We have all brands of Mobile Phones,Ipods,Sidekicks,Nextels phone,Laptops for sell at cheap and
affordable prices, they ranges from Nokia/Samsung/LG/Sony
Ericsson/Motorola/Alcatel/panasonic With Bluetooth, all
Brands and Models of Nextel Phones, we want you to get back
to us with your quote so that we can begin a good business
relationship. Note they are all Brand New T2 Euro specs,
unlocked, no operator logo, come in their
original sealed box, With 1 year international warranty
from the manufacturer, English & Spanish manual, Finland
made.
We want to assure you that you will never regret buying
from us because the delivery will be to your doorstep via
FedEx Courier service.And the Tracking number shall be sent
to you upon acknowledgement of your payment.
Kindly acknowledge the reciept of our mail and get back to
us at jennyclacksonmobilestore@hotmail.com
NEXTEL 1930 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$120USD
NEXTEL 1960 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$130USD
NEXTEL i870 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$140usd
NEXTEL i450 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...90usd
NEXTEL I830 FOR A VHEAP PRICE OF.....$100USD
NEXTEL 1860 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$105USD
SAMSUNG SCH i830 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$220USD
SAMSUNG MM-1940 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$190USD
SAMSUNG SGH D307 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF..$180USD
SAMSUNG SGH D720 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$170USD
SAMSUNG D500 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$160USD
MOTOROLA V3 RAZ FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$130USD
MOTOROLA MPX 220 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF $120USD
MPX 300 FOR CHEAP PRICE OF...$150USD
SIDEKICK 2 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$120USD
SONYERICSSON P990 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$210USD
SONYERICSSON W900 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$190USD
SONYERICSSON Z500a FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$180usd
SONYERICSSON Z520 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$190USD
SONYERICSSON P910 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$140USD
SONYERICSSON P800 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$130USD
SONYERICSSON K750i FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$110USD
NOKIA 9500 COMMUNICATOR FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$180USD
NOKIA 9300 COMMUNICATOR FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$150USD
NOKIA N70 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF $130USD
NOKIA N80 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF $150USD
NOKIA N90 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF $160USD
NOKIA N91 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF $170USD
NOKIA N92 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF $190USD
NOKIA 7360 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$170USD
NOKIA 7370 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$180USD
NOKIA 770 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$160USD
NOKIA 6682 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$150USD
NOKIA 7380 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$200USD
NOKIA 8800 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$130USD
NOKIA E60 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$160USD
NOKIA E61 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$180USD
PAMTERO 600 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$120USD
PAMTERO 650 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF...$150USD,
XBOX 360 FOR A CHEAP PRICE OF............$200USD
for more details contact jennyclacksonmobilestore@hotmail.com

Dear Sir/Ma,
We are MANCHESTER ELECTRONICS LTD. We are dealers
of mobile phones (wholesalers and Retailers).We deals on all brands and
models
of mobile phones such as Nokia,Motorola,Samsung,Sony
Ericsson,Sagem,Nextel,Sidekick II,Sprint and many more at very cheap
prices.
We are using this medium to look for buyers of mobile phones. Do kindly
contact us if you are interested and as you do you will be glad as we
shall
serve to your satisfaction, you can reach us through our email:
garryone123@hotmail.com tel: +447024062548.

