[richard371]

I have Verichat and have the choice to run it non-mds using tmobile tcp verses MDS. which one would be the most stable and reliable?

[Mark Rejhon]

Generally, using BES/MDS is usually more reliable (if using BES) than using the TCP/IP stack.

However, this is very carrier-dependant. When you have no BES, sometimes both methods have the same reliability if both works. Give both a test and find out.

[richard371]

Seems like when using MDS you are adding another factor ontop of the carrier where when not using mds you are going straight through TCP.

[Mark Rejhon]

Not quite true.

If you are using BES -- then the MDS via blackberry.net is a very reliable NOC that has a much better uptime than the heavily-loaded T-Mobile Internet gateway. The MDS method goes through the same means as your BlackBerry email -- very reliable!

RIM babies the blackberry.net much better than T-Mobile babies the wap.voicestream.com server (The T-Mobile TCP/IP stack goes through that)

Now, if you don't use BES, then you're going through the T-Mobile wap.voicestream.com APN. Both the MDS and non-MDS version are nearly exactly the same. The non-MDS goes through the WAP port, the MDS version goes through another dedicated port. WAP ports sometimes have a timeout, while other ports do not. (Note I can technically be mistaken regarding WAP, this needs a test: It's possible that the "non-MDS version" goes through the WAP port of the blackberry.net gateway... which has entirely different timeouts and network routing than the "MDS" version going through the wap.voicestrem.com APN for a non-BES BlackBerry. However all BES BlackBerries route all their data through MDS over blackberry.net ...which is often fast and very reliable, because that's the same gateway used for BlackBerry email!)

Also, in fact GPRS is not even native TCP/IP anyway.... (It has to be translated by an carrier Internet APN/gateway - "Access Point Name") There's necessary overhead anyway, but the bottom line is lower pings and better uptimes through the BES/MDS method.

Generally, using the WAP port (non-MDS) is not a good idea for persistent connections because the WAP port often has a timeout (thus the disconnect-reconnects).

You'll get a lot less disconnects-reconnects using MDS...

[jlopatin]

Mark-
the issue with this is that tmobile users do not get the blackberry browser or IPPP service books from tmobile UNLESS they have a 7290 or a 7100...


so mds via tmobile will not work. it's WAP only for us!

Unless someone knows how to get the correct service books...

anyone?