• What is Open House On The Go (OHOTG)?
  A visual digital catalog of open house listings that can be accessed from your mobile phone.
  
  
• Are all open houses available through OHOTG?
  We provide you with access to ALL of the open houses in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) of Long Island's database. This database, with thousands of listings from Realtors all over Long Island, is the most comprehensive source of real estate listing data in the area.
  
  
• How does it work?
  When you visit our site and select a town you are interested in, we will send matching open house listings, organized in day and time order, to your phone. You will then have immediate access to and complete control over accessing and viewing an easy-to-navigate catalog of open houses.
  
  
• Do I need a cell phone, a computer, or both to use the service?
  Currently, you do need both a cell phone and computer to take advantage of the best user experience the service can offer. That said, we will be launching a mobile browser based version of OHOTG before the end of this year. That version will offer more flexibility to those users who want a completely mobile experience. Note: There are some mobile devices (such as the iPhone) with browsers that can access and interact with the content which is currently on the OHOTG website. Those devices would be the exception to the rule (again, for the moment).
  
  
• Will it work on my carrier?
  OHOTG is available through most major carriers in the United States. However, if your carrier does not support either text messages with embedded links or third party applications, you can still use the browser-based (WAP) version of OHOTG. The primary differences in the browser-based (WAP) version and the downloadable application version is that the WAP version will be delivered only through your mobile web browser. The result will be a slightly slower (depending on your connection speed) experience, most noticeable when your phone is responding to your keystroke commands while navigating the site.
  
  
• Will it work on my phone?
  We've tested many, many, many phones. Almost always, it works like a charm. On the rare occasion when we do find a phone that has some difficulty with the service, we lock ourselves in a room until we figure it out.
  
  
• Do I need a special phone or features?
  You need to be able to receive text messages and have a web-enabled phone. If you consider that "special", then yes.
  
  
• How much does it cost?
  This is where it gets really cool. We don't charge you anything for this service. We can't speak for your carrier though so you certainly should check to make sure you know what kind of text message and data package you have. Lots of folks have text messages packages and data plans that would cover any activity you will incur by using our service. So, here's our party line: "Our service is free, but standard carrier rates apply."
  
  
• How do I get the service?
  Go to www.OpenHouseOnTheGo.com (which is likely how you got here in the first place) and enter the small amount of required info. In about 30 seconds you should receive a text message invitation on your phone. It will contain the link and/or simple instructions to get you on your way. The entire process takes just a few moments.
  
  
• How will it affect my phone?
  Your phone will be much hipper than before. Other than that, the service does not affect the normal operation of your phone.
  
  
• How much memory does it take?
  That depends on the content you are getting. However, it's safe to assume that the application and content together will use about 300k of memory. To put it in perspective, hat’s about the size of one high quality photo taken with a camera phone.
  
  
• What if I have a lot of applications on my phone and OHOTG will not fit?
  Delete one of the other applications. Ours is way better.
  
  
• If it’s on my phone, how do I get rid of it if I don't want it any longer?
  Just delete it from your phone. This can usually be done by going to your "Games" and/or "Applications" folder.
  
  
• How do I use OHOTG once I have it?
  Glad you asked …the first time you download it, or any time you go back to it, the application begins automatically. Once open, just scroll left and right to view each open house. When you see something you like, click on it (different phones have different versions of an "ok", so you'll have to check with the manual for your phone ...or let us know what phone you have and we'll help you with it) to see more info about that house. Then you can use the preprogrammed "call" button to call the agent directly. And whenever you want to go back to the channel, just go to your "Games" and/or "Applications" menu and you will find it waiting there patiently.
  
  
• How do I update the open house listings once I have the application on my phone?
  Just start the application. We'll take care of the updating for you. We're good like that.
  
  
• What do I do if I have a question that is not answered in the FAQ sheet?
  Drop us a line with that nifty "Contact Us" button. We love to talk about our stuff, and would be happy to help you use and enjoy Open House On The Go.
  
  Now, Take Your Phone and Go!
  

• I cannot see all or part of the website.
  You may not have "flash" installed on your computer.  You can find the "flash player" on your own, but this link might help you get started:  http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash
  
  
• I have entered all of the requested information, but have not received a text message.
  Although the text message is usually lightning fast (well, maybe not lightning…but it sure does come quick), any number of factors, from cellular network traffic to your signal strength can cause the text message to take a bit longer.  If you are concerned that the problem may be on your end, you can send yourself a text message and see how long it takes to come through.  If you receive it right away then the issue resides somewhere else in the system.  Our general rule of thumb is just try to send yourself another link from our website.  If that does not work and after a few minutes you still do not get a text with the open houses you requested, just drop us a line and we’ll check it out and get right back to you.
  