Prize Lists
Nokia 1100-- US$55
Nokia 2100-- US$45
Nokia 2300-- US$60
Nokia 3100-- US$65
Nokia 3108-- US$60
Nokia 3200-- US$75
Nokia 3230-- US$95
Nokia 3300 - US$85
Nokia 3310-- US$25
Nokia 3315-- US$29
Nokia 3330-- US$30
Nokia 3350-- US$35
Nokia 3410-- US$35
Nokia 3510-- US$40
Nokia 3510i-- US$45
Nokia 3530-- US$50
Nokia 3595-- US$45
Nokia 3610-- US$55
Nokia 3650-- US$185
Nokia 3660-- US$195
Nokia 5100-- US$65
Nokia 5140-- US$110
Nokia 5210-- US$40
Nokia 5510-- US$105
Nokia 5550-- US$50
Nokia 5170iR-- US$39
Nokia 6020-- US$130
Nokia 6670-- US$105
Nokia 6630-- US$175
Nokia 6100-- US$80
Nokia 6108-- US$90
Nokia 6220-- US$105
Nokia 6230-- US$110
Nokia 6260-- US$135
Nokia 6310-- US$69
Nokia 6310i-- US$70
Nokia 6500-- US$60
Nokia 6510-- US$60
Nokia 6600-- US$135
Nokia 6610-- US$80
Nokia 6630-- US$175
Nokia 6170-- US$145
Nokia 6650-- US$82
Nokia 6800-- US$105
Nokia 6820-- US$110
Nokia 7200-- US$185
Nokia 7210 Turquoise--
US$100
Nokia 7230-- US$120
Nokia 7250-- US$120
Nokia 7250i--
US$120
Nokia 7260-- US$135
Nokia 7280-- US$155
Nokia 7600--
US$165
Nokia 7610-- US$195
Nokia 7650-- US$160
Nokia 8250-- US$65
Nokia 8310-!
 - US$90
Nokia 8910 Titanium-- US$160
Nokia 8910 Blac!
 k-- US$1
65
Nokia 8910i-- US$185
Nokia 8890-- US$115
Nokia 8800--
US$220:00
Nokia 8850 Special Edition-- US$105
Nokia 8850 Gold Edition--US$120
Nokia 8855-- US$125
Nokia 9210 Communicator-- US$195
Nokia9210i Communicator-- US$195
Nokia N-Gage-- US$110 Nokia 9300
(communicator)-- US$200
Nokia 9500 (communicator)-- US$210
SonyEricsson P800-- US$155
Sony Ericsson P900-- US$205
Sony Ericsson
P910i-- US$210
Sony Ericsson T20e-- US$35
Sony Ericsson T20s-- US$39
Sony Ericsson T28s-- US$39
Sony Ericsson T28 World-- US$45
SonyEricsson T29s-- US$49
Sony Ericsson T100-- US$30
Sony Ericsson T105--US$35
Sony Ericsson T200-- US$45
Sony Ericsson T230-- US$55
SonyEricsson T300-- US$55
Sony Ericsson T310-- US$50
Sony Ericsson T600--US$69
Sony Ericsson T610-- US$130
Sony Ericsson T630-- US$135
Sony Ericsson T68i-- US$105
Sony Ericsson T68m-- US$110!

Nokia n92..............$210usd
Nokia N70..............$140usd
Nokia N71..............$155USD
Nokia N90..............$180usd
Nokia N91..............$200usd
Nokia n80..............$200usd
Nokia 6682.............$180usd
Nokia 6830.............$160usd
Nokia 7700.............$130usd
Nokia 1110.............$105usd
Nokia 1600.............$115usd
Nokia 2125.............$125usd
Nokia 2255.............$100usd
Nokia 3128.............$100usd
Nokia 5140i............$125usd
Nokia 6101.............$135usd
Nokia 6030.............$100usd
Nokia 6060.............$110usd
Nokia 7280.............$127usd
Nokia 7600.............$90usd
Nokia 7610.............$100usd
Nokia 7710.............$110usd
Nokia 810..............$125usd
Nokia 8800.............$135usd
Nokia 8910i............$145usd
Nokia 9210i............$142usd
Nokia 9300.............$145usd
Nokia 9500.............$170usd
Nokia N Gage QD........$128usd
O2 3G Datacard.........$127usd
Orange Blackberry......$200usd
Orange 3G Datacard.....$165usd
Orange SPV C500........$145usd
Orange SPV M2000.......$134usd
Panasonic X60..........$129usd
Panasonic X70..........$134usd
Panasonic X300.........$124usd
Panasonic X700.........$152usd
Samsung D410...........$145usd
Samsung D500...........$160usd
Samsung d500...........$180usd
Samsung E310...........$134usd
Samsung E330...........$132usd
Samsung E600...........$128usd
Samsung E630...........$123usd
Samsung E700...........$125usd
LG 8150................$156usd
LG 8150................$145usd
LG G8000...............$134usd
MDA4...................$130usd
Mitac MIO 8930.........$280usd
Motorola A600..........$146usd
Motorola A630..........$148usd
Motorola A760..........$150usd
Motorola A780..........$154usd
Motorola A840..........$162usd
Motorola E1............$134usd
Motorola MPX...........$125usd
Motorola MPX100........$120usd
Motorola MPX300.,......$115usd
Sony Ericsson J210i....$120usd
Sony Ericsson J300i....$122usd
Sony Ericsson K300i....$123usd
Sony Ericsson K508i....$132usd
Sony Ericsson K600i....$128usd
Sony Ericsson K608i....$127usd
Sony Ericsson S600i....$134usd
Sony! Ericsson V600i...$132usd
Sony Ericsson V800i....$137usd
Sony Ericsson W800i....$140usd
sony Ericsson w600i....$138usd
sony Ericsson p910i....$140usd
Nextel i930............$130usd
Nextel i870............$120usd
Nextel i860............$110usd
treo 600...............$150usd
Treo 650...............$160usd

feel free to contact us by E-mail:julietmobile02@yahoo.com

You don't tell us what kind of phone you've got, or what network you're with, (either of which would have been kind of helpful.) This is the kind of information that most carriers deal with for free on their technical helplines. "BRPS"? Are you sure that's not "GPRS"? If so, it's a secondary channel, intended for moving data around at a high speed than the channel used for voice calls. You also don't tell us where you ARE - if it's somewhere where the carriers don't use GPRS (and there are many such places) then you'll get a "no signal" message. For most users, this is no big deal... unless you like sending MMS "photomessages". They're transmitted using the GPRS signal.

i was unable to accesss my inbox,picturesand sounds.what do i do to access these packages from my phone?
Also,i am unnable to make snaptures and save it .what is wrong;and phone keeps writing that the BRPS coiuld not be opened .what does it mean?

