Telco customer service a pleasant experience

Personal

Well I have to say this is a first, an excellent experience about TelCo’scustomer service. After being shocked in my last post about security on a wireless providers web site I can now say that it’s not as bad as it seemed and customer service was “a pleasant experience”. I can’t believe I just said that cause being on that side of the conversation is not easy…. to a certain extent I live it every day.

As for the encryption issue on the website it would be preferable the site was encrypted rather than wrapping the data up, making the connection then sending, it is a little misleading to users. None the less after some testing and packet sniffing I went ahead with my port from CDMA to a GSM carrier. The phone arrived last Firday and since I was traveling over the weekend not much I could do. I went through this before and it was a frustrating experience. This time, maybe since it was wireless to wireless and not wired to wireless, it was much smoother.

When powering the phone on it comes up “SIM not provisioned”, a quick google notes to call customer service… this most notably happens with 3G SIM cards. So a call to Customer Service finds no record of my “new” account. This was not surprising since the automated option couldn’t find it and neither could the web activation. I figured it was part of the porting process. So here’s where things got interesting. Once connected with a rep from the porting team we proceeded to dissect every aspect of my signing up for service and acquiring a phone. The porting rep found a problem which appeared to be caused by my “stopping” a few weeks ago and not completing the sale when running into the page not being encrypted. Their were three pending orders under my name, not just one. Once that was fixed and the rep was able to attach my ported number to my account, however powering off and on again still showed the same message. A check in another place and ID’s from the phone/GSM card were attached to the account either, again caused by the issue with the three pending orders. Once that was done no error occurred when powering on.

At this point I was already impressed in each instance the rep took information, updated what was necessary and then checked to make sure what was done worked. How many times have you gotten “That should do it, if you have any other problems please let us know”, thanks alot have a nice day. To top this experience off their was one last surprise, I was told the port was complete. What !!! it was three weeks the last time. The rep commented they don’t ship the phone until the carrier accepts the port request, that was 9/26. So while I was on the phone the rep did two tests, I call another number and the rep calls my number. This of course with my old phone turned off … Icing on the cake. I don’t think I’ve ever had that attention to detail from a TelCo in 10 plus years of dealing with them, any of them. I’m an average consumer at $50 a month. The time on the phone was 35 minutes and never did I get a “call back if you have a problem”.

I could be a little premature but it is a good start.

Your SSN and the web

Technology,

Commerce on the internet is booming, 25 billion and growing. Every company offering their own membership card or some other kind of service to give you discounts, buy more, and get you in their database. Unfortunately to get “that card” or be a member they’ll perform a credit check, just as if you were purchasing a car or getting a loan. The internet is different this way since it is impersonal as you fill in blanks on a web page not interacting with a company representative face to face. Years ago when this type of commerce was in more of a learning stage companies were still trying to get a handle on what is sensitive information and what is not. We are reminded every once in a while big business can still overlook important details.

Today we know to look for the “lock” at the bottom of the screen, the https in the url line, these are signs that information is secure. One should always do that when purchasing anything on the internet. Even though coffee shops, hotels, book stores, and trendy bistro’s offer internet access I would be careful where there. Surfing is good but checking mail unencrypted, making purchases, signing up for promotions, anytime you’d be entering personal information … do it some place else, like at home or work. Believe it or not every character that is sent from the machine to the site when the url starts with http or the lock is unlocked can be read with the right software. A password here or a username there, it doesn’t take much for a person “with time on their hands” and an enterprizing mind to cause trouble.

So what’s the point you say ??? Today I thought it was a good time to switch wireless carriers so I could free my phone when the production model comes out. Currently I’m on a carrier that uses CDMA, the Neo will use GSM. So after checking coverage I went to that carriers web site and started the process. Picking a plan, then a phone .. just a “free” one cause in the end it’s the SIM card that I’ll need, and then transfering my number. This is where I stopped. Part of the sign up process required credit card and SSN information be entered. First time I’ve had to enter both but can certainly understand now days a credit check might be in order if your spending hundereds of dollars a month. My bill would never be that much but the site doesn’t know that so I can’t blame them. So after entering that info I get to the page that needs information about my existing carrier. As I fill in the blanks it’s asking for account info, password, and SSN. But the page is unencrypted !!!!, no lock, no https. I paused for a moment and thought a multi-billion dollar company asking for my most personal information and they don’t respect me enough to protect it when signing up. I don’t think so.

