I have now canned my usage of Geekzone just short of 3000 posts and cleared out this blog.

Some of the relevent tech posts will remain indefinitely* but the rest is gone.

*Defined as a period of time until I can be bothered pulling them down or they become totally irrelevant.

Yes many posts were tests, either for IP aggregating, google juice such as "dodgy pizza" which netted a surprisingly large amount of click-thru's from the advertising, almost enough to cover a 1-year geekzone subscription alone.
All posts were based on factual events but some of these were written by the (ex) girlfriend at the time and were a bit crazy just like her.

Goodbye to all, it's been fun at times and frustrating at other times.






Other related posts:
Blog abandoned and many posts removed.
Google Earth installer without the "Update manager"
MNVO's, a sad history.

Attempting to install Google earth (Free) today into a custom OS resulted in severe pain as the old primary download had gone and been replaced with a "Download manager" which installed itself and then installed Google Earth on top, It would not install on my Custom OS but I still wanted Google earth.

I have never liked those "webstallers" so here is the actual link to get the proper stand alone installer obtained through sniffing and virtualization. (I love Virtualization)

http://74.125.10.20/edgedl/earth/client/GE5/release_5_1_0/GoogleEarth-Win-5.1.3509.4636.exe


Avast and Chrome were also doing the same thing, I'll post about these later.




Other related posts:
Blog abandoned and many posts removed.
Google Earth installer without the "Update manager"
MNVO's, a sad history.

This blog is officially deprecated, this info may vanish at any time.



Freedom. 1998-1998?
Remember the first revolutionary "No Hooks" no credit expiry date plan and chunky "Refurbished" 025 Motorola that was sold via The Warehouse.

Lasted about a year and suddenly went belly up.

GOLD. 1999-2004
After the failure of Freedon, The Warehouse introduced GOLD which was a similar system of one everyday rate and no credit expiry.

GOLD mobiles had the billing changed from GOLD to Telecom and then were integrated into Telecom mobile in about 2004 and the brand was withdrawn.


X-Cell. 1999-2005
Launched via Trustpower it later lived on being sold under Sky. Unicall, Reach
Became Reach mobile in is dying days and met the same demise as Reach wireless eventually

Phones suddenly stopped working in 2005 just like their wireless network and still remained half-connected but with no billing platform, SMS messages could then be sent free of charge for a good year or so but chargeable calls would vanish into nowhere. Calls could be placed through Yabba cards howver for about 80c per min at the time.


Pulsate. 2001-2002
Devised by Telecom to make 025 "cool" and has sponsorships, DJ events and a really neat web portal for it's day. It also introduced the hack to SMS to 021 mobiles and a 1c texing promo after 9PM

Pulsate was a standard Telecom Prepaid device anyway and simply became "Boost"


Boost. 2002-2007
An international "youth brand" introduced by Telecom to replace the in-house Pulsate brand it offered a range of text plans but lacked the awesome website offered by it's predesessor, It became famous for sponsoring Hip-Hip and was an on-net plan (027-027) priced.

Was withdrawn for the market late 2007 but the SMS-on-net plan still exists and is avialable to all Telecom customers as "boostTXT"

Telstra. 1998-2007
Vodafone resold plans under 029 numbers and not a true MNVO.

It all fell apart in 2007 and they defected to Telecom late 2007, this "new network" is nothing new by the way.

Telstra 2007
The only current MNVO that actually holds service. Runs upon the existing CDMA network.
Nice plans too that offer great rates and no "free minute scams with overage penalties"

*UPDATE* 2010 - April

Black and White - 2008
Launched off Vodafon'es new MNVO agreement, not very compelling rates so have been largely ignored.

Compass - 2008
Vodafone MNVO
Launched offering an amazing per-minute rate at just 25c per national voice/video minute plus a $20 monthly access fee.

Digital Island - 2009
Telecom CDMA MNVO
Will most probably range into XT when the agreement in in place. Little known about this.

Slingshot - 2009
Vodafone MNVO
Also offered 25c per min calling, only catch is full-minute-rounding but at 25c, you can harly complain.
$20 per month access also includes 20 national minutes and 100 SMS's
(My current GSM provider)

Telstra 2009
Vodafone MNVO
Was not offered the XT network by Telecom so have since defected back to Vodafone, this time operating as a true MNVO.






So far all MNVO's ahve been through Telecom. *update, vodafone offer some good deals now obviously with MNVO's offering 25c per min calls)

Hopefully this new wave of the Virtual Operators can make a success.



