Cell Phone Atrocities in Lakeland, Florida
Posted from comments in the “Construction and Sunsets” post. This needs its own post.
I’m gonna have to get a new cell phone soon, and the #1 priority will be a powerful antenna. Around my house (with T-Mobile) I get maybe 1-2 bars. Inside: 0.
What kind of phone do I have, you ask? Motorola v300.
How much do I use it now? I think it’s in my briefcase in the living room, uncharged.
What features am I looking for in my next phone? Why, glad you asked!
First, of course, is that powerful antenna so I can use it at home. Without that, the phone is useless to me.
Second is bluetooth so I can use the wireless headsets. I need hands-free phone.
Third is a speakerphone feature with which I can start a call instead of waiting for the call to connect, THEN switching to speakerphone. Fucking annoying. I really don’t like putting the phone to my head, it’s just an uncomfortable position to hold for the long calls I have to make, so good speakerphone is necessary.
Fourth is a cradle where I can charge the phone instead of using the annoying little wire and plugging it into the bottom of the phone, then jiggling it for 5 minutes to make sure the damn thing actually starts charging. Why is my phone in my briefcase, uncharged, unused, unloved? Because I rarely use it at home and charging it has always been a bitch.
All the other bells and whistles that are constantly promoted by the wireless companies, such as MP3 players, camera, video, radio… all useless to me. I could care less about that. I just need the fucking thing to WORK.
My cell phone ain’t bling.
My cell phone ain’t status.
My cell phone just needs to WORK!
My cell phone frustrates me.
This should be its own post. :>
schwarzerwind Says:
September 2nd, 2006 at 10:39 pm
The problem isn’t your antenna. It’s T-Mobile, and yes, I use them too. So I know of what I speak. My friend and I are jumping ship to Verizon, soon, because in the last 9 months, they have become fucking abysmal.
I don’t know what’s going on at T-Mobile, but they are on the bullet train to hell, and I been with them 4 some years now. I hear great things about Verizon’s signal strength and quality, though, and I am seriously looking into them.
I’ve addressed these concerns to T-Mobile, who simply don’t care, and tell me it’s not their problem at all, but perhaps how I use my phone. They even suggested I turn the phone off every day or so for 5 mins, then turn it back on, so it reconnects to their tower, thus (POSSIBLY) improving the signal.
Bullshit. It needs to work. 24/7. My house is the only place I get a good signal; everywhere else, just like yours, 1-2 bars or NO SIGNAL AT ALL. And the latter happens quite alot.
No Doubt - Spiderwebs
[audio:11_-_Spiderwebs - no_doubt_-_cd1.mp3]
5 Responses to “Cell Phone Atrocities in Lakeland, Florida”
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Donkeyrock
Said this at 11:21pm:My signal strength is just the opposite of yours. Nothing at home, but seems just fine outside the area. I looked at the T-Mobile coverage map, and of course my house is in a light green section, which means “fuck you AND your money, you ain’t getting shit from us.”
While T-Mobile is ranked very well for the Southeast U.S. by Consumer Reports, I, too, have called them and received the standard “maybe we’ll have new towers up soon” and “reboot your phone” which is just turning it off then on again.
I also had a futile attempt at talking with T-Mobile customer service via email. Extra charges on my bill that I didn’t make. The process was akin to being anally raped by an angry Silverback Gorilla. Canned responses, zero help, and I tried to get through to a real person many MANY times (via email). No luck, just bullshit.
Had another problem with the phone not updating the time. Talked to a real live person on the phone (not my cell phone, of course), didn’t work anything out, but they offered me like 50 free minutes for the hassle. I told the girl “If you look at my bill, you’ll notice I don’t use anything near all my minutes, so what’s the point of giving me more minutes? Can you give me something else?” This confounded the poor service wench, who, upon a few seconds of reflection, replied, “No, do you want the minutes?”
I felt special.
Of course I don’t expect anything better if I go to Verizon — same shit, different company — but maybe I’ll get better coverage.
It’s a thought.
For the Northeast, Verizon is king, and I think I should look into Verizon plans, too. Don’t know if they’ll be any better in my neck ofthe woods, but can’t hurt to try.
Smidget
Said this at 8:32am:Motorola is not the phone to choose to improve your phone reception. Nokia is the phone that would accommodate this problem.
Donkeyrock
Said this at 2:50pm:While not explicitly mentioned, I’ve never been happy with my Motorola cell phone.
