I helped Marlene update her cell phone today. She bought the phone 2 months ago and we both avoided the upgrade task because we expected that it would be massively annoying. We were right.
The first step was actually easy: transferring apps, contacts, call logs, etc. There is an app for that. I went pretty smoothly although the contacts did not appear to be transferred. But when I moved the SIM card then the contacts magically reappeared. I thought we were close to completion. But I was wrong. When I tried to make a phone call I got a message that the phone was “not registered on a network.” Googling the problems gave me some things to try. They all failed. A call to Marlene’s tech-savvy son yielded a URL to unlock (re-register?) the phone. But it wanted $29. Nope. There must be a way to do it for free.
So we drove 2 miles to the local Metro PCS store where we learned that they would do it for $21 (less than $29 but not free). But the store guy told us that we could do it for free on their website. So back home and get on the website. Find the two VERY long numbers (a phone ID and a SIM ID) and enter them. Press ENTER… nothing. Just didn’t work.
Called the Metro PCS help line. Waited 15 minutes. Got an agent who needed to verify Marlene’s identity by sending a code to her phone. Um, no, ma’am, that won’t work as the problem we are trying to fix is THE PHONE DOESN’T WORK. She hemmed and hawed and finally consulted a supervisor. She suggested we return to the store, have them register the phone. And waive the $21 fee.
Back to the store. There was minimal hassle there. They were able to make the phone work.
Two hours and two trips to the store. Sheesh.
Now Marlene has to deal with the things that did not get transferred. Like the status on her WordScapes game. She was up to level 2000 but the new phone started her over at level 1. She really doesn’t want to re-play 2,000 word games. Hopefully she can figure out how to fix that. But that is probably just the first of many transfer problems.
Fun with phones.
Fun with phones
I helped Marlene update her cell phone today. She bought the phone 2 months ago and we both avoided the upgrade task because we expected that it would be massively annoying. We were right.
The first step was actually easy: transferring apps, contacts, call logs, etc. There is an app for that. I went pretty smoothly although the contacts did not appear to be transferred. But when I moved the SIM card then the contacts magically reappeared. I thought we were close to completion. But I was wrong. When I tried to make a phone call I got a message that the phone was “not registered on a network.” Googling the problems gave me some things to try. They all failed. A call to Marlene’s tech-savvy son yielded a URL to unlock (re-register?) the phone. But it wanted $29. Nope. There must be a way to do it for free.
So we drove 2 miles to the local Metro PCS store where we learned that they would do it for $21 (less than $29 but not free). But the store guy told us that we could do it for free on their website. So back home and get on the website. Find the two VERY long numbers (a phone ID and a SIM ID) and enter them. Press ENTER… nothing. Just didn’t work.
Called the Metro PCS help line. Waited 15 minutes. Got an agent who needed to verify Marlene’s identity by sending a code to her phone. Um, no, ma’am, that won’t work as the problem we are trying to fix is THE PHONE DOESN’T WORK. She hemmed and hawed and finally consulted a supervisor. She suggested we return to the store, have them register the phone. And waive the $21 fee.
Back to the store. There was minimal hassle there. They were able to make the phone work.
Two hours and two trips to the store. Sheesh.
Now Marlene has to deal with the things that did not get transferred. Like the status on her WordScapes game. She was up to level 2000 but the new phone started her over at level 1. She really doesn’t want to re-play 2,000 word games. Hopefully she can figure out how to fix that. But that is probably just the first of many transfer problems.
Fun with phones.
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