Mobile Tech

T-Zones

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So the cell number switch looks like it is done and working. Besides having my voice mail reset and loosing my T-Zones internet access everything worked. I had to call to have the internet setup again and then I was off and running. Lets see if my bill is screwed up because of this. I was not under contract and hope to remain that way. I like keeping my options open.

Still enjoying my Treo 270, but the battery keeps dying at night if I use it all day. Still waiting for the 600…….. and waiting, and waiting…….

This entry was written while listening to Stacies Mom from the album “Welcome Interstate Managers” by Fountains of Wayne

Number Portability Complete

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After waiting years for the rules to take affect, and 6 days from when I made my request I finally got the SMS message telling me my cell number had transfered from AT&T to T-Mobile. It actually worked. I was beginning to doubt it for a while. But it is done. I had to setup my voicemail over again, but other than that everything seems to be working fine.

I am not sure if I need to cancel AT&T service of if it is done automatically. I hope I have to call, that way I can delay for 20 days and not pay the contract cancelation fee.

Now all that is left is waiting for Handspring to release the Treo 600 for T-Mobile!!! That and letting everyone know my number changed back to the old one again. People don’t like me doing that allot!!!

This entry was written while listening to Make It Last from the album “Nasty Little Thoughts” by Stroke 9

Number Portability Day 5

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I am on day 5 of my attempt to change my cell number to a new provider. After being told yesterday by both AT&T & T-Mobile that all roadblocks to transfer the number have been cleared, I still don’t have the number moved. I am now being told that YES there are no technical issues, but AT&T is just backlogged and having technical problems. I was told to wait another 24-72 hours. That would put me at 6 days. I have no idea if these people are telling the truth, but I have no choice but to wait. calling them and waiting on hold for an hour is not my idea of fun and I have done it several times already this week.

Impatiently waiting!!!

This entry was written while listening to All Star by Smash Mouth

Number Tramsfer Day 3

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So I am still waiting for my AT&T number to move to T-Mobile. T-Mobile says AT&T has an issue. AT&T says my account looks fine. I am back on the phone with T-Mobile trying to sort this out. I knew the process would take time, but this is starting to be not funny. I am 6 or 7 calls into this process and I have no end in sight. The crazy thing is I understand what they are trying to do. Forget someone who has no clue. they would be waiting forever for this to happen. I am being told to call back tomorrow, and have the rep get AT&T on the phone to fix the issue at the same time with me on the phone.

So far today I have had a good rep, and a really bad one. FYI, when dealing with people on the phone always get there names. T-Mobile is good since they give out their rep id so if you have a problem you know who you spoke to before.

This entry was written while listening to Crutch from the album “Mad Season” by Matchbox 20

What I Said Yesterday

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What I said yesterday is totally true. So I waited till like 3PM today to call and check on my cell number move. Turns out the first guy I spoke with last night didn’t actually put the request in. Luckily I had the guy’s name and rep number. They were able to see that he did stuff to my account, but the number port didn’t go in. The new guy I got I got went ahead and put the request through. I am now on hold to check up on his work. This will be call #4. This does not count the time I tried in the T-Mobile store on monday. This is crazy. Does no one know how to do good service?

On a brighter note I was able to return the Treo 600 today. The moron’s at the AT&T store didn’t give me a hard time. Of course the thing was still in mint condition so they really couldn’t say much. When they asked about why I was bringing it back I told them about their network woes. The lady was like, wow that is the first I have heard about it. I was like are you living in a bubble, or do I look that stupid that you can say that to me with a straight face. I got my money back and I await the T-Mobile version of the 600. If Handspring, or Palmone follows their patter, the T-Mobile version will be out in 2-3 weeks. I am waiting…

AT&T Has To Go

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I tried. I really tried. I gave AT&T some time. I even gave them a second chance by using them again this week. Once again they have failed me. Today GPRS was up and down all day. And phone quality in my apartment sucked even when I had 4 bars of signal. I am a friggin stock holder of AT&T Wireless. Now I know why my stock is doing so bad. This company has some major issues.

I am on hold now with T-Mobile to transfer my coveted AT&T wireless phone number over to my working T-Mobile account.

Well that didn’t work. The person I spoke to said I had to goto the store for them to transfer my old number to an existing T-Mobile account. that goes against everything I heard yesterday. I am about to call back and see if I get another answer. the trick with dealing with customer service reps is call a few times and see if you get the answer you want. it actually works allot of the time. I will return the Treo 600 and wait for T-Mobile to come out with it. What good is the device if it cannot connect to get data anyway?

I know I have been preoccupied with this problem but it is an issue I have wanted to resolve for years and now that I am so close to fixing it I am getting roadblocks everywhere I turn.

Have I mentioned I dislike all telecomm companies???

This entry was written while listening to Satellite from the album “Under the table and dreaming” by Dave Matthews Band

Finally The Day Is Here

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So number portability day is here. Now that it is over, the day didn’t exactly end up the way I wanted it to. I tried to change my number from AT&T to T-Mobile like I had planned on. After an hour at the T-Mobile store with no end in sight, I bailed and went to work. Gus wanted to goto the AT&T store to check out if they had the Treo in stock. I figured they wouldn’t so I went along for the walk. Turns out they did have them. At first neither of us were going to pay the high price of the phone, but then he broke down and got one. I then played with his and broke down and got one. The only problem is that AT&T is having huge system problems right now so I cannot get my new price plan working. It is now 12 hours later and their system is still down. If I cannot get the changes done by tomorrow after work, I am returning the phone and switching to T-Mobile like I originally said I would.

The Treo 600 is awesome though. Speaker phone rocks. It feels good to talk on. It sounds good. Now I have to get AT&T to get their act together.

Cell Number Portability Tomorrow

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After years of waiting, Cell Phone number portability will happen (or so they say) tomorrow. “Experts” say to be warry of making changes tomorrow or for the first month or so. They say that the kinks are not out of the transfer system. I have waited too long and my patience is gone, so knowing the risks I will go tomorrow morning and transfer the number I like away from AT&T Wireless’s poor service T-Mobile who has given me decent service recently. The news articles I have read say up to 25% of all requests made to transfer numbers in the first week will fail. Since I am not currently using the number I am transfering, I can take that risk. I will know in 24 hours if it worked.

Treo 600 Update

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Just my luck that it is availible from everyone (Cingular, Sprint, AT&T) except the carrier I want (T-Mobile). AT&T just announced it friday. I am not happy. The good news is even after waiting for over a month since it has been released I still want to get it whenever I can. Not sure if Gus can resist buying the AT&T version of the Treo 600. He still won’t leave AT&T even after he has huge issues with their service.

Stuff

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Last night I got my new Firewire 200 Gig hard drive. I plugged it into my Powerbook and an icon for it came up on my desktop. That was all I needed to do in order for me to start using it. They sent a CD along with the drive, but it must have been only for windows. I love Mac’s. That was the easiest upgrade I can remember.

I already started offloading data from my powerbooks hard drive onto the firewire drive. Next up is getting quicktime pro and pulling some of my MPEG-1 files into Final Cut Express and editing them for burning to a DVD.

I also received my Dad’s flash memory key chain. I got him a pen sized usb flash drive that holds 512megs of memory. he will use it to shuttle data back and forth between work. not sure how fast it will be but it is USB 2.0.

Monday I ordered his new computer. I settled for a dell. It is probably overkill for his needs, but he likes over kill.

I for one have been shuttling ISO images from work to home. I think I recovered almost all the images now. I just copied over ISO’s for red hat and FreeBSD 4.7.