Although I’m excited about a truly open source phone I’m disapointed about what I’d have to do to get it. I’ll need to think about this since their’s only one GSM carrier that would be “worth” switching to … I may be waiting longer that I’d prefer to.

Dove watching … uhhh hunting

Personal,

On Thursday morning I left for a long weekend of dove hunting with my dad, uncle, and friends in Crowel, TX. My dad has been going for a number of years now but this was my first time. In fact it was the first time I picked up a gun since I was probably 8 or 9. Needless to say it was going to be an interesting couple days.

As dad was driving down from IL we met in Springfield, MO and I left the truck at an office the company I work for has there. It was a nice drive through MO on route 60, I didn’t realize they grew cotton ???? We drove to Chickasaw, OK stayed the night and went on to Crowel, TX Firday morning. After checking in to the motel and getting some lunch we headed out to where we were going to hunt, about 15 minutes away. When I use to travel for work I’d hit some rural areas every once in I while, it brought back the memories !!!

Thanks to my uncle who provided the gun and the box of clay pigeons for practice I got in a few shots before we went out. Weather was good but the birds weren’t flying that much, by 6:30pm I had shot about a dozen rounds but only pegged two. The two were questionable since one was wounded fluttering my way which made for an eazy shot. We headed back to camp for dinner that was deep fried fish, fries, hush puppies, a few dove, and apple cobler…. excellent.

Saturday morning it was up at 5:30am and out to the grounds by 6:00am. As we drove out on the property it started to rain so most of us came back to camp accept for a few die hards. Once the rain let up we headed back out about 8:00 but their wasn’t much action. We all came in for a late breakfast of eggs and ham, eggs and sausage and hashbrounds again food was really good. After drying out and new socks we went back out in the early afternoon. The rain in the morning did nothing to cool things off as it got very warm. Sitting in the field with little shade made for a roasting afternoon. So much so at about 3:00pm I headed back to the truck to cool off in the shade for about a half an hour. What made it worse was I maybe saw two or three dove the whole afternoon. By 5:00pm things started to pick back up and my dad got two late and I again hit a wonded bird fluttering by so maybe that was half a bird for me.

As we sat on the truck watching the sun set we had a visit from the game worden, very nice guy, and the dinner horn sounded. We headed back in for steak, veggies, and apple cobler… need I say it again. The birds may not have been flying, of course I really wouldn’t know as this was my first time, but spending time with my dad and the others was great. Everyone had to get back Sunday so we left for home about 6:30am. I was back in Nashville at 11:30pm, a long day driving but worth it.

In the end I probably watched them fly by more than actually hunting but you’ve got to start somewhere.

Traveling

Personal,

Work called last Sunday with a last minute trip to Portaland, OR. Off on Tuesday back on Thursday, quick trip but necessary. I met up with a couple others from the office in Dallas, TX on Tuesday afternoon and we made our way to Portland. We stayed close to the airport so their wasn’t much of a drive after we landed. Wednesday morning was somewhat eventful as we weaved through traffic and almost saw a bicycler get run over. Portland is well suited for those that want to bike to work but this was a little on the “to close” for comfort front.

An all day session on Wednesday and then it was back on a plane Thursday. A little diversion into Lubbuck as they had bad weather in Dallas which closed the airport for about a half hour so I was late connecting and getting into to Nashville. That put me home about two hours later than expected getting home but at least my flight from Dallas wasn’t canceled. I herd others were.

Ready for the extended weekend and will hopefully get some golf in as well as some hockey. It’s been two weeks since league play stopped so it’s time to get back on the ice.

Gotta love nature

Personal
Deer in the Yard

Late today their was a bit of a ruckus outside, normal when the cats next door are out as Cooper thinks he needs to “give them the business”. But much to my surprise when I popped my head out to shut him up what do I see in the yard but a young doe. Of course an animal of any kind gets Coopers’ attention so this was the cause of the ruckus. The doe didn’t really care just looked at us and kept on about it’s business. Deer are common in the neighborhood but the boys normally keep them from coming too close. Maybe they’re learning the boys aren’t much to worry about.

That’s the second deer we’ve seen in the last couple months, with fall coming on their could be more. Gotta love nature !!!