By ringing customer support. If it's on Virgin (which most Sendo 330's seem to be) and if a PAYG a/c has been "topped up" by a total of at least £30, or accumulated pay-monthly charges are over £30, Virgin will unlock it for free. Pity none of the other carriers share the policy. Most charge between £20-£25.

how do u unlock a sendo s330 for nothing?

Further developments in the Sendo vs Microsoft case are discussed here

It looks like the new date for the Microsoft hearing is in about two weeks, by the way...

Edited by author 06-18-2003 05:31 AM
Thanks for posting that.

Incidentally, if you want to post comments, you can use standard HTML tags to mark your parts in Italic typescript if you like or even bold typeface if you prefer Or if that doesn't work for you, you could even try underlining the text if you want to emphasise something.

For example, <b>Here's some bold text</b>, or <u>Here's some underlined text</b>.

But please DON'T SHOUT!

:-)

Guy

FAO Guy Kewney

IM NOT GOING TO GET INTO A SLINGING MATCH WITH YOU SO I WONT POST ON THIS TOPIC AGAIN. I DIDNT INTEND TO RIDICULE YOU, I FELT YOU WERE BLAIMING MODACO RATHER UNFAIRLY, AFTER ALL THE MODACO FORUM IS PROVIDING ALOT OF HELP TO MANY PEOPLE WITH SPV'S. I ATTEMPTED TO CLARIFY POSTS YOU HAD MADE AS THEY DIDNT HAVE FULL TRUTHS. I HAVE DONE SO AGAIN BELOW. FIRST IS EXTRACTS FROM YOUR STATEMENT THEN MY BITS IN CAPS AFTER IT.

1) The Microsoft newsgroup is "synched" to the Modaco forum - and the newsgroup posting claims "ALSO" to have recieved the email. As the email has now been revealed as a hoax... that makes the poster a liar, because NOBODY recieved it. The spurious email was posted - in full - within a few minutes at both Modaco and on the Newsgroup - around 4.30pm on Friday 13th. So, if it DID start on the newsgroup, someone jumped the gun - claiming to "also have recieved" something not yet claimed in the other place.

I DONT KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF THIS TO ME IT SOUNDS LIKE A LEAK FROM O, BUT I DONT KNOW. EVEN IF BOTH WERE POSTED AT OR ABOUT THE SAME TIME WHY BLAME MODACO? YOU HAVE SAID YOURSELF IT WAS ON THE NEWSGROUP FIRST. MODACO AND THE NEWS GROUP TEND TO SHARE USERS, SO WHEN SOMEONE READS ON ONE IT TENDS TO GET TRANSFERED TO THE OTHER.

2) Orange allow people to "unlock their phones" in exchange for a FEE.

DEPENDS WHAT YOU MEAN UNLOCK. IF YOU MEAN UNLOCK TO ANY NETWORK, THEN YES YOU HAVE TO PAY. SOFTWARE UNLOCKING CAN BE DONE FOR NO FEE OVER THE ORANGE WEB SITE.


3) As recently as January this year, Orange were issuing "formal warnings" to tech support reps if they commended Modaco to customers. I know because in January I WAS a TSR, and I received such a formal warning.

MAYBE BUT IVE SERTANLY SPOKE TO PLENTY WHO SAY THEY PROMOTE MODACO. I KNOW MANY ORANGE STAFF USE MODACO TO (EXPECIALLY IN THE EARLY DAYS) AS MODACO USERS COULD SOLVE PROBLEMS CUSTOMER SUPPORT HADNT EVEN SEEN BEFORE.

4)Unless things have changed dramatically, the only Orange Website that is linked to Modaco is the English language section of Orange (Switzerland) SA's SPV "hints and tips" page. That certainly was the state of play in February - and in January Orange issued a press release condemning the availability of tutorials on how to "decertify" the SPV - they didn't mention Modaco by name, but everyone knew who they meant.

