Wednesday August 11, 2004
No kidding. And look at all the folks out here with great experience looking for work. The better software really could be created by some of us. If only the wireless service providers cared enough to think they needed it. Maybe I ought not lump all of them together like that. Some might be better at this 'people moving about' (aka mobility :-) thing.
If yours is, count yourself smarter than the average wireless end user. Somehow I suspect from grumblings I've heard off and on that mine is typical.
Okay, so what's the rant about anyway?
I just moved from Kingston to Ottawa. Both in the same area code. Okay. A couple of days ago I was informed that people from Ottawa who called me were making long distance calls. I'd thought that with the change in address being registered with Rogers online (partly due to the internet service being connected) they had automatically changed my service area for my cell phone. The fact that calls I made to Ottawa numbers were being charged as local added weight to my ASSumption. (At least it did in my mind.) In reality it was not so.
So today I called the help line for the Pay As You Go service and was informed of two things, only one of which I had anticipated. It's the other thing that's the cause of the rant, but really, the first one could be as well. Okay, okay... I'm getting to them.
The first thing was that my cell phone number would have to be changed in order to change my local calling area. Even though it's the same area code. (Lazy buggers, all they'd have to do is put the number in the database for the Ottawa service area. Well, that's all they should have to do.) I get over that pretty quickly.
The second thing is that since I have time still on my account, if I was to get a new Ottawa number right now, I'd lose that time. Huh? That took a little astonishment and double checking on my part that I really had heard the guy correctly. So there's no way for them to, 'transfer' my account from Kingston to Ottawa, change the number (because they need to) and keep my balance intact.
Kind of sounds a bit like there's actually a bunch of little Rogers Wireless companies serving each city and they don't play well together, doesn't it? So, I asked one more terribly hopeful question, given that I'd now have to use all my time up (or kiss it goodbye!) before actually switching to a new number.
I asked if I could select a new number now and then just switch at the time the time ran out. Nope. Can't do that either. So, I'll be having to wait to even find out what my new number will be, too.
Ain't telecom grand? Wouldn't it be nice if it were grander?
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