Installation
Why do I get a "content type not recognized" error?
Why do I get a "Invalid File" error?
I've installed FreeRange, now how can I find it again?
Downloading your feeds
"Communication error: java.io.IOException"?
"Data server (service) not available"?
"32 articles were deleted to make space for new articles"?
Phone Interface
Can I change how I view my articles?
How can I add a new feed?
How can I remove a feed?
How can I search for articles?
What does "Send" do?
What does "Full Story" do?
How does "Next" work?
How can I change the colors?
How can I make the text bigger?
What are all the "Settings" for?
Why do I sometimes see black rectangles in article text?
How can I restart fresh and download all my feeds and articles again?
Why do my articles have the wrong date and time?
Website Interface
How can I add a new feed?
How can I remove an existing feed?
How can I organize my feeds?
What are Nicknames for?
What does Import/Export do?
What is OPML?
Blackberry Phones
Why are there both normal and BES versions?
Which version should I use?
What are the WAP Gateway settings for in the normal version?
Why do I get a 502 error?
"Data is too large for the gateway. Reduce # of articles downloaded"?
Can I use my FreeRange with Nextel?
Can I use my FreeRange with Verizon?
Motorola Phones
Why does downloading my articles seem slow?
Why do I have to wait a small time after reading an article?
Why doesn't my text size change?
Nokia Phones
Why can I store so few articles?
Why does FreeRange constantly ask to use the network to send and recieve data?
Palm Phones
Does FreeRange work on Palm phones?
Sony Ericsson Phones
Can I hide the keypad display that takes up half my screen on the P800, P900 and P910?
PocketPC and Windows Mobile Phones
Does FreeRange work on Microsoft phones and PDAs?
Installation
Q: Why do I get a "content type not recognized" error?
This error (or a variation of it) probably means that either your phone does not support Java or that you have a Palm-based phone and it needs to have a Java runtime installed on it. See the Palm Phones section below.
Q: Why do I get a "Invalid File" error?
If you've already installed FreeRange and you're doing so again, you can somethines see this error. Some phone browsers store a cached copy of FreeRange.
To fix this, you need to clear the cache on the browser and try installing again. The steps to do this vary from phone to phone.
Q: I've installed FreeRange, now how can I find it again?
It varies from phone to phone. Some phones place it in the "Games" menu, some place it in the "Games & Apps" menu and others place it in the "Appplications" menu.
Some phones ask you during install where you would like to place it.
Downloading your feeds
Q: "Communication error: java.io.IOException"?
This is likely caused because your phone doesn't have a valid internet connection that FreeRange can use. This can either be because you don't have a data plan with your carrier, your phone isn't configured correctly to use it, or your carrier doesn't have you on the correct plan.
This can usually be fixed by calling your carrier and asking if your phone is correctly configured to allow Java applications to access the Internet. You can use ReqWireless WebViewer as an example, since it is the #1 seller on Handango. They are sure to have had to support that application for other users. Once they get your phone working for WebViewer, FreeRange will work as well!
If that doesn't work, you can ask your carrier whether your data plan supports connections to a GPRS/Internet APN (not GPRS/WAP or WAP), and if so, what is the APN, and how do you configure your phone to use it.
Q: "Data server (service) not available"?
This message will occasionally be seen if you phone carrier takes down the data service proxy that the phone uses to access the Internet. You can either contact your carrier and complain or be patient, usually they get things back up in less than 12 hours.
Carriers don't think that 100 percent uptime for their data service is important. Perhaps that will change in the future.
Q: "32 articles were deleted to make space for new articles"?
Because many phones have a limited amount of space for storing articles, FreeRange, during an update, will automatically delete the oldest articles stored on the phone to make room for the new articles being downloaded.
Tip: Before an Update, select the "Delete -> All Articles". This will remove all of your existing articles and allow you the maximum space for all your new articles.
Phone Interface
Q: Can I change how I view my articles?
You can change your primary article view in one of four ways:
- Subcategories
This view contains your categories, subcategories and feeds exactly as you have them organized on the server. This is the default. - Categories
This view contains just your categories and feeds, hiding the subcategories. - Feeds
This view contains just your feeds, hiding the categories and subcategories. - Articles
This unique view contains all of your articles from all of your feeds, with the newest unread articles at the top. Subcategories, categories and feeds are hidden.
