It's WIND Mobile Roulette!!!

Wednesday night, 9ish, it's now what I call WIND Mobile roulette.

Basically - how many times do you have a to dial a phone number before you actually get through. Tonight I got lucky, I only had to call three times before the line went out, as in, my call when through vs. "Call Failed". The other night is was five times before I could access my voice mail.

No, I don't live in the basement. I have to go to the front of the house, or back, but usually outside to have a phone call. Kinda sucks when it's a business phone call and it's -20 out. Even worse with the....WIND chill factor. Ha ha, couldn't resist.

Anyway, I'm decide to make this blog more of a WIND journal for how bad reception is. Please don't get my wrong - I laud what the company is doing from a) challenging the major incumbents who really do screw the consumer, and b) from having really simple plans. But alas, at the end of the day - if you can make or receive calls - it's not a good deal.

Another WIND Day

When I read the Globe and Mail this morning and saw WIND is trying to offer a quad play - meaning - phone, internet, tv and cell phone, I couldn't help but wonder if their TV service is as unreliable as their cell service, exactly what that would look like......

6:00 pm to 6:15 pm. made 9 calls to a 1800 number, not one went through. Oddly, when I call on skype out (a great service for 2.99Euros a month) i get through. What happened along the way where I can call people over the internet and actually talk with better reception than cell phone. Actually - I stand corrected - I got through on the Internet I couldn't even call out with WIND.

If you're reading this dear WIND management, whatever you have to do, to improve your service, DO IT. Get it done right in Toronto before you try expanding other places, otherwise you'll have a nation full of customers wondering WTF. And with the likes of Chatr on your heels, people have low cost options....

I'm just sayin.....

February 15, 2012 - Another crappy day with WIND Mobile and my Blackberry 9300

It's that time of day again. 3:00pm EST. The low point for WIND, and/or Blackberry.
That stupid little icon in the upper right of my phone scrolling crazily, making me think data is preventing me from making a call, or it's just an icon that makes us wonder, WTF is that thing for.....

I made 5 consecutive calls, all failed, 3 numbers, tried one number once, another number twice, another number once and then my voice mail. Every call failed.
Yeh! And I should complain for $40 a month? Back in the USA, I'm sure I'd have no problem making a call in a major city and not need to pay twice what I'm paying just for reliable service. But alas, in Canada, you're hosed. A fair and reasonable price, with horrible reception, or you get screwed by the majors for twice the cost for more reliable service. Why does a telephone and service have to cost so much. Crazy that a freakin iPhone costs more than a freakin flat screen TV. or home theatre system. Why is call my neighbour less expensive than calling Vancouver. Like email and technology age, does is matter where I'm located? Or is this just a bullshit thing that telco's 'make up' as way to charge you more.

Anyway - I'm near ready for the next low fee provider, Chatr Wireless.

I look forward to the day when WIND's service doesn't blow as badly as it does.

As for RIM, we'll see if they're around. Or maybe they'll realize it's not cool to make people figure out their design and that the design goal, should be simplicity of use, to the point where a manual would not be required. At least easier than what they did with the 9300.

Wind - Still Blowing & Rim has joined the Party

I think this blog should really be a survey of the best of the worst, but cheaper than the overall best.....

I have a Blackberry 9300 now, I went through 5 HTC Maples in less than a year, what piece of @#$% of a phone, how could HTC so screw up?

Now, with a Blackberry, and I just bought a Playbook, I understand why their stock is in the tank, and Apple is the world's largest corporation and it's stock is pushing $500. Not only do they make 1 phone, a great phone, it's game changer. As was the iPod, as was the iPad, when they get it right, the really knock it out of the park.

So I don't know who to be more pissed at RIM with it's poor design and zero attention to usability, or Wind Mobile, with it's consumer friendly pricing but horrific service reminiscent of the late 80's.....

I like the data service on my call, except for, uh, let's see, oh yea, when you get email or you see RIM's funny little data icon spinning, you lose your call over 50% of the time. Or, you just cut out. This phone and company are ok for personal use because they're so cheap, but for business, not so.

My RIM does not work with wifi - or if it does, it's not obvious how it can work without the overall data being on, in which case, if you're roaming, which is when you might wanna use wifi, it doesn't work. My RIM 9300 hangs. I drove back from the US and must have sat on it funny hitting certain keys, and alas, my phone stopped scrolling.

I got a Blackberry Playbook, and you'd think RIM would have automatically included plug ins for their own phones, but alas, no. That was a process too.
And it hangs, and crashes. Given it's weight I might have thought they configure the device to be used with your thumbs more. There's no skyp app. No netflix app. With Gmail I just the one account set up, don't know how to add more.

But I digress. I'm kvetching today because I'm tired of having so many dropped calls - this is an anathema for WIND, their service really sucks, unless of course, it's RIM and they hadn't figured out how to deliver an email or text message without dropping a call. Either way, dealing with my RIM is a daily piss off.

They should learn from Apple, it's about usability stupid.