noise."Internet's Back! For now, anyway :P · 1:19pm Jul 5th, 2020
So this is actually a two-fer, ‘cause there’ll be some story notes towards the end.
First order of business is that my phone’s fixed and I have my internet back (for now).
Since y’all are surely interested, I’ll give you a rundown of the phone issues over the last month.
Probably two months ago I first started having problems. My phone downloaded an update, I installed it, and then the phone wouldn’t find a cell signal. I went to work early--we’re right across from a public library, and they have free Wi-Fi that can be accessed even in the parking lot--logged into their WiFi to check if I’d gotten any important notifications, and then decided I’d try to power-cycle my phone, just in case it didn’t finish setting itself up. Well, that worked. Cell signal back, problem solved.
About a month ago, it got another update, and this time that solution didn’t work at first, then my phone reluctantly decided it was okay with picking up cell phone towers again, but only in 3G. Now, I live in a kinda rural area, and we’re supposed to have LTE, but sometimes the towers have issues and they don’t get fixed right away. Like, I’ve got twice as many followers here on FimFic than live in my current town.
That weekend, I was working up in Lansing at one of the group homes, and figured that I ought to have LTE in Lansing, so I fiddled around with my phone’s settings, and discovered that the network mode wasn’t on automatic, it was on some other setting (CDMA, I think). “Aha,” I thought, “that’s the problem.” Changed it to automatic, the phone re-booted, and say goodbye to a cell signal.
So after work, I went to a Sprint store. It was one that didn’t have a repair facility in the store, but it was the closest. I figured that it was probably something simple, and they thought it was, too. They tried changing the settings, and it wouldn’t let you pick anything other than automatic. So the guy thought it was probably the SIM card, and tried to program a new one, but that didn’t work. After messing around for maybe a half hour trying to get it to work, he said I ought to take it to the other store where they had actual repair techs, and maybe they could get it to work.
I did, and they tried a SIM card again--they were able to get one programmed. No luck. Called the magic number to register the phone with the network, no joy. He suggested that the next best option was a factory data reset, see what that would do, and if not, they’d have to give it to their techs to prod it internally.
Stuff wasn’t backed up as recently as it should have been, and I told the guy that, who was completely understanding. He showed me how to do a factory reset on my own.
I got it backed up, figured that I might need WiFi access, so I drove to the library and sat in my currently non-air conditioned van in the hot sun for two hours while my phone went through its whole reset phase, which didn’t work. That’s also where I wrote the first blog post, in case y’all were curious.
Next morning, I went to Jackson, and they did most of the same things they’d done in Lansing, which still didn’t work. The counter guy surmised that one of three things had happened: the antenna had somehow fallen out, the sim card port had failed, or something internal had just bricked itself. He said that the only way that they’d know for sure was to take it in back and take it apart and if it was an easy fix, they could do it; if it was more complex, they’d have to send it in for repairs and give me a loaner phone.
And it was going to take hours.
So I did my grocery shopping at Meijer, drove home, hung out for a few hours, and then came back. My phone was fixed! Turned out the antenna had come lose, and they were able to plug it back in and everything was perfect again.
They were also very apologetic that it had taken so long to fix (there had been other cell phones in the queue before it). I was completely understanding, since my own line of work often presents similar issues, and I’m often on his end explaining to a customer that it’s a five dollar part their car needs to work again and the nearest one is two states away. Or it’s on intergalactic backorder.*
Source
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*Our local Chrysler parts guy classifies backorders two ways: when he says it’s on backorder, that means that there are ones out there, and whatever factory makes them is still making them. Intergalactic backorder means that there are none, and no timeline for getting more.
This brings us up almost to the present. All you tech people out there will know that it’s important to power-cycle your equipment occasionally, and sometimes problems with computer equipment can be caused by too much uptime. That’s presumably the case with cell phones, too; certainly, mine had gotten to the point where it was notifying me that I ought to turn it off and back on again.
So I did.
And goodbye contact with cell towers.
In fact, it was behaving just like it had before.
This time, I wrote the second short blog post at work, and the next day I went to Jackson to see if they could do anything. The guy at the counter recognized me and we both had a good chuckle at my phone having bricked itself again (because what can you do but laugh?), he tried a couple obvious things, and of course they didn’t work.
I couldn’t leave it, because I knew I wasn’t going to have time to pick it up over the next couple of days, and figured I’d drop it off in Lansing yesterday, since I was working in Lansing yesterday.
I’d also gotten well enough used to the procedure that all the data was backed up on my phone, it was out of its case, and the lockscreen was disabled. And I told them if they had to do a data reset, feel free.
They didn’t. Their tech opened up the case, refastened every single connector, and the phone found cell towers again. Huzzah!
And that, for now, is the end of the cell phone saga. Hopefully, it stays the end.
Now for the story notes part!
