Tek Savvy - Not so DSL or Customer Service Savvy

I switched from cable to DSL Internet with Tek Savvy.

I like that there are a few 'real' alternatives in the Canadian market vs. the oligopolistic thieves that charge 2 x what the real service is, in addition to a focus on creating fees vs. products. But I digress.

In this capacity, the market for the smaller guys like Tek Savvy and Accanet is their to gain.

So - for the most part things have been ok with Tek Savvy till I switched to DSL.

This is the deal. As much as I dislike anything associated with Bell, I now have to deal with them through a) a leased line and b) Tek Savvy makes you rent, not buy, rent a Bell modem for their higher bandwidth length. In this regard Tek Savvy @ FAIL.

More disappointing is the actual service and customer service. It kacks out on a daily basis.

When I call support, I'm on hold for 30+ minutes if calling in the evening. They have a series of looped messages and songs instead of just the radio. I think they should play Tek Savvy IVR and 'on hold' loops in Guantanamo Bay as a way to keep prisoners in line.

For the 2nd time in 2 weeks, I've been on hold for more than an hour, the first time I actually fell asleep!

How bad is their service that their tech group is soooo tapped out they can't handle the calls? Unless they have the smallest tech support group in the GTA.

In any event, I would NOT recommend DSL from Tek Savvy for the following reasons:
- need to rent (not buy) a Bell modem
- need to pay Bell for the leased line
- service is unreliable as is the modem
- when you need help you will have to wait longer than that battery in your cell phone can support.
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Tried again tonight. Here is a snapshot of their service. I'm downstairs in a house, old victorian. Modem on the 2nd floor at the top of the stairs:

Bear in mind I'm paying for a 15mps/10mps service.
Attached to the cable it's pretty good. But hey, when you have to rent Bell's modem for Tek Savvy's service, this is the result!!!!!

Not particularly Tech Savvy I'd say.

Nokia Lumina 610 and Windows Mobile - The perfect combo to great something bad

So after the experiment with the LG Social P505 ended in me selling it because I was tired of:

1. force quitting phone calls and apps 2-5 times a day
2. not being able to answer a call
3. squinting with such a small screen
4. type horrible txts because the screen is so small
5. tired of waiting 30 seconds to find a contact

I looked elsewhere. I thought I'd tried a Nokia again.

Alas, what were they thinking when pairing with Microsoft. It's like that said - lets find a company with little to know care, appreciation or talent for user interface, coupled with security flaws and absolutely no credibility in the mobile space - AND MAKE THEM OUR PARTNER!! 

Nokia stock $3 and change. Apple, somewhere north of $500.

Duh.

Ok, Nokia, learn your lesson yet?

Like most things Microsoft, the user interface is unintuitive. Add to that experience it not working, plus a platform that no one buys apps for, why would anyone buy a nokia!!! Really - smartphones are no longer novel. At the very least Microsoft and Nokia could have copied what was good out there and left it at that. It's as if they got together and said, how can make something next to useless and completely unintuitive and not user friendly. Basically, how can we make a crap smartphone. How can we take the best that's out there and F#$% it up.

While having a Google Mail section to sign in during the set up process, it hasn't been able to sync my calendar or emails. Contacts came through though.

You need a Microsoft ID to go to the apps store and marketplace, but really, why bother, there's like 20 apps there.....

Looking for a simple program like ever note to download and then something like YouTube, below summarizes my experience:

Syncing music was a bust as well.

I mistakenly thought launching the Microsoft phone App on my Mac, clicking Music, and sync would have been, uh, well, you know, what you do to sync music. But, no. Nothing happens.

I would suggest microsoft stick with Office. Nokia, go back to your original 'peanut' series. And let companies like apple and samsung dominate through superior graphic and user design, supported by solid OS's. If GE were running microsoft - they'd have xBox and MS Office, maybe Outlook. But the rest of the company - enough already, stop making bad products!

I've spent alot of money and wasted a lot of time on lower end smart phones. Perhaps that's not smart.

More of a waste of time than anything else - which ends up costing in the long haul.

HTC Maple - Crap. Won't buy HTC again.

BlackBerry - Crap. Won't buy BBerry again.

LG P505 - Crap, Won't buy anything LG again including any appliances.

Nokia E61 and Lumina - Crap - won't buy again, unless it's Nokia classic peanut phone.

Next up Samsung, lest I totally cave and buy an iPhone4.

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Update - I was finally able to sync with Google so that's a good thing.

