My Wandering: T-Mobile Saga

I don't have the orignal text submission since it was into a web form. What follows is the exchange that results from that. I'm not convinced that I'm not really talking to an expert system rather than people, but if I was it succeded in not pissing me off for a couple days.

June 18th - T-Mobile automated response to my Request

June 19 - T-Mobile Human response

June 19 - My Response

To: customercare@t-mobilesupport.com
Cc: joelja@uoregon.edu
Subject: Re: Case 375291 Coverage.GlobalRoaming

On Sun, 19 Jun 2005, customercare@t-mobilesupport.com wrote:

> Dear Joel,
>
> Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile.
>
> At this time we have reviewed your account and see that you do have the
> international permissions added to your account already. At this time we
> have deleted that feature and re-added it. Please try your phone again and
> let us know if it does not work. You may want to turn it off for three
> minutes then turn it back on also. If these processed do not work please
> let us know and we will further try to trouble shoot the issue.

yeah I used it about 6 weeks ago in germany, south africa, and mozambique. In general I'm pretty happy with roaming.

Currently I have network selection set to automatic. I have tried manually and that gives me the no access message.

I have the cell info display turned on and it actually tells me which cell I'm not getting access from (nawaka at the moment though I get others if I move around).

> If you have any further comments, questions, or concerns feel free to
> contact us at anytime.
>
> Thank you for choosing T-Mobile.
>
> Sincerely,
> Thien
> Customer Care Specialist
> T-Mobile USA
>

June 20 - T-Mobile Response

June 20 - My response

To: customercare@t-mobilesupport.com
Subject: Re: Case 375291 Coverage.GlobalRoaming

On Mon, 20 Jun 2005, customercare@t-mobilesupport.com wrote:

> Dear Joel,
>
> Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile.
>
> We would be happy to help you. However we will need more detailed
> information in order to help you completely. Where exactly is Nawaka, we
> will need to research location to see why you cannot get service. Please
> respond to this e-mail with your issue and our team will address this
> further.

The town of nadi fiji, which is immediatly adjacent to the main airport. The cel that I am currently associated with which is also not giving me service is "votualevu"... given the number of places I've been in fiji I don't think this is isolated to any particular location. unfortunanly all my travel companions are based overseas and thus don't have tmob.us service.

> If you have any further comments, questions, or concerns feel free to
> contact us at anytime.
>
> Thank you for choosing T-Mobile.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Delfina
> Customer Care Specialist
> T-Mobile USA

June 21 - T-Mobile Response

June 21 - My response

To: customercare@t-mobilesupport.com
Subject: Re: Case 375291 Coverage.GlobalRoaming

response inline:

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005, customercare@t-mobilesupport.com wrote:

> Dear Joel,
>
> Thank you for taking the time to reply. We understand your frustration. I
> have reviewed your account and the specification on roaming in Fiji. You
> must be on the 900 MHZ frequency.

Nah, I was frustated when I got off the plane and it didn't work, now I just
resigned to having it not work. I would however prefer to be happy customer
making and recieving calls on my us number. and I sure you folks rather bill
me for $2 a minutes calls, that I'm happy to pay for, than not.

> As you are using a tri-band handset, you may need to re-establish your
> handsets ability to locate additional networks. To do this, please follow
> these steps:

> 1. Change the band from GSM 900/1800 back to GSM 1900.

my phone doesn't have any problem seeing the network, just accessing it.

This handset is a nokia 3650 and it doesn't have an option for band
selection... system selection has been set back to automatic because setting
it to manual and selecting vodaphone fails with a no access message.

> 2. Turn the handset off.
> 3. Remove the battery and SIM card for a period of three minutes.
> 4. Replace the SIM card and battery into the handset.
> 5. Turn the handset back on.
> 6. Change the band back to GSM 900/1800.
> 7. Power cycle the handset off for ten seconds, and then back on.

yeah rebooting the phone doesn't make a difference.

> This should help to resolve the issue for you. If you continue to have
> difficulty, please let us know immediately so that we may further
> troubleshoot the issue for you.

> FYI: Here are the rates for Fiji:
> Local Calls - Peak: 1.99 per Minute
> Local Calls - Off-Peak: 1.99 per Minute
> Calls To US - Peak: 1.99 per Minute
> Calls To US - Off-Peak: 1.99 per Minute
> Incoming Call Rate: 1.99 per Minute
> Calls to other countries: 1.99 per Minute
>
> While overseas, you may dial +1-505-998-3793 anytime and request to be
> transferred to our Customer Care center for any assistance you may need
> with your service or your account.

Doing that from my hotel is about $4 a minute. I could call through skype
out on my laptop but there doesn't seem to a lot of sense in trouble
shooting on my end since It doesn't really feel like a handset problem.
since I got this phone in sept 2003 I successfully used it in something like
29 countries. while this is not the only one where it hasn't worked it's the
first one where it was supposed to and didn't.

> Keep in mind that if you call this number from a T-Mobile handset you will
> not be charged for roaming airtime or long distance. However, additional
> charges, such as country connection fees, may still apply. Also calls made
> to this number from any phone other than a T-Mobile handset will incur
> international long distance charges as well as other additional charges
> that may apply.
>
> If you have any other comments, questions, or concerns, please feel free
> to contact us.

I have plenty... :( (like why you don't sell the nokia 9300/9500) but they
aren't relevant to this issue.

