Tech I love - BE Broadband competition
Hands up. How many of you reading this post has a smartphone? One, two, three... OK, so there's quite a few of you.
What about those of you who don't have a smartphone? Don't hide at the back so I can't see you. I can still find out by your polyphonic ringtone when someone calls you... Not so many of you now, are there?
Smartphones are the current 'big thing', there's no escaping that. Sources predict that in 2011 the devices that run the four main smartphone operating systems will have a combined total of 576.5 million units shipped. That's enough for about 1/12th of the population. And that was just for one year.
Yes, I am an owner of a smartphone. Yes, I do take it everywhere I go, and yes, I admit, I get a little anxious if I have to go without communication for long periods of time. Flights, cross-channel ferries, going through tunnels on trains, long meetings - all out to annoy the smartphone user.
Next time you're in one of these situations, look around you... How many people do you see silently rocking backwards and forwards silently muttering to themselves? You might think they're crazy (there is a chance you could be right!), but more often than not it happens to be someone who's just lost their mobile internet connection.
We love being within touching distance of everything - news, sports scores, messages, all kinds of information. Smartphones have put all of this within the palm of our hands and more. Someone says to you, who was the actress who provided the voice for Jessie in Toy Story 3? In an instant you can shout at them 'Joan Cusack' and seem like the biggest film buff around.
What's really happened is you've clicked onto a mobile website of IMDB, searched Toy Story 3, and looked up the cast list, all probability within the space of a minute. If you're really clever, you can do all this without anybody realising, and add in other gems such as Timothy Dalton appearing as the voice of Mr Pricklepants.
So what? A little bit of cheating never hurt anyone...
OK, OK... So the chances of someone asking you in-depth knowledge of Toy Story 3 are slim, but there are still many other amazing reasons we have smartphones.
Want to know when the next train home is, whether it's late, and what platform it's departing from? In the past we had to ask a member of staff, or, god forbid, crane our necks backwards to look up at a display screen at the station itself. However, with the trusty smartphone you can find out in an instant, wherever you are! With a few taps of the screen you'll be able to find out the answer you need. You may not like the answer it gives you (public transport is a whole other subject...), but it'll be accurate and up to the minute.
If you take a photo of your cat in the garden hiding in a bush stalking leaves and blades of grass, you don't need to trudge all the way back to your computer, download it to the hard drive before sending it your aunt in New Zealand. You can now snap away with your smartphone and instantly attach it to an e-mail or even send as a fancy picture message for that extra importance. For the record, pictures of cats are ALWAYS important.
What? No. I will not pose in a bush for your blog...
So, if you're there clutching at your Nokia 3310, battery firmly held in place by sticky tape, maybe you should consider a visit to your local phone shop? Just think how amazing it would be to have all that power at your fingertips, whilst still being able to play Snake! Yes, you can still get snake on your smartphone.
Go on, I love my smartphone and you should love a smartphone too.
Editors note: This blog post is an entry into Be Broadband's competition on technology its users love. If you are a Be Broadband customer, you too can enter - more details available from their blog.
Posted by: Chris H on 02/05/2012 16:05:41 BST - Permalink - No Comments
Blogs are all the rage again!
I seem to have turned this blog into somewhat of a rant about my dealings with certain companies in the past.
I'm sorry.
From now on, this blog will have purpose, opinions on the world and other such what-not!
Coming up in a bit is a post about technology I love which forms an entry into a competition for Be Broadband.
I hope you like it...!
Posted by: Chris H on 01/05/2012 12:32:00 BST - Permalink - No Comments
Vodafone have been infiltrated by the 'Dark Side'
Here's another post from my continuing 'No Service' saga with my iPhone 4S and Vodafone.
For those who have not been following avidly:
- I noticed my iPhone 4S dropping to 'No Service' in late November/early December. Since noticing it, I've seen it do it at least once a day, sometimes more. Once in 'No Service' it'll stay there for up to 2 minutes.
- Vodafone replaced the SIM card in early January, and the issue still persisted.
- Apple replaced the phone in mid-January, and the problem still persisted on the new device.
- I experienced the issue on my 4S whilst being in possession of a Samsung Tocco Lite on the same network which did not exhibit the same issue.
- I swapped my SIM card to an iPhone 4 for a week, and although the signal occasionally dropped, it would re-establish itself within seconds (which is what it should do!) - Incidentally, the SIM that went into the 4S was from O2 and worked perfectly.
