Registered: Jul 2000
Location: USA
Posts: 75

Visorphone crippled

It's not dead yet, but it is useless...

Mysteriously, I am unable to connect to the network (Voicestream) when I tried to use my new Vphone this morning. It's been working fine for 3 days. When I power up the phone, I get the 'Network Search' box, with the little handspringing dude, then it stops searching after about 30 seconds and there's no service. So then I tried 'Select Network', and I get 'No operators available'.

So I swapped my SIM into my Dad's phone, and it worked ok. Then I put his SIM in my Vphone, and got the same 'No operators available'.

I called Voicestream, and after explaining exactly what a Visorphone was to the rep, she said 'Yes your phone is bad, you have to take it back to where you got it'.

So now I suppose I'll be trapped in the endless loop of finger-pointing between Handspring and Voicestream.

[begin rant]
I'm getting the idea, from reading posts here and my own experience, that the execution of the Visorphone roll-out has been less than 'crisp'. It seems as though the Voicestream customer service people were not clued in on Visorphones at all, and there's no real coordination between the 2 companies when there are problems. Sure, I realize it's a lot to ask for decent customer service these days. I just thought Handspring was better than the multitudinous hordes when it came to customer service and support. Silly me.
[end rant]

Has anyone else had a similar problem getting the vphone to find the network ?

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Garland, TX, USA
Posts: 108

sort of...

Well, I had a similar problem when I first got the phone. It had the exact same symptoms and I called Voicestream tech support and they couldn't resolve it. They verified that the account was already active (done by Handspring at the factory), and they could send messages to the account but my phone never connected.

They told me to take it to a Voicestream store. I did and we found that the SIM card was bad. I got it replaced and now it works. Sorry this doesn't help you.

Try exchanging it and hope for the best. :-(

__________________
Cheers,
Rob Lund
The Rob Pages
[email protected]

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 95

Ruprect
... we found that the SIM card was bad. I got it replaced and now it works.

Did they charge you for the SIM card? A friend of mine had the same problem and they (Voicestream) charged him for the replacement SIM card. He is trying to get handspring to reimburse him. Which I think Handspring should.

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Garland, TX, USA
Posts: 108

no charge

Nope. Didn't charge me. They transferred my existing account into the new SIM card so there was no new activation fee, I guess.

__________________
Cheers,
Rob Lund
The Rob Pages
[email protected]

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 24

New Phone?

Last week (July 31, 2001) when I activated VoiceStream service, the agent I spoke with voluntarily offered the info that if I had problems with my VisorPhone, VoiceStream would replace it with a new one. He stated that mine was the first VPh call he'd taken, so he was reading what info he had on hand while he helped me get VPh set up and working. Me, I'm skeptical that VS would do this, but, maybe it's some sort of special deal between Handspring/VPh/VS?

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: USA
Posts: 75

Well, my problem is resolved. Sunday morning, I called Handspring Support and got through pretty quickly. The rep asked a few questions, and had me do a soft reset, which didn't help. So she sent me a replacement unit, which I got yesterday, and it works (so far). The remaining annoyance is the return shipping is through Airborn, and there's no close drop boxes, but that's a minor inconvenience.

I think Handspring and Voicestream need to more closely coordinate Visorphone support issues. Bouncing customers back and forth is BS, and a world-class support organization would handle most issues with a single call, or at least a single point of contact.