  
• The text message tells me to "select the link".  What does that mean?
  You need to use your navigation keys (different on all phones, but generally it is the up, down, left, and right keys) to highlight the URL which has been included in your text message. 

• My phone will not highlight the link in the text message.
  On most phones and most carriers, the process of highlighting this link is both simple and intuitive.  There are however, some phones and carriers (most notably Verizon) which do not recognize these embedded active links.    In that event, you can go to your mobile web browser and type in the link directly.

• I have clicked on the link or typed the URL into my mobile browser, and nothing is happening or I clicked on the link in the install page and nothing is happening.
  Make sure you have activated your web service through your carrier.  If your web service is activated and the link does not connect to anything, it is most likely a significant slowdown in the carriers network or that you do not have enough signal strength in your current area to support the use of your mobile browser.

• I see the word "download" on the bottom of my screen.  How do I select it?
  As with many of the choices you will have during installation and with the actual use of the application, "download" is associated with one of your "soft keys".  These are the (usually two) unlabeled keys (usually at the top left and right) on your keypad.

• My phone is telling me that the "Application Already Exists".
  This will generally occur for either of two reasons.  Either you are trying to download the application again, not realizing that you already have it on your phone, or you have selected another town to view, and are re-installing the application over itself. You have two choices.  First, you can exit the download process and simply go back into the application and select "refresh" (usually associated with your left "soft key").  This will allow the application to find the most recent content (town) you requested).  You will see the update occur in real time as the image counter loads your new content.  The other option you have is to continue the download process.  When doing so, you will be asked questions or given information such as "Application Already Exists" or "Save data from current version?".  Regardless of the message in this context, you can just overwrite the application and do not save the old data.  The end result will be the same…the content you requested, updated and ready to use.

• What does "Not a signed application" mean?
  This is your carrier’s way of telling you that we are a third-party application, not associated with them.  It’s somewhat of a disclaimer on their part so that should your phone implode from using this application, they "told ya so".  And for the record, we have yet to cause anyone’s phone to implode.

• My phone is downloading something called "OHOTG.jar".  Is that correct?
  Sure is.  That’s our program coming right to your fingertips.  You’re only moments away now.

• When it asks me if I want to "Run OHOTG", what should I do?
  Press "RUN", "YES" or any other appropriate key so that you can check out the great stuff that we just sent to your phone.

• My phone is asking if I want to "Use data network" to access a website.
  For the purpose of downloading and updating, your phone will reach out to us via your data network.  So the answer is "YES".  Depending on your particular phone, this message may appear more than once and look slightly different.  One example is "Use data network" to access "URL: http://www.mport.net/sync3".  These are directions to your phone so it knows where to go.

• How high should the numbers go when it says "Loading X of Y"?
  That depends on the number of open houses in the town you selected.  The "Y" will be the total number of open houses, and the "X" is how many have loaded so far.  Although all phones and carriers are different, and your signal strength can also affect the speed, generally it takes about one second per open house.

• I see a picture of a house on my screen.  Now what do I do?
  First, revel in the fact that you are on the cutting edge of content acquisition.  Next, just use your left and right arrow keys (different on all phones) to advance through the content (images).  When you see something you like, click "OK" (also different on all phones) and you’ll see all the relevant information about that open house.  From there, use the "CALL" button (which is programmed into your left soft key) to contact the agent for that listing) or use the "BACK" key (programmed into your right soft key) to jump right back to where you left off viewing the open houses.  The channel can be advanced forward or backwards, so you don’t have to worry about getting "lost" (as you might on a website).
  
  
  

For TREO, BLACKBERRY, and WINDOWS MOBILE users:

Back at the lab, our head wizard is working diligently on expanding the number of PDA/SmartPhone devices on which Open House On The Go will run. Although there are currently users on all of the above devices using our service, we’re not really satisfied that we’re completely accessible to all of you. Therefore, if you encounter any problems, please use the “REPORT A PROBLEM” button below and we’ll have the wizard give you a jingle.

Additionally, FOR TREO USERS, something you may encounter (for our software and many others you want to run) is that you need to install Java software on your device before you can fully enjoy Open House On The Go. The following link will take you to the support section for Treo, where you can download the Java software for your particular device. You will likely find that the actual download is for "IBM's WebSphere Everyplace Micro Environment" so that you can run Java applications. Here is the link: http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/

For VERIZON users:

So you can’t click on the link in your text message, huh?  Yeah, we kind of figured that.  We’ve prepared a solution that we’ll be working on directly with Verizon.  In the meantime, you can still use Open House On The Go by typing www.OHOTG.net into your phone’s browser.