Sunday, January 6, 2008
Nokia 6086
I saw that you mentioned issues with syncing with Outlook and that you also switched to the Nokia 6086. I have the same phone and have found a way to sync it directly with Outlook. You need to go to Nokia's website and download the Nokia PC Suite for the 6086 and get a Bluetooth adapter for your PC. After setting it all up, the Nokia PC Suite provides direct syncronization with Outlook through Bluetooth as well as many other nice features.I actually had not switched to the Nokia, but my two sons do use the Nokia handsets. I am going to grab one and try this out. I must say that the Nokia phones are much more open than the Samsung handsets. They are able to easily load custom ringtones, while the Samsung prevents this entirely.
Labels: cell phone, Cellular, Nokia, Samsung, T-Mobile, VOIP, wireless
Sunday, December 23, 2007
The Move To A Digital World
The next guidepost in the digital conversion trail is the cellular telephone system. The FCC will allow the carriers to shut-off the old analog cellular phone system in February 2008. What will be affected? I have listed below some of the common devices that will no longer function.
- Cellular Phones - It is speculated that their are 1 million active cellular phones in the United States that still use analog service. You are safe if you use a handset that is newer than five years old. The big and possibly disastrous effect could be on 911-only phones. Check if you or possibly your parents have one of these old 911-only devices. I know that my father has kept a 911-only phone in his glovebox for years.
- Car Communitions - General Motors OnStar, TeleAid from Mercedes-Benz, or Lexus Link will be affected for cars of fairly recent vintage. The manufactures are pointing out that most systems in 2003 or older models will no longer function. OnStar is offering to upgrade systems in 2004 and 2005 models for a small fee. The older models do not appear to be eligible for upgrade. This could affect up to 700,000 cars.
- Home Alarms - Check how your alarm system communicates with the central monitoring station. Many systems still use analog landlines, but some advanced systems used the analog cellular phone systems as a primary or backup. Any system older than 2006 should be inspected. These systems are generally not upgradable, so you will most likely need to purchase a new main board or communications panel at the least.
Labels: cell phone, Cellular, phone, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon
Friday, October 19, 2007
Trouble with T-Mobile

We have been early customers of T-Mobile's Hotspot at Home service. I still think that it is revolutionary, and surprised that a competitor has not hopped on the band wagon. I have heard rumors that Sprint was introducing a similar, but less versatile, service. I have not found proof on the Sprint or credible sites.
As a follow up to other's cell phone horror stories and my T-Mobile service experience, we have had one small problem with T-Mobile. Last month, we noticed that we were quickly using our anytime minutes and we did in fact go over five dollars. The strange thing was that no matter how we altered our phone usage we could not stop the hemmorage of minutes. Being a parent-I blamed the kids first. They swore they were not burning minutes. I began to suspect a problem with T-Mobile's billing system.
This month, I waited one week into the month so that we would have a variety of usage but not an overwhelming amount of data. Score one for T-Mobile that they allow customers to download current minute usage to Excel or similar spreadsheet software. I was ultimately able to manipulate the numbers to show T-Mobile that a problem existed. I was never able to pin down the problem, but the customer service representative was able to do so in a nearly one-hour telephone call. She discovered that T-Mobile was not crediting two users HotSpot at Home usage correctly. The usage was being subtracted from our anytime minutes.
The end of the story is that they refunded the overage last month, corrected this month's usage, and I apologized to the kids.
Epilogue: Do not ever pay T-Mobile late. I think that it would be cheaper to skip the mortgage for a week or two. The late fee for T-Mobile is $20 per line. That is right. Four lines = $80 late fee.
Labels: cell phone, Cellular, HotSpot, T-Mobile
Saturday, September 1, 2007
First a bit of history. Over-the-air broadcast television uses three different blocks of frequencies. Fortunately, someone was very bright many years ago to just use channel numbers. Otherwise you would say that The Office is on 55.25 MHz every Thursday evening. Initially, television frequencies were going to be licensed well into the 800 MHz range(Channel 83). That space eventually became cellular telephone and emergency communications spectrum. Because there are relatively few television stations compared to the number of available channels, the FCC has decided that the stations could be squeezed into a smaller number of channels. Any station currently broadcasting on stations 55 to 69 are being moved to lower channel numbers. At the same time the stations can convert to digital to enhance our viewing pleasure with high-definition television. That is why you see the big push for HDTV. Television stations currently broadcast on their new channels and old channels. As of February 2009, they will exclusively broadcast on their digital channels.
