Troubleshooting
Center
WeatherWarn is desigend to be simple to use and fast
on delivery. However the Internet is complex and unforgiving, and problems inevitably
occur. Most commonly problems are due to a simple missing detail, like a missing @ sign in
an email address or a misspelled word. Here are a few problems and solutions we'd like to
share with you.
We'd also like to share this credo: "When
troubleshooting, blame yourself first, another persons error second, and the equipment
last". We've found that when we follow this simple rule, we usually find
the trouble faster than starting from the reverse. |
- How do I subscribe and unsubscribe from the
WeatherWarn service... ?
- Where can I find information on my pager/pcs phone service ...
?
- Why doesn't my regular pager work... ?
- Will you keep my email account private...?
- How can I figure out what my pager/PCS phone
email address is ... ?
- Why do I get more than one bulletin- they appear to be
the same ... ?
- I get emails from WeatherWarn...but why are they blank...?
- I'm getting dozens of the same message- my email
program is filling up! Help!
- I sent a request to remove myself from WeatherWarn,
but I'm still signed on! Help!
- I sent a nice message to the WeatherWarn system
requesting that I be removed from the list. It responded once with a help file but now
will not respond at all.
- Why doesn't my pager respond sometimes and how does my
pager get the information from WeatherWarn?
- Why do WeatherWarn messages get cutoff on my pager or
PCS phone?
Simply go back to the main page, then:
- Choose email or pager/pcs phone delivery
- A disclaimer will display, read it and press the CONTINUE button at the bottom of the
page
- A map of the TV station coverage area will display, choose the region you are interested
in by clicking on it.
- A subscribe and unsubscribe form page will display.
- Type in your email address (or your pager email address), make sure it is correct, and
press either the subscribe or unsubscribe button.
- You will get an email confirming your signup or removal from the WeatherWarn list for
the region you chose.
Here are a few links to major Alphanumeric Pager and PCS phone providers around the
USA. Just click on them to go to their web page. See also our section on pager email addresses
Airtouch Cellular
Arch Paging
ATT Wireless Services
Metrocall
Nextel
Pagemart
Pagenet
Skytel
Sprint PCS
If your pager/PCS phone company is not listed above, try toll free directory
information at 1-800-555-1212 or on the web try typing the name into the Excite.com search engine.
You MUST have an alpanumeric pager or PCS phone capable of
receiving text messages in order to use this service. Your Pager / PCS phone provider
account must also be setup to allow for email messaging via the Internet. Regular
numeric pagers that only receive phone numbers will not work.
Yes, absolutely. Your information will not be sold or given to any
other organization.
Most commonly, Alphanumeric pagers and PCS phones have email
addresses that are a combination of the pager/PCS phone number, possibly a PIN
number, and an INternet email gateway address. Here are a few examples for email addresses
of the major pager and PCS phone services:
Pager/PCS
Provider Name |
Email
address looks like
(use your own number) |
| Alltel |
1234567@alltel.net |
| AT&T Wireless Services |
1234567890@mobile.att.net |
| Arch Paging |
1234567890@epage.arch.com |
| Airtouch Cellular |
1234567890@airtouch.net |
| Metrocall |
=0123456789@metrocall.com (must have
equal sign before phone number) or johndoe@page.metrocall.com if you have the advanced
paging plan |
| Nextel |
1234567890@page.nextel.com |
| Pagemart |
For pin numbers beginning with 13 use:
YOURPIN#@roam .pagemart.net
Example: 1234567@roam.pagemart.net
For pin numbers beginning with 16 or 18 use: YOURPIN#@pagemart.net All other PINS use:
YOURPIN#@scout.pagemart.net |
| Pagenet |
ALPHA MODEM.PIN
NUMBER@pagenet.net Nationwide
Example
8007208398.9801155@pagenet.net
Local Example
7578357243.8333033@pagenet.net |
| Skytel |
YourPin#@skytel.com |
| TSR Wireless (formerly American Paging) |
1234567890@pageapi.com |
If your paging company is not listed above, call your customer service number for
the paging company and ask "what is the address I should use to send email to my
pager or PCS phone with?"