Other related posts:
Blog abandoned and many posts removed.
Google Earth installer without the "Update manager"
MNVO's, a sad history.

Forget this method now, visit

WWW.IPHONEWZEALAND.CO.NZ

As these methods probably don't work anymore and are more hassle than they are worth. iphonewzealand has done a very nice job of customising the bundles properly.


Note: This blog is deprecated, this may be removed at any time.





















Three Two methods

Method 1 -- Offline Sim swap.
Requires a non-VodafoneNZ Simcard.
Original attempt 13:20.07-11-2008, unsuccessful, 13:36.07-11-2008 Bingo!!!!!!

1. Insert a non-specified* Sim into the iphone, I used an old 02 simcard
2. Wait about 20 seconds for SIM initialisation, phone will indicate.
3. Head to : Menu > Settings > General > Network > and stay on this screen.
4. Remove this SIM.
5. Insert a SIM from VodafoneNZ (53001) and again wait for about 20 seconds for service.
6. Click on [Cellular data connection] now.
7. Under APN name, change the "iphone.vodafone.net.nz" to "www.vodafone.net.nz" or "internet" if you do not wish to see compressed images.
8. Hit Save.

You can now access data using your standard data plan including the PrePay $1 for 10MB pricing or the other open-term pricing plans.

Method 2 Really easy web config.
Requires an internet connection.

LennonNZ has made a fantastic page on Unlockit.co.nz

Method 3 The one which didn't work!!!!
Config the phone HERE.
Original attempt, 9:01.07-11-2008 AM Friday 11th July - Failed, 10:12.07-11-2008 aborted.




* Specified Carriers.

Claro_cl
Claro_sv
Comcel_co
EMT_ee
Hutchison_hk
Hutchison_mo
Mobistar_be
Optimus_pt
Optus_au
Orange_ch
Orange_li
Orange_pl
Orange_ro
Orange_sk
SingTel_sg
Softbank_jp
Sonera_fi
TIM_Italy
TMobile_nl
Telcel_mx
Telia_se
Telstra_au
Vodafone_cz
Vodafone_it
Vodafone_nz
Vodafone_pt
movistar_cl
movistar_co
movistar_ec
Telefonica_es
movistar_gt
movistar_pe
movistar_sv
movistar_uy



Please Tell me if you have no joy..

Other related posts:
Change the APN on the Apple iPhone 3g so you can use Prepay data, or any regular data plan.
MG Maps, using GPS and cached Google maps on the Nokia 6275 phone update.
Massive mobiles from yesteryear.

This is now so deprecated and I'd be very surprised if anyone is still using this model mobile any more.

the MG maps caches have since also been deleted too and I'm not about to go uploading them.

This blog is also abandoned but I'll leave this up here for now


Thanks to all the people whom left comments on my last posting about tweaking settings.
Here is a guide to getting the maps working successfully and using it as a cut-price mapping GPS (without auto-navigation)

Obtain a Nokia 6275.
Get a large SD card (they are cheap-as now so get a fast 1GB or 2GB) do not buy a larger or an SDHC, it will not work.

Collect the maps from:
(I may upload these locally)

Smaller maps, Main cities only 190MB Password is "geekzone"
ftp://geekzone@gwachigaan.com@gwachigaan.com/MGMapsCacheV1.2.zip

Larger 500Mb maps All of NZ 500MB Password is "geekzone"
ftp://geekzone@gwachigaan.com@gwachigaan.com/MGMapsCacheNZ.zip

Put the memory card into a PC,
make a folder like "a gps" to put the application and maps in.

Copy the map contents to the memory card into E:\a gps\MGMapsCache\ (E:\ is your memory card root directory) ensure you are not copying them to E:\a gps\MGMapsCache\MGMapsCache\

Select the entire folder and "hide all" files and folders using windows which will ask you "apply to all subfolders and files" tick YES.

put SD card back into the phone.

You need to download the offical "N95 signed version" of the MGMAPS application from the website.

http://wap.mgmaps.com/mgmaps_n95.jad
Doing this will cost you about $2.50 - $3.00 in Wap datacharges.

Save the Java file to some logical folder on the memorycard along that is not nested in another folder.
Open MGmaps on the device by heading into gallery, memorycard, a gps and run the mgmaps java app you just downloaded.

Allow to load, disallow network access.