>
> You are a valued customer and we want you to know that T-Mobile
> appreciates your business. Our goal is to provide World Class customer
> service and we hope that we have provided you with that today. We are
> here to answer any questions or concerns 24 hours a day 7 days a week for
> your convenience.
>
> Sincerely,
> T-Mobile USA, Inc.
> Adam
> Customer Service Specialist

June 21 - Additional Response

To: customercare@t-mobilesupport.com
Subject: Re: Case 375291 Coverage.GlobalRoaming

one more thing for debuging purposes. I borrowed a friends motorola v620 just to rule out the 3650 and that also won't register on the vodaphone network... with his sim card (optus one of the australain carriers) bothphone's work fine.

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005, Joel Jaeggli wrote:

> response inline:
>
> On Tue, 21 Jun 2005, customercare@t-mobilesupport.com wrote:

...

June 22 - T-Mobile response

June 22 - Additional T-Mobile response

June 22 - My response

To: customercare@t-mobilesupport.com
Subject: Re: Case 375291 Coverage.GlobalRoaming

yOn Wed, 22 Jun 2005, customercare@t-mobilesupport.com wrote:

> Dear Joel,
>
> Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile.
>
> Joel, I'm sorry that you still aren't able to use your phone in Fiji. We
> can offer you a sim unlock code that will allow you to use the local
> service provider. Please provide us with the following information so that
> we may request this for you. Once requested, it takes no longer than 48
> hours to receive the unlock code via your email address. Joel, thank you
> for you efforts in this matter.

That's a nice gesture but my phone is already unlocked. I think we can close
this ticket seems it seems obvious to me that whtever is wrong is some issue
between you guys and fiji vodaphone which isn't something that can be solved
by me spending more cycles on it.

When I arrived I checked into local prepaid sim cards and they go for about
80 bucks $US ($60 of which is airtime)which probably would have been a
reasonable deal at the begining of the trip but halfway through there's not
much point. Having roaming was more about being able to recieve incoming
calls on my us number and send sms than a desire to make phone calls which I
can do from my laptop through skype-out if I have to.

> Account holders name
> -T-Mobile phone number
> -IMEI number, press *#06# on handset to get the IMEI
> -Account Password or last four of the account holder's social security
> number
> -Customer's email address
> -Make and model of the phone
> -Carrier's name if the phone is from another carrier
> -A brief reason for the request
>
> If you have any further comments, questions, or concerns feel free to
> contact us at anytime.
>
> Thank you for choosing T-Mobile.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Julie C
> Customer Care Specialist
> T-Mobile USA

Oddly enough I would have though that the correspondance would have stoped there but it didn't.

June 23 - T-Mobile response

At this point I'm a bit pissed. Why bother me with more crap unless you have something useful to offer?

June 23 - My response

To: customercare@t-mobilesupport.com
Subject: Re: Case 375291 Coverage.GlobalRoaming

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005, customercare@t-mobilesupport.com wrote:

> Dear Joel Jaeggli, Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile. We
> apologize for the inconvenience this has caused with regards to your
> handset.

Please consult the ticket. There is nothing wrong with my handset.

> Upon reviewing your account you have the international feature on your
> account that will allow you to use the Nokia 3650 handset in Fiji, the
> cost per minute are 1.99 and the GSM frequency is 900MHz.

Thanks I know that the issue I see, is that when I select vodahpone fji I
get a no access message. if I set it to auto I get no access... The cell id
display actually tells me which cell site I'm not getting service from
(currently nawaka a neighborhood in nadi fiji)... If I change phones (same
sim), I get no access, if I swap someone elses sim into my phone it works
fine.

Until you sent this message I was actually moderatly pleased with your
support despite the fact that you couldn't resolve my issue. Now is clear to
me that no-one is even paying attention to the history on the ticket.

>
> http://www.t-mobile.com/international/roamMaps.asp?cc=fj&net=vo&c=FJ
>
>
> Does the handset display the signal and battery strength, with the handset
> powered on remove and replace the battery, when you replace the battery
> power the handset back on see if the handset is not automatically
> selecting the network are you able to manually select the network on the
> handset, here is the instruction to manually select the network for the
> Nokia 3650 handset:

Thanks. If you actually read the history on this ticket you would know that
I throughly debuged the handset. As I said before since I got tmobile
service again in sept 2003 I have sucessfully roamed in like 29 countries. I
know how to use the phone.

> Press the Menu button. Scroll to Tools; Press the center of the toggle
> button to Select.
> On Settings, Press the center of the toggle button to Select.
> Scroll to System; Press the center of the toggle button to Select.
> On System Selection, Press Options, Press Select on Change.
> Scroll to Manual, Press OK. Handset will display 'Searching' then show the
> available networks.
> Scroll to the desired Network, Press OK.
> NOTE: If you are in a T-Mobile network, always Select T-Mobile. 'Home
> System Selected' will then be displayed.
>
>
> To dial back to the United States while on a mobile phone, press the (+)
> key followed by the country code and phone number.

Unlike most americans I actually know how to make an international call.

> http://www.t-mobile.com/international/faq.asp#10
>
> To send and receive text message while internationally roaming is at .35
> per text and instant message.
>
> If you have any other comments, questions, or concerns, please feel free
> to contact us. Thank you for choosing T-Mobile Sincerely, Denise

> Customer Care Specialist T-Mobile
>

My Wandering

Friday, June 24, 2005

T-Mobile Saga

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