Why does email hit my phone before my pc?

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Suprnova04

Limp Gawd
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Apr 1, 2004
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Recently, a VIP at my company asked me why his email gets to his phone before it gets to his pc. I told him i wasnt really sure. My boss jumps in and says it's because our anti-spam software is scrubbing the emails coming through to our PCs and so it takes longer. My nostrils were immediately stung with an all too familiar smell that can only come from the rear end of a bull. I get emails tagged with the [SPAM] notifier on my phone all the time, so i know the emails on my phone aren't somehow avoiding our filters. Not to mention that our setup would lead me to assume that both our PCs and phones are retrieving messages in the same way, from a central location (our server) after it has been processed by our filters. While I assume that the answer is more or less that the phone is set to push our inboxes and that its connection to our mail server updates slightly more frequently than the connection between our desktop PCs and the server does, i wouldnt dare push an assumption off as factual... A habit my boss repeats regularly as his bosses are very unlikely to know the difference. Frankly, it pisses me off... But that's another matter. Can anyone enlighten me with a technical answer?

We're running an exchange 2010 mail server with outlook 2003 desktops running in cached mode (maybe this is why?), and our phones are all iPhone 4. Thanks for any help, and if I need to provide any more information let me know.

-kyle-
 
How long of a delay between getting it on the phone and getting it in Outlook? If it's less than a minute, who cares? I'm not sure about iPhones, but with our BBs at work and using BES, we get our emails on our phones the same instant as in Outlook or a little bit after. I know BES pushes email to the phones, not sure if iPhones are the same. Maybe Outlook isn't being pushed the emails and needs to wait till the client polls the server again for new items. Try sending an email and see how long it takes between phone and pc. Then do it again and as soon as your phone gets it, hit send/receive in Outlook and see if it comes quicker than the first time.
 
It was more of a curiosity question and not so much of a complaint, and I agree... Who cares? Yes the iPhone also pushes our inbox or any other folders that you tell it to. It's only a few seconds. I'm more curious out of spite for my boss's stupid answers to things.

ND40oz said:
Running cached mode will help with the 2003 client, but it won't totally resolve the "slowness" issues. Upgrade to the 2010 client and see if you have the same issue.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-US;2009942
Click to expand...

Thanks, I know we'll be upgrading eventually.. maybe that'll change things a bit.
 
Last edited:
Suprnova04 said:
It's only a few seconds. I'm more curious out of spite for my bosses stupid answers to things.
Click to expand...
Because outlook and the phone might check for email lets say every 60 seconds, but they check at different points every 60 seconds.
The iphone might check at 33 seconds into the minute, while outlook might check at 58 seconds into the minute. They are still technically checking every 60 seconds, just at different times.
 
Tell the VIP he's checking his email WAY TOO FREQUENTLY! :)

If his computer is on a server, I would expect longer service times due to protocols, permissions and, depending on the time of day, congestion.
 
Suprnova04 said:
It was more of a curiosity question and not so much of a complaint, and I agree... Who cares? Yes the iPhone also pushes our inbox or any other folders that you tell it to. It's only a few seconds. I'm more curious out of spite for my bosses stupid answers to things.



Thanks, I know we'll be upgrading eventually.. maybe that'll change things a bit.
Click to expand...

The link explains why Outlook 2003 does it, if you want a reason for your VP/boss.

These issues occur because Exchange Server 2010 does not send User Datagram Protocol (UDP) notifications to Outlook.

Outlook 2003 uses UDP notifications as the primary method for receiving notifications from an Exchange server. However, Outlook 2003 has to polls the Exchange Server 2010 server for changes, and the default polling interval for Outlook is about 60 seconds. Therefore, a folder update may be delayed up to 1 minute.
Click to expand...

Email is pushed to the phone as it arrives on the server, but the 2003 Outlook client it has to poll instead of getting a push.
 
I notice the same thing... Email arrives to an iPhone a few seconds before Outlook 2007.

I have absolutely no desire to upgrade to 2010. The ribbon bar is horrible. I setup someone's 2010 the other day, where is the account options? Had to use the Mail control panel!
 
File -> Account Settings.... really easy. 2010 is much better than 2007.
 
Outlook 2010 is same as 2007 or 2003 was for me. Always run cached mode at my office, on gigabit network....yet my smart phones chime the e-mail about 15-30 seconds before I see it hit my desktop or laptop.
 
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