Ultimately, the FCC is going to auction off these empty frequencies for wireless services and make billions of dollars of revenue for the federal government. You now see why the government has gotten behind this move. It is not so that I can watch Maria Sharapova in the U.S. Open in high definition.
These frequencies are in high-demand by many carriers, companies, and interests. The reason is that the lower the frequency the easier it is for a signal to penetrate buildings and other obstructions. These frequencies are much lower than current wireless telephone spectrum.
It was conventional wisdom that the big wireless providers such as Verizon and AT&T would be involved in the auction. The surprise is that Google also wants to be involved in the auction. Google did approach the FCC with some requirements including that the spectrum would be "open applications, open devices, open networks, and open services". FCC has agreed to most of Google's demands, so it looks like they will be involved in the auction slated for January 16, 2008. Google and the other bidders will need to post 4.6 billion dollars each for the right to bid on the one of 1,099 licenses.
What does Google plan to do with the spectrum if they win some licenses in the auction? No one outside of Google seems to know. There is much speculation that they could get into the Internet service provider business or even the wireless telephone business. We will have to wait and see.
Labels: 700 MHz, Cellular, Google, wireless
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Reader Feedback to Sprint Post
Last month I posted an ARS Technica story about Sprint disconnecting some customers because they called customer service too many times. Here is the original post. Erica Ortiz of the Horsepower and Heels Racing Group commented about her personal experience with Sprint, and I wanted to post here for others to enjoy...
Monday, July 16th
Activated 2 new phones from Sprint Store. I was given a temporary phone number until I could return with my Cingular account information to get my 407- number ported over.
Tuesday, July 17th
I return to the store to give my Cingular account information. She initiates the porting process, and tells me it could be up to 24 hours before the changes are complete.
Wednesday, July 18th
No changes have been made to my phone except that the temporary number is now no longer working, so I return to the store. customer support discovers that an error had been made in the transfer documentation, and that it must be corrected and resubmitted. I am again told that it will take up to 24 hours.
Thursday, July 19th
My phone is still not working, and now the Cingular number has been ported over and the message says its now a Sprint PCS mailbox. I return to the store again, and discover that a National Sales Support person has activated an UNWANTED 3rd phone line for the ported over number instead of porting it over to my device. I spend several hours on the phone trying to cancel the 3rd line, and move the device and the plan over to my number. I leave the store and was told it would take 4 hours for the phone to work correctly.
Friday, July 20th
My data plan is still not working, so I call Sprint to try and get some tech support. customer care says that my browser settings may need to be reset. Store walks me through the process, but it still gave the Error message and cannot connect. Customer support told store that service was down in the area, so after waiting all afternoon, I bring my phone into the store, and was told again that it would take 4 hours. After 4 hours, it was still not working, so store told me to bring the phone in the next morning so she could try and reset the phone again.
Saturday, July 21st
Return to the store and try to reset the phone, but it is still not working. She spends several HOURS on the phone with tech support and doesn't find a solution. She exchanges the device to see if that's the problem, but it still does not work. She finally contacts a rep to start a Work Ticket on the problem, who tells me that she cannot do anything until 4 hours after the new device is setup. The customer support rep tells me that she will call me back in 4 hours to see if it is working and to open a ticket. I never hear from her.
Sunday, July 22nd
My phone data is still not working, and I am highly upset that the customer service rep did not call me back. I call the toll free tech support number for Sprint and spend 38 minutes on hold before someone named Jeremy answers. He promptly hangs up on me. I called back and sat on hold for an appauling 45 MINUTES before the system cuts me off again.
Longer story short, its another 4 days before my phone works correctly. And then I STILL Get a bill for 3 lines instead of two. SPRINT employees hate their own customer service....
Labels: cell phone, Cellular, Sprint
Monday, July 30, 2007
Time for Summer Vacation
Yes it is that time for the family summer vacation. These really stress me out, but we need to get away as a family. We did not take a summer vacation as a family last year, because of an illness and ultimately a death in the family.