MODACO WAS NOT THE SOURCE FOR PHONE UNLOCKING NOR IS IT THE ONLY SITE THE INFORMATION IS AVAILIBLE FROM. ITS TRUE IT IS THE BIGGIST SMARTPHONE FORUM, BUT THAT’S BECAUSE THERE IS A WEALTH OF INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON IT TO SOLVE MANY PROBLEMS. AS I RECAL IT WAS A SWEEDISH GUY WHO FIRST FIGURED OUT HOW TO SOFTWARE UNLOCK THE SPV, AND THAT WAS PUBLISHED ON THE MICROSOFT NEWSGROUP LONG BEFORE MODACO AND THE NEWGROUP WERE SYNC'ED

ALSO AS I RECALL, THE NETWORK UNLOCK PROGRAM WAS FIRST POSTED ON A FRENCH WEB SITE, A WHILE BEFORE ANYONE ON MODACO PICKED UP ON IT.


At that time, telling a customer how to reset their SPV was grounds for *summary dismissal* by Orange - yet the information was freely available from the Modaco site.

NEVER HEARD THAT BEFORE, BUT FIND IT ANNOYING THAT ORANGE WOULD PREVENT PEOPLE TAKING ACTION TO SORT THERE PHONE, EXPECIALLY WHEN THE SPV IS SO PRONE TO GETTING ‘CLOGGED UP’ DUE TO THE OS AND THE FUNCTIONALITY.
 
Somehow... I don't think it's ME that's not in full possession of the facts.

THAT REMAINS TO BE SEEN IN MY OPINION.

FAO Ian.S
1) The Microsoft newsgroup is "synched" to the Modaco forum - and the newsgroup posting claims "ALSO" to have recieved the email. As the email has now been revealed as a hoax... that makes the poster a liar, because NOBODY recieved it. The spurious email was posted - in full - within a few minutes at both Modaco and on the Newsgroup - around 4.30pm on Friday 13th. So, if it DID start on the newsgroup, someone jumped the gun - claiming to "also have recieved" something not yet claimed in the other place.
2) Orange allow people to "unlock their phones" in exchange for a FEE. The ONLY UK telco to unlock phones at no charge is Virgin. Orange also require a payment for every month of unexpired contract. As contracts run for a year, there aren't any SPV's in the UK to which this does NOT apply.
3) As recently as January this year, Orange were issuing "formal warnings" to tech support reps if they commended Modaco to customers. I know because in January I WAS a TSR, and I received such a formal warning.
4)Unless things have changed dramatically, the only Orange Website that is linked to Modaco is the English language section of Orange (Switzerland) SA's SPV "hints and tips" page. That certainly was the state of play in February - and in January Orange issued a press release condemning the availability of tutorials on how to "decertify" the SPV - they didn't mention Modaco by name, but everyone knew who they meant. At that time, telling a customer how to reset their SPV was grounds for *summary dismissal* by Orange - yet the information was freely available from the Modaco site.

Somehow... I don't think it's ME that's not in full posession of the facts.

sorry for multi posts, im having server trouble today.

Yes, I've had the same statement - it's up now. Still doesn't prove that Orange isn't doing trials of a non-Microsoft smartphone. In fact, I pretty much guarantee it is. But Julian Hope seems not to be the guy who authorised that email.

My suspicion? He will be in charge of a Sybian smartphone trial, and the email was accidentally sent out when someone failed to cancel it - but that's just my suspicious mind!

FAO Ron Walker

I feel I should add light to some comments you have made.

Modaco wasn’t the original place that decertifying was published, it was actually in the Microsoft newsgroup, someone from there then posted it onto modaco.

Orange allow people to unlock there phones over there own web site for free, no need to register. although you do have to agree to the terms and conditions.

I was under the impression orange and Microsoft were supporters of modaco, and orange even have a link to the modaco web site on there own web site.

Whether there is a conspiracy or not I believe that is a matter for orange and modaco, not for those not if full possession of the facts.

Which in reading your comments i believe you definitely are not.

FAO Ron Walker

I feel I should add light to some comments you have made.

Modaco wasn’t the original place that decertifying was published, it was actually in the Microsoft newsgroup, someone from there then posted it onto modaco.

Orange allow people to unlock there phones over there own web site for free, no need to register. although you do have to agree to the terms and conditions.

I was under the impression orange and Microsoft were supporters of modaco, and orange even have a link to the modaco web site on there own web site.

Whether there is a conspiracy or not I believe that is a matter for orange and modaco, not for those not if full possession of the facts.

Which in reading your comments i believe you defiantly are not.

FAO Ron Walker

I feel I should add light to some comments you have made.

Modaco wasn’t the original place that decertifying was published, it was actually in the Microsoft newsgroup, someone from there then posted it onto modaco.

Orange allow people to unlock there phones over there own web site for free, no need to register. although you do have to agree to the terms and conditions.

I was under the impression orange and Microsoft were supporters of modaco, and orange even have a link to the modaco web site on there own web site.

Whether there is a conspiracy or not I believe that is a matter for orange and modaco, not for those not if full possession of the facts.

