VeriChat final days? Any news?

khaytsus · 10/14/2007, 07:28 PM

I still love VeriChat and have yet to find another client that comes anywhere CLOSE to what it does. It's 100% stable for me, always works, reconnects, stays connected, I'm always online.

I haven't heard anything more, but last I heard was November was when it goes offline, anyone have any concrete information?

khaytsus · 11/02/2007, 06:07 PM

Odd, I figured some people would still care about VeriChat since all the other options are crap.

I got an email back from Nokia support.. Their answer is:

Quote:

Verichat has been discontinued from sale. We regret any inconvenience caused. Customers having a current subscription will be able to use the product until the subscription expires. Support is still available for this product.

So I guess I take it that Nov 29 it's going to die, as Nov 29 2006 was the last day one could have purchased.

treoneo · 11/02/2007, 06:58 PM

mine still works fine too. I love it! Miles ahead of Mundu or any others. And no one has done any developing for it for a long time.

Malatesta · 11/02/2007, 11:12 PM

I loaded a version the other day on the Centro and I was unable to verify on the server for SMS relay--so that's completely shutdown for anyone new AFAIK.

It wouldn't stay logged on in background mode even with straight data connection either.

I agree also: nothing matches Verichat. Causiere looked like it could have competed, but that app seems as dead as Verichat. Too bad.

firstbeat · 11/26/2007, 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by khaytsus

Odd, I figured some people would still care about VeriChat since all the other options are crap.

I got an email back from Nokia support.. Their answer is:

So I guess I take it that Nov 29 it's going to die, as Nov 29 2006 was the last day one could have purchased.

BUT WAIT....what if your subscription NEVER EXPIRES...like mine?????

taroliw · 11/26/2007, 01:31 AM

bzzt! It doesn't matter. They indicated it was shutting down when the last sold subscription expired, one year from 11/29.

At first I thought Causerie was gonig to be a suitable replacement, but considering they never once released any substantial enhancements I think it was essentially already dead by then.

More recently, I have been using Mundu v4. No, it doesn't do several of the useful things that Verichat did. But it is quite reliable and it looks like the developers are actually working on it. I'm running a beta release now, in fact.

So, it does't matter how much we bellyache about Verichat... it is going to die in less than a week. It's time to seek an alternative.

trim81 · 11/26/2007, 01:42 AM

.....all mine went dead today, can anyone confirm

TRgEOff · 11/26/2007, 02:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taroliw

More recently, I have been using Mundu v4. No, it doesn't do several of the useful things that Verichat did. But it is quite reliable and it looks like the developers are actually working on it. I'm running a beta release now, in fact.

hi tarilow

Is that beta generally available? and if so Id be much obliged if you could reveal where

Verichat: I havent it used it for a while, but I just checked my old verichat connection and for the first time ever it's not connecting, so there does seem to have been some change there.

Im not an IM poweruser by any means, but for my meagre needs Ive been very impressed by Mundu. My only major gripe with Mundu is, unlike with Verichat, I cant send offline messages via my ICQ acct (but I can on other services eg AIM). I was hoping that might be something that's addressed in this beta.

cheers

taroliw · 11/26/2007, 03:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TRgEOff

hi tarilow

Is that beta generally available? and if so Id be much obliged if you could reveal where

...

My only major gripe with Mundu is, unlike with Verichat, I cant send offline messages via my ICQ acct (but I can on other services eg AIM). I was hoping that might be something that's addressed in this beta.

To my knowledge, it is not. The minor revision was mostly focused on the Centro. To get it, just email support inidicating your interest in the beta. :-) The only substantive enhancement is that they have made improvements to the reconnection code... it does work better than before.

TRgEOff · 11/26/2007, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taroliw

To my knowledge, it is not. The minor revision was mostly focused on the Centro. To get it, just email support inidicating your interest in the beta. :-) The only substantive enhancement is that they have made improvements to the reconnection code... it does work better than before.

Thanks Taroliw, much appreciated.

bclinger · 11/26/2007, 04:04 AM

I have been using Mundu V4 on my Sprint Treo 700P with no prolems at all. I use V3 on my Sprint Treo 650.