Press left softkey, Press [7] for settings (pressing navigator select may not work)

Go into "Map browsing" (use usual select key)

Set options as following.

Map browsing settings:
[X] Remember pos
[X] Enhanced Panning
[ ] Low Memory
[X] Zip KML results
[X] Stored Maps
[X] Offline mode
Storage path:
E/a gps/MGMapsCache
Memory Cache (kB)
256

Save all settings, Head back one level,

Open "GPS SETUP"

go into "select device"

Select Internal (should already be active)

go back one level
Select "Mobile tracking"

Set as following.
Show your position on the phone:
[X] Show marker
[X] Move map
[X] Move at startup
[ ] 5Hz refresh
Refresh (sec):
1
Auto enable (sec):
30

The last option will take you and move the map back to the GPS location if you don't press any keys for 30 seconds after moving around, you can change this (I have it set to 320s)


Take the phone outside with clear wide view of the sky and await 10 minutes. press the "9" key and it should zoom in on your GPS location if not done automatically. Each lock thereafter will take between 2-5 minutes.
You can add extras to the main screen like Lat/Lon, speed and the like under "display"

Keys,

[5] changes between "joystick mode" and "normal mode

when joystick mode is active pressing the keys around like a game pad moves the map around
[1][2][3]
[4][5][6]
[7][8][9]


When joystick mode is not active the keys to the following
[1] Nothing
[2] Nothing
[3] Nothing
[4] Save favourite at current location
[5] Joystick mode toggle
[6] Compass
[7] rotaes map around
[8] Fullscreen/menubar toggle.
[9] Moves map to GPS location

Other related posts:
Change the APN on the Apple iPhone 3g so you can use Prepay data, or any regular data plan.
MG Maps, using GPS and cached Google maps on the Nokia 6275 phone update.
Massive mobiles from yesteryear.

I'm hearing that sound of the motor winding down momentarily and the clicking. Strangely enough though booting the PC (with my foot) brings it back to the real world for a few hours. This is my 250GB SATA "boot drive", The 1TB's is in an external eSATA case.

2 months later....

The thing is still clicking away, giving it a thump or boot when I cannot be bothered reaching down makes it work like a gem again for a few minutes or a few hours..

3 months later.....................

I now want to see how long the thing will take abuse even though I know it's just got to die soon. I'm starting to hit it rather hard now in the hope it will fail, might be time to visit comarades army supplies and get myself a nice set of Nokia boots. Yes Nokia still make their original rubber mainstay.


Quay, you have an order for some hard drives coming your way.

Other related posts:
weeerr Click. weeerr Click. weeerr Click, 3 months, 50 thumps, 20 boots, and she's still "ticking" in more ways that one.
When game piracy protection systems go wrong...... (Steam and Half-life2)
"convenience fee" for paying by credit card!

While trying to get hold of a woosh coverage map this afternoon, I phoned a few numbers. What I struck on one line surprised and shocked me. (actually it made me howl with laughter and was something I should expect, but it sounds good if I overdramatize it)

A recording: Play it twice just for good measure.

Other related posts:
Woosh are a bunch of B$%#$%'s

Well we all love the classic favourite "Brick phone"

(bad pics teken with Nokia 6275 as I cannot find real camera's charger! I'm buying a camera that takes regular AA's next time)


SEE! it's just massive.
Motorola brick sitting in intellicharge. (thanks NZBNW)

Wells it's just TOO portable.

This beast would give you a very sore arm rather quickly.

(1987 Mitsubish "Transportable") with Motorola brick on top. (thanks NZBNW)


Not big enough huh?

If there was one phone that makes any phone look "ultra sleek" then this is it.

(1967 Motorola Car Telephone that runs on a 16 channel Full Duplex system IMTS)



it's not the "brick" it's the original PAVING SLAB!


Circuitry is fully discreet! it was "fully transitorized" as most systems back then were still valve based.


This sucker is built like the Apollo 11 stuff, It's all shock mounted, through-hole eyelet and double redundancy PCB. The foam and casing has deteriorated over time but the internals look brand new.

This beast is Pre-cellular, but it was the first system to support direct dialling and full duplex operation just like a "real" telephone. Motorola have a sole old yellowed stock picture of one on their website but I'm wondering if there are any other actual devices around anywhere?






Other related posts:
Change the APN on the Apple iPhone 3g so you can use Prepay data, or any regular data plan.
MG Maps, using GPS and cached Google maps on the Nokia 6275 phone update.
Massive mobiles from yesteryear.