I like the look of the v300. It’s blue and pretty and… well, nice eye candy. Holding it to make a call, though, is pointless. I’m always pressing the side buttons, or I have to hold it above the hinge so I don’t press the buttons, which feels awkward.
The despicable recharging wire… well, I mentioned that before.
I’ve got other qualms about it, but I think they’re about cell phones in general, not necessarily Motorola cell phones.
Now Smidge, you did mention to me you talked to a customer service rep who said the new Nokia cell phones weren’t as good as a previous generation. So if we went and bought new Nokia phones, they might be just as crappy as the Motorolas we have now.
And then we’d be angry at you because you recommended them, but we’d just be shooting the messenger because the real culprits are the cell phone manufacturers and the wireless service providers. Neither has any respect for the customer or their money. They just provide their service as best they want, not as best they can.
Then again, my comfy-chair complaining isn’t worth a pre-paid minutes plan in hell, but the frustration is real, the venting is helpful, and gaining new ideas from others is a better situation than just spinning my wheels alone about the subject.
PISSED OFF CELL PHONE USERS UNITE!
We may be impotent to change the industry, but the axiom is true: the squeaky wheel gets the oil. If you don’t complain, and no one of consequence hears you, then things will continue as they are.
Now go out there and piss off your cell phone company today.
schwarzerwind
Said this at 3:16pm:I used Nokia for 3 years, promptly shunning any Motorola phone offered to me by a salesperson, while screaming “Blasphemy!”
And in fact, this Motorola phone is the 4th phone, through T-Mobile, that I’ve owned this year. I returned the other 3, all for the same kind of reception troubles, thinking it was the phone.
The first phone was a Nokia 6601. Not only was the extra features I paid for (camera, video, etc) so fucking abysmal that it -offended- me, but the call quality was shit, and it sounded like I was using a tin can and some string to talk to people while using it.
So I went back and got the Samsung T809. Nice phone; $300 nice. Yay for overtime; but the reception was even WORSE, and while it took pictures and video like a high-end camcorder, using it as a PHONE was pointless. Calls dropped, never a good signal and the slider function on it started to stick after one week of use. Back it went, and this time I figured the more expensive the better, so I got T-Mobile’s almost-most-expensive phone, the SDA.
Oh…my….god. The consumer reviews on this thing lie. It stopped working entirely at one point, just from taking pictures. It ran on a Windows OS, you see, so I had the phone do a OS re-install at least 4 times before returning it.
The 4th time, T-Mobile was sick of my returns, and I was sick of their shit phones….nothing like the phones they had a few years ago, like my Nokia 6800. They don’t offer any kind of demo models whatsoever, so all you can do is take advantage of the 14-Day Return Policy, should the phone you get turn out to be fucking worthless.
Wait, I lied, they have a demo of the Razr, the same phone I saw more than a dozen people come in the door with, to complain it was broken, while I was there trying to do something with my own broken phone. So broken, in fact, is the Razr, that T-Mobile stopped carrying it for 4 months, till Motorola fixed the fucking problems with the thing. Salesperson told me that, when I pressed her.
So this fourth time, I walked out with the phone I’d been looking at from the beginning, but shunning, because it was a Motorola, the V360. It came with the full data hookups, plus a memory card, and once I discovered how much you can customize a Motorola, it wasn’t long before I was putting TV shows on that memory card to watch on the phone, as well as MP3s to listen to. Though the MP3 player kind of sucks, the shows are fun to watch, good size screen, though it takes a bit of converting. Hackable, is the word, in fact. Very little you can’t do with a Motorola phone; the only drawback is, traditionally, the signal isn’t as strong as a Nokia…but I think that’s changing, if the 6101 is any indication.
Donkeyrock
Said this at 10:24pm:God dammit, it’s like there’s no true answer for cell phones. What’s the fucking common denominator?! All answers lead to more questions.
I need a midget to choke. Any volunteers?
So a person (namely ME) has to go into the cell phone store, tail between legs, look at the eye candy and decide what to get. No idea if it’ll work where you want it to work, if it’ll be a partial winner (which is no winner at all) or if it’ll be El Dogsquat Grande.
I’ve checked out some review sites, the people give their opinions about phones, often times it’s a mixed bag. So every single phone comes under the “maybe” column, nothing is guaranteed.
Man, fuck this, I’m buying a radio phone and carrying the cement block around with me.