At 14 Nov 2008 16:53:28 +0000 Opra wrote:
> I just returned my G1. Nice phone for the most part, but two things about
> it killed the deal.
>
> 1) T-Mobile will not ring my phone for more than 30 seconds. When
> connect time is subtracted this means that I get an average of 2.5
> rings before the caller is forwarded to T-Mobile's voicemail network.
> Problem is I can't always answer the phone in that time.
>
> I tried having them disable voicemail but then the phone failed-over after
> 15 seconds. Compounding this hassle, callers always got a T-Mobile
> network message. Spent 2 painful hours on the phone with support
> (3 calls, 5 transfers, 45m on hold) and I finally reached a tech with
> "7 years" experience who said they cannot ring my phone more than 30
> seconds and will always fail over to a T-Mobile announcement regardless
> of any settings.
>
> You have to wonder what the logic to this is. Verizon rings for 60
seconds
> before going to busy (or voicemail, if enabled). Why would T-Mobile piss
> away perfectly good new customers for something like this?

Apparently they don't piss off that many, since we don't see many
complaints about it here. Does anyone actually wait 60 seconds to leave
you a voicemail? If I was on the line that long, I'd assume you didn't
have voicemail or an answering machine and hang up!

The problem with cellphones in general is the system is slow sending ring
notifications to cellphones, at least as compared to landlines. While YOU
may only have "2.5 rings" to answer, you caller has heard 4 (the standard
maximum number before most landline answerers pick up) or more.

I'm not defending T-Mo's inflexibility- customers should certainly have the
option for more rings if they choose- but I'm suggesting it isn't a problem
for most people.


> 2) The G1 will not play mp3s over bluetooth, not even in mono.
>
> Surely HTC/Google doesn't think my train mates appreciate having to
> listen to someone else's mp3s over tinny handheld speakers, unable to
> do something as simple as connect to a Jabra headphone... (at least it
> works for calls).

The joys of beta testing a supposedly finished product! As the story
according to Google goes, they fell behind schedule with the Android OS,
and full Bluetooth implementation wasn't going to be ready, so they put a
bluetooth earpiece profile (for calls only) in, but left the rest (stereo
A2DP music playback, file transfer, dial-up networking, etc.) for a future
release.

If that was your only beef you could certainly use wired headphones for
listening to MP3s in the meantime until they "finish" the Android software,
but it sounds like #1 is the primary deal-breaker.


Sorry it didn't work out for you, but that's why one carrier/phone isn't
right for everyone! ;-)