I had been afraid this was going to happen eventually, and - unfortunately - it has. I think I have to give up my iPhone.
I work at a large hospital, as some of you know, and while I'm the chief of my small division and the residency director, I am not high enough on the corporate food chain to make any kind of meaningful changes in IT policy. I need access to my corporate email on my phone, and the IT department (after claiming to have investigated) has determined there are "security issues" which prevent them from rolling out email access to iPhone owners. And for other reasons unknown to me they do not offer BlackBerry access. This leaves Windows Mobile as the only option for getting email on a mobile device.
On top of that there is no AT&T signal inside the main building (where I spend 80% of my work time). Now, I'm not sure if this is due to poor AT&T coverage despite the fact I get 5 bars of 3G in the parking lot, due to the architecture of the building, or if its done on purpose. The hospital has a deal with Verizon to provide hospital pagers and hospital-owned cell phones, and, unsurprisingly, there's superb Verizon access thoughout the building courtesy of microcells thoughout the interior of the hospital. Excellent Sprint signal as well. But zero - and I mean ZERO - AT&T signal unless you happen to be standing next to a window. Is it possible to block AT&T's frequencies while letting in the CDMA signal of Sprint and Verizon??
Anyway, so now I'm stuck. I need to have mobile access to my email (yes, "need" in every medico-legal sense of the word) and lack of AT&T signal with no change in the 18 months I've been with AT&T is becoming a hassle.
On top of that, the communications people can forward my pager messages via SMS to any cellphone, which would eliminate having to carry the pager and a cellphone. Except, of course, not really an option with the iPhone since there's no damn AT&T service inside the building (I really think they must somehow be blocking the signal).
I'm pretty much at the point where I am at a significant disadvantage without mobile corporate email and without viable cell signal in the building. As such, I'm pretty much forced to move to a Windows Mobile device on either Verizon or Sprint. I'm almost tempted to keep my AT&T's iPhone service too, just so I can still have it, but its hard to justify the cost of two cell contracts and juggle two phone numbers. And even if there were a CDMA/Verizon iPhone (as rumored), I'd still be locked out of my corporate email. Why they wont put in a BlackBerry server I don't know, but its obviously something they don't want. While not necessarily a bad thing in terms of protecting personal healthcare information, my institution is VERY tight with security.
So it looks like Windows Mobile for me. After many hours of research, it looks like I'll end up buying an HTC Touch Pro on either Sprint or Verizon (they come out next month), or a Sprint Treo 800w. They're both practically bricks compared to the sleek iPhone, and I used WM 5.0 Moto Q in the pre-iPhone days, so I'm none too happy about this.
Anyone have any words of support or cheer? Other than getting a new job (obviously not an option), I think I'm pushed out of AT&T and the iPhone.
Sucks to be me. Maybe I can duct tape an iPod touch to the back of the new phone
Edit: If you've got any Windows Mobile suggestions - other than taking a hammer to it - please share.
I work at a large hospital, as some of you know, and while I'm the chief of my small division and the residency director, I am not high enough on the corporate food chain to make any kind of meaningful changes in IT policy. I need access to my corporate email on my phone, and the IT department (after claiming to have investigated) has determined there are "security issues" which prevent them from rolling out email access to iPhone owners. And for other reasons unknown to me they do not offer BlackBerry access. This leaves Windows Mobile as the only option for getting email on a mobile device.
On top of that there is no AT&T signal inside the main building (where I spend 80% of my work time). Now, I'm not sure if this is due to poor AT&T coverage despite the fact I get 5 bars of 3G in the parking lot, due to the architecture of the building, or if its done on purpose. The hospital has a deal with Verizon to provide hospital pagers and hospital-owned cell phones, and, unsurprisingly, there's superb Verizon access thoughout the building courtesy of microcells thoughout the interior of the hospital. Excellent Sprint signal as well. But zero - and I mean ZERO - AT&T signal unless you happen to be standing next to a window. Is it possible to block AT&T's frequencies while letting in the CDMA signal of Sprint and Verizon??
Anyway, so now I'm stuck. I need to have mobile access to my email (yes, "need" in every medico-legal sense of the word) and lack of AT&T signal with no change in the 18 months I've been with AT&T is becoming a hassle.
On top of that, the communications people can forward my pager messages via SMS to any cellphone, which would eliminate having to carry the pager and a cellphone. Except, of course, not really an option with the iPhone since there's no damn AT&T service inside the building (I really think they must somehow be blocking the signal).
I'm pretty much at the point where I am at a significant disadvantage without mobile corporate email and without viable cell signal in the building. As such, I'm pretty much forced to move to a Windows Mobile device on either Verizon or Sprint. I'm almost tempted to keep my AT&T's iPhone service too, just so I can still have it, but its hard to justify the cost of two cell contracts and juggle two phone numbers. And even if there were a CDMA/Verizon iPhone (as rumored), I'd still be locked out of my corporate email. Why they wont put in a BlackBerry server I don't know, but its obviously something they don't want. While not necessarily a bad thing in terms of protecting personal healthcare information, my institution is VERY tight with security.
So it looks like Windows Mobile for me. After many hours of research, it looks like I'll end up buying an HTC Touch Pro on either Sprint or Verizon (they come out next month), or a Sprint Treo 800w. They're both practically bricks compared to the sleek iPhone, and I used WM 5.0 Moto Q in the pre-iPhone days, so I'm none too happy about this.
Anyone have any words of support or cheer? Other than getting a new job (obviously not an option), I think I'm pushed out of AT&T and the iPhone.
Sucks to be me. Maybe I can duct tape an iPod touch to the back of the new phone
Edit: If you've got any Windows Mobile suggestions - other than taking a hammer to it - please share.