Which in reading your comments you are not.

Cut and pasted from Modaco:

"Received this from neil ashley at O.
"Hello.
I've received a number of emails over the past few days, presumably because Julian Hope's vacation message suggests contacting me in his absence. Unfortunately, this relates to something in which neither Julian nor myself have involvement. The following statement should clarify the situation;

A number of Orange customers have received an email which claims to be from Orange inviting them to participate in a trial of the new Orange SPV handset.

While this information appears to have been sent by the Orange trials team, it was not generated by Orange.

The next version of the SPV, the SPV E100 will be launched in the UK in July. All trials of this handset are now complete.

Orange very much regrets any disappointment caused to our customers by this misleading email and we are conducting a full investigation into its origin."

IP numbers and full details have been passed on to Orange by Modaco. Conclusion, someone somewhere's for the highjump. Nobody's confirming that this wasn;t "just a prank", but... they're not denying it either.

Maybe Julian had taken some time during his break to tell some of his mates about a really good trick... maybe he has some proposals to put forward at work about handsets or security for that matter which would be much better received after such an incident... Maybe he just didn't plan on his mates using him as the recipient at Orange...


who knows... but it does seems to be playing to Oranges benefit at the moment...

More info: it seems that the original hoaxer joined the Modaco forum on 13th June they did so under the name "SPVlover", and posted three messages - the original hoax email, another telling people to sign up, a third drawing attention to the mail in another thread, and UNDER ANOTHER NAME ("Chris D") repeated the scam through a newsgroup synched with Modaco, claiming to have "also recieved the same email". All in all, a very busy bunny around teatime on Friday, but also a VERY well planned, slick operation; quite the opposite of the usual hoax profile. This chap was clever, and reasonably well educated. He also looks to be a techie of some kind.

Modaco have been something of a thorn in Orange's paw for quite some time - while not mentioned by name, Orange have put out press releases denouncing release of instructions on how to "decertify" the phone (it's "locked" and should ONLY run Orange-approved and licensed software. Unlocked it'll run it approved or not)If you want to unlock or SIM unlock your SPV, Modaco has long been the place to look. And its membership is now 8000+ - more than 10% of all SPV users worldwide. So, I'm left wondering if this is more than a "jape"; could it be the act of an "Agent provocateur" to give Orange the excuse to take legal action?
Whoever it was, and whyever they did it... they seem to have been aware of Julian Hope's holiday schedule, and that he'd not be around to rubbish the hoax. How DID they know? Who HAS access to that kind of info?

Sounds like a disgruntled orange employee!

"Interesting about the GPRS price. I know I recommended people to sign up for it because of the low cost deal. Nobody actually complained to me! - I suppose, probably, because Orange sorted it out."

"Registering" a new phone is normally a fairly simple process. With the SPV however it required several different steps to be fed into a geriatric (DOS?) program written as a "stopgap solution" back when Orange had a million customers. The clerk needed to add GPRS, MMS and the "SPV Value Pack" each as a separate process, and some of those options are found buried deep in "nested menus". A significant proportion of the people tasked with the job never DID seem to find "SPV Value pack", and so customers that they'd registered got billed full whack at the "PAYU" rate (which I seem to recall was £10 per megabyte) When tghe bill arrived, they'd ring up to complain, and they'd get a refund. But in the early days, a significant proportion of calls relating to the SPV were down to things simply "not being switched on for that accound at the exchange." When someone asked WHY their phone wouldn't send MMS messages, you KNEW the answer even before you'd checked. Not a techie problem... but because the phone's a/c hadn't been "flagged" as MMS capable. Due to a screwup somewhere in the system, the registration software initially refused to believe that the SPV *WAS* MMS capable - and the error message had to be over-ridden. But I don't think anyone ever explained that to the registration people...

The original source of the email was the Modaco forum, where a new member (named "Mr Morris" in the mail) claimed to have received it - he also (in another post) exhorted people to "get their replies in fast", and planted a seed in another thread drawing peoples' attention to his original post. The thread has now been deleted in its entirety, so I conclude that you're correct - it HAS now been exposed as a hoax.

Question remains of motive. This was a VERY polished job. Hoaxes are usually badly spelled, ungrammatical, and refer to important officials who don't exist. This one was better spelled and more grammatical than GENUINE Orange output, and included authentic Orange "Boilerplate" text. And it not only referred to a genuine Orange Official, but seemed to be aware that he would be unavailable to expose the hoax for what it was. So, not the usual hoax profile. Was the target Orange? Was it a cruel prank played by a colleague on Julian Hope? Was it an attempt by an Orange employee to discredit Modaco?
WELL? Guy - you're the "investigative journalist"! We rely on you for answers!

