I've had it with MobileMe. Need an Exchange solution that works flawlessly with OS X.

[OCDMacGeek]

Despite my love for Apple, I am fed up with MobileMe. Ever since iOS 4.0, I haven't been able to get MobileMe to reliably sync with my iOS devices. It will lose sync, then come back a few days later and create duplicates, etc. I have been constantly running through troubleshooting, and its gotten extremely tiresome.

It has gotten to the point that I have turned off MobileMe and just started syncing manually through iTunes. Of course, this isn't ideal because I don't typically sync every single day.

I am interested in a Microsoft Exchange solution that might work more reliably. The problem is that I also want something that works flawlessly with iCal and Address Book. I once tried Google Apps, and I was very disappointed with the way that contacts were handled -- it would have altered every single contact in my address book. I believe there were also hiccups with Calendar entries.

Is anyone aware of a solution that works well as an alternative to MobileMe?

 

[manni]

I am in the same boat and would like to hear from anyone who has a suggestion. I used my google account for ages, worked fast but as you say lots of little issues. Now suddenly mobileme has little issues - for £50 per year there shouldn't be any issues. I am surprised google don't have an option to "macify" their online service so alarms,birthdays etc sync properly with macs, ipods, iphones but then I guess they want you to use android instead and I want to stick with apple.

Anyone found any other online services which work flawlessly? I tried yahoo a while back and it had some weird things around birthdays. Really want to avoid hotmail/anything microsoft have touched.

 

[skp574]

I think the only real alternative to MobileMe would be Exchange if you want an OTA syncing solution. However that will probably cost $$$ and I believe MM handles multiple calendars better than a hosted Exchange mailbox. That's just my opinion.

Rather than recommend an alternative, have you exhausted all possible causes of the sync issues you've been having?

Have you tried at least resetting your sync data from one of your devices back up to MobileMe and then setting up your other devices again from scratch? I had a similar issue with things duplicating/failing to sync and this fixed it for me.

I've got three devices registered to MM and they sync flawlessly in all directions. iPhone has MM and an Exchange account, I don't get any cross contamination of contacts or calendar entries between the two services, it all works as it should.

Just my thoughts.

 

[317342]

About the only thing I can think of that is cheap or free is Google Sync; it uses Gmail, Google Calendar, Gmail Contacts, etc.

I have used it in the past but went with MM instead. I don't necessarily trust Google, and find it clunky compared to MobileMe. Having used each, I can say that MobileMe has been relatively painless for the past two years. I use it with two Macs, an iPhone, and an iPad and it keeps all the stuff in sync for me.

 

[MasterTick]

Exchange would require setting up a server, which seems a bit much for one person.

Just use Google Sync, it's the cheapest solution and it works alright.

 

[nadyne]

I am interested in a Microsoft Exchange solution that might work more reliably.

There's plenty of hosted Exchange providers out there. I can't provide recommendations for any of them, since I get Exchange directly from the source. I know that we provide a service called Business Productivity Online Standard (BPOS), but I honestly don't know details about licensing and cost. If I were in your shoes, I'd ask for a recommendation in an Exchange forum; perhaps those on MSExchange.org will help you out.

For maximum Mac compatibility, you should make sure that you're on Exchange 2010. That means that you'll be able to use either Entourage for Web Services, Outlook:Mac 2011, or Apple Mail/iCal with it. Additionally, Outlook Web Access 2010 gives you the full experience in Safari and Firefox instead of the light version.

Regards,
Nadyne.