Category: Mobile

Blogging From a Coffee Shop

So I thought today I would try a new experience. I am currently sitting in a coffee shop. I never understood why people go to coffee shops to sit down and use their laptops. Most of the time I thought people just wanted to do anti social activities in a social place. It doesn’t seem like sitting here people are just going to come up to you because you are on a laptop. It seems like it would make people stay away from you. So far I have yet to have any social interaction with anyone.

I wouldn’t describe it as being a cool experience. So I am just going to assume that people that do this are cheap. They don’t want to fork out for their own internet access. The WiFi at this coffee shop sucks to begin with. 768Kbps DSL I decided to bust out my MiFi and use the 3G access on that. Much faster oddly enough at least I can stream a Netflix movie if I decide to. But people wanting to be around people and free internet is what I am going to assume is the reasoning for people in coffee shops on their laptops.

Hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy the remaining hours of their weekend. Tristan is out.

iPhone Thoughts

I have been using the iPhone 3G since I got it in July of 2008 and it’s been a great phone. I loved the iPhone from the moment I got to play with one. Which was at Seattle International Beerfest June 29th 2007. I befriended some dude while waiting in line for a pint of Pilsner. He busted out his iPhone and it made my Motorola Q look like a garbage dump. I wrote out a note to try the keyboard but I was so drunk at that point I didn’t get much out of the experience.

Later went to the Apple Store and played with one and just couldn’t justify the switch to AT&T at the time and the $499 & $599 price tag. When the iPhone 3G came out just over a year later I had to have it. Then a year later the iPhone 3GS came out. Getting video and a compass didn’t seem worth the upgrade to me at the time.

So iPhone released OS 3.0 and now 3.1. Tomorrow we get MMS which I have had on my phone for a while now but the copy and paste has been awesome. Especially when adding all of my shipments to my Delivery App. I highly recommend Delivery Status Touch. But I do have some complaints about the iPhone.

If I get a text message my phone alerts me and shows the name and says “Text Message” seems like it gets angry sometimes and I never get the text message but that doesn’t really concern me. What I don’t like is how I get notice that I get a new e-mail but I don’t get any notice on the lock screen when I get an e-mail. I need to unlock my phone. Tap the mail app and then I get to see who sent the mail. I would rather have a notification like the SMS alert for e-mail as well. I understand not everyone would want this so it would nice if you could shut that off as well. It would also be cool if I could have an updated weather forecast on the locked home screen.

Other then that the iPhone has been evolving rather nicely and I have been pretty happy with all the updates. Picture messaging comes out tomorrow. I have had it on my iPhone for 10 days or so now. I have enjoyed it so far. I have tried every hack on my iPhone.  I have Jailbroken, Unlocked, MMS, Tethering if there has been a guide for it I have done it.  Jailbreaking is cool and all but it doesn’t seemed like I have ever gained much from doing it. Other then changing the theme on my iPhone and a few funny apps. I keep thinking I should jailbreak 3.1 to try out the Google Voice App.  Speaking of Google Voice. I am loving that service. I like it better then Grandcentral when they were the dudes in charge. Mainly due to the new interface.

But that is all not much going on really. Weekend is almost here.

Holy Crud!

It’s June and been a crazy busy month at that. Now that summer is here every weekend has been planned and full of events. I purchased a new MacBook Pro the ones they announced last Monday. It’s a screaming 2.8ghz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4GB of RAM and all kinds of awesomeness. iPhone OS 3.0 comes out on Wednesday which will be all kinds of awesome because I will finally be able to Copy and Paste.

I picked up a Flip Ultra HD video camera so that I can record all kinds of awesome videos in HD.  You can check out my adventure the the grocery store here.

http://gallery.me.com/tristan.pipo#100087

But other then doing the life thing. Started going back to the gym. Nice to get back in the groove after a few years of vacation from it. I haven’t lost that much strength and the belly is slowly going away.

But next week I am on vacation and I won’t have any cell phone or internet access so hopefully the world doesn’t blow up while I am gone. It will be odd turning on that vacation auto responder I haven’t used that ever since I got gMail back in 2004.

Well hope to here from everyone soon drop me a line.

Sprint PCS Chat Customer Service Experience

Update: I have disabled comments for this post due to all these people coming here and leaving comments. I had a bad experience with Sprint PCS customer service via their chat interface.
Ugh my Sprint Phone has been driving me up the wall and the customer service experience has been even worse. I usually resort to the chat method since it seems to be faster then waiting for 30-60 minutes in their hold queue dealing with everyone else that is frustrated with them.

I have the Sprint Motorola Q. It has been a decent phone up until recently. About a week ago the phone has been in “Roaming Service” and it is rather annoying with my phone in roam. So I jumped on a Sprint Chat Session and these were the results.

