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Websites that force you to their "mobile" version?

E

elistan

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 30, 2007
997
443
Denver/Boulder, CO
I tried to look up some Bank of America www.bankofamerica.com info on my iPhone, and it forced me to its crappy mobile version - the kind of page designed for ultra-slow connections on phones with severely limited internet capabilities. I couldn't trick it into showing me the normal webpage so I could check what I needed.

Anybody got a work-around to this sort of issue?

Anybody know of other sites that do the same?
 
Wesh.com does (or did).

They are my NBC station here in ORlando.... i was trying to get some info and couldn't because it wasn't on their mobile section.

Irks the you know what out of me..... personally, i want to CHOOSE when i go to the mobile site. I like having the option - but let me OUT of it if i want to.

I'm guessing you'd have to hack your browser ID to avoid it.
 
Only found one site so far that forced me the the mobile version and that was the SF Giants web site. I thought that was pretty lame. But I found what I needed and left.
 
Usatoday.com recently started doing this. Really weird that it just started a few days ago, prior to that it would load in all its colorful glory in safari.
 
Safari needs to have a per-bookmark user settable flag, that either sends the "iPhone" header of not.

Alternatively, you should write those websites and ask them to set up and have a link to a non-mobile version... that anyone can use if they wish.
 
Webmasters can be completely boneheaded. My current bank for the longest time had a java menu system to access its pages. If that's not 1997 enough for you, it actually didn't work on Macs because of some code in their website that decided if you're surfing from a Mac, Java wasn't supported!

After me loudly complaining to them for a few months, they changed the menu to a javascript thing, so it can help. ;)
 
Mazda's USA site loads what appears to be a mobile page for me. I was checking a couple car manufacturers websistes the other day since I'm in the market for a new car, and Mazda's was the only one that wouldn't load correctly on the iPhone.
 
Yeah the only site I don't like that on is the weather.com site, dosen't this defeat the purpose of having such a nice browser! :mad:
 
AWShuttleworth said:
Another possibility is that they're not looking at our user-agent but detecting our screen size.... Maybe?
Click to expand...

this is precisely what the problem is, or atpeast in my experience. When I went to Starbucks's website, it tried re-directing me because of the detected screen size.

I am confident that these companies will re-evaluate how they handle mobile browsing because of the iPhone. With all the attention it has received and because of the (rumored) numbers sold already, it can't be ignored.
 
Very frustrating!

MLB.COM and portions of Maxim.com do this as well. This may work well for old fashioned cell phones but we deserve better. At the very least the ability to "opt out" of the mobile version.
 
spencecb said:
this is precisely what the problem is, or at least in my experience. When I went to Starbucks's website, it tried re-directing me because of the detected screen size..
Click to expand...

In my tests, most sites (like MLB) just looked for "iPhone". Although as you suggest, Starbucks seems to look for more.

spencecb said:
I am confident that these companies will re-evaluate how they handle mobile browsing because of the iPhone. With all the attention it has received and because of the (rumored) numbers sold already, it can't be ignored.
Click to expand...

You'd be better off it they DID ignore the iPhone. Then you'd get the "real internet".

But it's obviously not being ignored. Webmasters are taking note of the "iPhone applications" (web), and want to fit the screen like they do. Easiest way? Yep, just use their already existing mobile content.
 
Anyone notice a difference when you use Wi-Fi vs. Edge? I have used the MLB sites at home (on Wi-Fi) and I get the normal site. On edge though, I get the "mobile" version...
 
I can get you past that... well this worked with Google on my Nokia, for the OP try pointing Safari to https://www.bankofamerica.com/index.jsp

Sites that do this will have a different URL for computers, as they check what your using (computer or phone) then redirect you so just visit the site on your computer then look at the URL and type that in to your phone. Should work with most sites.
 
PowerFullMac said:
I can get you past that... well this worked with Google on my Nokia, for the OP try pointing Safari to https://www.bankofamerica.com/index.jsp

Sites that do this will have a different URL for computers, as they check what your using (computer or phone) then redirect you so just visit the site on your computer then look at the URL and type that in to your phone. Should work with most sites.
Click to expand...

Good suggestion, but no joy. The URL I'm redirected to is
https://www.bankofamerica.com/mobile/mail.do?isMobileDevice=true

I tried changing the "true" to a "false" and still got redirected to the main mobile page.

Hey! I'm getting somewhere now. Try https://www.bankofamerica.com/fjdiencfd (doesn't matter what) and you'll get sent to their error page, which is their normal version, not mobile! From there, I went to site map, selected the state I'm in, clicked on the log-on to online banking link, and was able to get the pages normally like I do from my desktop.

What a pain. Now I just need to figure out what I need to bookmark in order to get this result every time without having to go through so many extra steps.
 
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