This can be changed via the "Settings -> Display -> Starting View" menu
In addition, you can configure your article view to be in a split into two windows, with the top window showing the article titles and the bottom window showing article abstracts.
This can be changed via the "Settings -> Display -> Split View" menu
Q: How can I add a new feed?
Perform the following steps:
- Select the "Add Feeds" menu
- Select one of the following menu items:
- Browsing list
Select from feeds in our online catalog. - Searching for
Search for a feed using a keyword. This searches over 50,000 feeds on our server for the specified keyword and returns a list of the first 30 matches. You simply select the feeds that interest you. - News keyword match
This creates a custom feed from Yahoo! News that contains only articles that match the keyword you specify.
Tip: to make the search more specific, you can specify a phrase enclosed in double-quotes.
- Stock symbol
This allows you enter a symbol to get stock quotes for. - Weather
This allows you to enter a zipcode for a US city and recieve weather updates - Job search
This allows you to enter a location and receive job lists - Entering a url
This allows you to manually enter a RSS or Atom url and give it any description you choose.
- Browsing list
- Save your changes by selecting the Done menu. The phone will connect with the server and download the articles for your new feeds.
Q: How can I remove a feed?
Perform the following steps:
- Select the "Remove feed" menu
- Highlight a feed you want to remove
- Select the "Select" menu or fire button
- Save your changes by selecting the Done menu.
Q: How can I search for articles?
Perform the following steps:
- Select the "Search" menu
- Enter the characters or word you want to find
- Select the "Search" menu. The phone will connect with the server and return all the articles that match your criteria.
- In the search results you can view the title or abstract.
- Finally, select the "Open" menu to navigate to that article within FreeRange.
Q: What does "Send" do?
Send allows you to share articles with your friends and family. You can access the "Send" menu from the articles view, abstract view, or full story view.
The following options are available:
- Myself - Allows you to send an email to yourself.
- Contact - Send from the contact list.
- Nickname - Allows you to send an email about an article using a short nicknames (like "dad" or "jm")
- Email - Allows you to send an email about an article using a regular email address. Some phones have an integrated method where you can lookup email addresses from the phone's address book.
Q: What does "Full Story" do?
Full Story allows you to access an article's associated web page through our text-only proxy server. The proxy removes images and HTML markup tags and delivers just the text of the article, saving you download time and bandwidth.
Tip: Given the varying ways that webpages are constructed, you may have to scroll down a little bit to find where the article starts.
Q: How does "Next" work?
The Next menu is only available in the article's abstract view. It allows you to cycle through each article, one after another, without having to return to the article listing.
If you start with an unread article, selecting Next after the last unread article will return you to the feeds view. If you start with a read article, selecting Next after the last read article will return you to the feeds view.
Q: How can I change the colors?
FreeRange has color themes built-in. These can be changed via the "Settings -> Display -> Theme" menu.
The following themes are available:
- Light
- Darkness
- Ocean
- Desert
- Forest
Q: How can I make the text bigger?
FreeRange supports 3 font sizes: small, medium and large. These can be changed via the "Settings -> Display -> Text Size" menu.
Tip: Motorola phones only support one font size, so this setting does nothing.
Q: What are all the "Settings" for?
Account settings:
- Account - This is for your FreeRange account name
- Password - This is for your FreeRange account password
Display settings:
- Starting view - See above
- Theme - See above
- Text Size - See above
- Show new articles as - You can see unread articles either an icon, bold or red color
- Split view - See above
- Wrap article text - If you turn this off, then article and feed text will stay on a single line and get truncated.
- Auto-read articles - By default, articles are marked read when you view their abstract. If you turn this option off, then articles are left as unread.
- Scroll by page - By default, article text is scroll by the page-full. If you turn this option off, then article text is scroll by a single line.
Download settings:
- Download max articles per feed - This allows you to control the maximum number of articles for each feed downloaded during an Update. The default is 15. Set this to 0 and you will get all the articles available for each feed. Many phones have a limit to how much space they have for storing articles, so this is a way to limit how much data comes from the server.
- Download max text per article - - This allows you to control the maximum length of an article's abstract. If the text is longer than this number, it is truncated with a "...". The default is 0 for newer phones and 256 for older phones. Many phones have a limit to how much space they have for storing articles, so this is a way to limit how much data comes from the server.
