Mobile phones

Well, my rather nice little Orange San Francisco (a re-badged ZTE Blade) Android phone decided to stop working correctly. The microphone has failed. I can use the hands free stuff, but if I try to use the normal mic, I get the faintest noise possible.

 So, I decided it needs to be repaired. One small snag is that I rooted the phone and installed Android 2.2 in place of the awful Orange badged and themed locked down version of Android 2.1, which is stuffed full of Orange's own "apps" - all intent on taking cash from users. So of course I rooted it and removed all the excess crap - which speeds it up as well as improving the looks of the phone.

Anyway, the general concensus was that Orange would check the phone and refuse to fix it because it had been modified - even though the phone hardware was untouched and at fault!  I was prepared to argue the toss as a technician (but not for phones I must admit). There have been similar things with other companies in the past - e.g Asus and their "adding a stick of RAM voids the warranty" claim with the early EeePC. These attempts to take money from users by having their own people do upgrades etc are always found to be unacceptable when challenged.

Anyhow, I didn't want the hassle, so I wiped the phone and re-installed the basic Orange software back on (and boy! was it fugly!).
I then rang them - expecting a load of arguing and tales of how many months it will take to repair and how I would need to deliver it to the only service station in the UK which is situated in the Mull of Kintyre and I will need to deliver it wearing just a pair of boxer shorts ..... etc etc.
Amazingly, they apologised for the faulty phone, asked when would be convenient for the courier to collect the old phone and hand me a new one tomorrow!

Normally  I complain about these companies, but this is great customer service. Well done Orange!

Speeding Up -oh, and Movember

Looks like the trial for 4G has upped the cap on our speeds. Folks mentioning 11, 12 and 15Meg speeds, so I ran a speedtest.

Got 11.78Mbps down and 6.74 up, so yes, it does seem they have upped the download speeds.
Seems very reliable too - haven't had any probs.

On the Movember thing - I decided to join this charity thing to raise awareness of male cancer problems. It involves growing a moustache for the month of November, but of course, I already had one - so I shaved it off and began from a hair free face! Feel free to donate if you like - or just watch the page to see how I get on!

http://mobro.co/kernowyon