No Business Naming Things

My replacement iPhone arrived. So far so good. I dub thee iEatMoney!

So, yesterday late afternoon I picked up my iPhone only to discover that it had no service.  Attempts to get onto the Rogers network were met with nondescript registration issues.  My first instinct was that the hardware issue with my phone was more widespread than the headphone jack but after getting the same problem after putting my SIM into my old phone I decided to call Rogers.  Again.

After another 40 minutes on hold my first contact there is determined to shunt me off to the iPhone department for what could only be another 40 minutes of waiting.  I insist that it’s a SIM problem and ask him to verify the PIN he has on record.  The PIN isn’t even close to right.  I explain to him that the SIM I was using was the SIM from my old phone - the one that came with my iPhone was never activated.  He suggests that I put that SIM in and try again.  Still no dice.  Once again he tries to shunt me off to the iPhone help desk but again I insist that we check the numbers.  They STILL dont match.  Somehow during my exchange with them the other day not only did they disable my SIM card they reenabled one that I dont even have.

What the shit?

*sigh*

After dealing with a VERY helpful Rogers employee on the phone (who took me on my word when I said that I had already tried a restore/reflash - I had) I now have a brand new iPhone coming to me in the post.

I have now been on hold for 40 minutes with Rogers. Thank goodness I have a speaker phone - if I had to be concentrating on holding a handset for that long I am sure I would’ve put it through a wall by now

Edit: after an hour I’ve given up.  I will try again later I guess.

The problem with my iPhone pausing/unpausing songs during playback was unbearable this morning so after getting in I called Rogers customer service. After wading through their system for 5 minutes they told me to call back on a land line. After wading through 5 minutes again they put me through to someone who can’t exactly grasp the problem. This was almost certainly my fault - I am not the most articulate person on the planet, particularly on the phone. After a couple of tries she understands and goes off looking through her database. After another 5 minutes she says that I’d be better off talking to Apple. She forwards my call to them and hangs up. Problem is, Apple technical support isn’t yet open.

*sigh* c’mon guys, you must know when they’re open. Why forward me at all?

So, I’ll be calling Rogers back after 9 so if/when they forward me to Apple again I might actually be able to get somewhere.

Incidentally, the problem was so bad this morning that I couldn’t take more than 5 steps without it pausing. It even skipped tracks a couple of times. When I got in I tried swapping out my Bang and Olufsen headphones for an old pair I had in my desk. Same problem. I then tried a last-gen pair of iPod headphones that I keep for the gym and they worked a lot better. If I REALLY tried I could make it pause but I dont think it’d happen under normal circumstances. What’s more, the connection felt a lot more secure than either my B&O or desk headphones. Hopefully this is something they can correct for without having to send the device in to Apple.

So, Rogers has thrown another option into the iPhone pricing ring - a limted time $30/6gb offer.

This price seems pretty close to right for me - I could definitely live with it. I still can’t swallow the 3 year commitment, however. Given my history with phones (and iPods) I’m skeptical that I could make any device last 3 years, particularly one with a touch screen. Throw in a contractless option (or a more reasonable 1-2 year contract) and they’d have me sold.

So, the Canadian iPhone price plans have been announced. I’m not surprised in the slightest that Rogers once again decided to fleece their customers - 450MB cap? No unlimited plans? Three year contract?

Behold the power of the monopoly, folks. Sigh. Unfortunately, it’s JUST within the realm of tolerable for me. I need to find a way to talk myself out of it.