[Dyre Straits]

Since DH has no "General Technology" discussion forum, I'll post this here.

Although I"m not able to use a cellphone for voice communication [due to near deafness] I have had a cellphone for most of this year that is very useful for Text Messaging and keeping up with my E-mail [Gmail] when I'm away from home. The cellphone even has access to Mobile WEB so that I can keep up with sports scores, weather, news, etc.

But, I've been having some constant issues and am wondering just how many other cellphone users have better/worse/about the same experience as I'm having.

Here are my 3 most bothersome issues:

1. Inability to access my G-mail account for Hours/or a Day at a time. I get one of two messages:

a. Can't connect to Email provider;
b. Server Not Responding

NOTE: This problem ONLY exists on the cellphone. I'm able to come home, get on the PC and access my Gmail immediately. So, I'm not sure if the problem is the Cellphone company's server, or if it's the Gmail POP3 servers.

2. Text Messages sometimes take HOURS to go through to the recipient.

NOTE: This has gotten better, but, it's still a problem sometimes and usually happens at the worst possible moment when I'm really needing to reach someone in a hurry.

3. Accessing ESPN to check on various sports updates causes the cellphone to completely Reset....like it's rebooting. Usually, once it does this, I can then access the update OK. Usually!

NOTE: In most cases, ESPN is the only site that causes this problem but I have had at least one instance where CBS Sports did the same thing.

What the company has done so far:

They keep blaming it on the phone itself. I'm now on Phone #4 and still have the same issues.

PLUS, now I have a brand new issue with this latest phone: The battery somehow 'disconnects' and the display turns completely white. I have to remove the back cover, remove the battery, re-insert it and wait for it to return to normal. This can happen just removing the phone from or placing it into the belt holder.

I'd share the company I'm using, but, I'd rather just get a general idea of how well/or bad others are having with their own service.

Would post it as a POLL, but the obvious options would likely be too many and too confusing.

[GigaWatt]

Originally Posted by Dyre Straits

What the company has done so far:

They keep blaming it on the phone itself. I'm now on Phone #4 and still have the same issues.

this is very common problem with cell phone coverage in rural areas... especially if the cell phone company is just hit the market and have no access points of their own and using (borrowing) some other cell phone company's network... i would suggest to transfer to another cell phone company, a one that has the best cell phone coverage (access points, transmitters... call them whatever you like ), and see what happens then...

hmmmmm... an even better idea just came to me ... get some SIM cards from other cell phone company's that have cell phone coverage in your area, a prepaid SIM car would do just fine . use the prepaid SIM cards from the other company's for a couple of days each and see if the same problem occurs... if it doesn't then the coverage of the cell phone company that you are currently using, or their SMS service center have some kind of problem... that would be my best guess...

as for the internet mail problem... i would let someone that has more experience in this field answer... i haven't used any kind of web related feature... my cell phone is kinda old fashioned...

Originally Posted by Dyre Straits

PLUS, now I have a brand new issue with this latest phone: The battery somehow 'disconnects' and the display turns completely white. I have to remove the back cover, remove the battery, re-insert it and wait for it to return to normal. This can happen just removing the phone from or placing it into the belt holder.

it's not the battery, its the SIM card. usually the SIM card should be held in place by some kind of holder, different cell phones have different kind of holders (something to keep he SIM card in place, not to move). cheaper models of cell phones have cheaper holders, so the SIM card gets displaced, the connection between the SIM card and the phone is disrupted which causes the phone to return some kind of a message (something like "insert SIM card" or "no SIM card present") or leave a blank screen on the cell phone's display. i guess you phone is among the ones who leave a blank screen .

NOTE: see if your cell phone is for US usage only, the European 3G standard is very different from the US 3G standard... this could also be the reason for the software glitches, the slow SMS messaging and the "server not found" error while trying to access Gmail...

[Dyre Straits]

Good points, all. Thanks for the reply.

[temeteus82]

Dyre, what phone you got? And I think you should have at least 3 different data connection profiles in use, one for WAP, second for MMS and the third for internet.

[Dyre Straits]

Originally Posted by temeteus82

Dyre, what phone you got? And I think you should have at least 3 different data connection profiles in use, one for WAP, second for MMS and the third for internet.

The phone itself is ZTE C88. As of this evening, I'm using yet another new phone after getting a replacement again.

I also got a reply from the tech support guy who's been working with me on these issues for several weeks. He didn't pull any punches and was apparently trying to be very honest. He told me that, after having several others experiment with this particular phone and try to use it in similar fashion as I do, that their experience was quite typical of what I've described above.

What they are trying to determine at this point is how much of the problem is the phone company's servers and how much is the Google/Gmail servers. [I'm voting for it being totally the phone company's servers. ]

The service area is quite a large area for us here in Metro Atlanta. And, I have these problems even when I'm getting a very strong signal indication. So, it's not due to any weak signal.

If I were a hearing customer who simply used the phone for voice communication, I likely wouldn't be so keen to know about these other issues as much. But, they become very, very important when I'm restricted to using text communication totally.

Also, they are giving me some decent credit to my bill to offset some of the inconvenience I've had.

[MandyDance]

I hate my phone!

[GigaWatt]

hahahahhaha, take a look at mine...



still think your phone is worse than mine...?

[dj_stick]

direct linking denied

EDIT: those old-school nokia's are built like bricks, and never fail or crash (at least in my experience)

[GigaWatt]

Originally Posted by dj_stick

EDIT: those old-school nokia's are built like bricks, and never fail or crash (at least in my experience)

yeah, it has fallen off my hand straight on the ground like a million times, battery on one end of the street, the back top on the other, the mask and the phone on a totally different part of the pavement.. , it still works like the first day i bought it ... except for the battery of course, i have to get a new one... this one recharges a whole day and it lasts half a day at best.. hahahahaha