*update*
Machine still running, now running XP-64 bit and 4GB ram and a AMD 6000 chip.
Also now have 6 Terabytes of storage, yikes!



Recycling what parts from my old box I could, I have built a new machine for little more than the cost of the 1TB single drive I put inside.

Another AMD 3800+ chip (procured free)
ASUS M2V with Via chipset (It has 4 x PCI slots)
2 x 1GB DDR800 RAM (procured cheap ($80)
1 x 1TB SATA2 Seagate barracuda hard drive (terror bite) ($420)
1 x 250GB SATA2 Seagate barracuda hard drive (boot)
1 x Geforce 7600GT (sucks and is about to be replaced)
1 x WindowsXP Pro (I just needed another copy anyway) ($220)
1 x SBLive (with alternative KX drivers and special DSP) I just need to replace that noisy ac97 chip
What is to come, if this thing works reliably,

22" HDMI capable LCD display
8800 GTX or better 512MB+ videocard.
New higher spec AMD CPU.

So far it works great. no crashes or strange speed and timing glitches like with the previous box.
NTVDM still won't execute though I think this is purely CPU related.

And SO MUCH SPACE! I have a couple of spare 320GB drives as unnattached spares for backups.



Other related posts:
Change the APN on the Apple iPhone 3g so you can use Prepay data, or any regular data plan.
MG Maps, using GPS and cached Google maps on the Nokia 6275 phone update.
Massive mobiles from yesteryear.

It was game over for this pile of Junk. This is what happens to Craputers.

*update* I lied, this was not my machine, it was actually thrown-out on the side of the road (along with tools) and we used it for a film prop but it was too irresistable not to place up here. Somebody must have really had a bad day with it or had someone that really got their back up.






from left to right,
Large panelbeating hammer, 1 x Craputer, Standard hammer, old massive loppers which make great tin snips
Not pictured, Sledgehammer and pickaxe.


**UPDATE**, fixed image, sorry it's large but this blog is now terminated.


Other related posts:
When computers deserve to DIIIEEEEE!!!!!!
DRM FREE iTunes... Long last! shopping spree time.
Telecom Blunder again in "in touch"

*update, this plan is long well and truly dead. Telstra have defected back to Vodafone offering a better deal than this.

Vodafone MNVO GSM plan (Early 2010)

24 month term (or 12 months when you BYO handset)
$29 per month (when the free phone is supplied) -OR-
$20 per month (when you BYO you own GSM900/1800-WCDMA900/2100 phone)
29c per min national calling
500 national texts per month - any network
40c per min "Top 5" international calling
50c per MB (billed in 10KB increments)

Supplied phone - Nokia 2730 but any GSM 900 handset works.


Telecom MNVO CDMA plan

24 month term
$30 per month
29c per min national calling
500 national texts per month - any network
40c per min "Big 5" calling

Available on a single handset, the CDMA Nokia 6275i









OLD BizMobile plan that was this post's original post content.

This may be incorrect and the prices exclude GST but the plan seems to be very good value.

$30+GST rental
40c+GST per minute to NZ.
44c+GST to the "top 5" international destinations.
$1.05+GST to the rest of the world.
18c+GST per min for voice mail access. (this might be per call)


If you calculate this compared to the "free minute" plans and all the "smoke and mirror" offerings from other telcos. You will find this is actually very good "everyday business" value and comes without commiting to a huge minimum spend or nasty overage charges.

Other related posts:
Blog abandoned and many posts removed.
Google Earth installer without the "Update manager"
MNVO's, a sad history.

*update, I killed the blog, too many people were posting to it (But surprisingly the estranged grilfriend's "rubbish" posts aout fast food also netted by far the most advertising revenue)

*second update, I forgot to remove the actual drivvel above written by hers truly. Gone now.

Other related posts:
Blog abandoned and many posts removed.
Google Earth installer without the "Update manager"
MNVO's, a sad history.

The 6234 was constantly crashing and losing it's MicroSD connection somehow. it turns out the door was pressing slightly on the card when I grabbed the phone and the MicroSD would then go offline, crashing any video or picture being saved at the time and usually locking up the phone completely.

The 6234 has an external MicroSD slot with "Hot swap" funtionality.

When the phone is started, the UI iterrogates the card slot to check if there is a card, if none, the gallery option does not show up.