Three possible reasons:
1. If you signed up for more than one WeatherWarn region, you may receive duplicate
weather bulletins because some weather bulletins cover more than one area. Thus, one
will be generated for each area. Don't subscribe to more than one area if you don't need
it! Or, if you want an area for where you work and an area for home, choose different
email accounts (work and home) to send them to.
2. The National Weather Service may have sent a correction to a previous bulletin.
Often, due to the complex nature of the bulletins and the requirement the NWS has for
being exact, they may correct a simple mistake in a previously issued bulletin, such as a
spelling error or time error by sending another bulletin just a few minutes after the
first one. Ofetn the difference is so small, it is hard to see.
3. You may have subscribed twice, with two different email addresses, such as work and
home email addresses, and one email address forwards to the other one. This will
result in duplicate messages both going to the same location. Unsubscribe one or the
other, or remove the forwarding.
7. I get messages...but why are they
blank...?
Some older e-mail programs, especially the original Microsoft Mail "Inbox" that
comes with Windows 95, won't properly display messages that have been forwarded from a
listserver. The only way to fix this problem is to upgrade your Microsoft Mail Program (
Download for FREE at http://www.microsoft.com/ie ) or use another E-mail program like Netscape Mail or Eudora Mail Light
The most likely reason is that you may have an "Email Autoresponder" or
"Vacation Message" on your email account. This is usually a courtesy message
that gets automatically sent out by your email server when somebody sends you a message.
TURN ALL AUTORESPONDERS OFF! If you don't know how, contact
your Internet Service Provider.
In this type of problem, when WeatherWarn sends you a message, your email account sends
one back to WeatherWarn. WeatherWarn doesn't understand your message, so it sends one back
saying "unrecognized command" or something similar, your email account
autoreplies again...and the loop keeps going until something stops it.
Although WeatherWarn is designed to detect and stop such "mail loops",
sometimes it still happens.
The bottom line: If you want to use WeatherWarn, turn off any
autoresponders or vacation messages.
Usually this problem occurs for one of three reasons:
1. You misspelled the email address when you asked to
unsubscribe. Really, this happens a LOT. Its hard to get all those periods .com's .net's
and @ signs in the right place.
2. Your email address is actually forwarded through an
"alias" email address, and the alias address is the one subscribed. Try using
the alias email address to unsubscribe.
3. Your email server actually changes the email address when mail
is sent out. For example people who are subscribed to Microsofts MSN network have
an email address like myname@msn.com but
when the email actually goes through MSN, it comes out on the Internet as myname@email.msn.com While both names will work to
send and receive email to that person, an automated list server has a database with one or
the other stored in its file. You have to type the correct one when you unsubscribe or it
won't find the name in the file.
The WeatherWarn system is totally automated. Nobody is there to
answer emails and the system does not respond to plain language requests like "please
remove me from the list". It only understands the words SUBSCRIBE and UNSUBSCRIBE. If
it gets a message it cannot understand, it will respond with a help file once. After that
it will not respond again to your email account. This is to prevent a "mail
loop" from occuring if you have an autoresponder setup on your email account. See item 8 on that subsject. Please use the TV station web page
where you originally signed up to unsubscribe from WeatherWarn. Instructions are listed in
item 1 above.
Sometimes your pager gets out of range, resulting in a non-delivered or late
bulletin. Sometimes interference from other electronic devices (like computers) can
scramble the radio signal. Some pager systems that use PCS phones or have some sort
of two-way technology will keep trying to deliver a message until your pager/pcs phone
gets it and ackknowledges the message.
Here' some info on how paging works: click here
Pagers and PCS phones vary in the number of letters (characters)
they can display. Some do as few as 60 characters while others display as many as 240
characters. We send most bulletins designed to fit in a 200 character window, so some
pagers and PCS phones will cutoff part of the message. The solution is to get a better
pager or PCS phone that displays more characters.
Written by Anthony Watts, WeatherWarn Sysop
Copyright ©1999 WeatherWarn. All rights reserved.
Revised: May 23, 1999.
™