Having spoken to orange business services who spoke to Jullian Hope, apparently his inbox is full of questionaires he knows nothing about. The handset exists but there are no plans for a public beta. Im waiting for a call back from my account manager.

You seem to be categorically certain that this IS a hoax - can we ask what makes you think so? I've seen the same email elsewhere. Julian Hope is alledgedly on holiday until 30th. If he is, then how do YOU know his opinions?

Edited by author 06-16-2003 07:20 AM
Nice hoax Guy! Julian Hope is really impressed

Guy > Where do we send this questionnaire?

have emailed you asking for an email address already.

cheers.

Interesting about the GPRS price. I know I recommended people to sign up for it because of the low cost deal. Nobody actually complained to me! - I suppose, probably, because Orange sorted it out.

Anyway, since I'm going to bbe out of the office this morning, I thought I'd post the "questionnaire" to save people phoning me from Malaysia in the middle of tonight they way they did last night! :-)

=========
We will shortly be running a four-week trial to selected Orange customers and would like to invite you to apply to take part. For this preliminary trial, we will be selecting triallists based on their usage of specific Orange services and currently-owned hardware.

Successful trialists will be provided with a prototype of the forthcoming SPV and will be transferred to a promotional tariff including free
of charge GPRS data and inclusive text and photo messaging bundles for the duration of the trial. Triallists will be expected to complete questionnaires throughout the duration of the trial and must return the equipment when instructed to do so.

As a token of our appreciation, triallists will receive a voucher for a free upgrade to the launch version of the new SPV and activation of a new promotional SPV pack. Further details of the SPV pack and information on how to redeem your voucher will follow.

If you would like to apply, can you please fill in the following short questionnaire so we can determine your suitability for this trial.
Please return the questionnaire to julian.hope@orange.co.uk.

Orange is looking to recruit as many suitable triallists as possible, although we may only be able to accommodate up to 300 trialists for the first wave.
We would therefore like to encourage you to extend this invitation to any colleagues or friends who may also be eligible to apply.

Orange SPV2 trialist questionnaire

Are you a Pay Monthly or Pay as you go customer?

Which model of phone do you currently own?


Do you own a home computer?

If so, please provide brief details of the model and operating system
below.



Which of the following connectivity methods does your computer have:
 Infrared
 Bluetooth
 USB
 Serial




Do you own a PDA or handheld computer?

If so, please provide brief details of the model and operating system
below.

Which of the following connectivity methods does your PDA or handheld computer have?

Infrared
Bluetooth
USB
Serial
Don't know


Do you regularly use any of the following Orange services
Text messaging
Photo messaging
Reading emails using the email client on your phone
Browsing WAP
Browsing the internet on your phone




If you use WAP, which Orange WAP services do you regularly use
Orange email (orange.net)
Find my nearest
News and Weather
Cinema
Your page
Downloadable ringtones and sounds
Downloadable logos and pictures
Games

Do you use your phone as a modem to access the internet on another
device?

If so, do you usually connect using
Dialup (circuit-switched data)
HSCSD
GPRS

Do you use your mobile phone to send or receive faxes?



 

Do you own a Bluetooth headset? If so, please state the model.

 ==========

One of the unanswered questions about the SPV is "why the hell did they launch it late last year?" Because - ask any techie who bought one - what GOT launched was quite clearly a late-Beta version of an unfinished product. It was SUPPOSED to have included an FM radio (I think the box still says it does) and it was SUPPOSED to be able to be used as a wire-free modem. But the hardware arrived in the stores months before the drivers required to make it work. The people who "register" the phones onto the network were half-trained, so that a significant proportion of phones didn't get signed up for a complete collection of network features (like MMS and GPRS) and more again didn't get signed up for the cheap GPRS package (but assumed they had been, and used their phones acordingly - to be greeted by massive bills, apologies, and refunds) It all has the hallmarks of a shotgun wedding, rushed down the aisle on the way to the maternity ward. Despite being an "insider" at the time, nobody was willing to tell me "why the hurry?" A coincidental 9 months later, we have the SPV Mark two, which seems to differ in having a better screen, bigger smartcard (but STILL half the size of the one that was planned to be supplied with the Mk1) and a two-tone plastic case rather than a plain silver one. And - of course - THIS version has the upgraded software which provides reasonable battery life and includes a modem driver for WinXP. Maybe it's not so much the launch of a new product, as a second launch (this time getting it right!) of an old one. But I have the disinct impression that HTC's launch (in Germany) of the superficially "new" phone came as a slight shock to Orange - who alledgedly co-designed the orgiginal, which differs only in trivia from the new model.