- Download logos - This allows you to control whether or not feed logos (if they're defined) are downloaded. Many phones limit how much data can be stored, so this is a way to limit how much data comes from the server
- Update at startup - (NOT YET IMPLEMENTED) If this option is true, then FreeRange will automatically try to connect at startup and update your articles.
Q: Why do I sometimes see black rectangles in article text?
Web pages and RSS feeds sometimes encode characters in a way that phones don't support.
For example, on the Motorola V551, an article can have a HTML character definition for a "left-double-quote" and a "right-double-quote". This is a different character than the simple double-quote. The Motorola doesn't have these characters defined and shows a black rectangle instead.
Q: How can I restart fresh and download all my feeds and articles again?
This removes all data from the phone and allows you to pull all of your articles fresh from the server.
Perform the following steps:
- Select the "Settings" menu within the application.
- Select "Reset all data."
- Answer "Yes" to the prompt.
- Select the "Update" menu to start the article download.
Tip: Your account information or settings will not be erased by doing this.
Q: Why do my articles have the wrong date and time?
Make sure that, on the server under "Account", you've correctly specified your Time Zone. The phone uses this setting to correctly display times.
If this still doesn't fix things, then another possibilty is that the feed author has specified incorrect times in the future. We have seen several feeds that do this.
Website Interface
Q: How can I add a new feed?
Perform the following steps:
- Select "Manage Feeds"
- Under the desired Category, select "subscribe to feed"
- Select the type of feed to add
Q: How can I remove an existing feed?
Perform the following steps:
- Select "Manage Feeds"
- Find the feed you wish to remove and select "unsubcribe"
Q: How can I organize my feeds?
The website allows you to create new categories and subcategories and to move feeds from one category to another.
To create a category or subcategory, perform the following steps:
- Select "Manage Feeds"
- In the desired location, select either "add new category" or "add new sub-category"
To move feeds from one category to another, perform the following steps:
- Select "Manage Feeds"
- For the desired feed, use the combobox on the right side to select where you would like to move the feed to.
Q: What are Nicknames for?
Nicknames allow you to associate a short set of characters (easily typed on a phone) with an email address. From the phone, in the Send menu, you can type that short nickname and your email will automatically be sent to the full email address.
Q: What does Import/Export do?
Export allows you to download all of your category and feed information as an industry-standard OPML file. This can be imported into another RSS reader that you have installed on your PC or Mac.
Import allows you to load into FreeRange an OPML file, containing all of your favorite feeds, exported from another RSS reader that you have (on your PC or Mac).
Tip: During Import, all of your existing feeds and categories will be replaced by the contents of the OPML file. So be careful!
Q: What is OPML?
OPML is an XML format designed specifically for allowing RSS feeds to be transferred between RSS readers.
Blackberry Phones
Q: Why are there both normal and BES versions?
There are two ways to connect to the Internet with a Blackberry: via a Blackberry Enterprise Server and via a WAP gateway. The Blackberry has a security feature that if you try to connect using one method (even it if doesn't work), the application is flagged so that it will not be able to connect using the other method. The only way to reset this is to re-install your Blackberry operating system! This is called the "split pipe" security mechanism.
To avoid this, we have made two versions. That way, if one version doesn't work, you can simply uninstall that version and install the other version: no need to re-install your operating system! A BES is usually installed and operated by a company for their Blackberry users.
Tip: Make sure that you un-install the non-working version of FreeRange before you install the other version. To un-install, go to Tools -> Settings -> Applications, select FreeRange and then Delete.
Q: Which version should I use?
The Corporate version is for:
- Users with the Blackberry Enterprise Server (did your company give you your Blackberry?)
- Users on Nextel (USA)
- Users on Telecom Italia Mobile (Italy)
The Personal version is for:
- US - AT&T Wireless
- US - Cingular
- US - T-Mobile
- US - Cincinnati Bell
- US - Bell Mobility
- Canada - Rogers AT&T
- France - SFR
- Germany - O2
- Germany - T-Mobile
- UK - O2
- UK - Vodafone
- Switzerland - Sunrise
- Sweden - Vodafone
- Other carriers as well, this is not an exhaustive list
Tip: If one version doesn't work, make sure to un-install and try the other one!
Q: What are the WAP Gateway settings for in the Personal version?
