Tag Archive: phone


Many people close to me have learned that IM and specific email accts are the best way to reach me. I have a hate-hate relationship with phone companies. Worse if they are cellular.

My recent cell phone bill was about 4 times the amount it was supposed to be. This sent me on a calling brigade of the company to get it straightened out. I made about calls over a month. During this time since I hadn’t paid the inflated amount they’d billed me, they started shutting off ‘components’ of my service. One phone could now only make calls, one phone could only receive calls. It was nuts.

5 calls gave me 5 different answers. Overall 3 agreed that I should go to a local Carrier branded store and have them help me out.

Yesterday I found myself in said store. After 15 minutes of explaining they found the problem. When I added a second line in October my business data plan (which included unlimited internet) was removed. I didn’t ask for this to be removed. <sarcasm style=”dripping”>I mean, I’m only a software engineer? Why would I ever need unlimited internet</sarcasm>

As a result of this unplanned (and unrequested) plan change, I started getting an addition $75-100 / month in data usage. This from my phone passively checking Outlook.

Then the store rep looked at me and said the worst thing imaginable, “We can’t help with this here. You have to call our ‘customer retention’ office.”

My initial response was, “Breaking straw… Get me my iPhone”.. But now let me explain “Customer Retention”

The CR department is the department of, “Hi, our company is so convoluted, that we f’ed a customer so bad, we’re going to probably lose them. Let’s see how far we can bend at the waist and take it up the a&# for the customer so that they will reconsider.”

Translation: I got a customer service rep who was not only one of the nicest, but probably the most genuine sounding that I’ve ever dealt with. They removed all the charges, removed all fees, overages, and reconnect costs. They fixed the account as I outlined.

So… for now. My cell works correctly. I am less annoyed with cell carrier.

Afterward: How best to reach me.
1) IM: My primary AIM is the best (It’s not hard to figure out the id)
2) Email: My primary mac.com email (ID same as above)
3) Calling me at my office number
4) Text messaging me at my cell

#3 is the best phoning method because if I do not pick up the phone the call will be recorded and mailed to my work acct.

Why is calling Andrei’s cell a bad idea. My office security is high to prevent people from accessing our internal network. As a result, they’ve taken pains to dampen signal for cell phones. I get no signal at the office. Phone calls get shunted to voice mail which on my Carrier has never worked right at all. At home… For some reasons I’m just not close enough to a good tower. Signal quality is horrid.

Pulling into the bus station now. I hope to elabourate on contact methods later in the day. But then again.. when have I ever been good about LJ followups.

So, the telephone we have is a remote receiver.

I saw aiden_freeman pull it off the table just now. It makes beeping sounds when you press buttons.

I figured… Okay… Might as well pull it away before he…

I look at it..

0113448.. Oh good he was on his way to dialing Pamplona, Spain.

Knew he was gonna be a risk taker.

And they say your kids run up your phone bill

Tired, Punchy and my head hurts

First the news… Yes… it’s been a week since I’ve posted. Work, Baby… Family… you do the math.

Today was filled with a DIY project that was filled with so much promise. And met with failure. We have a room with no phone jack that direly needs one.The room has a cable jack… But we don’t use the cable.

I had an idea… what if I ride the phone signal on the unused cable from a room with both phone and cable to the room with just cable. I got two wall plates that each had a phone jack and a cable connector. I got a 3′ long coax cable to sacrifice for connecting the back of the cable connector to the back of the phone jack. I figured I’d cut in half, strip the cut end and attach it like I was wiring a phone. I also got a little multimeter… hoping that might help. Granted I know nearly -0- about electronics (I’m a software guy)… so the multimeter was more of an amusement.

I walked into the parking lot of the hardware store. Booty in hand. I was looking at the multimeter walking about 2 feet from the row of cars and pickup trucks. BANG!
Did you know that a 15 ‘ 2 inch diameter wooden dowel, hangs more than 2 ‘ out of a pickup truck and right at forehead level? Neither did I. This would be the part where my head hurts.

Well, I got home… Watched Rothlisberger forget that black doesn’t mean Steelers on the West Coast. And tinkered. I cut the coax and stripped the cut ends. On each plate I attached the copper core {D} to the Pair 1 ring terminal (red) and the copper screen {B} to the Pair 1 tip (green).

My first test was to connect the two plates with coax. Then attach one plate to a phone line and the other to a phone. This would test two things.

  1. Was I wired correctly?
  2. Would coax carry a phone signal?

The test worked.

So, I ran phone wire in one room over to where the cable jack was on the wall. I connected a small piece of coax to my makeshift jack and connected the other end to the wall jack. Then I connected the phone line to my makeshift jack. Then I picked up a good phone. The phone still worked.. so I hadn’t shorted out our phone. Theoretically, my phone line was now on the cable in the house.

I went to the cable jack in the room with no phone. Hooked another piece of coax to it and to my 2nd jack. I assumed that both cable jacks in the house were on the same line. This assumption proved wrong. Nothing came over the line. My guess is that there is a splitter somewhere before where I am patched in and the signal is not propagating.

the idea seemed good, but I’m back to square one.

Ah well. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

Annoying quick note

I just went to grab my cell phone and realized it is still in the car. The car is parked at the airport. We are about to board the plane not near the car.

I will be reachable via email and logged in as often as I can. But my cell is unreachable until Sunday. I’m a moron 🙁

blah

Mercury is retrograde! It will mess up any communications when you least expect it.