Thanks for that Guy! <LoL> But, being objective, Orange's tech support is better than most. I've worked for Orange (having first been a customer) My wife's a Vodaphone customer (through her employer) my Son's switched from Virgin to T-Mobile, and I'm now with O2... so we've experience of ALL of them, and Orange ARE good. Good that is at sorting out problems with voice calls. They're not at all bad at telling you how to connect your Ipaq to your Nokia with Bluetooth, and using GPRS to connect to the web. But these are fairly narrow areas, and can be handled by reading aloud from a script (without really understanding what you're reading) I'm sure that some of the advice I gave to customers never had been given before, and never will be again (like "keep your GPRS bill low by increasing Internet Explorer's cache on your laptop") - it wasn't in The Script and would have been utterly incomprehensible to most of my colleagues.

Smartphones need a different KIND of support. And that's NOT going to be popular with middle-management in tech support departments, who will be faced with a new influx of people who are junior to them... but can do the job WITHOUT a script. How can you justify your pay and rank, if you haven't a CLUE what they're telling customers? This "middle layer" is where management get the information on which they base policy. And you can bet that they'll be told what a BAD Idea change is.

The Orange SPV is available again on their website... interesting pricing though...

£119.99 on Pay Monthly or £29.99 on Your Plan 200

Not bad I guess... I paid £99 for an upgrade a while back before they dropped the price to £0!!! (should have been more patient I guess) but it looks like the price is on its way back up again....

Now that is amazing... generally one would expect that if an employee goes out of his way to help a customer over and above what is required of him, he would be rewarded....

very interesting...

Nevermind.. I think Orange will have to learn their lesson the hard way... Lets wait till another operator in the UK takes up the SmartPhone gauntlet and see what happens... We need some competition in the market place.

The support issue is, indeed, the killer. And it's clear that it's where Orange falls down hardest. Even for ordinary phone use, its support isn't astonishingly good; for smartphone use, it verges on the suicidal.

I have heard nothing to suggest that Orange is taking steps to hire a new generation of support experts. Rather, the reverse; that people who are good at support and try to provide genuine help, are criticised for going beyond their brief.

And then, eased out of a job...

Ron, I have to agree with you. Orange blatantly know a hell of a lot less than they need to in order to provide a 'support' service for this handset. And no doubt this will be an ongoing problem with any future handsets they introduce. I think it just hasn't dawned on them that the gap between a bog standard nokia and a 'smart'phone is so huge.

Its a shame really.


As a business tool.... the phone can be a liablity.. in fact it has too many irritating bugs which seem to be ever so slightly different on each individual users handsets which makes life really infuriating if you're trying to help someone (i don't work for orange).

They need to realise that these handsets are only ever really going to be taken up by eary adopters and techies - The people who already have more information about the handset then the support teams... I for one spent ages researching the SPV before I got one and made sure I had all the hacks and the applications before I bothered getting it. The average Joe doesn't stand a chance....

Poor show Orange.

One thing that Orange (predictably!) overlooked with the smartphone - and doubtless the other carriers will do no better - is that the SPV is a lot more than a phone. It's a computer too. Their online support is geared to supporting the 99% of customers who simply want to TALK to other phones. Smartphone users often want to do other things besides, and the techies frequently have neither the training - nor the background - to help with these non-voice-call related issues. Orange's "solution" has largely been to ignore these "other areas" - if your problem ISN'T call-related, they don't support it, and you're on your own. Microsoft aren't much interested in helping either, if you call THEM. The SPV's initial take up was by anoraks - who in the circumstances formed "self-help groups" and shared information and provided support to each other. The biggest of these is Modaco - more than 10% of SPV owners worldwide are members! That in turn has its danger, because Orange has ZERO control over the kind of information that they share - which includes handy tutorials on how to unlock the SIM and how to decertify the phone so that it can load ANY appropriate software. On the other hand, Orange aren't paying to provide this parallel (and in my view both superior and better informed) service. BUT - and it's a BIG but - Modaco and the like are very much geared to people who already have a high level of technical competence and can sort the "easy" stuff themselves. Repositioning the phone in the market as a "business" tool means selling it to people who are unlikely either to have the same level of technical ability, or are likely to find their own way to this "grey" support area. And THAT means a substantial gap in support, while at the same time deliberately putting the most complicated phone in the range in the hands of the people least able to deal with comparatively complicated technology.

If the phone's going to be repositioned as a business tool, then Orange (and the others) have to bite the bullet and accept that it's going to require a lot MORE, and a lot BETTER technical support. Problem is... they haven't anyone capable of delivering it. I took a straw poll of Orange Tech Support workers in Jaunuary - asked how many owned PCs and were connected to the internet at home. The result was "Around 10%". That means that if you stop ten people at random on the street, they're roughly FIVE TIMES more likely to be clued up about the web than the techies who are supposed to be advising them! It might be irrelevant for supporting voice calls, but it's a disaster waiting to happen if you hope to support a phone whose main claim to fame is that you can "browse the internet" with it.

