Vodafone live! Over Windows Mobile

[crowfield99]

Hi Guys,

Hope your all well - I have got one of these Winidows Mobile devices and comes with the mini version of Internet Explorer etc. Now, I can connect to GPRS fine and surf all webapges but just not ONE - Vodafone live!

Now, I have been told to download Opera for my device, which I did. But when I visit http://live.vodafone.com I just get a nice message on screen saying agian "live.vodafone.com" and this seems to be a HTML page - not the Vodafone live! content.

I was wondering if anyone knew the FULL URL for me to put in to see if I can get it to load OR if anyone had a way around this so I can surf Vodafone live! please?

As always, thanks for your time and help...
David

[Hands0n]

Hi right back at you

Its not good news ... you do indeed have the correct URL for the Vodafone Live! home page http://live.vodafone.com is what I have as the default Homepage in my Vodafone PAYG-equipped sim-free Motorola A1000. This displays a limited version of their Live! portal - some of the enhanced items like their Mobile TV are not available - so they must be able to detect the capabilities of the browser/handset. That may well be cause of the problem you are experiencing.

That said, don't Vodafone have one or two Windows Mobile PDAs in their handset portfolio? I cant see any reason why you should not at least get the reduced function Live! portal as do I.

[crowfield99]

Wonder if a Vodafone Store will leak this out!!

[Ben]

Hmm. Is there an option/way to set the user agent in Opera?

If there is, let me know and I'll find you a user agent for, say, the W900i, so we can see if you get some content.

[crowfield99]

Sorry Ben having one of them days - is a user agent the type of format the pages are displayed in?

[Ben]

The User Agent is how the browser identifies itself to the web server it is communicating with. It's how Vodafone will be identifying the handset being used and redirecting the user to the appropriate content.

Some browsers allow you to modify the user agent, so you can 'fool' the webserver into believing it is communicating with something other than what it is.

[crowfield99]

I get you now, wonder how I could find that out?

[Ben]

You'll have to have a good look through all/any config settings available on the version of Opera you have installed, and perhaps do some googling if there is no user-friendly way to change the user agent to see if there's a slightly more grey way of doing it.

The desktop version of Opera allows you to change the user agent, afaik, so it's not pie in the sky or anything.

[crowfield99]

Does not look good afraid, just tried to change the User Agent on Firefox to both Nokia & SE but it still does not have it! All other sites that should load as a mobile version do though

Anyways, I understand why Vodafone do this to stop anyone else from viewing it - But when its own customers cant access the service it will drive me crackers for time to come...

Anyways I will just have to cope with £££ BBC Mobile Service unless anyone does have a way around?

Thanks as always for trying!
David

[Ben]

Were you trying to access Live! using Firefox from your PC? Access to Live! will require a connection over Vodafone before it'll let you in.

[getti]

you CAN infact use Vodafone Live with a PPC mobile phone such as the JasJar.

I have seen a way where you go into the registry on the mobile and edit the browser settings to show its a Nokia 6630 (only needs 1 setting changed).

When you connect again, you get the full colour menu with tv

[Ben]

That's exactly what we're talking about

Could you possibly find the details, getti?

[getti]

yep just looking now

[getti]

First off, you need to connect to Vodafone live! using the wap connection details rather than the usual "internet" APN.

Set this up using the "Work" connection. Go "start", "settings", "connections" then click on the "connections" icon. Go to "My Work Connection". Click on "manage my connections" then click on "Vodafone wap" which should have wap.vodafone.co.uk under the number column (I am assuming you have installed the Vodafone CAB which automatically puts in this connection). Move across to the tab which says "Proxy settings". Tick the box which says this network connects to the Internet. Tick the box which says This network uses a proxy server. Click on Advanced, then tap on HTTP . Enter 212.183.137.12 in the Server box and enter 8799 in the Port box. Click Ok. Right, that is first part done.

Second part requires editing registry. PEASE BACK UP your registry before proceeding. For Vodafone Live! WAP page to think you are a 3G mobile, you have to fool it into believing you are an 'approved' handset. For internet explorer, the registry key to change is:
[HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Int ernet Settings\5.0\User Agent\]
Change (Default) from Mozilla/4.0 to 'Nokia6630' and clear all the other values such as compatible, Desc, Platform, UA-language, Version.

