When the internet first appeared (to the general public anyway) not quite 10 years ago, the phrase ‘what’s your email address’ quickly entered the common vernacular.

In usage terms email became the internet’s ‘killer app’ and today, anyone without an email address might as well be missing a limb. But as many astute readers have probably noticed, getting email on your mobile may yet be mobile telephony’s next killer app (after voice and TXT) – and certainly the billboards and TV ads indicate that mobile email is the focus for both Vodafone and Telecom at the moment.

Is email to mobile new?
The answer is... not really. It’s been possible to receive email on mobile phones for at least a couple of years, but in the past most people haven’t done so because they either weren’t aware of it or their phones couldn’t do it (025 phones for example, cannot receive email). In 2004, however, almost every new mobile on the market in New Zealand is email capable to some extent, and the time has come for us to all get with the program.

So how do you do it?
The good news is getting email to your mobile is quite easy – but the bad news is it’s not that easy. There are numerous ways to approach it and the methods depend on three things. Specifically;

• Which mobile phone company you are with?
• What make and model of phone you have?
• What company currently hosts your email? With these questions top of mind, the easiest way to explain it is to cover the subject by phone company – first Telecom, then Vodafone.

Getting email on a Telecom mobile
If you are currently using a 025 Telecom mobile, then you’ll need to buy a new phone – you cannot get email on an 025 phone. 027, however, is a different story. All 027 phones in New Zealand are email capable.

Simply use the phone’s softkeys or menus and select ‘web’ or ‘minibrowser’. This launches a WAP browser, which is specifically developed for viewing and navigating the mobile internet. The WAP browser opens on Xtra’s WAP home page. Here, option two is ‘Messaging’. Click on this and then click option one ‘Xtra email’. Here you will be asked to enter your Xtra username and password. Once you’ve done that, click option 1 for ‘update email’ and you will see your inbox. Here you can read, delete, reply and forward your mail. Essentially this way of receiving mail works exactly the same way as it does if you logged onto Xtramail.co.nz using a computer in a net café or another location away from your home or office.

What’s the catch?
Unfortunately, you can only get Xtra email this way. So for example, if your name was John Doe and your email address is johndoe@xtra.co.nz, then you can access your Xtra email via your 027 phone. Or if your business’s email was hosted by Xtra or Telecom and your email address was john@johnspaints.co.nz, then again you will be able to get your email. But if you have an iHug, ICONZ or Hotmail account (or any other ISP mail account), this is not an option for you as you can not receive email from these accounts using a Telecom mobile WAP browser.

While this is probably fine for the 600,000 or so people with an Xtra email address, it’s no good for the others – but you can get around it by email forwarding. To do this you will need to set up an Xtra email account. There is a one off joining fee for this ($27.95) and an ongoing monthly charge of $5.00. Once you have done this, instruct your existing email host to forward your incoming mail to your Xtra email address (they may charge for this), and you will be able to access your email on your Telecom 027 mobile. Running two email accounts for mobility’s sake is a hassle it’s true, but it’s an option nonetheless.

The other way to get Xtra email is to purchase a Telecom mobile with an ‘email client’. Although it sounds complicated, an email client is merely a piece of software installed in your phone’s operating system that allows it to send and receive email. On a normal desktop computer you probably use an email client everyday – Microsoft Outlook, for example, is an email client.

Similar software is loaded onto some mobile phones. Although accessing a server and reading, deleting, replying and forwarding your mail using WAP may be enough for some people, others may want to do more with their mail – create sub folders, flag important messages, store drafts etc. To do this, they require an email application or ‘email client’ running on their phone. Telecom currently only sells two phones with an email client – the Falcon PDA, which runs the Microsoft Pocket PC as its operating system (OS), and the Kyocera Smartphone, which runs the Palm OS.

