I am an i730 upgrader. I thought this hack may be a useful post here for new i760 owners. This is a registry hack from the i730 forum that I can confirm works on the i760.
As posted in the i730 forum:
Ok folks here is a little tidbit of information. If you use your smtp comcast account with your device you undoubtedly have a VERY slow login. Mine was on the order of about 2 minutes to just login.
It turns out that the issue lies with the Comcast server. The short answer is that the Comcast server does not have SSL enabled and the mobile operating system (2003, WM5) thinks it does. Then there comes a conflict and a mobius loop of sorts.
Anyway I found the fix on another site.
Here are the directions:
Follow these steps using any register editor software for Pocket PC. (I used PHM)
1. Open Registry editor.
2. Locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Inbox
3. Create a new DWORD value "ForceOffSSL" and give it a value of 1, Base=Decimal (tap Edit, and New DWORD Value).
4. Soft-reset device.
5. For Comcast server make sure your settings have no ":975" or any other number after the SMTP settings.
I found that the PHM Editor did not set up in my i730 flawlessly and I had to manually open the .cab file titled "regedit.Mrln_ARM" for the i730.
The hack doesn't change the security of the email. SSL is not enabled on the server end at Comcast. So regardless of the i760 setting, the email is not SSL encrypted. The hack simply keeps the i760 from expecting SSL from Comcast when it doesn't exist.
The problem is, I think you've just disabled SSL for all your mail accounts. So for those that do support it, you've lost the security it provides because you're now in clear text mode.
Since you can turn this on or off for individual accounts, I'm not sure why this is helping - just don't check the box requiring SSL for that account.
The hack may disable SSL for all email accounts. I have two...I have a Lotus Notes account that gets email via mNotes which is a PPC app which is still SSL Secured since it uses it's own instructions/registry to connect to the host Notes Server and Comcast which is not SSL Secure in the first place.
Unchecking the SSL required box doesn't help with Comcast. This was a known issue on the i730 and remains on the i760. All Comcast users deal with horribly long "login" wait times until this hack is installed.
Its rather disturbing if Comcast does not support SSL for wireless e-mail. From the Comcast FAQ "How to configure Outlook 2003 to send and receive E-mail while traveling":
6. On the Advanced tab, enter 465 in the Outgoing mail (SMTP) port number field and 995 in the Incoming mail (POP3) field. For both, click This server requires a secure connection (SSL).
I see what you are saying about the EVDO connection: I was thinking about the case where I use public wi-fi instead of EVDO; the unencrypted wi-fi connection is probably the least secure.
Anyway, my real question was whether Comcast is telling the truth in their FAQ answer I referenced earlier. They strongly recommen SSL when using wireless - is the recomendation pointless, since they are not providing an SSL connection, even if you request one in your email account setup?
It's not a matter of the e-mail contents - it's a matter of the user ID and password. Without SSL on, those are sent in the clear, and I'd prefer to never do that.
I have been using this hack on my Treo 700Wx but now that I have the i-760 it has stopped working for me. Has anyone else experienced this? Is it working for everyone else?
A couple of days ago, I began getting an SSL Cert error when trying to send emails to my Comcast account. I removed the hack which stopped the error; but slowed the connect down again.
I don't know that they've "added" it. What's probably happened was a configuration change that required it for folks getting mail from outside of their network.
I get this same message intermittently. It seems that I get it more frequently as my comcast online mail box gets fuller, but I may be imagining things. How long has this been going on for you? Did it used to work and then stopped?
I also have the issue with incredibly long login times.
I keep hoping someone will crack the code on this...