T-Mobile UMA issues and resolution (sorta)

ebrandsberg · Thread Author #1 03-04-2010, 10:47 AM

Ok, so I've had UMA for the past three years or so (since the 8320 came out), and I've been having problems where UMA wouldn't connect. In wi-fi diagnostics, I would see that I had an IP address via DHCP, but in the UMA section, it would show an ISP or DNS error, and would show for the "serving UNC address" either n40.w79.t-mobileuncs.com or "punc.t-mobileuncs.com". I did some research and testing and found that when I was getting this error, I wasn't able to resolve this name through any of several upstream nameservers, including my ISP's (comcast), Google's recursive nameservers, 4.2.2.(1-4), etc. They all reported server fail. When I tried using OpenDNS's nameservers of 208.67.222.222 & 208.67.220.220, I was able to resolve the n40.w79 name again. Yay!

A little research found that ultradns is handling the domain "t-mobileuncs.com", but "punc.t-mobileuncs.com" appears to not resolve properly even if you point directly at the ultradns servers, despite it being the default name that will be used if the initial name pushed fails to resolve. Now, the name "n40.w79" has something to do with a parameter that is apparently pushed by t-mobile, and related to the tower you are connecting to and the supporting equipment, so it shows as a location not all that far from me if you map it out by North 40 degrees, West 79 degrees.

Anyway, it appears that for some reason, different DNS configurations make a huge difference with how reliable your UMA connections are, and with the DNS servers listed above, so far it has been solid as a rock for me. I have been having problems with this for a while, and saw others with problems on UMA, so I figured that this would be good information to post.

trees247 · #2 03-04-2010, 12:00 PM

Yeah I had the same problem too, they replaced my phone works now....

vsuga · #3 03-04-2010, 02:15 PM

I used to get UMA at my house and now I don't. I just thought it's b/c of where I live. Now It makes me wonder.

hubermania · #4 03-04-2010, 04:42 PM

OpenDNS sounds like the answer. Your post caught me off-guard. Wife and I have been using UMA extensively at home without a hitch for over a year. I configured our Wi-Fi router a couple of years ago to use OpenDNS instead of the upstream ISP DNS. No worries.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

jackm3 · #5 03-04-2010, 07:19 PM

Any way of translating the solution in an "easier to digest" form? Im relatively tech savvy...but that was confusing for me.

Doctor A · #6 03-04-2010, 08:16 PM

Not trying to hijack thread but my UMA suddenly stopped working today. Was fine till I tried nobex radio then deleted and rebooted and UMA not connecting but web browser fine. No cellular signal in my house. Wifi is not white but greyed out. Did battery pull, tried turning connections off then on but still no UMA. Anyone else having issue today?
Thank you,
Doc

marketingchick · #7 03-04-2010, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doctor A

Not trying to hijack thread but my UMA suddenly stopped working today. Was fine till I tried nobex radio then deleted and rebooted and UMA not connecting but web browser fine. No cellular signal in my house. Wifi is not white but greyed out. Did battery pull, tried turning connections off then on but still no UMA. Anyone else having issue today?
Thank you,
Doc

Hi Doc

Same issue here... updated my Slacker radio app, rebooted, and suddenly no UMA... heeelp!!

perkyaim99 · #8 03-04-2010, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doctor A

Not trying to hijack thread but my UMA suddenly stopped working today. Was fine till I tried nobex radio then deleted and rebooted and UMA not connecting but web browser fine. No cellular signal in my house. Wifi is not white but greyed out. Did battery pull, tried turning connections off then on but still no UMA. Anyone else having issue today?
Thank you,
Doc

My UMA stopped working today too, around 3pm Pacific Time. Maybe an outage.

doxa sub750T · #9 03-04-2010, 08:51 PM

I am sure it is an update or whatever reason. I am now talking via EDGE with WiFI connected, but no UMA. Apparently, I can talk and use data at the same time. The problem is that I have no UMA. My best guess is that TMO might be updating something related to their server. I checked my WiFi diagnostic and found that UMA server from TMO is busy.

The issue is that no unlimited talk via UMA atm. I hope this get resolved soon.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

perkyaim99 · #10 03-04-2010, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doxa sub750T

I am sure it is an update or whatever reason. I am now talking via EDGE with WiFI connected, but no UMA. Apparently, I can talk and use data at the same time. The problem is that I have no UMA. My best guess is that TMO might be updating something related to their server. I checked my WiFi diagnostic and found that UMA server from TMO is busy.

The issue is that no unlimited talk via UMA atm. I hope this get resolved soon.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

There is an outage that is effecting 5% of customers
T-Mobile USA (TMobile_USA) on Twitter

Doctor A · #11 03-04-2010, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marketingchick

Hi Doc

Same issue here... updated my Slacker radio app, rebooted, and suddenly no UMA... heeelp!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by perkyaim99

My UMA stopped working today too, around 3pm Pacific Time. Maybe an outage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by doxa sub750T

I am sure it is an update or whatever reason. I am now talking via EDGE with WiFI connected, but no UMA. Apparently, I can talk and use data at the same time. The problem is that I have no UMA. My best guess is that TMO might be updating something related to their server. I checked my WiFi diagnostic and found that UMA server from TMO is busy.

The issue is that no unlimited talk via UMA atm. I hope this get resolved soon.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Thanks for the update guys. Hopefully is on T-Mobile's end. I am charging up my 8900 and will try putting SIM in and see if UMA working on it. If no go then must not be device problem. I will post once I can check this out.
Doc