We got Samantha a new T-Mobile cell a few weeks back. But it came with an unwanted and expensive feature: every morning at 11:00, she receives a weather update from Windows Live Alerts.

Apparently the previous owner of the number had these alerts programmed. And of course, there is no way to shut them off because we have no clue who this person is/was.

If anyone out there from the Windows Live team or the T-Mobile support team can try and help us, it would be very much appreciated.

Technorati Tags: Windows Live, T-Mobile, TMobile, Windows Live Alerts, help, sms

Tags: app, HTTP, it, live, Om, One, pr, T-Mobile, Technorati, TMobile, update, window, Windows

Samantha’s second Samsung A560 died last week, so I got mad and called Sprint to try and get out of the contract. No way — a kidney and my eldest child is the only way to get out of this deal with the devil.

So, until March 2008, the phone will be powered down and stuck in a drawer. We will grudgingly pay the bill, knowing that we can then tell them to take a long walk off a short pier and not re-subscribe.

On Sunday, we added Samantha to my T-Mobile plan and she now has several fine phones to choose from out of my existing collection. I really don’t see us going back to a CDMA service…ever.

Tags: content, GSM, HTTP, IE, ISP, it, LAN, Om, One, pr, T-Mobile, Technorati, TMobile

Got my T-Mobile Rizr Z3 unlocked yesterday and it is now running the stock Z3 Software…looks like for Malaysia!

I hated all the extras that came with the T-Mobile Software. Now, I am happy.

Tags: app, brand, it, Malaysia, run, T-Mobile

Last night, I spent over an hour on the phone with three very friendly and helpful T-Mobile tech support representatives, and guess what? The troublesome Samsung T619 I slammed a couple of weeks ago is now able to send and receive text messages.

I was impressed with the efficiency of the T-Mobile team, and the Tier 2 team I ended up with was thorough. It took two Over-the-air updates to fix the phone, but it’s done and I’m happy.

Can’t take back the bad comment, but hope I can counter it with some good words.

Tags: T-Mobile, TMobile, Samsung T619, SGH-T619, Samsung

Tags: app, HTTP, IE, IM, it, Om, One, pr, T-Mobile, Technorati, TMobile, update

I actually upgraded my phone through T-Mobile about a month ago, and it was a mistake. I went with the Free upgrade (mistake number one) and chose the Samsung SGH-T619.

It’s a piece of crap. I guess I should have known that when I chose the free upgrade.

My biggest complaint: it won’t send text messages. That’s right, one of the core features of any mobile phone, and this lousy hunk of plastic won’t do it. Every time I try to send a message, the phone says it couldn’t do it, retry?

So I send an email to the customer service at T-Mobile. Complete form letter reply.

I’m going to throw this lousy phone in a drawer, and likely pay the penalty to switch to Cingular/ATT Mobile.

I am finally fed up.

Tags: T-Mobile, TMobile, Samsung, T619, SGH-T619, SMS, Text message, lousy service

Tags: customer service, HTTP, IE, IM, it, Om, One, T-Mobile, Technorati, TMobile

Dear T-Mobile USA:

I have been a dedicated customer of yours since 2004. I have become an advocate for GSM services, and think that my brethern who continue to use CDMA services are not looking to the future, and don’t see the world coming at them.

That said, as a customer who likes gadgets and all the bells and whistles, your upgrades are pathetic.

And no, that level of emphasis is not used lightly.

I have just returned from the UK. Over there, the phone choices offered by providers stagger the imagination. Bells and whistles are yesterday — people base their lives around their phones, and the quality and range of phones available are, to say the least, impressive.

They also know that to retain customers, they have to provide astounding FREE upgrades. The latest, greatest are available as free upgrades just for becoming a slave to their contract.

I went and checked the upgrades you offer right now, T-Mobile. They suck. There is no motivation for me to stay with your service, no motivation for me not to move to another GSM provider and kiss my customer fidelity goodbye.

A simple thing: upgrade your upgrades. Please.

Thank you.

Tags: customers, GSM, IM, it, live, Om, One, pr, T-Mobile

Just got MIDPSSH to work on my Razr. Had to perform a few hacks to get around the T-Mobile Firewall (SSHD now listens on port 110), but there is some perverse pleasure in seeing a linux command prompt on my Razr.

Maybe I need to do some real work now.

Technorati Tags: Razr, SSH, MIDPSSH, T-mobile

Tags: Firewall, Linux, Razr, T-Mobile, TMobile

As many of you know, I inherited an old, very well-used T-Mobile Treo 600 a couple of weeks ago. Well, I have become acutely aware of people who have them, much like suddenly noticing pregnant women when your wife is pregnant.

Today, I am on-site at a large client in the Philadelphia area, and the office is wall-to-wall Treos — 600s, 650s, and 700s. It’s just astounding to see them all. The comment from the client is that the entire company runs on Treos.

Many organizations have migrated to a seamless wireless/laptop/tethered workflow, to the point where it really doesn’t matter where you are, you can get the job done. You can now get the e-mail out and talk to the client as effectively from the car or the airport gate or cube or home office. WIth IM, Skype/Yahoo Voice, work just happens.

With me, I can work in spurts between 06:00 and 23:00, spreading the traditional work day into manageable useful chunks, done when appropriate, when I am at my best intellectual effectiveness. The paranthetical workday is irrelevant to me. The structured office environment is irrelevant to me.

The other side of the coin is that it is important to realize just how mobile we have become, just as it is becoming more and more expensive to be mobile. Will $70, $80, $100 barrels of oil make the wireless revolution the only economical way to do business?

Is having more Treos/Blackberries/Windows Mobile devices per square foot a good thing? Or is it the only thing that will work until we wean ourselves from oil?

Technorati Tags: Treo, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, mobile computing, wireless, workplace

Tags: app, blackberry, business, client, EAD, evolution, HTTP, IE, IM, it, Om, One, pr, run, T-Mobile, Technorati, the other, window, Windows

Scott Johnson writes about how we all want to drop our mobile provider every once and a while. [here]

I have the same provider that Scott does: T-Mobile.

I am a complete T-Mobile lover. The coverage is great, and the use of GSM makes it so perfect for my travel needs, which includes the occasional trip to Europe. T-Mobile has been a great provider, and the fact that I never have to think about it should tell you how good they are.

I will say that their selection of phones is limited. But guess what? That doesn’t matter. You can buy unlocked GSM phones on the net, and have a phone that is so much sexier than what the provider gives you. I have a Sony Ericsson K700i that I bought and it is so very hot!

On the whole, I would never go back to a traditional US CDMA phone provider, as it is so old school, so, clunky, so…1995.

T-Mobile, keep up the great work!

Technorati Tags: T-Mobile, k700i, GSM

Tags: blog, css, Europe, GSM, HTTP, IE, IM, IP, it, js, Om, One, PHP, pr, T-Mobile, Technorati

It turns out that my boss had an old Treo 600 lying around the house he wasn’t using. And it turns out that it was a T-Mobile Treo 600, not the Verizon crud that the company provides. And since the company upgraded him to a Verizon Treo 700 (which doesn’t work in Europe, much to their chagrin), he was gracious enough to allow me to use this device.

I say gracious. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I will restrain my comments on it’s appearance to this: I have seen objects that have been dragged down the freeway behind a car that have fewer nicks, dings and blemishes than this Treo 600.

But it works. Well.

I now understand how powerful the PDA|Phone combo can be, and why it’s so addictive.

Technorati Tags: Treo 600, t-mobile

Tags: app, Europe, gif, HTTP, IM, it, Om, One, pr, T-Mobile, Technorati, Verizon