Any Staff know about Vodafone Business Email?

[Dave G]

Hi
does anyone know about the BusinessTimePlus tarrif that includes Vodafone Business Email? I've noticed they now have a new BusinessTime tariff that includes Vodafone Business Email for an extra £5 month giving a push mail facility but they dont know if that includes any type of other data use. I've spent an hour on the phone to them today and had to fax them a load of pages from their own website showing how vague it is, for example the BusinessTimePlus tariff says it INCLUDES Vodafone Business Email, and the Vodafone Business Email page says

"With Vodafone Business Email, a mobile phone or handheld becomes your inbox on the move.
Keep on top of your email, browse the web and manage your calls - wherever you are on just one device. Vodafone Business Email is easy to set up, works with a variety of enterprise and internet-based mail platforms and delivers great value however large or small your company." :

"Predictable monthly spend " - hows that when they dont know if you can browse the web without getting charged!

Now customer services says it does NOT include browsing the web, and they think you can only use the service with their client, i.e. I cant simply use Mail2Web and turn push email on.


anyone have any ideas if:
1. this is essentially a flat rate data package?
2. it can be used dirctly with an exchange server via Activesync settings?

thanks
D

[voda-staff]

Not 100% sure on this as ive3 just got back from holiday and havent yet caught up but................... as i understand it vodafone business email is purely for email retrieval and sending not for web browsing so you will pay the standard rates for data usage.......
as I said before not 100% sure but il check up on it in the next couple of days and give you a full lowdown.
steve

[Dave G]

cheers, that woud be great if you could have a look. Also can you check it only goes live on the 16th? The first CSR i talked to basically had it added to my account before he said he needed to check data use with the data people

thanks
D

[voda-staff]

yeah?......... they probaly shouldnt have done that untill they knew you where clear of the features and benifits of vodafone business email........ still maybe there was some misunderstanding somewhere?! ;)

getting back to data usage, it seems you will pay the standard £2 ex vat per mb of usage (£2.35 per mb) the plan covers all email usage but thats all,

are you likely to be using your device for other then emailing much???

[voda-staff]

oops also no its live now!!!!!!!!

[Dave G]

hi
basically not a lot of data other than email, just the updates for weather progs, stock progs, etc.
Do you mean it is live now at the £5 / month ?
Do you know if they are going to do any more reasonable data bundles?

cheers

[voda-staff]

I'l be looking into it today........ do you know what the average file size is for the updates?
and how often your likely to update?
trying to estimate your average data usage per month.

cheers
Steve

[Dave G]

I cant imagine it will be more than 10mb a month + the emails. Its so confusing, you can get Vodafone Business Email with all the emails included, Vodafone Mobile Email (for WM5 devices - which I have) which doesnt say if it includes any data.

Essentially I want to be able to get my emails via push and not be charged extra for them. The Vodafone Mobile Email seems best for if it includes all email useage.

I'd also like to switch it on today !

cheers
D

[voda-staff]

ok sorry for the time its taken me to reply. the situation is..............
yes vodafone business email is live.
yes it covers any email usage.
no it doesnt cover any other data usage therefore on the amount of data your forcasting you will pay about £23.50 per month over the standard VBE tarriff.

I hope that clears things up a little. let me know if you have any other questions,

Regards
Steve

[voda-staff]

also on a future note. as part of Vodafones one stop comunications specialist stratagy I would be very surprised if 'data packs' didnt make a appearence in the near future. that said Ive not heard any official notice..........YET!!!

[Dave G]

ok sorry for the time its taken me to reply. the situation is..............
yes vodafone business email is live.
yes it covers any email usage.
no it doesnt cover any other data usage therefore on the amount of data your forcasting you will pay about £23.50 per month over the standard VBE tarriff.

