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The inauguration is over so you may now commence sending pix, texts and phonecalls using your cellular telephone devices.
cellphones
Please, No Pix Or Calls Until After The Inauguration
By 1.20.09
So as to avoid the warned-of network outages and delays, The president of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association would like all patriotic citizens to “do their part in decreasing network demand by texting instead of placing voice calls, and holding off on cell phone pictures or video until after the events are over.” [Washington Post]
Sprint's 'Unlimited' Messaging Package Charges You Per Message
By 1.17.09
Sprint offers an “Everything Messaging Family” package that promises “unlimited nationwide, text, picture and video messaging to anyone on any network.” The catch? Unlimited seems to mean “you have the capability to send messages, but you’ll still have to pay for each message you send.” Erica has called in twice to clear up the mistake, but the CSRs are telling her it’s not a mistake. Oh. Well then, is it a lie?
AT&T's 'American Idol' Text Message Stunt Backfires
By 1.15.09
AT&T spammed a “‘significant number’ of its 75 million customers” yesterday with text messages advertising the premiere of American Idol. AT&T also pissed off a significant number of its 75 million customers in the process, and the company’s justification for the blitz isn’t exactly making AT&T sound smart when it comes to understanding what qualifies as spam.
Reminder: Text Messaging Can Be Used For Scams, Too
By 1.14.09
This story from Jessica is a good reminder that scammers don’t care about the technology, they care about about fooling you. That means they’ll use whatever method is available—in this case, SMS.
Update: Tmobile: Pay $25.65 To Talk To Us About How We Overcharged You For $25.65
By 1.13.09
So one of our readers posted that Tmobile complaint video (Tmobile: Pay $25.65 To Talk To Us About How We Overcharged You For $25.65) in the official Tmobile forums, where it was promptly deleted by the forum moderators because the video contains cursing. That’s not the special part, the special part is that the forum mod contacted the poster and admitted that what lundyncanada is experiencing is an error and they’re going to try to reach out to her and solve her problem. So for those of you who ragged on her for expressing her frustration and said that cursing doesn’t get you anywhere, you were wrong. Here’s Benny’s post and the messages the mod sent in reply:
Chinese Dairy Companies Apologize For Melamine Scandal Via Text Message
By 1.9.09
Twenty-two dairy companies sent out a text message to millions of Chinese consumers last week to apologize for selling tainted milk products. According to the BBC, it read, “We are deeply sorry for the harm caused to the children and the society. We sincerely apologise for that and we beg your forgiveness.”
Get $90 Or $35 In The Sprint Early Termination Fee Settlement
By 1.9.09
A proposed settlement has been reached in the class action lawsuit against Sprint over early termination fees (ETF). It seems to basically apply to anyone who has had a time-based contact with Sprint that had an etf clause it i.e. most Sprint wireless customers. You get $90 if you were charged an ETF and can provide proof, and $35 if you didn’t cancel a contract for fear of getting charged an ETF. You can file at www.sprintetfsettlement.com, and get a more in-depth and explainer of the terms over at Top Class Actions.
Reach Sprint's Retention Department
By 1.8.09
Retentions, the place where you threaten to cancel because service sucks and they throw goodies and freebies and discounts at you to get you stick around, the place where dreams come true. Here’s two numbers to directly reach Sprint’s Retentions Department: 800-235-1185, 888-211-4727. (Photo: SlapAyoda)
Get An Employer Discount With Any Cellphone Company
By 1.7.09
Save money on your cellphone bill by checking out to see if you can get an employer discount! Here’s the necessary info for every major cellphone provider:
Pre-Paid Cellphones Aren't Just For Losers Anymore!
By 1.7.09
Hey, did you know that people who don’t use their cellphone very often can save money by switching to a pre-paid cellphone plan? They’re not just for people who can’t get regular cellphones anymore! In fact, many smart, frugal people avoid contact hassles and save money by getting a pre-paid phone.
"Free" SlyDial Service Sneaks Ads Into Your Voicemail Inbox
By 1.7.09
SlyDial lets you jump straight to voicemail to leave a message. You can pay a fee for the service, or agree to listen to an ad first before leaving a message. Glenn gave the service a trial run and it seemed to work as promised—he listened to an ad and then left a message. Today, however, the company “slydialed” him and left a second ad in his voicemail box. That’s certainly sly, but sounds to us like an abuse of the service as they’ve described it. You might want to avoid using them until we find out more about why they’re spamming previous customers, or check back on Glenn’s blog to see what develops.
Get Your Tmobile Employer Discount
By 1.6.09
Wanna save on your Tmobile bill? Ask your company’s partnership rep if they have an employer discount available. Then you can call Tmobile Corporate Migrations at 877-453-8824 and claim your discount. In fact, if you Google that number, you can find the names of a number of companies and organizations that give their members Tmobile discounts. Perhaps you belong to one of them. (Thanks to Romeo!) (Photo: Ed Yourdon)
NYT: Text Messaging "Virtually No Cost" to Carriers
By 12.29.08
Hear the scorn of a million parents cry out in righteous anger: despite recently increasing basic text messaging rates from ten cents to twenty across the board, NYT reveals that Carriers pay roughly nothing.
Aliph Quickly Replaces Melted Jawbone
By 11.26.08
Marc is happy to report that Aliph really came through for him after he complained about Jawbone smoking and melting after he plugged it into his computer:
EECB / BBB Complaint Solves $500 Dispute With TMobile
By 11.26.08
Bill says that an EECB (executive email carpet bomb) follow up to a BBB complaint solved his $500 billing dispute with TMobile, and he couldn’t be happier.
