If you upgrade your mobile phone, then return the new phone because software problems render it unusable, does this mean that you’ve used up your upgrade and cannot receive a new subsidized phone again for the term of your current contract? Based on reader Jason’s experience…yeah, that’s pretty much it. [More]
mobile phones
HTC Apologizes To Reader For Failure Of Remote-Locking System
By 3.31.11
Yesterday, we brought you the story of a reader who thought she’d successfully activated the remote lock on her new HTC phone after it was stolen only to find out the system didn’t work because it’s too popular. And within minutes of the story going up on Consumerist, she received not one but two separate calls from HTC seeking to atone for the error. [More]
Modern Technology Is Stalking Your Every Move
By 3.30.11
Who knows where you are and what you’re thinking right now? Your phone company. If you carry a smartphone, or even a not-so-smart phone, your mobile phone carrier knows more about your whereabouts over the past few months than you’ll ever be able to remember. Comforting, isn’t it? [More]
HTC Says My Stolen Phone Has Been Remotely Locked But Doesn't Actually Lock It
By 3.30.11
Being mugged and having your brand new phone stolen out of your hand sucks. What could make it even suckier? How about finding out that the phone’s remote-locking system — intended to prevent your device from being used and abused by god knows who — just doesn’t work because the phone manufacturer wasn’t expecting so many people would actually want to use the service. [More]
Sprint: AT&T/T-Mobile Deal Will Harm Consumers & Competition
By 3.28.11
Last week, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse voiced concern about the pending sale of T-Mobile to AT&T for $39 billion. Today, the company issued its official statement on the matter, saying it’s not just concerned about its own bottom line, but about you, the consumer. [More]
HTC: Phone Repair By Sprint Store Voided Warranty
By 2.18.11
If Sprint is the exclusive seller of the HTC Evo, and Sprint stores will also repair your Evo when you have a problem with it, isn’t it logical that having Sprint repair your smartphone won’t void the warranty? Not so fast, smart guy or gal! Rodney writes that he and his wife actually left Sprint because a local Sprint store charged for a repair that actually voided the warranty. That repair? The phone’s 4th in seven months. Update, 2/23/11: HTC is issuing Rodney a refund. [More]
T-Mobile Store Can't Explain Why You Can't Have This Deal: You Just Can't
By 1.13.11
Kevin and his wife tried to take advantage of a buy one smartphone, get one free promotion that T-Mobile e-mailed them about. At the time, Kevin was at the end of his contract and eligible for a full upgrade. His wife was a few months away from her full upgrade, but willing to pay a fee to replace her non-working phone. Because Kevin’s wife wasn’t yet eligible, the local store refused to honor the promotion, even after corporate intervened. [More]
Watch Out: Spam Texts Could Be Text Scams
By 12.31.10
Ah, for the days when phone slammers had to actually call you in order to enroll you in services you don’t want. P.W. tells Consumerist that he received a few texts from an unknown shortcode number, most likely wrote them off as spam, and ignored them. Until he noticed a mysterious $10 charge on his phone bill. [More]
Why Does AOL Instant Messenger Mobile Use Text Messages Without Telling Me?
By 10.28.10
Heather tells Consumerist that has AOL Instant Messenger installed on her smartphone, but doesn’t really use it. Lately, she’s left the program running more often, and made an alarming discovery: she was charged for 800 text messages, even though she didn’t send 800 text messages. The culprit? AIM, of course. Each IM to and from her phone was charged as a text message. [More]
FCC Doesn't Want You Spending Too Much On Your Mobile Plan
By 10.13.10
Last week, we asked you what annoyed you most about your mobile phone plan, and most of you picked “cost.” Now comes news that the Federal Communications Commission is going to review new proposals intended to keep you from spending more on your phone bill than you’d planned. [More]
What Annoys You Most About Your Mobile Phone?
By 10.5.10
From AT&T to Zoom Mobile, we here at Consumerist have fielded complaints from every domestic mobile carrier we can think of. Additionally, just about every company has been labeled “the worst” by scores of readers. But today, instead of picking on any one carrier, we want to get at the bigger issue of what’s bothering cellphone users in general. [More]
Do You Still Use Your Land Line?
By 7.20.10
According to a recently released study, there are more than 5 billion cell phones in use around the world today, with 20% of those just coming into use in the last 18 months. More and more, people are either ditching their traditional land lines or relegating it to a secondary role, especially in large metropolitan areas. [More]
Virgin Mobile Jolted Into Action By Executive E-Mail Carpet Bomb
By 7.8.10
Nancy tells Consumerist that she and her husband recently bought shiny new phones from Virgin Mobile, and were quite happy with their service. Well, until Nancy’s phone stopped working entirely. She tried the normal technical support channels, but encountered a run-around that lasted for almost two weeks. Two weeks during which Nancy lacked a functioning phone. She gave up on the normal channels, read our guide to sending an executive e-mail carpet bomb, and sent us a copy of her original missive. [More]
Verizon, My New Smartphone Has An Incredible Amount Of Bloatware
By 5.5.10
Timothy copied Consumerist on his EECB to Verizon. While he likes his new HTC Droid Incredible a lot, he’s deeply disappointed in how many applications the phone shipped to him with. “Effectively, we are paying you for the privilege of having to repeatedly be harassed by your adware,” he writes. Do you agree, or is Timothy overreacting? [More]
AT&T Wireless Directs Salt Lake City 911 Calls To Seattle
By 3.27.10
For some reason that no one has been able to figure out yet, on Thursday night, all 911 calls that AT&T Wireless customers in the Salt Lake City, Utah made area ended up routed to dispatchers in Seattle. [More]
T-Mobile's Response To Poor Reception: "You're Welcome To Leave"
By 2.11.10
Matt writes that although he has been a loyal T-Mobile customer for a long time, the company is no longer interested in keeping his business. At least, that’s what it looks like. [More]
HTC Says They're Shipping My New Nexus One: I Don't Believe Them Anymore
By 2.4.10
The launch and early customer support of the Google’s Nexus One phone, manufactured by HTC, has been a bit problematic. But let’s try some optimism! Maybe now that the early hype has died down and HTC has had some time to get used to the situation, warranty replacements will take place in a timely fashion! Or…well, as reader Michael writes, evidently not. Update: Thanks to this post, Michael’s new phone is on its way. [More]
Google Voice Does End Run Around Apple, Launches New Web App
By 1.26.10
Apple made it clear last year that Google Voice is not welcome on the App Store or your iPhone. “Fine,” said Google. “We’ll go through the browser!” Today the search engine revealed a new mobile web interface that uses some fancy HTML5 magic to provide voicemail, calling, and text message functionality. If you don’t already know, you can turn any page in Mobile Safari into an App icon on your home screen (click the “+” icon in Safari), meaning now you can have a legitimate Google Voice “app.” Below is a video tour. Update: There’s a down side to this: Cy writes in to let us know that this fancy new version actually breaks functionality for iPod Touch owners–the old web-based version let Touch owners make calls, but this one doesn’t. [More]
