SAVE

Exit the Engineering Screen and goto OPTIONS > Mobile Network there should now be a new option called Connection Preference
select either WIFI Preferred or Mobile Network Preferred.

Save the changes and return to the Home Screen. Perform a battery pull and then when the phone comes back on enable wifi and watch as it should now provision and connect with Orange over UMA.

PS If you ever upgrade the firmware you need to follow these steps again as it overwrites them back to defaults.


Hope that helps

:beer:

Since you definitely seem to know your way around this, would you be able to elaborate how to unlock the uma feature on other phones. Blackberries are not the only uma capable phones, there are many others as well. Is there any weblink that you recommend for reading up for the curious ones!!!

That might help a few others on here.

jamesb1239

bubblesmoney wrote: »

Since you definitely seem to know your way around this, would you be able to elaborate how to unlock the uma feature on other phones. Blackberries are not the only uma capable phones, there are many others as well. Is there any weblink that you recommend for reading up for the curious ones!!!

That might help a few others on here.

Unfortunately I dont, I only know this as I am a Blackberry user and have had issues with UMA before. UMA is also network dependant and from memory only Orange in the UK support it but I may be wrong

jamesb1239

davesnapeuk wrote: »

Thanks. I'll keep those in reserve just in case they don't take it back and give me one that does what it's meant to!
Update expected by 12:00 tomorrow!

Unfortunately I don't expect CPW to do anything about it unless you can get them to cancel the contract and go elsewhere as mentioned above I think Orange are the only ones in the UK to offer UMA.

The phones that CPW stock are generic handsets so that they dont have to have different phones for each network, so it is likely that if they do offer a replacement it will still not connect.

The steps that I posted earlier are rather straightforward and will not cause any damage unless you go messing around in the other menus.

Your only other option is to try and research flashing an Orange ROM to the phone instead of the generic one but this is made difficult as the phone wont as standard accept it as it thinks it is for another network.

If you do decide to go ahead and get stuck then send me a PM and I will happily help.

Also please bear in mind that the range on the UMA will not be very high due to the restrictions of the WiFi signal, and you can have issues with port forwarding (rarely) and also if other people are using the internet heavily (unless you have QoS set up on your network). Also from experience the supposed transparant handover between UMA and Mobile Network quite often results in dropped calls and I find that UMA can be a little tinny at times.


Good Luck

bubblesmoney

Please see the other thread from today about poor signals etc where I have given the link for other uma capable phones. I am typing from my mobile so its a bit more tricky giving you links.

seaniboy

Orange UMA

http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/show/offer/uma

I use it at home, awesome in bar basements & anywhere remote there is no signal, it beats Vodafone Sure Signal hands down as it is not just at home its everywhere internet is

http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatch/Portal/appmanager/vodafone/wrp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=templateCClamp&pageID=PPP_0161

bubblesmoney

seaniboy wrote: »

Orange UMA

http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/show/offer/uma

I use it at home, awesome in bar basements & anywhere remote there is no signal, it beats Vodafone Sure Signal hands down as it is not just at home its everywhere internet is

http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatch/Portal/appmanager/vodafone/wrp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=templateCClamp&pageID=PPP_0161

Can you piggy back on any WiFi signal as long as you know the security code for the WiFiand not just your home WiFi.