Arooroo Mom
New member
I can't take credit. Found this over in HowardForums... http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?p=10364893#post10364893
In summary, the root cause of the problem was that the servers hosting the services went down. As a result, new servers (with new IP addresses) were implemented as a result of their business continuity plan. However, the major ISP providers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint/Nextel) did not update their DNS servers to point to the new location. As a result, any Hotspot@Home customer that is relying on their ISP to provide the "new" location is hosed until the ISP updates their respective DNS servers. BTW, when your T-Mobile phone boots, it tries to lookup "punc.t-mobileuncs.com". If your phone can't successfully perform this lookup, it will not be able to connect via UMA period. Until the carriers decide to do the"'right" thing and update their DNS caches, customers can utilize the following work around
Visit https://www.opendns.com/start
The link will show you how to update the "Static" DNS server entry in your Wi-Fi router that is usually provided by your ISP. They give instructions on how to do this for various types of Wi-Fi routers. OpenDNS.com provides FREE DNS services to the world (BTW, I'm sticking with them from here on out Their static entries are : 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.
To verify that this is the problem, open up a DOS prompt (if you're a windows user) my clicking Start, selecting "Run", and typing "cmd" in the Run field.
When the DOS prompt opens up, type this command in the window "nslookup punc.t-mobileuncs.com" (without the quotes of course).
nslookup punc.t-mobileuncs.com
Server: 208.67.222.222
Address: 208.67.222.222#53
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: punc.t-mobileuncs.com
Address: 208.69.32.170
**note** If you're a MAC user or Linux user open up a "terminal" window and do the same thing. (MAC users, terminal is located under "Utilities" by the way)
If you get the above resulting address (208.69.32.170) for the punc.t-mobileuncs.com hostname, DNS works for you and you may have a routing problem. On the other hand, if you cannot successfully get this result and your computer tells you that you can't look it up and the host is unknown, there is no way that your TMobile UMA phone will be able to do it. If this is indeed the case for you, visit the https://www.opendns.com/start site and change the DNS server entries to the free ones posted above. If this works, let the forum readers know and call your ISP carriers and tell them to get off of their butts and update their dang-blasted DNS caches. Part of me believes that the U.S. major telcos (AT&T, Verison, Sprint/Nextel) are not doing this "on purpose" to make it hard on T-mobile. If so, we just proved that the user community is smarter than they are.
**NOTE** Once you make your DNS changes on your network. Power cycle your phone and it should connect. I've been up 2 solid hours so far and have been through several power cycles and it hasn't failed yet.
In summary, the root cause of the problem was that the servers hosting the services went down. As a result, new servers (with new IP addresses) were implemented as a result of their business continuity plan. However, the major ISP providers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint/Nextel) did not update their DNS servers to point to the new location. As a result, any Hotspot@Home customer that is relying on their ISP to provide the "new" location is hosed until the ISP updates their respective DNS servers. BTW, when your T-Mobile phone boots, it tries to lookup "punc.t-mobileuncs.com". If your phone can't successfully perform this lookup, it will not be able to connect via UMA period. Until the carriers decide to do the"'right" thing and update their DNS caches, customers can utilize the following work around
Visit https://www.opendns.com/start
The link will show you how to update the "Static" DNS server entry in your Wi-Fi router that is usually provided by your ISP. They give instructions on how to do this for various types of Wi-Fi routers. OpenDNS.com provides FREE DNS services to the world (BTW, I'm sticking with them from here on out Their static entries are : 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.
To verify that this is the problem, open up a DOS prompt (if you're a windows user) my clicking Start, selecting "Run", and typing "cmd" in the Run field.
When the DOS prompt opens up, type this command in the window "nslookup punc.t-mobileuncs.com" (without the quotes of course).
nslookup punc.t-mobileuncs.com
Server: 208.67.222.222
Address: 208.67.222.222#53
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: punc.t-mobileuncs.com
Address: 208.69.32.170
**note** If you're a MAC user or Linux user open up a "terminal" window and do the same thing. (MAC users, terminal is located under "Utilities" by the way)
If you get the above resulting address (208.69.32.170) for the punc.t-mobileuncs.com hostname, DNS works for you and you may have a routing problem. On the other hand, if you cannot successfully get this result and your computer tells you that you can't look it up and the host is unknown, there is no way that your TMobile UMA phone will be able to do it. If this is indeed the case for you, visit the https://www.opendns.com/start site and change the DNS server entries to the free ones posted above. If this works, let the forum readers know and call your ISP carriers and tell them to get off of their butts and update their dang-blasted DNS caches. Part of me believes that the U.S. major telcos (AT&T, Verison, Sprint/Nextel) are not doing this "on purpose" to make it hard on T-mobile. If so, we just proved that the user community is smarter than they are.
**NOTE** Once you make your DNS changes on your network. Power cycle your phone and it should connect. I've been up 2 solid hours so far and have been through several power cycles and it hasn't failed yet.