How it works...... You press in the MicroSD card and it actuates a switch.
you release it and the switch goes open, UI then interrogates to see if card there, and then load the directory structure.

When ejecting the card, pressing it in actuates the switch again, UI then stops interrogating the card immediatly and by the time you release it to click out, the UI has finished read/write operations and the card can be removed.



The big problem is that when the side of the handset is pressed even lightly, it's enough to press the card in just enough to depress the switch causing the UI to thinks the card has been removed and instantly stop read/write operations even though it's still firmly in it's slot.


FIX!!!

I know no-one will be quite this daring but here anyway.....

You need to open the phone carefully and cut out the detector switch end contact part which you can access from a little hole at the top of the card, thereafter if you remove the card in situ, the phone will have no idea it has been touched.

You gain absolute reliablilty, use the phone how you like from now on, pressing on the body of the phone will no longer press down on the card slot and crashing whatever application (video recording usually) was reading/writing to the card at the time. I have not had one problem since this change and the handset also now remembers all it's user settings like ringtones.

You lose the "hot swap" function so you need to power the phone off to remove and replace the card, like anyone ever does "hot swaps" with MicroSD anyway.. Well you can actually remove it of the phone is running totally idle (mine runs no simcard as I do not use Vodafone) but if you get a call or SMS and have it set to any ringtone on the card, the phone will then go looking for the memory-card and get rather confused.


Other related posts:
6234 microSD glitch and hacking it
How to get a liquid damage or water damage phone working again or extend it's lifespan if it takes a dip.
Sanyo M1 Review (telecom flip "media jukebox" with 2MP camera)

I have just purchased half-life 2 and proceeded to install assuming it would be a matter of install, install the SECUROM noCD patch and play-away......when I discoverd the b****** known as "steam"

I "Declined" to go near this "steam" and instead I am proceeding to tear the games to bits, so far I have gotten the files out of their horrid "steam powered" "wrappers" and am building up the game structure into a virtual directory and hoping it will work........


I wish i'd downloaded it illegally now, I think I might just do that next time......... A mate has a pirated copy so I might just burn his if I cannot rip it apart myself.. There goes all good intentions to legally purchase games..


*update, I finally tore the game apart and have been playing it steam-free. It plays perfectly, fires-up nealy instaltly and is very smooth.



Other related posts:
weeerr Click. weeerr Click. weeerr Click, 3 months, 50 thumps, 20 boots, and she's still "ticking" in more ways that one.
When game piracy protection systems go wrong...... (Steam and Half-life2)
"convenience fee" for paying by credit card!

If you have wet your phone or spilled some substance on it, these few pointers can avoid it being written off totally and save hundreds of Dollars.


First thing to do is RIP OFF THE BATTERY AND LEAVE IT OFF......

Fresh water damage....

Try and dry it ASAP using a towel or t-shirt externally.

Remove all the covers and any other parts like simcards or memory cards or open what you possibly can and get the thing and towel dry again.

Hold phone in hand and try and shake as much water from the unit as possible being careful not to throw it at the ground or high overboard..

If you have access to compressed air, Superb....do not aim it at speakers earpieces, mic holes and give it a good blast.

Then DRY the phone using a heat source no hotter than your hand (Hot water cupboard right near the piping, try attatching the phone body to a pipe with twistee ties) for at least 3 weeks continuously.
DO not be tempted to start it early or get impatient with it

The phone should now work without trouble. mics, displays and speakers will be most likely to fail.



Sea water damage

Remember to tear off the battery and leave it off.. if you do so right at the time of dunking, the phone can definatly be recovered somewhat. if you wait even 20 minutes, irrevirsable damage may occur.

Follow the above but I highly recommend a wash & clean as sea water is extremely corrosive so increase the heat you give it to "just to hot to touch but not enough to slowly cook an egg. to try and dry it sooner.

The phone will probably have a limited lifespan unless you wash the thing completely.
Salt residue has a tendency to attract further moisture.


Anthing else, especially sugary drinks and coffee.

You'll need to wash it.. no ther way.

follow steps above "on-site" but to not dry it out with heat just yet.

Sanyos need a Tri driver. good luck :-( try trademe
Panasonic VS.. usually need the same tri-driver so also search under this
Sharps need a 5-point Good luck :-( try trademe
Nokias need a Torx 6 and sometime Torx 5 (dick smith or hardware)
Samsungs use small philips (Jewllers set from DSE, usually $3)
Pantechs use small philips
LG use small philips



Take the phone apart, remove all speakers, mics, vibrators, cameras,

Ensure you get an earpeice, microphone and camera. some microphones like motorola and harrier are a small silver square thing on the board. you need to place tape and make sure it's sealed over these holes before washing.

