They did not tell me when they are coming to setup the fibre Internet service. I waited a month and they called me on the 3rd week of July 2011 saying they will come on 26th July 2011 to install the service.

StarHub is forcing us to use the crappy Huawei HG256s Residential Gateway (RG) and there is no way to bypass it yet. I heard the wireless on it is just pure shitty. So the typical setup would be:

Terminal Point (TP) -> Optical Network Terminal (ONT) -> Residential Gateway (RG) -> Router

If order to get your router to do the routing you need to bridge the connection between the RG and Router.

Step 1: You need to disable WLAN and DHCP on the RG

Disable WLAN on RG

Disable DHCP on RG

Step 2: Enable DMZ on the RG

Enable DMZ on RG

My RG’s IP address is 192.168.2.1 and my router WAN Port is connected to my RG’s LAN Port 1 with WAN Static IP address set to 192.168.2.2 on the router.

My router IP address is 192.168.3.1.

RG (192.168.2.1) -> DMZ (192.168.2.2) WAN -> Router (192.168.3.1)

Step 3: Setting WAN Static IP on the Router

Setting WAN Static IP on Router

Router IP Setup

That is basically it. I have disabled all the firewall features on the RG side and let the router handle it. DDNS on the other hand is handled by the RG instead of the router.

DDNS on RG

Since the router is behind RG’s DMZ, port forwarding is handled by the router.

Port Forwarding on Router

BEFORE (Cable): Speedtest – MaxOnline Ultimate (100Mbps)

AFTER (Fibre): Speedtest – MaxOnline Inifnity Elite (150Mbps)

I am unable to obtain 150Mbps speed though. I am wondering if Speedtest can output more than 100Mbps. However I am able to obtain about 80Mbps on 2 computers while doing Speedtest simultaneously. I did my speedtest on StarHub’s Speedtest before doing it on Speedtest.net.

Upon further investigation, I am actually on 150Mbps, I downloaded a iPad 2 firmware update (iOS 4.3.5) from Apple and I am getting about 16MB/s to 18MB/s which is about 128Mbps to 144Mbps. Woot!

Credits
Thanks to MarineX for his post on HardwareZone Forums.

If you look at the above screenshot, that is what happen to a few of my photos in different folder within the Dropbox’s Photos folder. Recently I upgraded my Dropbox plan to 50GB for USD$99/year and hence I am able to place all my photos in Dropbox for syncing them across all my computers.

Here is what happened previously:

There will be a “red x” beside some of the photos, and when I open it, only the top part of the image will appear while the bottom remains grey throughout.

Under my Dropbox folder, the status will be saying “Uploading 2 files”. These 2 photos are corrupted and will never be uploaded.

How I got rid of the “red x” was to copy the corrupted photos from my backup drive and paste it back to my Dropbox and it immediately change to a green tick. I am guessing it didn’t even sync back to Dropbox because Dropbox detected that the photo I pasted from my backup drive has the correct checksum which is stored locally in Dropbox’s database.

Something more serious happened to me few days ago and it is the same problem:

I went to a concert last Saturday and took some photos. When I got home, I extracted the photos and placed it in a folder on my Desktop.

After I uploaded the photos to Facebook, I copied the whole folder and placed it in my Dropbox’s Photos folder.

After a few hours, I realized that there are 2 photos that are not being synced and there is a “red x” besides them. I viewed the photo and to my horror, it was the same problem as what I mentioned above.

As these photos are new, I do not have a backup and I have to use a data recovery software to recover the data from my CF memory card and put it back into Dropbox.

I have learned my lesson and I will ensure that all the photos in Dropbox is properly sync first before I delete the copy I have.

I did searched on Dropbox Forums but can’t seem to find anyone which has the same problem as me and hence I filed a ticket with Dropbox and they replied me with instructions on how to resync/reindex my Dropbox. Just sharing it with you guys

Windows PC

1. Download the newest version of the Dropbox desktop application:
   • http://www.dropbox.com/install
2. Stop the Dropbox desktop application (if needed)
   • Click on the Dropbox icon
   • Choose Exit
3. Delete Dropbox meta-data folder:
   • Open a Windows File Explorer (not Internet Explorer)
   • Type %APPDATA% into the navigation bar (include the % percent signs)
   • Look for the folder “Dropbox” and delete it.

