I've just been through the same installation problem with a new customer for the nth time, and it's time to speak out about the cause, which is (you guessed it) the carrier.
Aaron, a good friend in the US, just bought a shiny new Samsung t809 on a plan from T-Mobile, a relatively internet-savvy US carrier (relatively speaking anyway.) We went through setting up bluepulse, and it went beautifully until he'd installed it on his phone and launched the bluepulse client.
The bluepulse client was unable to access the internet, and Aaron said the Opera browser he'd installed couldn't get internet access either. I knew right away what it was: old internet settings installed on the phone.
People ask, "what's the most common problem you face getting bluepulse installed on people's phones?" They expect you to say "handset compatibility" since getting most apps to run on a wide range of phones is the biggest problem for most developers.
But no, we're miles ahead on that front: bluepulse supports so many handsets (definitely more than 250, likely approaching 300 now) and our web server is smart enough that it can compile a custom version of the client for your phone in most cases.
The biggest problem we have is a problem many mobile app developers never get to face: getting the correct carrier internet settings installed on the customer's handset.
See, even relatively-savvy carriers like T-Mobile are quite lousy when it comes to customer communications. When some proxy server admin guy makes a change to the internet gateway somewhere deep in the bowels of your carrier's data centre, how many levels of middle management do you suppose that news needs to filter through before it ever reaches a customer?
The correct answer is: too many levels for the news to ever reach a customer.
Of course, the admin guy is unlikely to change anything that will block access to any of the services installed on the carrier's default 'deck', but any other services you might be accessing from your phone? Someone else's problem.
To employ a desktop internet analogy: it's as if your ISP requires you to access the internet via their proxy servers, and won't give you reliable access to any internet services not featured on their homepage. Very Web circa 1995 - the kind of attitude AOL and CompuServe used to have towards the rest of the internet. And history tells us AOL only just wizened up in time; CompuServe never did.
The good news is; getting the latest internet settings installed on your phone is only as painful as ringing your carrier's tech support line, waiting on hold because "you're a valued customer" for long enough to speak to a person, and then asking them; "Please send your latest internet settings to my phone".
To be absolutely sure, ask them for updated settings for "internet, MMS, and WAP" since carriers often maintain different settings for each.
You'll get a notification on your phone when the settings arrive a few seconds later, and your phone will ask you if you want to install the new settings. Say 'OK' to them all.
It's usually a good idea to turn your phone off for a second or two and then back on (in the same way it's a good idea to reboot your desktop when you install an update). Some carriers may also ask you to send one MMS to a standard carrier address to verify the settings have been installed correctly.
Once you've done that, you should be ready to rock, jive, even jitterbug a little, with bluepulse. And Opera Mini, and the whole rest of the dang internet (sheesh!)
Alan Jones is VP, Q&A for http://www.bluepulse.com - a Mobile 2.0 startup. Bluepulse provides a free mobile internet client for >250 handsets and a free mobile widget developer platform.