You may need to reboot after making these changes.

Once you've changed these settings, connect to Vodafone Live! (make sure you are in UMTS coverage) and goto: http://live.vodafone.co.uk

Now you should see Vodafone live come up in full view with images and extras. Sky TV is available but I still have problem getting it to link properly into the PVplayer. At the moment I have to copy the link and then open PV player and paste it for it to play. use the Pocket Plus Internet plugin to do this with ease. Sometimes some of the channels are not working properly, so go to Channel 4 and test that first. Hope this helps.

[crowfield99]

Guys, thanks for all the help so far!

Getti, I have the following from eBuyer:
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...uct_uid=102672

Am I OK to go ahead still I take it? First, for the connections - Do I just download the settings from your Website and plant it on the device and let its do its work? If so, great & also do I need to remove my current GPRS ones I set up myself?

Next, please could you tell me how I go about backing up the registry on these things? Something I know nothing about!

Then, how would I go about making the change to the registry to "Nokia6630"? BTW For that also, Should "Nokia6630" be the only text to insert into this field?

Last but not least, this device is only a 2G one - will that matter and will I have to pay to view it via WAP? The only reason why i want Vodafone live! was so I can view it for free, so I didn't have to pay to read the news like im having to do on the BBC's mobile site now.

As always, THANKS!!
David

[essexant]

First off, you need to connect to Vodafone live! using the wap connection details rather than the usual "internet" APN.

Set this up using the "Work" connection. Go "start", "settings", "connections" then click on the "connections" icon. Go to "My Work Connection". Click on "manage my connections" then click on "Vodafone wap" which should have wap.vodafone.co.uk under the number column (I am assuming you have installed the Vodafone CAB which automatically puts in this connection). Move across to the tab which says "Proxy settings". Tick the box which says this network connects to the Internet. Tick the box which says This network uses a proxy server. Click on Advanced, then tap on HTTP . Enter 212.183.137.12 in the Server box and enter 8799 in the Port box. Click Ok. Right, that is first part done.

Second part requires editing registry. PEASE BACK UP your registry before proceeding. For Vodafone Live! WAP page to think you are a 3G mobile, you have to fool it into believing you are an 'approved' handset. For internet explorer, the registry key to change is:
[HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Int ernet Settings\5.0\User Agent\]
Change (Default) from Mozilla/4.0 to 'Nokia6630' and clear all the other values such as compatible, Desc, Platform, UA-language, Version.

You may need to reboot after making these changes.

Once you've changed these settings, connect to Vodafone Live! (make sure you are in UMTS coverage) and goto: http://live.vodafone.co.uk

Now you should see Vodafone live come up in full view with images and extras. Sky TV is available but I still have problem getting it to link properly into the PVplayer. At the moment I have to copy the link and then open PV player and paste it for it to play. use the Pocket Plus Internet plugin to do this with ease. Sometimes some of the channels are not working properly, so go to Channel 4 and test that first. Hope this helps.

I have tried this response and also changed the registry settings as you recommend, but I still only get a text menu - no pictures, no downloads and definitely no TV!! HELP!

[FabricFlyer]

In general Vodafone Live! will not be supported on smartphones due to the need to access through WAP rather than HTTP

[getti]

Hmm. I will look into this today for you. Definatly works. I got vodafone live on i sim free jasjar with full content.

[Hands0n]

In general Vodafone Live! will not be supported on smartphones due to the need to access through WAP rather than HTTP

Hello and welcome to Talk3G - I have been using a new Samsung Z500 and Z540 on Vodafone Live! with PAYT using the MMS settings rather than the WAP. This works 100% fine. I cannot see any reason why it will not work the same way with "smartphones" - and in fact have used the likes of the Motorola A1000 (Symbian) in exactly the same way, not using WAP.

Where did you get the information that WAP has to be used?

[Ben]

Is it not all about the browsers though, Hands0n? Each of those handsets has a WAP browser, where as I wouldn't put it past Mobile IE to not support WAP. Either that or Live! picks up the IE headers and automatically denies compatibility without trying to serve the WAP-optimised content.