User Tip: Although theoretically the email software on the Falcon and the Kyocera Smartphone should be able to access the mail servers of other email hosts (iHug or ClearNet for example), Telecom does not allow access to non Telecom or Xtra mail servers using the Mobile JetStream data connection that comes standard with these devices. Again, there is a work around. Simply set your Falcon or Kyocera up to access these accounts using a ‘dial up’ connection. So if you wanted to receive your iHug email for example, you would need to put iHug’s SMTP or iMAP mail settings into your phone’s email client and also instruct the phone to dial in on iHug’s dial up number (087 300 777) before attempting to download your email.

What about attachments?
For both Telecom and Vodafone, accessing your mail via your phone’s WAP browser will not allow you to download attachments. If the email has an associated attachment (like a Word Document, a picture or an Excel spreadsheet) then you will receive an attachment notice in your WAP browser, but you will not be able to see the attachment. Dependent on the device, accessing your mail via an email client, however, will allow you to download attachments.

But the thing about attachments, say the networks (and they make a good point), is that there’s no reason to send them to a mobile phone if the phone cannot view or edit them. In Telecom’s case however, the Falcon does have the capacity to edit documents, so it can download them. Our advice? If you want to actually work with your mobile device (beyond just working with email) then you’ll need to buy a combination smartphone/PDA like the Falcon, BlackBerry or an i-mate Pocket PC.

For the most part, getting email to a Vodafone phone can be done in two ways – via WAP or via your phone’s in-built email client – and one advantage that Vodafone has is that almost all its phones come with an email client (see chart on previous page). To access mail using a Vodafone live! phone, simply select PXT & Email in the Live! menu, and select wapMail from the drop down list. Here you can select the host of your email from a range of ISPs including ClearNet, Paradise, iHug and seven others. Pick your provider, enter your username and password, and you can access your email.

But if you want to do more with email, like managing your in box, then it’s probably best to set up your phone’s email client. To do this simply visit Vodafone’s web site and click on the ‘mobile email’ link. After registering you will be given a you@vodafone.net.nz email address. What’s great about this system is the process is very easy. After you have entered your details at the website, Vodafone sends the info directly to your phone. No tricky installs required as you are prompted to install the settings when they arrive. Click ‘yes’ and the job is done.

But what if you want to keep your old email address? For the most part this is no problem. In the case of somebody with a johndoe@ihug.co.nz address, you can set up forwarding or diverts from your current ISP email to your Vodafone mail – and then download your mail to your Vodafone phone. As far as people emailing you are concerned, your email address will still be the same – johndoe@ihug.co.nz.

Alternatively you can choose to receive your ISP email on your Vodafone mobile, just visit http://wireless.vodafone.co.nz and choose the phone configurator option. Select your mobile device, go through the screens – then email settings will be sent to your phone and you will be able to receive your email from there on in. For web surfing and bill paying etc, you would still remain an iHug customer, but your email will now be managed by Vodafone.

Not all ISPs allow this however. For example if you have an Xtra email address or your company’s mail servers are hosted by Xtra or Telecom, you will not be able to access your email on a Vodafone phone using WAP (Xtra is not one of the ISPs listed for WAP access using Vodafone live!). Nor will you be able to access Xtra mail using the email client on a GPRS Vodafone phone, as Xtra servers do not allow access from GPRS phones. Once again, however, there may be a way around this.

On a Vodafone menu, go to ‘connectivity’, then Data comm and set up a new account. You can enter your Xtra dial up details here (087 30 30 30), then select that as an account and dial in that way. You will pay Xtra dial up charges for this, but nonetheless, it is an option.

And what about Hotmail?
Currently you cannot receive Hotmail direct on your mobile phone. Again, there are a couple of work arounds. You can configure Hotmail to send you a TXT when new email arrives, so at least you know there’s something there, or you set a different ‘reply to’ address in your Hotmail settings. Set the reply to address to your Vodafone email address for example, and people hitting ‘reply’ to emails you have sent from Hotmail, will send mails directly to your mobile.

Note: The mobile email solutions above are appropriate for individuals and smaller businesses – for more advanced business mobile email solutions read the article Mobile email for business.

October 2004