Thursday, November 27, 2008
Phone phailures
According to a report today, RIM BlackBerry devices have a higher failure rate than Apple iPhones. The other way around for me. In fact it's been a double failure since T-Mo still have not quite grasped the point - and are trying to bill me for the few days in which my faulty iPhone airtime contract was live.
I need to go back and explain. The. Phone. Did. Not. Work. I. Could. Not. Use. The. SIM. I. Am. Not. Paying.
I need to go back and explain. The. Phone. Did. Not. Work. I. Could. Not. Use. The. SIM. I. Am. Not. Paying.
Labels: BlackBerry, mobile, tech
Sunday, November 23, 2008
I think, therefore iPhone
Hopefully concluding the sorry tale of the DoA iPhone ... the episode cost T-Mobile a customer who regularly spends more than EUR 100 a month on mobile telephony and data: although many people spend much more, it's still a decent enough revenue.
I'd really wanted to keep my old mobile number - but it wasn't to be, as to do so after T-Mo's bungling would have meant being without my mobile for a week - so I was going to have to send out that round-robin email about my new / temporary mobile number in any case.
So I quit T-Mo and stomped along to the nearest of many Vodafone stores in Munich - and 10 minutes later walked out with a new airtime contract with a better calling plan than the iPhone, along with a BlackBerry Bold. And no, I did not want to wait for the Storm. The touch-screen was a sacrifice I was going to try and make with the iPhone only.
After a week with the Bold I'm pretty happy. Just about to board the plane on my first roaming trip - and interested to see how the mobile charges will rack up in comparison to what I've been used to with Debitel / T-Mobile ... my final bill from Debitel was EUR 250, a good reminder why I have cut out the middle man.
I'd really wanted to keep my old mobile number - but it wasn't to be, as to do so after T-Mo's bungling would have meant being without my mobile for a week - so I was going to have to send out that round-robin email about my new / temporary mobile number in any case.
So I quit T-Mo and stomped along to the nearest of many Vodafone stores in Munich - and 10 minutes later walked out with a new airtime contract with a better calling plan than the iPhone, along with a BlackBerry Bold. And no, I did not want to wait for the Storm. The touch-screen was a sacrifice I was going to try and make with the iPhone only.
After a week with the Bold I'm pretty happy. Just about to board the plane on my first roaming trip - and interested to see how the mobile charges will rack up in comparison to what I've been used to with Debitel / T-Mobile ... my final bill from Debitel was EUR 250, a good reminder why I have cut out the middle man.
Labels: BlackBerry, iphone, mobile
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Flight departures - from a screen near me
On a short layover at Zurich Airport and I'm just too lazy to keep hunting down the departures board for my connecting flight - because the info is also available on a screen near me - my desktop. Sometimes, WLAN and portable computers / devices really make life a bit easier. This is one of them.
My flight has just been called, I think - the departures board is showing "Go to the exit"...
My flight has just been called, I think - the departures board is showing "Go to the exit"...
Labels: mobile
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Today's observation: mobile illiteracy
Just because you're sending me a message from your BlackBerry "device" it is no excuse for terrible illiteracy. If you're in that much of a hurry, send me the message later ...
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Lost and found
"That's the peril of traveling with lots of gadgets!" said a colleague in response to the news that I'd mislaid my E61 mobile at Chicago O'Hare airport yesterday. Here's the back-fill, I was actually at the airport in good time ... in good time for the thunderstorm that swept off the plains and across the Mid-West, also delaying the departure of my plane from its previous destination (St Louis) to Chicago.
Three gate changes and three hours later we were finally ready to board. I'd been camped out on the wi-fi at the original gate, and had placed my phone on my jacket. When I grabbed my jacket the phone must have tumbled to the floor.
I didn't notice until 15 minutes later, on board, when I remembered I hadn't switched it off ... er, what phone would that be??? No phone - and too late to get off and find it. So I borrowed a phone from my friendly seat-mate and activated the E61's emergency lock feature that I'd set up, but never tried. We were about to taxi so there was no time to call the phone and ask the person who answered to hand it over ...
This is a simple and ingenious idea - on receipt of a keyword via SMS from any phone number, the phone automatically locks down, requiring PIN and lock code (they're different) to reactivate. It even goes into offline mode so it can't receive calls. This worked a treat since anyone calling my phone went straight to voicemail.
Called the American Airlines lost property office this morning and got voicemail ... explaining that they only call back for items that have been turned in. Oh no. Left a message anyway, in the vain hope that someone would call back. Ten minutes later (max) the callback came in. The phone was handed over, and by the time I got the call, they'd already made arrangements to hand it back to me when I fly back through Chicago in a few days. Now that's customer service!
So, whoever found the phone and handed it over - thank you. I hope to be able to do the same for you one day.
Three gate changes and three hours later we were finally ready to board. I'd been camped out on the wi-fi at the original gate, and had placed my phone on my jacket. When I grabbed my jacket the phone must have tumbled to the floor.
I didn't notice until 15 minutes later, on board, when I remembered I hadn't switched it off ... er, what phone would that be??? No phone - and too late to get off and find it. So I borrowed a phone from my friendly seat-mate and activated the E61's emergency lock feature that I'd set up, but never tried. We were about to taxi so there was no time to call the phone and ask the person who answered to hand it over ...
This is a simple and ingenious idea - on receipt of a keyword via SMS from any phone number, the phone automatically locks down, requiring PIN and lock code (they're different) to reactivate. It even goes into offline mode so it can't receive calls. This worked a treat since anyone calling my phone went straight to voicemail.
Called the American Airlines lost property office this morning and got voicemail ... explaining that they only call back for items that have been turned in. Oh no. Left a message anyway, in the vain hope that someone would call back. Ten minutes later (max) the callback came in. The phone was handed over, and by the time I got the call, they'd already made arrangements to hand it back to me when I fly back through Chicago in a few days. Now that's customer service!
So, whoever found the phone and handed it over - thank you. I hope to be able to do the same for you one day.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]