I hope that clears things up a little. let me know if you have any other questions,

Regards
Steve

ta, i tried again today to get VBE activated, she was going to do it but it was £16 whereas theres a big banner on the page saying just £5+VAT. Apparently the £5 is from the 16th Oct so I'll have to wait a week or two. Data packs better appear soon !
Either way thanks for your help, totted up my calls and over the last three days 93 minutes on the phone to CSRs (mostly on hold) to find out what you told me in 5 minutes.
Cheers D

[Dave G]

and now after two more days of trying it seems its virtually impossible to get VBE for £5 unless you are a new customer on an 18 month contract, so for me its still £15 inc VAT. And theres still no sign of any decent data packs, why do they have to be combined with text messages as well?

[voda-staff]

Hi there again.
yeah seems we still aint got our stuff together on that one 'off the record';)
..........one of my mates had a simular issue and 'he' to customer services bluffed that he was going to go to t mobile (who do flext)and that unless they made his tarriff more usefull to him he would leave. obviously they didnt want to lose him so sorted something out,

now I wouldnt sugest you do that, that would be wrong of me :lick: and so only tell you this as a example of how one individual got there network to play ball, bad bad person though he was, I hope this is of use!!?:cool:

also regarding data packs while i have no solid info I feel confident its in the pipe line so much is changing within vodafone and its all aimed at getting the customer the best service offers and handsets to suit them and as vodafone is still heavy on the bussiness customers they have looked at data usage, and what the customer desires

[Dave G]

Hi there again.
yeah seems we still aint got our stuff together on that one 'off the record';)
..........one of my mates had a simular issue and 'he' to customer services bluffed that he was going to go to t mobile (who do flext)and that unless they made his tarriff more usefull to him he would leave. obviously they didnt want to lose him so sorted something out,

now I wouldnt sugest you do that, that would be wrong of me :lick: and so only tell you this as a example of how one individual got there network to play ball, bad bad person though he was, I hope this is of use!!?:cool:

also regarding data packs while i have no solid info I feel confident its in the pipe line so much is changing within vodafone and its all aimed at getting the customer the best service offers and handsets to suit them and as vodafone is still heavy on the bussiness customers they have looked at data usage, and what the customer desires


if i didnt have 5 months on the contract to go I'd have shot to t-mobile ages ago for the WnW. I'll try Voda again tomorrow and see what they'll do but I'm not holding my breath!

[monkey2nut]

Dave G,

I have been trying to get some decent info from Voadfone on this issue too. I have spoken to Vodafone face to face at their stores and to the Business Specialists. The consensus is that the £5 or £15 VBE product is for pop3 and not for Exchange Server Direct Push (which works over HTTP on port 443 SSL).

I too want an "all-you-can-eat" plan for Exchange Server Direct Push. I already have the hardware and software in place, I just want the data plan and not at £2 per MB.

From what I understand, Vodafone are pushing VBE (£5-15/month) and VBE enterprise (£28/month) but that is their own email implementation and not PURE MS Direct Push.
I really hope they get their act together soon otherwise they will lose 5-10 business accounts. :(

[Dave G]

it wouldn't be so bad if the info they had was clear. On the site they list:

1. Two version of VBE, both of which would be fine for me as even the Personal solution is still a push email system over POP or IMAP

2. Windows Mobile Email which is just plain confusing. From what I understand its just telling you to upgrade to AKU2 on the device to enable push email, which I've done already. But they have no idea if that includes any of the data for email exchange

3. Blackberry, not even looked at it.

I can't see them giving us decent data plans as they have such a heavy push on the VBE, with a decent data plan we'd have no use for VBE so they wouldn't recoup their investment in that software.

Unless theres a data only bolt on (not mixed up with texts or something equally stupid) get me to March and I'm off to T Mob or Orange if they've sorted their Orange World Unlimited by then.

[monkey2nut]

I agree Dave G,

If they don't sort out some user-friendly information soon for Exchange Direct Push using AKU2 on compatible handsets, then we will go to T-Mobile for their web-n-walk solution.

We don't want their VBE solutions, we want to use our own existing investment.

Will you keep us informed if you make any progress with Vodafone on their pricing availability ? I'll do the same.

[Dave G]

will do, but I'm not holding my breath !

[joker.69]

How are you getting on with VBE guys?

I got it 3 days ago, set it up with one of my three email accounts fine but the other two dont download to my P990i.