Edited by author 06-13-2003 07:23 PM
Yes, Guy.... but if you look closer, you'll see that they ALSO ask if you have a Bluetooth PDA, do you use your phone as a modem to connect your PDA to the internet... In other words, does your current set up cosnsist of several different devices that are connected together - possibly by Bluetooth. My reading of that questionnaire is "are you someone who is ALREADY using the kind of services that we can sell you as a single Smartphone package in the form of a Tanager?" The SPV's big failing is that while for the first six months users got a heavily subsidized GPRS access pack (£6 PCM for 10 megabytes) that's now (June) run out, and initial Anorak-wearing takers-up of the phone are resentful at now having to make the choice between buying beer or buying GPRS. Obvious alternative customers are ones who don't pay the monthly bill themselves!

Orange's plan to reposition the SPV away from the anoraks and into the boardroom (and getting the anoraks to sell-back their SPV's and get Tanagers) is hardly a secret, and has been a topic of discussion since the Tanger was launched offering few advantages over the SPV: the improved screen seems to be the main substantive difference. People started asking "if there's so little difference... what's the Tanager FOR?" The answer seems to be "watching WMV files that you've downloaded to the smartcard while travelling on the tube!" The cosmetic changes to the casing also help differentiate it from the "exclusive to Orange" Mk 1 SPV. Having supported the SPV, my reaction is that it's a NOT phone for people without some technical competence, and the inevitable high-usage of Orange's free "156" support is likely to wipe out any profitability - and leave a bad taste in the mouths of customers who find it "just too bloody complicated". The SPV is like a dog walking on its hind legs... a curiosity because it does something at all - not because it does it well, or easily, or cheaply. If I was running an IT department, and was asked what phone (WITH email capability) to provide the technophobic chairman, my reaction would probably be "a Handspring Treo 270, or a Palm Tungsten... and for God's SAKE keep him away from the SPV, or he'll be in here asking how to make it do something he's heard it can do every five minutes!" The Treo features things like a (tiny) QWERTY keyboard. reducing the number of illegible mails to the board.

And just to make it more fun: Julian Hope's email bounces with an "out of office" response..

...he says he won't be back for ten days! - on the 23rd, to be precise.

Edited by author 06-13-2003 06:14 PM
I wonder whether this new phone really is the Tanager? It may well be - but Orange is asking for people to try out the new SPV - and one of the questions they are asking is: "Do you have a Bluetooth headset?"

The Tanger can't work with Bluetooth. Hm...

Stop Press... sources within Orange UK state that they'll "have stocks by Mid July". Just in time for the sale to be blocked by Sendo's injunction?

Maybe the reason the SPV has gone out of stock is that it is now one of the cheapest handsets you can get on Orange, free on many tarriffs?

In an exclusive interview with "The Enquirer" (sorry, Guy, they seem to have got there first!) Sendo made "semi-off-the record" claims to have re-written some of the Stinker/Canary O/S as well, due to Microsoft's seeming inability to deliver a working version. One has to wonder if the code too was handed over to HTC.
The key to this issue seems to be the TIMING. If Microsoft had just WAITED, Sendo might indeed have gone bust, and while a few eyebrows might have been raised (and thinking about it, didn't Ray Noorda bring suit against Microsoft under almost exactly those circumstances?) but otherwise no big deal - Microsoft's "Tontine" contract with Sendo handed all IP rights to whoever lived longest. What smells like rotten fish here is that MS seem to have handed that IP to HTC months ahead of schedule, when Sendo wasn't even considering insolvency. It would be like my taking out a life policy on Guy's life, booking a world cruise (which I can't afford) in January - the cruise to take place in August, and Guy conveniently dropping down dead (which heaven forbid!) in July. The question arises... how could I have KNOWN with such unerring accuracy that I'd be coming into money just in time to pay the bill? Some amazing psychic ability? Or murder? I think the smart money would be on "murder".

In the last 48 hours the SPV has got to "Out of stock" on the Orange website and I can't believe that's down to demand. I've got one on trial from Orange and once we've used up the free airtime showing it off to geeks it's going back as it's so unreliable and hard to use it's a liability to a business user.

Edited by author 06-05-2003 12:25 PM
A shock development today: Sendo has extended its lawsuit against Microsoft by suing Orange, too.

We have an exclusive interview with Hugh Brogan, revealing that more lawsuits may follow, too.

That will hurt Redmond. Microsoft will not have lost too much sleep over Sendo's suit. It will reckon that it can delay, or stall, even, for some time; and anyway, it can afford to cope with any losses arising.

But what it can't cope with is the loss of its slender foothold in the market; and if Orange is vulnerable to lawsuits then so is T-Mobile... and who else?