Palm

What is an Internet Service Provider (ISP)?

An ISP is a company that connects you to the Internet. For a monthly fee, an ISP typically provides you with a username, password, and an email account. You access the ISP's server either by dialling in over a phone line or using faster methods such as cable or digital subscriber lines (DSL).

Are mobile service providers also ISP's?

Yes. When you use a device like the Treo™ smartphone to access email and the web, your mobile service provider is also an ISP (Internet Service Provider) that uses its digital wireless Wide Area Network to connect you to the Internet. The cellular model is much like the DSL model in that once a smartphone connects to the network it stays logged on, giving the phone instant access to the Internet. In order to use a smartphone on a mobile service network, you need to add a data plan to your mobile service contract.

What are POP3, IMAP and MAPI?

POP3, IMAP, and MAPI are standards or protocols for Internet mailboxes. Most ISP email accounts utilize the POP3 standard while some ISP's now use the newer IMAP protocol. Corporate servers, such as Microsoft Exchange®, use a more robust protocol called MAPI. By using these common standards, ISP's and solutions providers allow users to access their email accounts using programs such as VersaMail® application, Outlook® Mobile, Eudora Pro, Netscape Messenger, Visto, GoodLink™, or Outlook®.

What are clients and servers?

An email client refers to the software that allows you to access your email. VersaMail application, Outlook Mobile, Eudora Pro, Netscape Messenger, and Microsoft Outlook are all examples of email clients. A server is a computer owned by the ISP or your corporate network where your mailbox resides. Exchange and Domino are examples of common email server software.

What is web-based email?

Web-based email means that you are accessing your email through a web browser. Popular web-based email providers include Google, Hotmail and Yahoo!. If your email account uses POP3 or IMAP, you can access this web-based email from your smartphone or handheld browser. However, a client like VersaMail application can also connect to many of these popular services and provide a richer email experience.
Note: some web-based email providers such as Yahoo charge a fee for accessing your email from a location other than their website.

What is the difference between Hosted solutions and Behind the Firewall solutions?

When you use Internet email like Yahoo mail, the server is held by Yahoo and said to be "hosted". When your company has it's own server on it's network and they use a security tool called a firewall, then the solution is said to he held "behind the firewall". Hosted solutions are good for small business and individuals who do not have an IT staff to manage an email server. Companies that have an IT staff can take advantage of the customisation and security of managing their own solution.

What is push-based email?

Email can be delivered in one of two modes, polled or pushed. In a polled model, the user initiates the reception of email, or the email client can be set to poll the server (i.e. "Get email every hour"). In a push model, the server delivers the mail with no user interaction. In the push model, when email hits the server, it is delivered to the device nearly simultaneously.

In reverse, with the poll model, email composed on the device is held there until the user or the software initiates a command to connect to email. In the push model, the mail is sent the moment the email is finished being composed.

The major benefit to push email is the real-time access and the inbox is kept up to date over the air.

Can I have both personal and company mail on my device?

Yes. It is possible to have more than one email account on your device. A person may want to have a business account for their Microsoft Exchange/Outlook email and a commercial account like Google, or Yahoo! for their personal mail. The VersaMail application client from Palm on the Treo™ 680 smartphone or Outlook Mobile on the Treo™ 750 smartphone will support up to eight different accounts.

If I use a smartphone for email, does that go against my minute plan?

No. Email and web access on a Treo smartphone is not counted as part of your cellular voice minutes. In order to get email on a smartphone, you need to sign up for a data plan from your carrier. Voice plans charge by time and data plans by the x-byte, and are accounted for separately. See the carriers for how they price their voice, data, and voice/data combination plans

Can I access my work email using VersaMail?

Yes, you can access your work email using VersaMail if you use Microsoft Outlook with Exchange or Lotus Notes with Domino.

What kinds of email accounts does VersaMail support?

VersaMail supports POP3 or IMAP accounts. Common POP and IMAP accounts include Google, Yahoo, and more. If your account is listed above, VersaMail setup wizard will walk you through the process and provide information to enable your account. If your email account is not listed above, find out the following information to set up VersaMail:
1. Does your account use POP or IMAP?
2. Your incoming Mail Server. (i.e.: pop.mail.company.com)
3. Your outgoing mail server. (i.e.: smtp.mail.company.com)
4. Your username, password, and email address.
You can find this information at your email account web site or by calling your ISP tech support.

Can I access Hotmail using VersaMail?

Microsoft does not use industry standard mail protocols and blocks access to their email systems by third-party applications. To access Hotmail, use your web browser.

Can I synchronize my email with my Palm handheld?

Yes, VersaMail supports HotSync mail directly with a POP or IMAP server. When you press the HotSync button on your device, VersaMail will use the Internet connection on your PC to check for new mail on your POP or IMAP server, delivering mail to your handheld, and sending email from your Outbox. VersaMail also synchronizes with Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, Eudora, Lotus Notes mail database, and Domino server mail. For complete directions on how to use HotSync with Microsoft Outlook, Express, or Lotus Notes, see our VersaMail Support page.

Can I use VersaMail with a Macintosh?

Yes, you can use VersaMail with a Macintosh. If VersaMail is not already on your handheld, you can purchase and download it at (insert URL). However, currently you cannot use VersaMail to synchronize locally to Entourage or Apple Mail, or to a POP or IMAP server using a Macintosh internet connection. Email account access will need to occur wirelessly from your handheld.

Can VersaMail retrieve my mail automatically?

Yes, if you have VersaMail 2.5 or higher, you can automatically retrieve your mail through a feature called "Auto Get Mail" under the Options menu item on your handheld. Determine the days of the week and the frequency during the day you want to check for mail. Note: Auto Get Mail will only work if your Palm handheld or smartphone is configured for wireless access.

Does VersaMail support attachments?

Yes, VersaMail supports wirelessly sending and receiving attachments of up to 5MB per message.

Attachment sending: VersaMail supports sending any file attachment type up to 5MB. Send files stored on an expansion card, Calendar appointments or Tasks (vcal files), Contacts (vcard files), Memos (text files), and Palm applications (prc files) or database files (pdb files).

Attachment viewing: VersaMail allows you to view text files, Microsoft Word and HTML attachments as plain text. Also view appointments, tasks, contacts, and Palm applications/databases. VersaMail uses other applications installed on your handheld to handle additional attachment types such as Palm Photos to display digital (jpeg) photos and DataViz Documents to Go® to view Microsoft Word, Excel® and Windows-compatible PowerPoint® documents.

When using HotSync to download mail, Documents to Go will automatically convert Word, Excel, and Windows-compatible PowerPoint files during the HotSync® process and deliver them to your handheld or smartphone.

Can VersaMail automatically download my attachments?

Yes, however VersaMail has a default "max message size" that limits the maximum size of each message to 5K. Because most attachments are larger than 5K, they will not be downloaded unless you change the setting.