1:57:13 PM        System      System
Connected to sprint-ap1.cnxchat.com
1:57:13 PM        System      System
Session ID: 2859609
1:57:19 PM        System      System
Please hold and the next available agent will be with you shortly.
1:57:34 PM        System      System
Arthur has joined this session!
1:57:34 PM        System      System
Connected with Arthur
1:57:34 PM        Agent      Arthur
Thank you for contacting Sprint. My name is Arthur. How may I assist you today?
1:57:49 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
Hey Arthur! I have an issue with my phone.
1:58:04 PM        Agent      Arthur
what is the issue.
1:58:23 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
I would say about a week ago my phone went into Roaming. I look at the screen and it says “Roaming Service”
1:58:46 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
It can still make calls and so forth but I can’t surf the internet or check my e-mail.
1:59:02 PM        Agent      Arthur
One moment please.
1:59:25 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
I tried to dial the *2 to call Sprint and I keep getting sent to a message that says “Welcome to Verizon Wireless, That is not an available number” or something like that
1:59:58 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
I tried going into Settings > Phone Settings > Network and it’s set to “Sprint Only”
2:00:25 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
I have tried to reboot the phone multiple times.
2:00:43 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
Take the battery out for a while and put it back in and power it back on. Still no issue.
2:00:44 PM        Agent      Arthur
allow me to get some technical support for you.
2:01:02 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
I have tried to update the software on the phone via the Motorola Updater and that didn’t appear to fix the issue.
2:01:50 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
I have no issues leaving it in “Roaming Service”
2:02:48 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
I just don’t want to get flagged for data access in roaming or phone roaming even though I get free Roaming
2:05:39 PM        Agent      Arthur
Do not fret you will not be charged for that.
2:06:40 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
That’s good
2:07:10 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
Well I guess I could just leave it in Roam then
2:07:10 PM        Agent      Arthur
Thank you for contacting Sprint. Our goal is to make your chat experience a great one. There will be a survey after this chat that you may fill out to advise us of how we are doing. Please disable all popup blockers before this chat session ends to ensure you are afforded the opportunity to participate. Should you have any additional feedback or comments you would like to provide regarding your chat or chat agent, please send us an email at: sprint.customerappreciation@connextions.com. If you would like a copy of this transcript please press either the print button at the bottom of this session or the copy button to copy/paste into the word processing program of your choice.
2:07:38 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
Why did you just send a bunch of spam onto the screen?
2:08:16 PM        Agent      Arthur
the towers are being worked on
2:08:43 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
You sent a bunch of spam to the screen because towers are being worked on?
2:09:26 PM        Agent      Arthur
We did not send it
2:09:35 PM        Agent      Arthur
It is being de scrambled.
2:10:08 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
We being “Sprint” did not send the flood of text on the screen on a chat help line that they are hosting or paying somebody to host?
2:10:19 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
When it appears to be coming from your name on the chat session?
2:10:42 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
What’s the Sprint customer # because the *2 isn’t working while it’s in Roam
2:11:17 PM        Agent      Arthur
Sir it is coming through us as an error we are working to fix that .
2:12:26 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
So why did you just say you are not sending it when now you are saying that it is your fault and you are working on fixing that?
2:13:07 PM        Agent      Arthur
Whether it is our fault or not we are claiming responsibility to rectify the situation for you.
2:13:12 PM        Agent      Arthur
So we are claiming it.
2:13:31 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
Okay then.
2:13:50 PM        Agent      Arthur
Thank you for contacting Sprint. Our goal is to make your chat experience a great one. There will be a survey after this chat that you may fill out to advise us of how we are doing. Please disable all popup blockers before this chat session ends to ensure you are afforded the opportunity to participate. Should you have any additional feedback or comments you would like to provide regarding your chat or chat agent, please send us an email at: sprint.customerappreciation@connextions.com. If you would like a copy of this transcript please press either the print button at the bottom of this session or the copy button to copy/paste into the word processing program of your choice.
2:13:55 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
So work is being done on the towers in my area and that is why my phone has been in Roaming Mode for a week?
2:14:07 PM        Agent      Arthur
Yes sir
2:14:52 PM        Agent      Arthur
It sometimes gets to be a problem it is not always that all goes well sometimes we have issues .
2:16:29 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
Then why is it the gentelmen in the cubicle right next to me has a Sprint Phone a Sprint Katana or whatever has perfect service and has never had this issue and mine had perfect service up until last Tuesday?
2:18:53 PM        Agent      Arthur
It just happens sometimes we are working things out.
2:19:23 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
What is the customer service number since *2 does not work while in roaming
2:20:48 PM        Agent      Arthur
*2 for customer service.
2:21:07 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
I have said twice now *2 does not work while in roaming.
2:21:24 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
What is the 800 or 888 or 877 number to get in touch with Sprint Customer Service.
2:22:28 PM        Agent      Arthur
888-211-4727
2:23:04 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
Why couldn’t you have given that to me when I asked the first or second time?
2:23:28 PM        Agent      Arthur
i apologize here it is.
2:25:48 PM        Customer      Tristan Pipo
Ok
2:25:56 PM        Agent      Arthur
Thank you for contacting Sprint. Our goal is to make your chat experience a great one. There will be a survey after this chat that you may fill out to advise us of how we are doing. Please disable all popup blockers before this chat session ends to ensure you are afforded the opportunity to participate. Should you have any additional feedback or comments you would like to provide regarding your chat or chat agent, please send us an email at: sprint.customerappreciation@connextions.com. If you would like a copy of this transcript please press either the print button at the bottom of this session or the copy button to copy/paste into the word processing program of your choice.
2:26:01 PM        System      System
Arthur has left this session!
2:26:02 PM        System      System
The session has ended!
Type your comments in the box below and click send.
Send
You are on a secure connection with a Sprint Chat Agent
Copy     Print     Exit
The session has ended!
Session ID: 2859609
Question40
Pick one of the following options:
OK     Cancel