- I now have a case open with Apple Level 2 support who is liaising with Apple Engineering trying to track down the problem.
So here we are today...
I haven't exactly asked the earth of Vodafone during the diagnosis of this issue, only simple things, so I thought the same would be true in my most recent interaction with them.
On Wednesday I was contacted by Corneileus from Apple's Level 2 support team with news on how my case was progressing. He advised me that the Engineering team were now looking in to it and requested more information from me (list of areas with the issues, pictures of the SIM card).
He also asked me if I had tried another SIM card from Vodafone that wasn't associated with my current contract account. I advised him I hadn't, but would obtain a Pay As You Go SIM from Vodafone to test this.
I e-mailed Vodafone's Network Support team later that afternoon asking for this SIM card to be sent. The next day I receive a reply telling me that it was on its way. Hooray!
Imagine my disappointment this morning when I open the letter and find a PostPay (contract) SIM card that is associated against my account. If the letter had been lost in the post, would someone have been able to gain access to my contract? By sending the SIM card via regular 1st class post were Vodafone really taking care with this item? I would put to them that they were not.
So, back on the blower to try and get what I asked for rushed out to me so I could get the information back to Apple as quickly as possible. After getting lost in Vodafone's confusing phone menu, I ended up talking to an advisor who stated it would take 5 days to receive the SIM card I had asked for. Seems strange considering this SIM I have here arrived in less than 2..
Feeling frustrated, I called back to the retentions department and asked to cancel my contract as my telephone and the service provided was 'Not fit for purpose' under the Sales of Goods Act. I was told I could indeed cancel my contract, but I would be liable for the remaining term.
So the choices are, stick with a dodgy phone which may or may not work when you need it to and pay through the nose for the privilege, OR, return the phone, end the contract, sign up with a provider that doesn't have this issue and pay for both.
I can only pray that if I ever need to dial the emergency services that my phone has service, or if not, can still get through to 999. Otherwise Vodafone may have more than just an unhappy customer on their hands...
UPDATE: I'm now in contact with Vodafone's Web Relations team who can hopefully either get the SIM card that I need sent to me via recorded/special delivery, or help me in cancelling my contract so I don't have to go through any more diagnosis or problems with either Apple or Vodafone.
All I want is a working iPhone 4S that holds a signal reasonably well, but works when I need it to. Is that too much to ask?
Posted by: Chris H on 03/03/2012 15:56:17 GMT - Permalink - 1 Comment
Do I have a problem with my phone or my network?
Personally, I believe the answer to be both.
I acquired my iPhone 4S on launch day. It was a quiet morning and I was able to walk straight into the Vodafone store, sign a piece of paper, and walk out with my new device. I had previously been with O2, who in their infinite wisdom decided to change the rules regarding early upgrades several days before the iPhone 4S launch - but that's another story.
Vodafone were my first contract mobile provider back in 2006. Back then I had my trusty Samsung SGH-Z720V with HSDPA and music/video playing capabilities. I enjoyed being able to watch Sky Mobile TV whilst travelling and the Vodafone network was more than up to the task of handling the video streams and to start off with, the iPhone 4s was getting good service from Vodafone too.
Samsung SGH-Z720V
(Picture courtesy of: techradar.com)
In December 2011, I started to notice my phone dropping out to 'No Service' in various places around the south east of England. I wasn't "in the sticks" or hiding at the bottom of a hill, this was in an urban environment where Vodafone itself lists the coverage as 'Excellent'. After I first noticed the issue, I started to pay more attention to the signal and found it happening at least once a day, if not more.
One of the first 'No Service' occurrences
So begins the tale of my adventures with Apple and Vodafone which to this day (13th February) are still on-going.
After raising the issue with Vodafone on Twitter, they advised me to seek out my local Vodafone store and have the SIM card swapped as "If the original SIM card is a few years old it can cause signal to deteriorate". The SIM card was new as of October 2011 but I decided to try this anyway and on the 7th January 2012 the swap was completed.
It's all the SIM card's fault...
When returning home, I found the issue still to be occurring - going down through each bar of signal from 4, to 3, 2, 1 and then our favourite.. 'No Service'. I put in a call to Applecare on January 10th 2012 and was advised after going through the diagnosis process that this was likely to be a hardware issue. Upon receipt of the packaging a few days later I sent in my phone for repair and it was received by the service centre on 17th January 2012.
