While we made RingFree a web application that doesn’t need any hacks to run on the iPhone, there are still certain things you’ll want to make sure are operational before registering with RF.

Some folks are still reporting problems when registering.We’re quite certain, though, that checking the list below and correctly pre-configuring your iPhone will make the registration painless.

Make sure your iPhone is not in “Airplane Mode” - Click on “Settings” and set “Airplane Mode” to “OFF”;

If you intend to use a Wi-Fi data connection, make sure WiFi is on - In order to work (both when registering and dialing), your iPhone will need to make a data connection to the RingFree servers. Wi-Fi, though not always available, of course, is your best choice. Click on “Settings” and look to the right of the Wi-Fi  icon. If a Wi-Fi network is listed, you’re all set. Otherwise, click on the Wi-Fi icon, then make sure Wi-Fi is on (it should say so at the top). Click on the “OFF” button to turn Wi-Fi on, then select a network (if one is available) from the list that appears on the iPhone. When connected via Wi-Fi, you’ll see a striped upside-down triangle to the right of your service provider’s name on the upper-left corner of the iPhone. If there is no network available, you’ll have to use the EDGE network.

If there is no Wi-Fi where you are, make sure EDGE is on -   Whether the EDGE data network is available to you is more dependent on your mobile network provider than anything (though EDGE will be forced off if you are in the “Airplane Mode” described above). Look on the upper left of your iPhone, if you are not on Wi-Fi, you should see a capital “E” to the right of your service provider’s name on the upper-left corner of you iPhone. If, instead you see an upside down striped triangle, you’re using Wi-Fi (this should work). If you don’t seen either a triangle or a capital “E”, then you have no data connection and won’t be able to proceed. If this is the case, find a Wi-Fi network to latch onto, or take your iPhone to a location where the EDGE network is available.

Make sure you have a cellular signal -  Both to register and use RingFree, you’ll be making a regular mobile phone call. This means you’ll need a cell signal. On the upper left hand corner of the iPhone you should see an upwards and rightwards sloping set of bars. If you don’t see this, you’ll need to get to a location with a cell signal.

Make sure Caller-ID is set to “ON” - We use the caller-ID information sent by your iPhone to validate your account and make sure the telephone is authorized to use your account.  This means caller-ID must be set to “ON” to register and use RingFree. To make sure, go to “Settings”, click “Phone”, In the “Calls” section, click “Call Waiting”, and make sure it is set to “ON”.

Make sure Mobile Safari has JavaScript enabled - RingFree uses JavaScript extensively both in registration and in the dialer. If JavaScript is disabled, registration will ail. Go to “Settings”, click “Safari”, and, in the “Security” section, set “JavaScript” to “ON”.

Make sure Mobile Safari is set to “Accept Cookies” -  For RingFree to work, you must allow cookies to be placed on your telephone so that the server can track current session information. Go to “Settings” and click “Safari”. Set “Accept Cookies” to either “From Visited” or “Always” (for security purposes, we recommend the “From Visited” setting).

If you tried to register with RingFree and the process did not complete, you may try again after checking all of the above.

When RingFree’s Eric Chamberlain sent the rest of the team his OmniGraffle flow charts describing an on-iPhone registration process for RF that was simple and required a minimum of user keyboard input, we were mostly hooked. Some of us, though, were skeptical: Could the iPhone handle it?

The answer so far has been mostly “Yes”.

Most of you have been able to register with RingFree and able to make phone calls in less than minute. And you’ve told us you really like the process for its simplicity (you also told us we need to shorten some of the explanatory text because you’re not in in the fifth grade — and we will).

But some of you ran into problems. Somewhere in the middle of the process — usually right after phone activation — the registration abruptly ended, and you were left in RingFree limbo: partially registered with no where to go.

When we did come across a solution, we slapped our foreheads because it took so long to figure out the obvious: Those registering with us over WiFi had few problems. But those of you trying to sign-up over AT&T’s EDGE network ran into time-outs and blue-box warnings that killed the process.

The issue is that the iPhone is not able to maintain both a data connection over EDGE and a call connection over GSM concurrently (WiFi and GSM concurrently are OK). So, when you went into the  activation phone call to enter your 4-digit key, you lost data connection with our server and the process would time out. The result: Your iPhone would be activated but you were never registered.

We thought — fingers crossed — we got a handle on the problem. And we deployed javascript modifications that accommodate the momentary loss of data connectivity using EDGE.  Still, some of you, as of early this morning, can’t fully register.

We finally realized that enough of you have been accessing our servers using EDGE that AT&T is caching our data. And until those caches clear and AT&T has our latest javascript in its memory banks,  there’s not much we can do except to ask you who are still facing registration problems to either wait a bit, or to head on down to your local espresso parlor with WiFi and sing up with us there. You’ll be up an running in no time.

P.S.: Using EDGE to make calls through RingFree does not face the same kinds of issues.