Ben

firstbeat · 11/26/2007, 12:15 PM

Veerichat is gone.... It's freakin gone!!!

taroliw · 11/26/2007, 12:38 PM

It was basically a lame duck as soon as it lost development support -- you paying attention, Palm? That the actual service had a year of life left to it was of little consolation to me at the time because I had such issues with stability running it on an unlocked GSM 650. Mind you, things probably would have been better on the 680, but by then the impending doom was already known and I'd moved on.

I do feel a little sad that some of it's functionality will be lost, but it's hardly a surprise this day was coming.

khaytsus · 11/26/2007, 10:03 PM

Yep, seems so. It's gone before for a few days, but this time I doubt it'll come back.

treoneo · 11/27/2007, 02:18 AM

damn mine doesn't work either!!!

TRgEOff · 11/27/2007, 03:04 AM

a bit offtopic, but im sure of possible interest to even the ex-verichatters here..

i just read the current TC review of Mundu on the home page, and the implication there is that one CAN DO offline messaging using the Mundu ICQ port. At present I can't, but maybe I'm missing something??

Can anyone confirm this one way or the other??

re the latest Mundu beta, I have contacted Mundu and they have been exceptionally prompt and helpful in pointing me in the right direction, but I haven't got around yet to upgrading. Ill must also ask Mundu re the offline msging...

cheers

bronxrsj2 · 11/27/2007, 12:28 PM

I think Verichat officially died today. I keep getting this connection failure error message. Probably because the server is down.

taroliw · 11/27/2007, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bronxrsj2

Probably because the server is down.

By now they've probably thrown it into the shredder or turned it into a pot for an office plant.

RIP VeriChat...

khaytsus · 11/27/2007, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TRgEOff

a bit offtopic, but im sure of possible interest to even the ex-verichatters here..

i just read the current TC review of Mundu on the home page, and the implication there is that one CAN DO offline messaging using the Mundu ICQ port. At present I can't, but maybe I'm missing something??

Can anyone confirm this one way or the other??

re the latest Mundu beta, I have contacted Mundu and they have been exceptionally prompt and helpful in pointing me in the right direction, but I haven't got around yet to upgrading. Ill must also ask Mundu re the offline msging...

cheers

Mundu is working great for me. You just have to define what "working" is

Goes online for a few minutes, then disconnects. CHECK!
Never reconnects once it's offline unless you force it to. CHECK!
Crashes 2-3 times a day. CHECK!
Doesn't actually connect on a schedule like are in the prefs. CHECK!

Piece of crap. Not worth $2. If you want a non-background IM (ie: You want to use it, then exit it), Mundu might be fine. I want to never think about it. I want it to be online and connected. I want to be available on IM regardless of if my phone just rebooted or if I just came out of no service or if I just got off of a phone call, whatever. That's what Verichat did. Damn shame nobody else seems to be able to come close.

taroliw · 11/27/2007, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by khaytsus

Goes online for a few minutes, then disconnects. CHECK!
Never reconnects once it's offline unless you force it to. CHECK!
Crashes 2-3 times a day. CHECK!
Doesn't actually connect on a schedule like are in the prefs. CHECK!

Piece of crap. Not worth $2. If you want a non-background IM (ie: You want to use it, then exit it), Mundu might be fine. I want to never think about it. I want it to be online and connected. I want to be available on IM regardless of if my phone just rebooted or if I just came out of no service or if I just got off of a phone call...

Well, I won't go into all the trouble I had with Verichat when it came to stability in the background... I don't think there were ever any 100% players in the market, and I personally chalk some of the blame up to the instability of the OS for multithreading and background applications.

That said, I would agree that Mundu (v4.0) does have some issues with keeping connections up and reconnecting without help. If you get the newest "beta" build from them, you will find it does *MUCH* better in this regard. I haven't had one spurious disconnection from Yahoo in almost two weeks, where I was getting them pretty frequently on the original 4.0 release.

As for resets, I don't recall if there is a setting that will cause it to automatically launch and connect at restart, and I have occasionally found myself offline for that reason still. But I think even with this it's a far cry from crap. I've seen crap, and I never entertain spending anything on it. Bear in mind, I'd trialed Mundu prior to v4 and promptly uninstalled it each time.

But until someone puts another offering out there that blows it away or a nice PalmOS alternative comes along -- Palm Linux or iPhone SDK will do! -- then I'll be sticking with Mundu.