I'm faced with the 50/50 chance of actually being able to receive calls or texts on my Treo 650.
Some of you may be aware that the Treo 650 will reset itself when a call or text is received - with no record of who was attempting to contact you. (this was mentioned in a closed post from last year - http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=39&TopicId=9020)
I first encountered this problem late last year, and became suspicious of a software/network bug after receiving several courtesy calls from Telecom marketers asking if everything was OK (I'm not a big spender, and wouldn't have ordinarily attracted this kind of 'attention').
According to the network engineers I've spoken to, TNZ could apply a band-aid, but the cost outweighs any benefits (customer satisfaction). In the interests of maintaining a spotless veneer, it appears that Palm and TNZ will blame each other, until Treo 650 customers quietly fade away.
In the meantime, the problem seems to be getting worse. I'm unsure whether incoming 021 comms cause a higher rate of reset, but I'll speculate that this could be the case. It has also been suggested that location (ie different towers) have some influence, but not in my experience.
So, it appears that the options for TNZ are:
- Acknowledge they can't supply a suitable service to this product and provide a free/discounted upgrade
- Convince their third-party insurer that Palm is to blame, and provide a free upgrade (enter lawyers, stage left)
- Negotiate an upgrade appropriate to the customers 'worth', and never acknowledge anything
- Acknowledge the inconvenience to users of supplying phones that don't work, and provide a free/discounted upgrade.
Option 2 is interesting, in the fact that the Treo's are now shipped with the Windows OS, so blame will rest on a mobile OS that Telecom is abandoning. I'm sure Palm and TNZ could spin this to their mutual advantage.
Anyway, I'm awaiting TNZ's solution to my dilemma. I just hope I don't have to 'dangle the toddler' to get a timely response (cue John Goulter, stage right).
Will keep you posted.