Cell Phone Food For Thought

Looking over my most recent cell phone bill I was a bit shocked in how my habits in using the phone have changed. Here was my usage for last month.

  • Peak Minutes Used – 91

  • Night and Weekend Minutes – 883

  • Mobile to Mobile Calling – 42

  • Text Messages – 2128

So I was looking through this and I have 1500 Peek Minutes. Unlimited Nights and Weekends from 7am-7pm. Unlimited Mobile to Mobile and Unlimited Text. I am interested to see how much data I was using even though I have unlimited data as well. Since I switched to unlimited text. The minutes I have used in my plan has gone down.

So today is Monday. This is my 912th blog post since I started blogging I was hoping to be to 1000 blog posts by September 13th but I highly doubt I can pull that off unless I start posting a bunch of crap but that is every blog anyways. Twitter posts when I posted this I was at 815 since January when I signed up for that addiction when I heard about it. Good times indeed.

The Weekend – Movies, Beer, Introducing the Girlfriend to the Friends.

As I sit down at the keyboard and link my fingers crack a few of them and lets see what comes out.

Live Free or Die Hard Movie Review

Friday I went to go see Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard.  This movie lived up to all the Die Hard fame. One thing that was a bit of a bummer since they had the PG-13 rating you couldn’t really get in a Yipee Ky Yay Mother Fucker. With get Yippe Ky Yay Mother *Gunshot*. So the premise of the movie is hackers take out the world by crippling transportation. Then taking out money and so forth. So it was Die Hard in every aspect of Die Hard. I give the movie a very positive rating with a few dings for no “Welcome to the Party Pal!” But if you go your entire life only see Die Hard 1 and Die Hard 4. 2 and 3 are not really worth your time.

Saturday!

Seattle International Beer Fest 2007!

So I went to the Seattle International Beerfest at Seattle Center. I made a few drunk dials. So this place is pretty sweet for $20 you get a 5oz Beer Glass and 10 beer tickets and you have music and all kinds of beer to try. I tried so many kinds of beer I can’t even recall. Some were amazing others not so much. After my first 10 beer tickets ran out I was rather golly and sloshly. The guest list was Jered, Nick, Justin, Greg and the reason you are reading this to begin with. The place was packed and it was a rather nice day. I was shocked there were a great deal of females at this  thing. Most girls you talk about beer and they hit you back with Coors Light or Bud Light. But when I saw a girl drink a 20% ABV Stout I was like there is a girl who has it together. They had $3 pints as well. While waiting in line for the pints I met this guy named Steve and I was rather drunk and friendly and he busted out the iPhone.

The Apple Geek in me was like holy shit. Steve being a cool dude lets me play with the thing. I want one of these things rather badly. $600 seems totally worth it.

So we hit Beerfest around 2pm and we left around 6pm after I was rather drunk and we then went to Red Mill Burger.  I am sorry to say you can’t get a better burger in Seattle then Red Mill. Then we went to the ferry and passed out. Got home and then went out for the night. I was feeling rather tired and Sunday was going to be a big day so I retired the evening early.

Sunday!!!