   If you get a “file in use” type error, then do this:

   • Run “Programs -> Dropbox -> Uninstall”
   • Restart your computer
   • Try again to remove %APPDATA%\Dropbox

   If it still says “file in use”, then do this:

   • Press “Ctrl + Alt + Delete” together
   • Choose “Start Task Manager”
   • Find the task “explorer.exe”
   • Click “End Task” button
   • Your “Start Menu” will now be gone
   • Clik “File -> Run”
   • Type %APPDATA%
   • Now look for the folder “Dropbox” and delete it.
   • Press “Ctrl + Alt + Delete” together again
   • Click on the button at the bottom right hand corner of the screen, and choose restart
   • Your computer will now restart
4. If your Dropbox folder was called “My Dropbox” please rename it to “Dropbox”
5. Reinstall the Dropbox desktop application
   • Run the new installer from step #1
   • Relink your account.

Mac OS

1. Download the newest version of the Dropbox desktop application:
   • http://www.dropbox.com/install
2. Stop the Dropbox desktop application (if needed)
   • Click on the Dropbox icon
   • Choose Quit
3. Delete Dropbox meta-data folder:
   • To delete this folder open up Terminal (Located at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal)
   • Copy and paste the following lines into Terminal and press RETURN:
     • rm -r “$HOME/.dropbox”
4. Delete the Dropbox Contextual Menu Item Plugin
   • Open the Finder and select “Go to folder…” from the Go menu (or press Shift-Command-G)
   • A dialog box should appear. Now copy and paste the following line into the box and press the return key:
     • /Library/
   • Drag the DropboxHelperTools folder to the Trash and enter your Administrator password if prompted to complete this action
5. Reinstall the Dropbox desktop application
   • Open the Dropbox .dmg file and drag the new version of Dropbox to /Applications
   • Restart Dropbox from /Applications
   • Relink your account.

In the thread, Gmail + push on iPhone w/ Prowl on xSellize forums, crimsontwo gave instructions on how to run the Prowl python script on your iphone. The downside to it is that if your iPhone connection change from EDGE to 3G or 3G to Wifi or any vice versa, the script will be disconnected from Gmail. To solve this problem, he recommends you to upload the script to your own web server instead.

You need to have SSH access to your web server as well as Python installed in your web server which is not covered in this tutorial.

So here we go:

1. Get Prowl from App Store for USD$2.99
2. Register your Prowl account at http://prowl.weks.net/register.php
3. Once registered, click on Settings Tab
4. Under API key, click on Generate API Key Button and note copy down your generated API Key
5. Download the required files in a zip, called, Gmail With Push On iPhone Using Prowl
6. Using WinZip, extract the zip file which you have downloaded from Step 5
7. You should see a folder called gmail_and_prowl
8. Open the file main.py using NotePad or WordPad
9. You should see these lines on line 11 to 13:
   

   prowl_apikey = “your_prowl_api_key”
   IMAP_USERNAME = “your_gmail_username”
   IMAP_PASSWORD = “your_gmail_password”

10. Replace the text your_prowl_api_key, your_gmail_username and your_gmail_password accordingly and save it
11. Using your FTP, upload the folder gmail_and_prowl to your home directory in your webserver
12. Login using SSH and browse to the path where you uploaded gmail_and_prowl, for example, /home/username/gmail_and_prowl/
13. Type this command:

    nohup python main.py > /dev/null 2>&1 &

14. The PID of the process which is executing the script will be displayed. You may want to know that number down, just in case you need to kill the process.
15. You can now log out from the SSH and send a test email to your Gmail account

Teach a Technophobe – Challenge #4

The 4th challenge involves using a camera to record a video to spread your views on the E75′s email capability. Since my mom is a little camera shy, she do not really want to face the camera. So I thought why not ask my mom to use the E75 to record a video of something and then email me the video so that I can upload it to YouTube.

We are thinking of what to record and we finally decided to record a video of my dad’s pet birds “chirping”.

With the 4th challenge completed, my mom and I have completed the Teach a Technophobe challenges by WOM World. For the past 4 weeks, it has been fun teaching my mom to use the email capabilities in the E75. I also picked up a few things along the way.

Thank you WOM World!

Teach a Technophobe – Challenges Completed

Looking Back:

• Challenge #4
• Challenge #3
• Challenge #2
• Challenge #1

This challenge is slightly more complicated and even I myself have to figure it out for sometime before I can teach my mother. It involves sending a location using email on Nokia Ovi Maps as well as attaching a picture of my mom.