Use a cleaning liquid like Easy off bam orginal or Shower-power and warm water. Apply stuff directly and give a gentle scrub and then dunk phone board and plasic parts with all bits removed in small container with warm water for 20 minutes... Scrub gently with a normal boring type toothbrush and then leave to soak for another 20 minutes and give a further scrub. do leave it in the water for any longer and it might rust.

Rinse thouroughly and towel dry. if you have compressed air, blast it with this..

Allow it to dry in heat for 1 week apart... Reassemble...

The phone should hopefully now be operational.




Other related posts:
6234 microSD glitch and hacking it
How to get a liquid damage or water damage phone working again or extend it's lifespan if it takes a dip.
Sanyo M1 Review (telecom flip "media jukebox" with 2MP camera)

Here are images of tonights lunar eclipse!

NOTE: images are redder than actual life in order to maximise the effect.


2000


2044


2055


2100


2105


2110

CLOUD COVER :-(
2120


2130


2135


2140 (gain set higher, This is near the limits of my camera. the remainder of the moon is this deep eerie reddish glow)



2145

2145a


2145b

Tripod time.


2150


2155


2200


2210


Trying to communicate with the moon people with Red and Green high-powered lasers.





That's all people, the moon is in almost full eclipse. I will post more images tomorrow (cloud pending) of the moon 2230 and at 2300


ENJOY!

(c) 2007 paradoxsm. Any commercial use is strictly prohibited. Any non-commercial use must be applied for but no fee will be charged.


Other related posts:
Photos of the Lunar eclipse taken 28 august 2007... ENJOY!
N95, The first thoughts & looks
Unreliable newfangled technogy is all buggy, locked-down bull***t

the latest in the legal scam's is charging customers a fee for "convenience" of paying by credit card. This is something employed by small computer shops with small margins but is always shown clearly.

Now Telecom are also refusing to absorb this fee for one off payments. (apparently a power company does too)

I phone telecom up to avoid my bill going overdue and paying the $7.50 "late fee" and ask to pay by credit card, i'm told there is this fee now "charged by the banks" which telecom passes on to the customer.
Then she tries to shove direct debit down my throat. I have so many direct debit forms from telecom as they send one out with almost every communication.

I pay the 20- something dollars only to find that they took 5 days to process it due to public holidays etc and charged me the late fee as well.

My next call was to telstra to get my homeline and broadband connected as their terms are just normal, bill and payment, and if you forget, they'll just remind you. (if you go overdue more than that you deserve to be cut off)

Info on the fee's

The late fee is $7.50 if your telecom bill is overdue by more than $20 at the time the bill is printed. That's a scary interest rate. This gripes me as they insist i pay in advance for base services as well.

The conveniene fee is charged when you wish to phone up and make a one off payment.
Telecom refuse to absorb the regular credit card charge instead passing it back to the customer.
There is no fee charge if on "direct debit" credit card payments.

American express 2%
Visa and master card 3%

Did we mention Telecom are obsessed with direct debit?

If any other companies employ this nasty tactic, please post!





Other related posts:
weeerr Click. weeerr Click. weeerr Click, 3 months, 50 thumps, 20 boots, and she's still "ticking" in more ways that one.
When game piracy protection systems go wrong...... (Steam and Half-life2)
"convenience fee" for paying by credit card!

If you own a Samsung W531.

LEAVE THE FLIP OPEN WHEN SEDNING A TXT UNTIL IT SAYS "MESSAGE SENT", same goes for photo messages to be sure......

Otherwise, your message goes into a "pending queue" and will not be sent until you send another message successfully! and then it might not send at all..

In the newer software AD13, your message is simply deleted if you snap it shut before "message sent".

You cannot add new words to the T9 Predictive, It's just not a properly supported feature in this handset.

The display will NOT light up of you press the side buttions in software version ZK20.
The display WILL light up in the newer software ZK13 however but this could cause battery degradation if you bump it a lot (easily done due to it's design too :-/)



A900 or A920 with bad battery life? Try turning off the "service light" and seeing if batterylife improves, it did greatly on the test phone (got almost a week out of it idle!)

Also, You cannot add new words to the T9 Predictive, It's just not a supported feature in this handset either.


