I think I have stumbled upon the root cause of the iGuidance startup problem. To refresh your memory, on the Tilt using either version of iGuidance, the program has a bad tendancy to take a very long time to start after you click on the icon. The work around has been to stop the data connection start iGuidance and then restart the data connection. I even wrote a script to do just that.

Well, because I tend to be an obstinate SOB, that wasn't good enough so I have periodically kept digging and have stumbled on something that looks like it is the cause. WINS! As in Microsoft WINS.

I noticed that my MediaNet connection is getting a bogus set of WINS addresses (10.11.12.13 and 10.11.12.14) that must be getting assigned by AT&T. If I statically assign the same DNS servers but leave the WINS servers blank, then iGuidance works perfectly every time.

If I statically include the two WINS addresses, then iGuidance stops working correctly.

What I think is happening is this.

1) AT&T dynamically assigns DNS and WINS addresses to the device on the MediaNet Cellular Line. For whatever reason, they have given it bogus WINS server addresses.

2) When iGuidance starts it trys to do a NetBios lookup (of what I don't know). It sees that WINS has been configured and tries to communicate with the WINS servers. Of course it can't so we have to wait for it to time out before it continues and starts the program.

3) By turning off the data connection or removing the WINS servers by statically not assigning them, then iGuidance sees that it can't do the Netbios lookup and continues with out needing to time out.

I'm going to send this observation to iGuidance to see if they can confirm it and include a fix (someday) to turn off the Netbios lookup. I'm also going to contact AT&T to see if they are setting the bogus WINS assignments and ask if they will stop.

Can somebody else repeat the test I did to verify and confirm my hypothesis?

Well I can confirm that it is a WINS issue. I found a nice little Sniffer program that runs on Windows Mobile. I installed it and sniffed the cellular line adapter (MediaNet) on my phone while I opened iGuidance.

If the MediaNet connection has a WINS server specified then a series of NetBios Name Search (NBNS) packets are generated going to the IP Address of the WINS server.

What this means is that when you open iGuidance it wants to connect to a WINS server. By default AT&T gives out an IP address, a subnet mask, a default gateway, a DNS server and two WINS servers to use. The WINS server addresses AT&T provides are bogus so it causes a huge delay when starting iGuidance because iGuidance has to timeout on both WINS servers before opening up. By statically assigning the DNS server and leaving the WINS servers blank iGuidance bypasses the whole NetBios Name Search process and opens without delay.

I spoke with iNav and they agree. They said they would forward it to the developers to see what can be done for the next release. I've tried to talk to AT&T support but I haven't been able to get anywhere with them. Go figure.

Silly question, but did you disable the built-in proxy AT&T uses for some things on your phone? It's a hidden setting and requires a CAB file to do, but some do. The addresses you've supplied aren't "bogus," just not public. Carriers have started using private addressing for a range of reasons, so the ones you've reported are probably correct, but require that you've got AT&T's proxy enabled to reach them.

If you hit XDA-Dev and search for "hidden proxy" you'll find the CABs to enable or disable the silly thing. You might enable it and see if that sorts your problem out while the developers sort out why in the hell they're using a crap name resolution protocol like WINS in the first place...

Excellent suggestion, one I hadn't tried. However, after trying it it made no difference. I am getting a 10.x.x.x/8 address from AT&T so I am in the same private address space as the WINS servers and yet they do not respond to a PING, TRACEROUTE or NBNS. It doesn't matter if I have the hidden proxy enabled or not.

Because the addresses are so neat 10.11.12.13 and .14, I think they are some sort of placeholder by some clever programmer.