As I have used N82 before, I know how the maps software works and that is the tedious part. I heard about Nokia Ovi Maps 3.0 quite sometime back and decided to upgrade the current version which is 2.0 to 3.0 and after that I need to install Singapore Map to Ovi Maps using Nokia Map Loader.

After getting everything ready, I was fiddling with Nokia Ovi Maps 3.0 to figure out how to send my current location. I found it it was pretty easy (press the middle button and choose send). Now the tough part is how to add photos to it. I solve the photo problem by taking a picture first then sending my current location in Maps and when the Create Email screen pops up, I went to Add Attachment and browse for the photo I have taken. Once everything is set, it is pretty easy to pass on the “instructions” to my mom.

1. Take a picture of yourself
2. Open up Maps
3. Under Options, choose My Position
4. Press the middle button, choose Send and then Via Email
5. Create Email screen will appear
6. Under Options, choose Add Attachment
7. Choose Memory Card -> Images -> Camera -> 200907 -> 200907A0 -> Choose the last file
8. And you are done!

Teach a Technophobe – Challenge #3

Email With Image And Location Attachment (Photo & Address Removed)

Teach a Technophobe: Challenge #1, Challenge #2

Teach a Technophobe – Challenge #2

Email With Image Attachment

Teach a Technophobe: Challenge #1

4 Challenges In Total

The First Challenge (Setting Up Email)

I guided her throughout the setting up of the email and she managed to set up her email on the E75 within 15 minutes. It is slightly more complicated than setting up a Gmail/Hotmail/Yahoo Mail account on it as we need the incoming and outgoing mail server address.

I told her to press the camera shutter button to capture the screenshot as she goes from step to step so that I can document it down.

Setting Up Email In E75 #1

Setting Up Email In E75 #2

Setting Up Email In E75 #3

Setting Up Email In E75 #4

Setting Up Email In E75 (Done)

Email Received

Now waiting for the second challenge, which should arrive next week =D

Gallery: Nokia Teach a Technophobe

Here is a tutorial on how to forward your incoming Hotmail emails to your Gmail account.

1. Go to your hotmail inbox and click on “Options” and then “More Options”
2. Click on “Mobile Alerts for new messages”.
3. Click on Sign up for Windows Live Mobile – it’s free and easy!
4. Select your service provider
5. Enter your mobile number
6. Finish the rest of the sign-up process. Don’t check the boxes for Hotmail alerts and MSN alerts!
7. In the sign-up settings specify to NOT receive any SMS alerts for Hotmail messages. Leave the other settings to stay as specified in your Hotmail account.
8. Finish the subscription. You’ll now receive an activation SMS with a 4 digit code. Enter this code on the activation page. This is the only sms you’ll receive and pay through your mobile carrier.
9. After the subscription visit your Hotmail account with your web browser. Now go to “options”=>”more options”.
10. In the section “Customize your mail” go to option “mobile alerts for new messages” and make sure the option “None. Never send me mobile alerts” is selected. You will never receive any alert sms by setting this option so you will stay free of charges! Press save.
11. In the section “Manage your account” visit “Forward mail to another e-mail account”.
12. Fill in any e-mail address you want your Hotmail to be forwarded to, for instance your Gmail account. Press save and confirm the setting by clicking the link in the e-mail that has been sent to your Gmail account. The setting has now been accepted by Hotmail!
13. Go to Gmail. Click on Settings, go to Forwarding and POP/IMAP
14. Enable IMAP. Save the changes.
15. Click Settings and then Accounts, Select “Add another email address”. Enter your hotmail address here.
16. Your hotmail address should now show up just above the line. Select the hotmail address as “Make default”.
17. Make sure in the option “When I receive a message sent to one of my addresses” has “Always reply from my default address (currently youremailaddress@hotmail.com” is selected.
18. Now go to Hotmail. In your inbox, there should be a message from Gmail; you need to click on a link in that message.

Note: You may still need to login to your Hotmail account to ensure that it is not deactivated due to inactivity.

PS: I am still trying it, so it may or may not work. I am still waiting for MS to send me the 4 digit code. Microsoft CANNOT make it when it comes to online services.