Sunday the Girlfriend came over.  This was also the day that Me, Nick and Justin have Brunch. So she came over and we hung out for a bit chatted. Then I said we must get going so we hit up the grocery store since I was told to pickup some fruit and juice. I get stuck carrying the heavy things. So cliche but I enjoyed having a purpose. 😉

When you are taking your girlfriend to meet your friends there are one of three outcomes. Meh, Eh or Sweet or translated Ok, Bad , Good. (Speaking of translations. The new saying that evolved from Beerfest is Delta!  Such forms would be “Because I’m so Delta! or Say what! You better recognize the Delta! or That translation from Meh to Ok was Delta! Dude I know)

So I figured well I like to be prepared in such situations so I gave her the names and a slight background of everyone she would be meeting. Her and Audrey seemed to hit it off amazingly. Audrey told me I needed to bring her back.  So I think that would classify everything as “Sweet” or “Schweet” the one thing I forgot to mention about this bunch is they take forever to get anything to go anywhere. We arrived around 12:30 to go play MiniGolf but all things said after Brunch and so forth we didn’t leave until 3:45 or so.

But we had a fun day hanging out and I feel like I have met a real keeper. Junniper seems to approve of her just by knowing her name. =)

The parents found out about the girlfriend they want to meet her. They invited me out to have a BBQ at my mom’s work want me to bring her along down at the 3rd of July Fireworks. I am still on the fence about that one. Parents are a totally different realm. They say I should be a bit more concerned about the stories my sister could tell. I was thinking going up on the grassy hill and just having a picnic. Who knows at this point.

Tonight is Guys Night. I have a day to make a decision. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

Sprint Motorola Q Review/Issues: Updated!

Click on that image check out the new photo javascript we got going.

So here is the low down situation and my review of my new phone the Motorola Q with Sprint PCS. My previous phone was the T-Mobile V360. I had a 1000 min plan with 300 text messages and unlimited mobile to mobile. It served it’s purpose but I was never really happy with this phone. I had a 1 year contract and my main gripes were just coverage with the phone. GSM the network T-Mobile and Cingular use. In the Pipo Pad I got 0 bars of service with T-Mobile. My old place I could get between 1 and 2 bars and it was just bad most of the time. T-Mobile wanted to keep me as a customer by sending me a new phone the T-Mobile DASH as a replacement and let me try it out. I was like screw that so I ordered the Motorola Q for Sprint PCS. $100 good deal for me. I have 1250 mins Unlimited Nights and Weekends at 7pm and Unlimited Text and Data for $60 a month.

Enough background here is my problem.

My phone has been working everywhere that I go. Except on the S Curves but I have never known a phone to work on that part of Columbia ever. Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and everyone else. That part of road is like Cell Phone Fuck you In the ass zone.

But anyways my Condo I get 5 bars of service with my “Q” up until about a week ago. I have had the phone since March 9th. I stopped being able to place calls with full service at my home. Nothing has changed in the structure. No new building around me. My current roommate at the moment he has a Sprint PCS RAZR He has full service and can make calls just fine. My phone can still connect to the internet and I can check my e-mail from my phone. Not text messages though. I can get on facebook mobile and gMail and send out notes to my hearts delight. But making a phone call out of the question. I downloaded Skype to my phone and I can make a call over that. But it’s generally a bit choppy and delayed so I try to avoid that. I will use my laptop and Skype to call at the moment if necessary.

So I have been calling Sprint contstantly and since this is a new phone they have not seen any issues thus far like this. The Tech people said the biggest problem they have are with people trying to get Vista and their phone to sync. Most people should just Read The Fucking Manual but eh that is to much for most. If you are calling a Tech Support center without reading the manual because you didn’t want to. Well generally they are going to laugh at you. Mock you when you are off the phone and talk about how much of a moron you are over coffee.

So with the tech people I have restarted my phone 87 times. Taken out the battery 42 times. Did a Hard Reset 4 times. Had my entire account reset twice. Out of the entire ordeal I got my first month of service free. With activation and phone porting that was well over a $100 discount.

I just want my phone to work in my Condo. What is really bizarre as well is that I can walk 2 blocks down the street. Phone works great! I come home It drops out of the EVDO and into 1x but I don’t lose the call. But if I hang up no more phone calls.

So I hope Sprint can either fix the situation or just send me a new phone. This is just getting to be way to annoying. Anyways let me climb off the soapbox.

How does the new picture feature work for you? Do you like it? Is it breaking Internet Explorer?

Feedback is Welcome. Comments Welcome Voicemail is Encouraged 206-973-7886. Hugs to the Beautiful Women and Handshakes for the Guys. Cheers!

Update: Well last Friday I get a phone call from the engineers at lovely sprint. Turns out they were researching the problem at my former address not my new one. So this was like icing on the cake of a pretty shitty day last friday. The lovely tech woman called me back Friday afternoon. She has an Indian accent but easy to understand and most accents are hot and this was working for me. I can’t get mad at you. You sound to good.  So I just asked if I could just get a new phone. She says sure we can do that. Ahh a week of battles simplified with the request of a new phone.  So I have a new phone and I can now make phone calls while at home. World is saved give me a ring and I will bombard you with deep voiced happiness. Cheers.