Telecommunication part 2

[unixronin]

So, let's see ....

1. Sprint/Nextel contract expires.  Ditch Sprint/Nextel like a used Kleenex.
2. Order a new Motorola Razr V3 phone through Wirefly, with GSM service from Cingular.
3. Receive new phone.
4. Install Motorola Mobile Phone Tools software.
5. Determine that new phone has a hardware problem that makes it go catatonic any time you try to download anything onto it, including more than a handful of contacts at a time.
6. Call Wirefly.  Get RMA number.
7. Wait about a week.
8. Receive replacement phone... which cannot connect to network.
9. Call Wirefly.  Learn that I need to call Cingular to have them switch service over to the new SIM and IMEI number.
10. Call Cingular.  Get service switched.  Determine that new phone appears to have the same problem.
11. Call Wirefly.  Verify that they can't even do anything to troubleshoot the problem.
12. Call Motorola.  Spend about half an hour on the line with a Motorola tech doing diagnostics.  Verify hardware fault in phone's memory.
13. Call Wirefly.  Obtain another RMA number....

Having gotten two defective Razr V3 phones in a row, both with the same defect, I'm getting a different phone this time.  But not too different, because I do very much like that slim-clamshell form factor (it's the first mobile phone I've used that fits comfortably in a pocket, even a shirt pocket or inside jacket pocket).  This time, I've requested they replace it with a Razr V3i, which is an updated version with a slightly redesigned keyboard, higher-resolution camera, higher color depth external display, about 60% longer (claimed) battery life, and a lot more memory.¹

The V3i isn't available in black.  (Sigh.)  But I can deal with the basic silver finish as long as I can transfer data to it without it going catatonic.

[1]  12MB plus up to 1GB of flash RAM in a MicroSD slot (and a 512MB MicroSD card included in the box), vs. the original V3's non-expandable 5.8MB.

[2]  There is actually a gunmetal-grey model available, but it's not available through Wirefly.

Comments

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

Completely unrelated - have you heard anything about the medicine described in this post (http://babyslime.livejournal.com/347139.html) before?

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard of it in that context, no. Sounds like another serendipitous side-effect like that of Neurontin, which is an anti-seizure drug that also serendipitously happens to control soem types of neuropathic pain.

[sierra-nevada.livejournal.com]

My neighbor (many times smarter than me) has nothing nice to say about Motorola phones; he stopped using them towards the end of the StarTAC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startac) era, having destroyed quite a number of them under warranty. Now, while I have observed that he's very hard on equipment, both intentionally ("Oh, they claim it's waterproof? Let's immerse it for a week and see") and just in his normal use, it also seems that while Motorola currently has fashion cachet from their recent designs, they are constitutionally unable to produce a quality cell phone.

Avoid.

I'm still waiting for cell phone reviews that measure xcvr quality first (since the bloody thing is radio, after all), and software stability and fashion thereafter.

I also want the new congress to reaffirm in law the Carterphone decision (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carterphone_decision), with particular regard to cell phone systems; I'm very annoyed at the cell phone companies for crippling perfectly good phones in such a way as to force you to move bits through their network (for which they will charge you).

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Which is exactly the camel's-back issue which led me to decide against Verizon (superior network coverage in the northeast, but intentionally-crippled phones).

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

Ah but Motorola seems to be the only folks that actually make a ruggedized cell phone these days. I dropped mine numerous times and had it out in the rain lots and never had an issue with the phone itself.

I wonder sometimes if unixronin just has an electrical field due to the metal bits in his knees and left shin that shorts out his cell phones. (Mostly joking, somewhat serious as we got identical phones and I haven't had any issues.)

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

And frankly, this is the first time we've had a problem with a Motorola phone. The Emerson prepaid phone we got when we moved from CA was horrible beyond words.

[sierra-nevada.livejournal.com]

My neighbor and I both have Samsung SPH-i500 palm/phones on Sprint; he's on his third or fourth in 2.5 years. As I said, he's hard on equipment; I tend to be a bit more gentle with stuff.