Credits: shiahzy of Hardware Zone Forums

*UPDATE 2* There is a bug in iOS4 which cause .mobileconfig files not recognized by Safari. For more details, read here. To overcome this issue:

1. Using your computer, go to http://lesterchan.net/nus/iphone/
2. Key in your NUSNET UserID and click Generate
3. Your browser should prompt you to download the NUS.mobileconfig file
4. Once you have downloaded the file, email the file to yourself
5. Using Mail.app in your iOS, open up the the email which contains the NUS.mobileconfig attachement
6. You should now be able to install the NUS.mobileconfig profile

*UPDATE* It is now working with iOS 3.0.

Instructions

1. Launch Safari in your iPhone/iPod Touch
2. Go to http://lesterchan.net/nus/iphone/
   
3. Under Your NUSNET ID, key in your NUSNET UserID (EXCLUDING the domain (NUSSTU, NUSSTF or GUEST) portion)
4. Click Generate
5. A Install Profile screen will appear
   
6. Click Install
7. A Install Profile Warning Popup will appear
   
8. Ignore the warning and click Install Now
9. A Enter Password screen will appear
   
10. Key in your NUSNET Password
11. Click Next
12. A Profile Installed screen will appear
    
13. Click Done
14. Go back to your Home Screen
15. Go to Settings -> Wi-Fi
16. Under Wi-Fi, select ON
17. Under Choose a Network…, select NUS
    
18. Wait a while, while it trys to connects
19. A Certificate screen will appear
    
20. Click Accept
21. You are now connected to NUS WLAN SSID
    

Notes

• At Step 18, you may need to re-try Step 14 to 17 if it takes more than 1 minute to connect.
• At Step 20, you may need to re-try Step 14 to 20 if nothing happens when you click Accept.
• If you are going to reference this tutorial anywhere, please credit it to me. I spent a lot of time on figuring out how to configure my iPhone 3G to connect to NUS Wireless network and I have put together this tutorial to make life easier for all NUS students.

Privacy

• The generator DOES NOT save your NUSNET UserID on this server.
• At Step 10, when asked to key in your password, it is iPhone authenticating with NUS and NOT with this server.
• In short, you can rest assured that NONE of your information is saved on this server.

We will be using NUS WLAN SSID “NUS” instead of “NUSOPEN”, as “NUS” is protected by PEAP.

Lets begin:
Part 1 – Defining NUS SSID

1. Go to Menu > Tools > Settings > Connection > Access points
2. Click on Options, then New access point
3. Under Connection name, key in NUS
4. Under Data bearer, select Wireless LAN
5. Under WLAN netw. name, key in NUS
6. Under Network status, leave it as Public
7. Under WLAN netw. mode, leave it as Infrastructure
8. Under WLAN security mode, select 802.1x
9. Click on WLAN security settings, and you will get into a new page
10. Under The WPA/WPA2 , leave it as EAP
11. Click on EAP plugin-settings, and you will get into a new page
12. Ensure ONLY EAP-PEAP is ENABLED (check mark will only appear beside EAP-PEAP). You can disable the remaining EAP types by going to Options > Disable
13. Click on EAP-PEAP, and you will get into a new page

Part 2 – Configuring EAP-PEAP

14. Under Personal certificate, leave it as Not defined
15. Under Authority certificate, select Thawte Premium Server
16. Under User name in use, select User defined
17. Under User name, key in your NUSNET UserID (EXCLUDING the domain (NUSSTU, NUSSTF or GUEST) portion)
18. Under Realm in use, select User defined
19. Under Realm, leave it as BLANK
20. Under Allow PEAPv0, select Yes
21. Under Allow PEAPv1, select No
22. Under Allow PEAPv2, select No
23. Move to EAPs tab, by pressing your right arrow key

Part 3 – Configuring EAP-MSCHAPv2

24. Ensure ONLY EAP-MSCHAPv2 is ENABLED (check mark will only appear beside EAP-MSCHAPv2). You can disable the remaining EAP types by going to Options > Disable
25. Click on EAP-MSCHAPv2, and you will get into a new page
26. Under User name, key in your NUSNET UserID (EXCLUDING the domain portion)
27. Under Prompt password, select No
28. Under Password, key in your NUSNET Password
29. Click Back about 10 times or enough times to reach the standby screen

Part 4 – Scanning For NUS SSID

30. Turn On your WLAN scanning and you should be able to detect and connect to NUS wireless network

No screenshots are included as I think it is pretty straightforward.

FULL CREDITS goes to Zit Seng‘s Configuring N95 WLAN for NUS Wireless