Rants and Raves

And who else can hear me or can see my cellular phone records?

Verizon Wireless informed the Obama transition team, the US Secret Service, and law enforcement agencies that a number of Verizon employees had improperly and illegally accessed cellular phone records for a phone belonging to Barrack Obama.

The employees have been suspended without pay while the investigation is conducted.

So it’s great that a high profile individual like the president elect gets swift action from Verizon, but the question in my mind is why aren’t they just as quick to act when I call?

Over all I would say that Verizon’s customer service is better than most companies; but I don’t get this kind of attention when they screw up — and I dont’ recall seeing any clauses in my contract about getting a higher grade of customer service if elected to public office…

Tags: Cellular, Communications, Legal, Technology by roger
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Each and every time you encounter someone trying to defraud you make sure you report it.

Phishing scams, money scams, premium SMS message, suspicious phone calls, un-authorized phone charges, un-authorized credit card charges, etc — go ahead and visit the IC3 (Internet Crime Complaint Center; a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], the National White Collar Crime Center [NW3C], and the Bureau of Justice Assistance [BJA]) and file a report.

Take action and let the law enforcement community decide what’s a threat and what’s not - but DO NOT remain silent or these problems will continue.

http://www.ic3.gov/

NOTE:  If you have an un-authorized charge on any of your bills you will also want to contact your billing company and dispute the charge with them; the IC3 will not do this for you.

Tags: ALERTS, Cellular, Communications, Email, Finance, General, Legal, Shipping, Shopping, Technology by roger
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Right now the cellular market is United States is dominated by four carriers:

• Verizon Wireless
• AT&T
• Sprint
• T-Mobile

I’ve put them in descending order of number of customers (which should be accurate after the acquisition of regional carrier AllTel Communications by Verizon Wireless).

Basically there are two protocols used in the United States at the moment:  CDMA (Verizon  and Sprint) and GSM (AT&T and T-Mobile).  And each has their own data formats associated with them.  Most of the rest of the world uses GSM, though there are a few other areas that use CDMA (there’s no standard frequency for the use of GSM or CDMA world wide).

Verizon has one of the most complete 3G networks today; but other carriers have 3G deployed in most urban areas as well.

But when Verizon wireless won the bulk of the C-Block allocations in open auction last year the wheels set in motion for major change.

Shortly after winning those C-Block allocations, Verizon announced that it would use LTE (Long Term Evolution), a 4G standard defined by 3GPP and backed by GSM.

Hold the phone — Verizon is essentially dropping CDMA on their C-Block allocations in favor of LTE; and the LTE standard defines LTE use on ALL the frequency bands used world wide… will Verizon convert over it’s existing spectrum to LTE; will all carriers follow suit and migrate to LTE?

Just when you thought you had the cellular market figured out, things change.  Of course, it will be around two years before we see LTE in use on those C-Block allocations by Verizon; and I’m guessing closer to three years before they really have coverage — so maybe a dual mode Verizon phone for CDMA/LTE for the interim?  Who knows… and who really cares!

All anyone wants is less expensive service, more freedom to choose handsets, and reliable connections!  Maybe those things will come with LTE as well (don’t hold your breath — just because open access is supposed to be part of the C-Block spectrum, cellular carriers have come up with lots of clever ways in the past to skirt the law).

Tags: Cellular, Communications, Technology by roger
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Today (1 July 2008) California finally has a law on the books requiring the use of hands free devices when using a cellular phone and driving (rather than relying on the “distracted driving” law that has never really been enforce).

Since most of us responsible people have used hands free devices for years, and switch to Bluetooth for even greater safety and convenience as soon as phone were plentiful (and affordable) it doesn’t effect us.

However, since most Bluetooth headsets use non-replaceable Lithium-Ion or Lithium-Ion-Polymer batteries there is a problem that effects us.

Lithium-Ion batteries have a limited life; and unlike Nickle Cadmium or Nickle Metal Hydride the life of a Lithium-Ion batters is established (primarily) by it’s manufacture date (not it’s use pattern).  That means ever Bluetooth headset made three years ago is on it’s last leg (regardless of when you bought it).

Many of use have the Motorola H700 headset (which has been discontinued), it’s a great headset, good sound quality, a Bluetooth implementation that seems to work, and a mini-USB charging port so you can (likely) use the same charger as your handset (which is most important in your vehicle, where you probably don’t want multiple chargers).

Motorola headsets come with a 1-Yr warranty from the date of purchase; and interestingly enough the last headset I “purchased” was in February for my AllTel MotoQ, its the first of my three to become un-usable.

The symptoms you’re see are:

• Talk time is substantially less than what it was when the headset was new (or just a week before for that matter);
• The quality of the your voice (transmit) may be poor (it might sound garbled or clipped);
• The headset will indicate fully charged quickly (it will go from red, to yellow, to green in five minutes or so).

Maybe you can replace the battery; but it’s not going to be easy to open up a unit like this, and probably most of the cells this headset uses was made three years ago (or so); which means a new cell isn’t guaranteed to fix the problem.

You can throw it away and purchase another (Bluetooth headsets are relatively inexpensive).  Remember, you can’t throw electronics in the trash, they contain hazardous materials and need to be properly recycled.