This should cure most of the issues people are having with them.

Comment turned OFF due to past abuse sorry




Other related posts:
Change the APN on the Apple iPhone 3g so you can use Prepay data, or any regular data plan.
MG Maps, using GPS and cached Google maps on the Nokia 6275 phone update.
Massive mobiles from yesteryear.

Telecom have an  especially good deal, a Free samsung W531 on a 12 month Flexi plan.

Offer valid until June 21...

Superb value... total cost is about $360 in plan charges over 12 months.


Vodafone are offering a Free Motorola V3x handset to new connections on You-Choose-60 or higher.
The plan comes with 3 months free Choose 60 core plan charges, and free TXT2000 for a year.

"First mobile" are also offering the Nokia 6234 or Samsung z400 at $99 I belive on the same 24 month new connection to You choose 60, When I asked them about it however, the reception was not so inviting so be a little bit careful here, maybe I should not have flashed my N95 about.

Other related posts:
Free phones on contract plans, Telecom & Vodafone.

Released 5th July, the "World mode" allows customer to roam using their CDMA service or roaming SIMcard to most countries nationwide.

overall the simplified pricing does make things easier but SMS has risen sharpty and many call prices have risen (and some have dropped)

No longer will you need to have a UK number and then divert your calls to it (though was it that bad?)
Calling the UK mobile numbers was often much cheaper from NZ than calling a local mobile!


The bigggest killer is now Australia which has risen sharply.
also there is no indication as to which networks you can use at this stage..


New pricing            OLD pricing

Australia       
Inbound    $1.00            Inbound    $0.60 Better and also the most used.
NAT    $0.85 Better        NAT    $0.99 $1.59 first min
NZ    $0.85 Better          NZ    $0.99 $1.92 first min
INT    $5.00            INT    $????
SMS    $0.80            SMS    $0.20c Better (much better)


Canada, USA, UK, Nth Ireland, Scotland, Wales
Inbound    $1.00        US    Was $2.20
NAT    $1.25        US    Was $1.27 -> $1.71
NZ    $3.50        US    Was $1.93 -> $3.58
INT    $8.00        US    ???
SMS    $0.80        US    Was $0,20c

UK was.....40c LOC, 92c NAT, SMS 43c.

China, Hongkong, Singapore, Korea, Thailand, India, Fiji, Indonesia
Inbound    $1.00        China    Was $1.71
NAT    $2.00        China    Was $1.10
NZ    $4.50        China    Was $3.19
INT    $8.00        China    Was $????
SMS    $0.80        China    Was not available

Inbound    $1.00        India    Was $1.68
NAT    $2.00        India    Was $1.38
NZ    $4.50        India    Was $2.79
INT    $8.00        India    Was $????
SMS    $0.80        India    Was $0.20

Inbound    $1.00        Thail    Was $2.94
NAT    $2.00        Thail    Was $1.84
NZ    $4.50        Thail    Was $4.20
INT    $8.00        Thail    Was $????
SMS    $0.80        Thail    Was $1.36


Germany, Greece, Austria, France, Denmark, Sth Ireland, Italy,
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
Inbound    $1.00
NAT    $1.50
NZ    $4.00
INT    $8.00
SMS    $0.80

The Remainder

Zambia
Zimbabwe
Inbound    $1.00
NAT    $1.25
NZ    $3.50
INT    $8.00
SMS    $0.80

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Aruba
Azerbaijan
Bahamas, The
Bahrain
Baker Island
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belize
Benin
Bermuda
Bhutan
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Cayman Islands
Chad
Chile
Colombia
Congo (Kinshasa)
Cook Islands
Costa Rica
Côte d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Dominica
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Estonia
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)
Faroe Islands
Finland
French Polynesia
Gabon
Gambia, The
Georgia
Ghana
Gibraltar
Grenada
Guam
Guatemala
Guernsey
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
Iran
Iraq
Isle of Man
Israel
Jamaica
Jarvis Island
Jersey
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Laos
La Reunion
Latvia
Lebanon
Liberia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macau
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Mauritius
Mexico
Midway Islands
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Monseratt
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Nepal
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
San Marino
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Slovakia
Slovenia
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Togo
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turks and Ciacos
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Vietnam
Virgin Islands, U.S.
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe



And lastly, the pricing for using your o2 simcard on VodafoneNZ?

rec call $1.29
made call $2.49
sms msg $1.01

data is about $20 per meg.




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