Also, any idea how you can attach a signature to your outgoing emails with VBE?

I've heard there is a BlackBerry app. out there for the P990i, any body heard of this either?

Merry Christmas by the way:D

Joker

[vodabusiness]

Hello there.

As yet the p990 can only run the 5.3 version of the visto client which will pull mail down from one account only.
To pull mail from alternative accounts you need to change the mailbox which is set to be the default.
I am not certain how long it will be before the 5.5 client is available for this handset but the OS on this phone has posed problems in all areas and is proving to be an awkward one for this software to.
Hope this helps!!

[vodabusiness]

Microsoft Push

MS email is a grey area that i can see has not been very well communicated here so let me shed some light on this.
The devices that are AKU 2 enabled simply adds an "as items arrive" option to the sync schedule and a couple of icons to the connection manager to turn on & off the sync.
as yet, there is no access point in place to provide a reasonable billing platform specifically for it but you can negotiate an amount of data usage per month to cater for your needs.
Server setup is pretty simple but HAS to be sorted by your IT admin as Vodafone will not get involved in server config. Afterall, it is a Microsoft to Microsoft application, it justs communicates through the Voda network.
It is really good though.

VBE (Vodafone Business Email)

Vodafone Business Email in theory is cool because the range of devices it can be used on that are eligable for support from Vodafone is really impressive.
The devices are not the fault but more recently that the service has been awkward and pretty unstable. Difficulty connecting, inconsitent emails etc. The main thing to note here is that the email accounts you intend to use with this need regular "housekeeping" to keep a steady flow of mail. Hosted accounts are problematic but all you need to do really is ensure that pop is enabled on the hosting server allowing access to a specific IP range and on certain ports.
Outlook Web Access credentials are NOT the same as Pop access log in credentials and this poses a problem for quite a number of users.

Blackberry Connect

This is also available on many devices and overall is very impressive.
There is seemingly no polling delay but you will need to pay the monthly sub for blackberry on your number. The cost of this is exactly the same as having VBE on your number. Install the file to whichever phone you have (these installers are generally available on manufacturer sites if you hunt for them) and you are pretty much alone from here on in because RIM do not support Vodafone with this, Vodafone do not officially support their customers.

Enjoy!!

[BigJus]

Hi,
I have just got a Nokia e61i with Vodafone Business Email. After two days, managed to get it set up and working, with lots of different conflicting advice from Vodafone / Nokia / phone supplier.
However, now it works, but.......
I want to set up an email signature, like I had on my Blackberry. Using the Vodafone client I downloaded to the device, it can't be done. If I use the Nokia setup wizard, I can setup my inbox on the device using the Nokia software and have a signature, but then lose push email facility (it polls every 30 mins instead).

Have tried www.vodafone.net which allows me to set one up, but doesn't include it on emails.
Have also tried http://email.vodafone.net which allows other setting changes which do work, but no facility for signature setup.
Please help!! I'm confused and want my Blackberry back!

[vodadrew]

Hi BigJus

I have checked our internal information on Vodafone Business Email and it appears that it is not possible for the client software to automatically add a signature to your emails.

You could use the email software provided by the device manufacturer for sending emails, but this won't be classed as Vodafone Business Email and will be charged at the standard rate for data usage.

Kind regards

Andrew
Customer Services
Vodafone Limited

[BigJus]

Why can it not be done at server level, like Vodafone's other email solutions
i.e. Vodafone Blackberry through http://mobileemail.vodafone.net
and also Vodafone Mobile email through www.vodafone.net

but not for the vodafone Business email through http://email.vodafone.net

Vodafone obviously know how to do it and provide it for two other solutions, but not for their Business offering, which would be the biggest user of email signatures.

Maybe I'm missing something.......

[vodabusiness]

I am no longer involved with VBE but as I remember it, there was always this inability to personalise your signature with it.
A bit of a shame, I think if it remained the same as I remember, all messages delivered through this will have something along the lines of sent by Vodafone Business Email at the bottom.

If I spot anything different, I will let you know.