Great news! On January 18th I received an e-mail advising me that my phone was going to be replaced with a refurbished unit and was currently being despatched. Sure enough, the next day I received a package containing an iPhone 4S.. except.. it's not white, it's not 32GB, and it has data on it. A call to Applecare should get this sorted quickly, right? Wrong.
Wait... this isn't mine...
After several calls and e-mails to Apple's Customer Relations team (who apparently can't reply to e-mails..), the phone was sent back and a brand new phone was received on January 26th. Hooray!
But.. what's this? No. It can't be... the dreaded 'No Service' returns! Luckily it happened at a time when I also had access to another mobile phone on the Vodafone network, a Samsung Tocco Lite. Whilst my phone showed 'No Service' for around a minute, this device was able to see at least 4 bars of 3G service and could make and receive calls. Upon dialling my phone during the 'No Service' the call was met with silence.. no ringing, no voicemail, nothing - something later replicated with a landline telephone calling me.
Could I be really unlucky and have received 2 phones that have the same hardware issue? Or is there something else going on here?
I opened a case with Vodafone on the February 3rd 2012, and was promised a call back from the network support team within 72 hours. On February 11th, I received my call back. The advisor told me that Apple were looking into a fix for an issue surrounding 3G to 2G transition on the iPhone 4S, but did not have a timeframe. He also told me Vodafone were receiving a lot of support requests from iPhone 4S owners about signal issues.
We discussed whether trying out my SIM card in an iPhone 4 would help assess the situation further and we agreed.
Never fear! Network support are on the case...
That evening, I swapped the Vodafone SIM card in to the iPhone 4 which had recently been unlocked. Within the space of an hour, I started noticing network issues again however this time showing in a different way. The iPhone 4 gained 3G signal and progressively lost this over time. Once 3G signal had been lost completely it would show 'Searching..' for 2-3 seconds, and then re-establish a 2G EDGE connection. Over the past few days I have noticed it do this on several occasions but as yet have not seen a 'No Service' and the 'Searching..' has not been seen for longer than 2 seconds at a time.
So what does this likely mean?
It is my opinion that the issues I am seeing come from both Apple and Vodafone. With an apparent weak 3G signal the iPhone 4S has to occasionally drop down to a 2G service. However what appears to be a bug in the code is causing this process to take a lot longer than usual (in some cases up to 2 minutes) and presents the user with a 'No Service' message on the display.
The iPhone 4 on the same software also has issues sticking to Vodafone's 3G network, however it is much quicker at re-establishing itself on 2G with only minimal 'Searching..' displayed (2 seconds maximum).
It's a shame Vodafone's 3G coverage isn't as good as it used to be as I would likely not see this issue with a constantly reliable 3G signal. There is a noticeable difference dropping down to EDGE, and I will point this out to Vodafone.
Wake me up when it's done...
Here's hoping a software update will be able to put this issue to bed once and for all!
- Chris
Posted by: Chris H on 13/02/2012 15:55:28 GMT - Permalink - No Comments
When apples go pear shaped...
Most of you reading this are aware that I like my Apple products. My iPhone, my Macbook and not forgetting my Mac Mini. I usually have no reason to bad mouth them - they work as expected and do what I ask of them. Everyone is happy.
Imagine my disappointment recently when I started experiencing signal problems with my iPhone 4S. I've had no problems picking up a signal before with a phone, so it must be the device! So off it goes back to Apple.
So, today I receive a nice parcel from UPS with my replacement phone, except, it's the wrong one! Somehow the person at Apple's service centre can't tell the difference between white and black, 32gb and 64gb, and is unable to restore a phone before sending.
You're probably thinking, why didn't he just shut up, keep the phone or maybe even profit from it. Well, I'm not like that. Plus it'd blow up in my face if there was something wrong with it and I needed more support on it. It's also locked to the Three network which is worse than having No Signal on Vodafone.
Patrick in Apple's Customer Relations is now on the case and I have every faith in his ability. He's promised a brand spanking new 32GB White iPhone 4S with a new 12 month warranty. I'm secretly hoping he 'accidentally' sends a 64GB.
I guess it's back to another day without a working phone...
Posted by: Chris H on 18/01/2012 19:01:27 GMT - Permalink - No Comments
