Overview

I came across this issue today on a Telstra branded HTC HD2 running Windows Mobile 6.5 connected via Telstra NextG. I also had this exact same issue a year ago on a HTC Snap, also connected via Telstra NextG and wish I’d blogged it back then – it would have saved me a lot of time!

Issue

I’m not sure if this is just a bug on some Telstra HTC Windows Mobile devices but when using Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to synchronise with an Exchange server, the Windows Mobile devices listed above would only synchronise over a WiFi connection. With the WiFi connection disabled or not in use, the devices were unable to synchronise using the Telstra NextG connection and would sit there saying “Synchronizing”. No error was displayed.

It appears that for some reason, these devices do not set the connection to be used by the ActiveSync program, instead leaving the option blank. This means that Exchange ActiveSync never tries to use the 3G data connection if the WiFi is unavailable.

Solution

Step 1

The first part of this solution is to set the device to use the Providers “Internet” connection, even when connecting to a “private network”. This is necessary because these particular devices will always revert to using this connection rather than the default Internet one.

Go to Start > Settings.

Select the Menu button at the bottom right and then choose All Settings.

Select Connections.

Select Connections again.

Select the Advanced tab at the bottom of the screen.

Select the Select Networks button.

Ensure that the option Programs that automatically connect to a private network should connect using: is set to your providers internet connection, such as Telstra Internet

Step 2

Now the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync server connection needs to be set to use this internet connection.

To setup the connection, go to Start > Tools > ActiveSync

Select the Menu button and either add a new server source or select Configure Server… to edit your existing ActiveSync connection.

Press Next through the settings screens until you get to the screen titled “Edit Server Settings”.

Select the Menu button at the bottom of the screen and select Advanced.

Select a connection to be used by ActiveSync, normally this will be Dedicated. If Internet is selected, from my experence the device may default back to Dedicated anyway.

You should now be able to synchronise your Windows Mobile using Exchange ActiveSync over 3G!