The stress is whether anything will break while I am away, and will I have cell phone or Internet access to address the problem. I have been checking T-Mobile coverage maps, and it appears that I will be in coverage areas during weekdays. By the way, T-Mobile has the most usable and responsible coverage maps of any cellular carrier. If there is an problem feel free to file a support ticket or call me.
We were initially going to fly, but we opted for what I call "The Great American Road Trip." It is just a more fun and relaxed way to travel. You do not need to worry about TSA checkpoints, schedules, or crazy weather delays. I get to keep my shoes on.
We will be visiting Atlanta, Knoxville, Smokey Mountains, and maybe one more east coast city between August 1st and the 9th. Highlights of the trip include Georgia Aquarium (Atlanta), The Blue Plate Special (Knoxville), Sister-in-law's house, Dollywood (theme park), and all that Smokey Mountain tourist trap stuff.
Labels: cell phone, Cellular, family, T-Mobile, vacation
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Sprint Drops Abusive Customers
You may have seen this story in the mainstream press in the past week. As Paul Harvey would say Jon Stokes of Ars Technica has the rest of the story.
Labels: cell phone, Cellular, Sprint
Friday, July 13, 2007
Continuing with T-Mobile HotSpot @Home Service
I have found a problem with the phone book on the handset. As I have written about before, I had some difficulties in synchronizing the contacts from the my.T-mobile.com web site to the handset. I have discovered that none of the telephone numbers transfer from the site to the telephone. The problem appears to be a mapping issue. The site offers phone numbers such as Work 1, Work 2, Mobile 1, etc. The handset only has the fields of Work, Mobile, Home, etc. Since none of these match up then the numbers are unable to transfer to the handset. One bright spot is that any numbers entered into the Samsung handset do transfer to the online database.
We are going to begin using the one other handset that is available for the HotSpot @Home service, the Nokia 6086. This handset is a bit larger than the Samsung T409, but it offers a music player, expandable memory, and an integrated FM radio.
I will keep you up-to-date if any other issues that develop as well as how the Nokia handsets function. If you are interested in using this or other T-Mobile services be sure to contact my corporate representative. I am unsure if he will do so for anyone, but he did waive the activation fee for our service. Here is Richard's contact information...
Rich Kling
T-Mobile USA
Business Account Executive
4640 East Colonial Drive l Orlando, FL 32803
MOBILE: 407.970.0203 l FAX: 407.264.8779 l
Business Care: 1.800.375.1126
Labels: cell phone, Cellular, HotSpot, T-Mobile
Saturday, July 7, 2007
I tried the Sanford municipal wifi this morning. The phone attempted to connect, but there was no luck in making a connection. I am did not have my notebook computer with me, but I would guess that a terms and conditions page exists on the network. Many government wifi networks display a page of terms and conditions to which you must agree to connect to the network. I would not be out of question that the network also does not allow a VOIP usage of their network. I know that Seminole County government wifi outlets do not allow use of the Google Docs & Spreadsheets web site.
I have been attempting to use the online phone book feature on the my.t-mobile.com web site with some limited success. It has been difficult to transfer the correct telephone numbers from Outlook to the web site. I blame Outlook because the program has options for mobile phone and car phone numbers, and the T-Mobile web site does not know which the grab for a valid number. A little data clean up helped clear the situation. The value in uploading contact information to the web site is that it will synchronize with the handset and vice-a-versa the handset with the web site.Labels: Cellular, HotSpot, T-Mobile, Telephone, VOIP
Friday, July 6, 2007
This was the first day using the service outside of the home. Really worked well. The wi-fi in the office worked as expected. We work in a concrete and steel building with just one wireless access point so coverage can be spotty. The phone seems to switch over to the T-Mobile network on a shorter radius than when a notebook computer or PDA indicates connection issues. I understand why the handset is eager to switch to the T-mobile network on the edge of wi-fi signals. Voice over the Internet requires a good, consistent access speed to work well. I would design it towards the conservative side for better customer performance as well.
