[marcuslf]

For about a week now (I think), I haven't been able to connect to the IM server in Chatter. Tried upgrading, thinking that was it -- went to 1062, and grabbed the IM prc file again just in case, but no joy.

I tried putting in a bad password to the IM server to see what it did -- no error whether I have the real one in or not. Just don't get anything. If I pick AOL setup, I get an error that I have to be connected to the IM server to do that.

[Chatter]

There are obviously some issues at the server; I have contacted the host repeatedly, but problems persist. I will continue to try to have this resolved, but I have little control over server issues; that's why I stopped giving out IM accounts over a year ago.

I really do suggest that the small number of legacy IM users transition to another solution if at all possible.

Marc

[marcuslf]

I've tried the other IM apps, and all of them leave me really disappointed. A few months ago, I went ahead and bought Causerie as a backup, but I rarely run it, except when ChatterIM is down and I really need to get on IM. Most of the down time, I just deal with it until Chatter is up rather than deal with Causerie.

Most of the times I really need Causerie, it seems to be unable to contact the validation server....like it did for several hours Saturday evening.

After using Chatter with all of my email/IM contacts all integrated in one, it's really hard to be happy with a separate app.

I know one of the reasons you got out of IM was that you didn't want to be a service provider. But, now that you're offering email accounts, why not try to offer a larger bundle that includes the IM functionality again? I'd happily pay a subscription fee for the IM capability.

[Chatter]

Two things... First, I'm not the service provider for email; I'm only providing a simple way for people to subscribe to everyone.net's excellent IMAP service. Second, the Jabber server is annoying, unreliable, and prone to service failures (when Y, AIM, MSN, and/or ICQ change their authentication schemes); I'm not capable of dealing with these problems when they arise, so I'm not comfortable offering a service that I basically am unable to troubleshoot and/or fix.

Marc

[causerie]

I've tried the other IM apps, and all of them leave me really disappointed. A few months ago, I went ahead and bought Causerie as a backup, but I rarely run it, except when ChatterIM is down and I really need to get on IM. Most of the down time, I just deal with it until Chatter is up rather than deal with Causerie.

Most of the times I really need Causerie, it seems to be unable to contact the validation server....like it did for several hours Saturday evening.

After using Chatter with all of my email/IM contacts all integrated in one, it's really hard to be happy with a separate app.

I know one of the reasons you got out of IM was that you didn't want to be a service provider. But, now that you're offering email accounts, why not try to offer a larger bundle that includes the IM functionality again? I'd happily pay a subscription fee for the IM capability.

Do you have the latest version of Causerie - 2.08? 2.08 corrects the validation problems. Please do a clean installation of the new release.

[marcuslf]

Yes, I have 2.08. It did fix the validation problem where the entire Treo was completely locked up when it couldn't contact the validation server. That one was really annoying.

What I'm talking about is just the times when it can't contact the server. It no longer freezes up the whole phone, but you can't log in, either. This happens more frequently than I would expect. It was in this state for several hours Saturday evening, then finally allowed me to connect.

[causerie]

We are not aware of any down times lately. Reboots are done on Saturday Evenings and we send a notification to connected users before doing that.

I sent you a PM to verify if you are using the latest server IP updated in 2.08.

[marcuslf]

The chatter IM server appears to be down again.

Just for the heck of it, I've been trying Causerie again. This new attempt has brought up another major gripe: whenever the cell signal disappears, Causerie loses it's connection, and won't reconnect on it's own....even if the loss of signal is pretty brief. There is no obvious indication of this...just the fact that I happen to bring it up later and get the error that "wireless got disconnected"....maybe several hours after the disconnect happened.

This effectively makes it useless. I use IM so that my coworkers can reach me at any time...but Causerie can't keep me online. Chatter was smart enough to reconnect as soon as a cell signal was available again (at least when the server is up).

[t2gungho]

Marcus: Have you tried the yahoo messenger and chit chat for MSN. They have both been reliable for me on a sprint 600.

Best of luck. I think the legacy IM users are out of luck on this one. (Nothing lasts forever) ;-)

[marcuslf]

Haven't tried those....but 99.9% of my contacts only use AIM.

[t2gungho]

I have used the free aim client too. Its fairly stable for the 600 but not as nice as the yahoo client (gui wise).

Aim

Just be careful with it. I sign in, use it and then sign out. I don't do anything else in the background.

Expect a reset everyonce in a while. If you don't like it, check out verichat, causserie, agile, etc.

[marcuslf]

ummmm....yeah....I really *need* it to run in the background...I need people to be able to IM me.

Tried Verichat, didn't like it.

Causerie disconnects in the background way, way too often. It also has annoyances like creating system alerts for my outgoing IMs (seems silly for it to do that).

Other than the server issues, Chatter was perfect...integrated with email, common alert system with email, background operation works great, keeps you online even after coverage disconnects, and a GUI that did what was most important very well: IM.

[zoz]

Just out of curiosity, what issues did you have with Verichat?

[marcuslf]

Last time I tried Verichat was in early March, about 2 weeks after I got my GSM Treo.

Before loading it, I was getting a reset once or twice a day. With Verichat, I immediately went up to 7-10+ resets a day. I gave up after a few days and uninstallled it...back to resets once or twice a day.

Would Verichat have satisfied me otherwise? Maybe, but hard to tell in the middle of all of the resets.

Was it a conflict with something else, or a data quality issue? Probably. But, I don't run that many apps, and I'm not willing to give up the ones that I do run.

Was it an issue that Verichat fixed? Maybe, but I can't try again since my trial ended.

[marcuslf]

Marc - can you bump the IM server?

Please?

[DuncIT]

Ditto - Marc. If you can get them to bounce the IM server. Thanks,

Dunc

[DuncIT]

I really do suggest that the small number of legacy IM users transition to another solution if at all possible.

Marc

Ugh. I find that so disheartening... When I came to Chatter, way back when (with my Sprint 300) I have to admit that the Chatter metaphor was different and it took me a while to get used to it. But get used to it I did - I fully embraced your belief that it didn't matter how you were communicating with someone (eMail, AIM, MSN, etc.) it should all be grouped together. I loved the fact that I didn't have to use multiple apps. I loved the fact that if when I sent an IM (that I was typing) to a user who had logged off, I could just as easily reroute it to their email. I secretly thought that some day you'd offer IM to the masses again and everyone (not just the few legacy users) would come to appreciate Chatter the way it came to be. I'm not giving up hope yet though. I understand what a hassle it must be to run an IM server for so many people... It would be nice, and easier for you, if users could just enter Jabber server settings into Chatter... More people could use Chatter, and the bulk of your IM support issues would go out the window.


Dunc

[Chatter]

You can enter server information into Chatter, but not all servers will work with it. A bigger problem at this point is that the latest few versions don't have IM support in them (certainly the beta's), due to memory constraints. I will try to get it back in (as I've done before), but ...

Marc

[DuncIT]

In the beginning (Treo 300) I used Snappermail and Verichat, and I was as happy as a clam! Then I discovered Chatter and dropped both those apps and was even happier! Of course, now the latest versions of Chatter no longer support IM so I'm back to looking for a chat client. I went back to Verichat and discovered that it only works if Chatter is disabled - otherwise I get an out of sockets error. You're killing me Marc! Please re-enable IM in the next version!

Dunc

[PeteEMT]

Chatopus works well with Chatter as well as the new Toccer (AIM Only)