If you use your Blackberry outside of a company, then you must rely on your cell phone carrier's WAP gateway instead. In order for FreeRange to work correctly, you must choose your carrier from the list provided in the application.
If you can't find your carrier listed, then you need to select "Other" and enter your gateway information you recieved from your carrier. If you need a username to authenticate, then you can enter that as well.
Here is a list of carriers and their settings. If you do use a carrier setting that's not in the application, let us know in the forum and we'll add it in the next version.
Q: Why do I get a 502 error?
By default a WAP gateway and the Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) limit the amount of data that can be downloaded in one request to 128K bytes (about 400 articles). During an Update, if the phone requests more than this amount, then you will sometimes get this error.
You can change the maximum number of articles downloaded for feeds or turn off downloading logos to get the size under 128k. This can be done via "Settings -> Download" on the phone.
Tip: If you use a Blackberry Enterprise Server, this value can be increased (assuming you can influence an Administrator to change it on your behalf!)
Q: "Data is too large for the gateway. Reduce # of articles downloaded"?
This is the same issue as above.
Q: Can I use FreeRange with Nextel?
It should be possible to use FreeRange Corporate edition with Nextel.
Please try the trial version first to make sure everything works before buying!
Q: Can I use FreeRange with Verizon?
You can use FreeRange Corporate edition if your company is running the Blackberry Enterprise Server with MDS.
If you don't have access to a Blackberry Enterprise Server, then it's more difficult. Verizon doesn't provide a WAP gateway for its users, so you can either configure your Blackberry for a direct TCP connection (and use the Corporate edition) or use a 3rd-party WAP gateway provider and use the Personal edition.
Some WAP gateway options are WapTunnel (free) and MobileWeb4U. There are others you can search for as well.
Please try the trial version first to make sure everything works before buying!
Motorola Phones
Q: Why does downloading my articles seem slow?
Storing records on Motorola phones is much slower than other phones that FreeRange works on. There is nothing that FreeRange can do, it is a feature of the phone.
Q: Why do I have to wait a small time after reading an article?
Because FreeRange keeps track of which articles you've read, it has to store this information every time you read an article. This is slower than on other phones. A way to speed things up is to turn off the setting for automatically marking articles as read. This is located in Settings -> Display -> Auto-mark as read.
Q: Why doesn't my text size change?
Motorola phones only support one font size.
Nokia Phones
Q: Why can I store so few articles?
If you have a Nokia Series 40 1.0 phone, the phone limits the application to a maximum of 20K bytes of storage. This translates to about 50-60 articles. This limit is hard-coded and cannot be changed by FreeRange.
If you have a Nokia Series 40 2.0 phone, the phone limits the application to a maximum of 32K bytes of storage. This translates to about 80-90 articles. This limit is hard-coded and cannot be changed by FreeRange.
Tip: You can change the maximum number of articles downloaded for feeds or turn off downloading logos to make the most out of your limited storage. This can be done via "Settings -> Download" on the phone.
Tip: Before an Update, select the "Delete -> All Articles". This will remove all of your existing articles and allow you the maximum space for all your new articles.
Q: Why does FreeRange constantly ask to use the network to send and recieve data?
This is a "feature" of Java that is designed to prevent you from using applications that use your data connection without your knowledge and end up costing you money if you have a "pay-as-you-go" data plan.
If you have a Nokia Series 60 phone, you can set this so that the application only asks the first time you access the network.
Close FreeRange. Open the "Manager" application, select FreeRange, select the Settings menu and then, under Network Access, select "Ask first time". Restart FreeRange.
If you have a Nokia Series 40 phone, you can set this so that the application never asks.
At the "Applications" menu, select FreeRange and then the "Web Access" menu. Select "Allowed" and then restart FreeRange.
Palm Phones
Q: Does FreeRange work on Palm phones?
FreeRange is currently in Beta with our native version for Palm Treo 600, 650, 680, and 700p.
Sony Ericsson Phones
Q: Can I hide the keypad display that takes up half my screen on the P800, P900 and P910?
For the P900 and P910, you can access the View menu and select "Hide keypad." The P800 does not allow you to hide the keypad display.
PocketPC and Windows Mobile Phones
Q: Does FreeRange work on Microsoft phones and PDA's?
FreeRange is currently in Beta with our Windows Mobile and Pocket PC version. It works on 2003, WM 5.0 and 6.0.