One problem that I need to research. I have a wireless email address which I forwarded to my soon-to-be-former Verizon handset and my T-Mobile phone. It sends messages triggered by my email server, because I need to know when certain people email me. The T-Mobile messages through the day have been very delayed a couple of times. I need to see if the server is delaying a send or if it is T-Mobile's problem.
I am going to attempt to use the Sanford municipal wireless network this evening or in the morning. Tomorrow evening we get to test T-Mobile's system capacity when we attend the Pepsi 400 NASCAR race at Daytona. In is usually impossible to call out at a Daytona feature race. I guess half of 250,000 fans holding their phones up when the cars pass overbooks the frequency spectrum.
Labels: Cellular, HotSpot, T-Mobile, Telephone, VOIP
We opened the boxes this afternoon and got started with setting up the router. I setup the wireless router using the web interface using WAP encryption for the wireless signal. The only difference in the web interface was the different model number. Everything else is exactly the same in the WRT-54 family of wireless routers.
Next it was installing the handset battery and SIM card. Powered up and attempted to connect. I tried the single-button setup that is available on the front of the router, but that did not work. On the next attempt I setup the handset manually. I received an error message that there was an ISP/DNS error. I am impressed with the good descriptive error messages. This is where I ran into a couple of problems.
- The T-Mobile router is in second place behind a Vonage branded Linksys router. For some reason, the T-Mobile router was unable to obtain an IP address from the Vonage router. This is strange because the T-Mobile router is replacing another wireless router. I setup the T-Mobile router with a static IP.
- I had forgotten that I use a manual DNS address on my routers. I really like the OpenDNS service, so I needed to find and add those addresses.
The process seem to go much better after those small issues. The phone logged onto the wireless network without any issue. I did a couple of test calls by calling the home phone and then walking out of wireless network range. The switch was completely imperceptible by myself or the family member on the other end.
The Samsung T409 handset is very easy to use. For the first time in my life I was able to call someone, place them on hold, call a second party, and connected the two calls. I was then able to release one of the callers. I have never been able to figure this out on any cellular or home phone. The on screen directions on the T409 make it a very easy process. The only phone easier for conference calling is a Siemens' desktop Optipoint phone.
The my.T-mobile web site enabled me to upload all of my Outlook contacts into an online address book that was then transferred to the handset in a few minutes. A recommended addition that I would make would be the ability to tie the phone list into a Gmail or Yahoo contact list. Any changes to the phone address book in the future will automatically be transferred back to the site. Sadly, the changes cannot be synchronised back to Outlook.
Day one went well. I plan on trying the phone out on some different wireless networks such as the free municipal network here in Sanford in the coming days. I will update as we continue.
Previous posts about T-Mobile HotSpot @Home
Signed Up for T-Mobile HotSpot @Home
Vonage May Fall as Well
Labels: Cellular, HotSpot, T-Mobile, Telephone, VOIP
Sunday, July 1, 2007
We are going to give it a try. The premise of this service is that our new wireless phones will operate on the normal T-Mobile network away from home. When we are at home they will connect with the T-Mobile branded Linksys wireless router to provide phone service via our Internet connection. I have seen some good reviews from a test of the system in Seattle, and I am excited to try it out. Supposedly the phones will connect to any wireless hot spot, but the free Linksys router is designed to reduce telephone battery usage.
The entire catalyst to change from Verizon Wireless has been the poor service that we get at home. We can only use our wireless telephones outside of our house. Even then we cannot stand on the north side of the house. I must admit that elsewhere the network is flawless. I have never been to any part of the country where I lost my Verizon signal entirely. I once stayed in a cabin in a deep valley at the edge of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, and I still had five bars. We could actually see a cell tower out the back window. I assume that it was Verizon.
I hate to leave Verizon because we have been a customer since they bought our provider in the late 90's. Does anybody remember the Primeco character, Primetheus? We are probably going to cut back to just one Vonage line as well. Our total savings should be $25 per month, and we will end up with one extra telephone line in our home.
Delivery of our equipment is scheduled for this week. I will take you through setup and initial use. Incidentally, I only live about 4 miles from a T-Mobile corporate store, but I had the equipment shipped because my T-Mobile corporate rep saved me $70 on the activation fees.
Labels: Cellular, HotSpot, T-Mobile, Telephone, VOIP
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