Or you might be able to get a replacement from Motorola (provided you have an H700 receipt that’s less than a year old).  You can get RMA information for Motorola at:  Contact Motorola Customer Support

The real issue is that newer Motorola headsets us a micro-USB power connector, not a mini-USB power connector like your handset probably has.  And at this time I’m unaware of anyone who makes an adapter or a Y-cable.

Also, just to be clear — this has to do with ALL headsets that use Lithium-Ion battery cells, not just Motorola, so don’t feel smug if you have another vendors headset.

I would suggest that you view your headset purchase as “disposable” in the future, since it’s unlikely manufactures will go back to replaceable cells.  My Nokia Bluetooth headset actually has a replaceable Nickle Metal Hydride battery — which probably costs more than a new headset, and I don’t have Nokia phones any longer so there’s no motivation to use it (it uses the same charge as Nokia headsets).

__________

To replace a Motorola accessory, use the following URL and phone number to get information. 

http://direct.motorola.com/hellomoto/nss/replace_an_accessory.asp

1-866-289-6686

Tags: Cellular, Communications, Technology by roger
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You know those annoying SPAM text messages you get from the five digit telephone numbers?

Those are called premium text message services, and it actually may be illegal from them to send a text message to your phone unless you subscribe to them (text messages may cost cellular subscribers money for each message sent or received).

Anyway, if you want to litigate to get your $0.50 back you can contact your cellular carrier and get the name of the company that has registered the number, though they’ll probably only have an 800 number for them (remember, calling an 800 number exposes your telephone number — you cannot block it); but while you’re on the phone with the cellular company you might want to request that they block all premium text messages sent to your phone.

There was a time when SPAM email almost crippled the Internet, and TEXT message may go the same way so I’d recommend you take action sooner rather than later to prevent marketers from forcing you to spend your money so that they have cost effective ways to reach you.

____________________

VeriSign owns mCube which is one of the larger premium text message service providers, so many companies use them to actually send their messages (both VeriSign and the company contracting there services may be liable; feel free to call up VeriSign and have a talk with their legal department)

VeriSign Contact Information

____________________

Here is a list of some of the Premimum Text Message Providers

• 71769 CSW Group Ltd
  ringtonetimes.com

Tags: Cellular, Communications, Technology by roger
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In this day and age you have a choice of a fair number of cellular carriers… actually there aren’t that many carriers in any one geographic area, but there are quite a few resellers.

Nation wide the big cellular carriers are:

• Verizon (CDMA)
• AT&T (GSM)
• Sprint (CDMA)
• T-Mobile

Regionally there are a number of others:

• AllTel

And of course there are a number of resellers:

• MetroPCS (limited areas, unlimited plans, resells Sprint)
• Boost (pre-pay, resells Verizon)
• TracPhone (pre-pay, resells Sprint)
• Virgin Mobile (pre-pay, resells Sprint)

And a new kid on the block:

• Helios (I believe they actually resell Sprint, but I’m not sure)

The question is always which carrier and plan is best for me?

That’s a difficult decision, let me illustrate some things to consider by characterizing the service I have and why…

I have an AllTel PDA phone (Motorola Q) because AllTel offers a very competative price on PDA service, unlimitd nights and weekends (nights start at 7pm), free in-network service (important because most of my relatives have AllTel service), and provides lots of free features (unlimited text, unlimited data, ability to tether to my laptop, no charge for roaming — you do tend to roam on Sprint, but do roam on Verizon and other carriers when there’s no AllTel or Sprint service).  And AllTel provides “MyCircle”, which is a group of number (on any network or land lines), the plan I have provides for 10 numbers.

Essentially, this service saves me a great deal of money by making most of my calls airtime free because of the nights-and-weekends, in-network, and designated airtime free numbers.

In addition I also have a Verizon cell phone because I have so many friends nationwide that have Verizon numbers (it saves them airtime charges, and allows me to carry an account that has a very low number of minutes).  Verizon, though, charges for just about every additional feature — so the plan always ends up costing more than you expect.  Of course I also get a 19% discount on my services (because of a Corporate Discount program I was able to take advantage of).

My point in going into the above, is there’s a lot of details you need to consider other than just the number of minutes… who do you call, when do you call — are there any special features that you can take advantage or — are there enhanced services you need or want — do you travel…

My advice would be “profile” how, when, and how much you use your current service, then look at all the carriers and figure out what service would cost.

For instance, if you rarely travel and don’t want to have a landline you might find that MetroPCS gives you the absolute lowest cost service…

Whereas, if you only use your cell phone very rarely, you might find that one of the pre-paid plans give you the absolute lowest cost service (the major carriers also offer pre-pay; but selecting a pre-paid plan requires you understand minute expire and charges, and most pre-pay providers offer more than one pre-pay option).

Lastly, remember that there are taxes charged to your cell phone based on where you specify your billing address and primary useage area.  Many pre-pay providers don’t charge extra for the taxes (they obviously build it into their billing model)… but other carries do.

There’s no way you’re going to avoid the federal taxes on your phone; but your cellular company might be charging you a number portability fee (consider that when comparing carriers), and the location you base your service and billing address greatly effect the local taxes (for instance, the City/County of San Francisco access an $8.00 cell phone tax per line).  You’ll often find you can save a substantial amount of money by using an alternate service / billing address.

Let me know if there are any glaring omissions or mistakes!

Tags: Cellular, Communications, Technology by roger
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