Unfortunately for now the wifi is the only thing that works.

Some hipster musician Morgan Cameron Ross sold the phone as being unlocked which it wasn't. Also tried to say it was Android (not) and only 3 days old (not). Why do people like on kijiji or Craigs. I hate when trust is broken in such great public offerings. Anyway - 

when you buy online - verify that everything is what it's supposed to be. My bad, but still not condoning lying.

The LG P505 Social & Chatr

At a new provider here in the Great White North, the telco oligopoly mecca, Chatr and have a new phone from them -  the LG "The Social" P505.

I should know by now, don't be such a cheap wad. So, what you get for 1/4 the price of an iPhone is a phone that is 1/4 as good..... What else can I say.

People at LG don't "get it" like Apple does.

The phone is smaller and the screen size is smaller, but it still tries to be a smart phone.

What does this mean - in real terms, it means everything is too small to be user friendly. From sending a txt message, to being able to read news or browse a site, it's ridiculously small. Few news apps have the ability to expand text, although you can use the apps Font increase feature, the screen is so small you need glasses to read it.

From a performance perspective, I wonder what engineers where thinking when they launched it, and whether or not any one at LG actually uses this phone. I use it for business. The phone is so slow it takes on avg a few minutes to send a txt message. When doing a search for a contact it takes around 30 seconds to locate it. The overall performance is slow, it actually lags, whether trying to browse, send a message, play a game, there is at least a 1-2 second lag in response.

The other issue is when i get an email, I get  dropped call, or when the phone downloads anything, it hangs. I've had to take the battery out just to use the phone again, as it hung while I was retrieving voice mail. On average the phone force quits 3-5 times a day.

For Chatr, overall, I'm happy with the rate plan, and service, a few dropped calls, but nothing like the crazy Bird sounds I heard when I was with WIND. But they're a discount provider so you get discount service. You only have 15 days to swap out a phone.

If you have a problem with your phone they punt you to the manufacturer, they don't take ownership.
I spoke with a guy at the Chatr call center who thought he was doing me the biggest favor in the world suggesting that I reset the phone. Like all these guys go to the same call center school. Whether it's a modem or a phone or a PC, the first response is 'turn it off and on again.'

I hard reset, the phone still has issues. Unfortunately there are no phones from Chatr that are good. I guess Rogers doesn't want to cannibalize the business of gouging customers through its Rogers Wireless service.

My other beef is that they won't provide the unlock code for my phone. This, I'm sure, it not unique to Chatr, but it is a collective @#$% you from the Canadian wireless companies to the consumer. If we bought the phone outright, either upfront, or paid out a plan, you own it. There is no reason for them to restrict how you use the phone. Like a PC manufacture saying you can only use your computer with certain Internet providers. It's ludicrous. Why!!! Why do we take it.
We shouldn't.

[Here is a link to Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS). Let them know that we should not have to be beholden to a provider after we've bought the phone out.]

If only we have the rate plan friendly and service centric WIND join with the quality network of Chatr there might actually be a viable option in Canada to not get screwed on your cell phone service.

Don't buy the LG P505 if you're thinking you're getting a 'smart phone'. It's not that smart. Although on Android, you'll spend more time '@#$%ing around with it that is warranted.

Here's a link to equally poor ratings on Amazon in the US.

The Witching Hour for Wind Mobile

Well, good news for WIND in today's Globe and Mail. They'll be allowed to buy spectrum and they'll be allowed to grow and have foreign ownership.

Theoretically this is a win for customers. I, being one. However, as it goes, even at a low price, when you can't actually use your phone, the service is not worth it.

I think 5pm is the witching hour for WIND mobile. It just seems to be the time when their service sucks the most. That said, it's 2:30 pm on a Friday here in downtown Toronto and I have to dial a number 3-5 times before the call actually goes through. More often than not - that be 50 -80% of the time I get "Call Failed".

I hate to leave a good 'deal' and I truly admire their no nonsense approach to billing in what is otherwise and oligopolistic market where the major encumbents really @#$% over Canadians with some of the world's highest telco charges, BUT - I use my phone for business. If I can't make and receive calls - no matter how cheap WIND's service is, it's not worth it.

Sorry WIND, your service just blows too much. Or should I say suck?

When you can figure out the basics, happy to reconsider and come back. But until I can make and receive calls reliably, your service is just too expensive from a lost business perspective, not to mention the mental frustration at dealing with this as an issue.

Bye!

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.