Disqus - Latest Comments for andyhoops

Re: The INQ1 from 3 – Normob feedback

andyhoops — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:48:21 -0000

For anyone who is still reading :-) this was finally resolved on the 6th phone call.

At last, someone who knew what they were talking about was able to refund the initial overbill and apply a permanent discount to the 'Internet Max package' for future months.

Not one of the previous 5 people at 3 was able to look at their own website, see the discrepancy with what was advertised and what was being billed, and do something about it. Pretty poor.

Re: Skype: Am I missing something?

andyhoops — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:44:52 -0000

My wife has an INQ1 and Skype should be useful for IM conversations; the PC client on my work laptop is able to connect to the web through my corporate firewall.

Except that today the IM messages have not been delivered until hours after sending. Sheesh.

Having a dedicated client on the PC is still better than using a flash based aggregator such as meebo for me.

Re: The INQ1 from 3 – Normob feedback

andyhoops — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:16:46 -0000

Today my wife has had one of those crazy mobile operator discussions that make you bang your head against a brick wall in the hope the pain masks the frustration of dealing with the operator.

She signed up for the £15 contract deal for the INQ1; still today the following text is on the Three website:

"£15 Unlimited Texter and Internet

It's exercise for your thumbs. You get unlimited texts, unlimited internet access, unlimited 3 to 3 minutes and 75 anytime, any network minutes to use every month with our £15 Texter offer. Fair use policy applies."

Unambiguous right? Except that when the direct debit instruction arrives, it is for in excess of £20.

On querying this, she has to explain herself in triplicate to three different people, and has been promised a call back from the person who sold her the phone.

So it is still not resolved. Unbelievable. We had been very impressed with the device.

Oh and the other joy: she is told that because she has used the phone 'she may not cancel'. Hah! What a thing to say to a new customer! The direct debit mandate arrived a full week after the phone!

Re: The INQ1 from 3 - first impressions as a social networking device

andyhoops — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 08:08:23 -0000

My 98% technology illiterate wife is now loving her INQ1 and has seen not a single bug, reboot or crash of any kind.

It seems that the INQ1 features lend themselves to viral marketing very well, she is busy telling all her friends to get one. Unfortunately she can now Skype me with errands whilst I am still at work, and I don't have the excuse of claiming the SMS never arrived...

She might be interested in writing up her experience if you are interested, Ewan

Re: Why I shouldn’t have bought a Motorola Q9c

andyhoops — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 08:05:17 -0000

I think we've been round the houses on this before, but WM6.1 is a vast improvement and on my Q9h I've never seen that problem. If you can be bothered to go through the download and update process.

Actually a Q running WM6.1 is a very likeable device. A comment which probably recategorises me as the other type of cock in your mind :)

Re: Buying a G1? Ask about the tariffs

andyhoops — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 03:26:37 -0000

More the fool them. I was feeling in impulsive mood last week until I saw the tariffs. Now I've realised I don't need a new phone at all!

Re: Shit T-Mobile UK Online Billing System: Redux

andyhoops — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:13:50 -0000

Astonishing - JSP compilation errors normally means that the page in that state has probably never been inspected a tester, nor run through an automated test suite, before being rolled out to the live site.

Let alone the functionality behind it.

Re: Ask Mr Operator: “When will WiMax become standard for carriers?”

andyhoops — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 05:57:20 -0000

Depends on the CPE offered by your WiMAX vendor / operator.

For example...

Another...

Re: “Is there any way to turn the SMS feature off?”

andyhoops — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:25:07 -0000

I follow mobile blogs and politics blogs and don't normally tend to see much crossover!

Maybe there is a gap for a politics segment on MIR :-)

Re: The Man from Basildon’s o2 shop says ‘nahhh’

andyhoops — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:16:49 -0000

I am starting to think that being brain dead must be a requirement for many jobs in the retail sector these days. It's certainly not confined to the mobile sector.

My wife went into the Wokingham branch of a large car and bicycle retailer. "Is this the smallest size of child's cycle helmet that you have?"

Response, accompanied by blank stare: "Err, I think so". My wife couldn't even be bothered to help him sell to her. It was easier to walk out.

The genuinely helpful seem to be few and far between.

Sorry this is off the topic of mobile but had to vent a little :-)

Re: Near Field Communications. Did you say 75 billion dollars? In 5 years?

andyhoops — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:31:26 -0000

Ewan: take the frustration you felt in your earlier post (your rant about how slow the industy moves);

Now consider that getting NFC payments to work at scale requires that not only the mobile industry get it's act together, but also the banking and retail industries;

Shake it all up and imagine the challenge.

At the moment there is a bit of a 'mexican stand-off' between the interested parties, primarily because it is not at all clear who will pay for the infrastructure upgrades required. No-one doubts it will be a 'good thing' but getting there will be very hard.

I think there is scope for someone with a brand new business model to sweep in and introduce the service on the back of some other service innovation. Bank branded MVNO's, anyone?

Re: How long will we be trapped in this mobile hell hole?

andyhoops — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:31:49 -0000

Your rant is a difficult read because it rings so true to so many people, Ewan. Innovation is organisationally strangled in this industry at present.

What are people's opinions on the role of the regulator here? My view would be that supporting UK innovation should be a primary goal of what they do, given the importance at the national level of a thriving mobile ecosystem. At present, if you look at their top level mandate and principles (http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about/sdrp/) there is some stuff about 'competition' but nothing which provides a clear position on where they should go next with respect to the wider mobile ecosystem.

Is anyone aware of any specific work that is underway in this regard? The readership of this site could prove a powerful lobby group...

Re: Mobile phones and cancer - the debate goes on

andyhoops — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 07:20:51 -0000

I too was going to call out the use of the word 'debate' - you already did so Mike, and very eloquently.

We always feel like we have to apologise when disagreeing with this type of article, as to not do so appears cold and disrespectful. However in reality it is the journalists who should be apologising for not having the balls to present these stories in an objective way.

Hope that Ben Goldacre (http://www.badscience.net) can get his teeth into this...