It’s been said (by me) that y’all can sometimes tell the kind of week I’ve been having when I post a super cute and fluffy story. This ‘un doesn’t have much in the way of new, interesting, bloggable facts in it, but it’s instead the product of the end of a week in which my cell phone broke, my van got a flat tire (again, because it turns out the new valve stem I put in it was no good), the Fusion still isn’t fixed, my manager left on vacation and left me to do his job and my job and let me tell you right before a holiday weekend literally everybody calls ‘cause they’re about to go up north and just now remembered that they need the car fixed; no they don’t have an appointment. Also they’ve needed this work done for two months, but are only just now thinking of it. And then they’re mad when I tell them that we can’t get their car in right away.
Also it’s been hot.
Also, June was our biggest month in sales ever. We’ve got a four bay shop (only three of which are currently usable, since there’s a dead Fusion in one of them), and most days of the month there were about 20 cars in the parking lot every morning. AC work and some other simple repairs got done in the parking lot, when possible.
Anyway, point is cute fuffy pony story.
Additional fun facts (that I didn’t feel like putting in the blog post):
1. I forgot if the Cami stories were first- or second-person, and guessed wrong, then had to do major editing yesterday at work (it was slow)
2. Nobody knew the WiFi password at the home I was at yesterday, so I used the free hour Xfinity gives non-customers every month to get the story mostly setup online, in case I didn’t get reliable internet back anytime in the near future.
Ever since my phone was paid off it's been behaving oddly, not getting messages/calls despite being on network... not making calls despite having a connection, even if it works for internet.
*tinfoil hat*
I think my provider is messing with me to convince me to upgrade my phone. It stopped about 2 weeks after they stopped telling me that I could upgrade for "free." by free they mean no upfront payment and they'll just add to my bill every month.
Ah, welcome back. :)
And thanks for the saga! Good luck with that ending! :D
Its a shame You live no where near me. I work for a small-ish ISP and could get you reduced rate service.
Those aren't issues. You've gotten the Full Subscription
Support Right-to-Repair and linux phones!
(and if anyone here is one of the jerks who somehow got one of the Pinetab preorders in the 30 minutes or so before they were all taken, I HATE YOU!)
Sorry to hear about your phone woes.
Thanks for the bat, though. And the story.
Something to watch out with phones and desktop systems thats incidental in crippling performance and breaking them after warrenty while being totally legal. Smart phones are just a different version of a PC. So for some strange reason, instead of just refusing to work when excessivly (sorry) loaded they use the classic method of dealing with bloat, no, not optimised code, but a Swap file. Which goes on slow access storage. That burns out with repeated accesses. Even bettter, the point at which swap use is initiated is really low. Apparently Ubuntu default is to start using swap when you only have 60% of Ram free. I dont know yet what the phone equivalent is, but on my desktop I have 16 Gig, and it takes 1 Gig now to boot. I also managed to find teh config file, and change the swappity to really kicking in at 10% ram free. For being the first NEW machine Ive bought in 30 years, its now at least as responsive as that system from 30 years ago, even when multitasking. Even scaling for relative file quantities and data amounts?
If I buy a modular Open Source phone for $150, double the price of teh Android thing, how much would I save by not having the high G part and just sticking with WiFI, if someone brought a MESH chip out eventually?
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/evchk/images/e/ef/Mlfw1298_131342228226-Trixie_Gilda_I_Know_.jpg
Perfect way to end the blog!
Also, I'm surprised what Cadance would say about Chrysalis' phone cover.
(The second-last picture.)
5301646
I’m vaguely thinking the same, although their story that it was a loose connection (both times) is plausible, since I’ve dropped the phone lots of times. There also have been some teething problems as they’ve been integrating T-Mobile and Sprint’s networks, which I don’t like as a consumer, but can completely understand as a technician.
I actually got Sprint to stop calling me and telling me about upgrades when I told them that if they called me one more time to tell me I was eligible for an upgrade I was going to switch carriers.
5301650
Thank you! One of these days I’ll get caught back up on our message threads
Thank you!
5301662
Actually, you couldn’t, but that’s because I’m doing an end-run around the normal processes . . . that gravy train might be coming to an end now that T-Mobile’s bought Sprint, but for now my home internet’s riding on the back of a third-party tethering app and one single $9.99 payment I made over a decade ago.
5301684
I know, right?
At least I’m not the poor bastard that owns that Fusion.
5302004
God help them. Too bad you can't recommend that it be commended back to the ashes from whence it came.
5301724
I do support Right-to-Repair--the auto industry had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to that point, and even now we still can’t get all the information we sometimes need even with professional subscriptions, but if the automakers were doing the kind of stuff some cell phone companies are, we’d be having a very rough go of it as an independent shop. Short of infotainment stuff, I can generally get full diagnostic information for nearly everything on practically every car, ‘cause the feds mandated it.
5301738
It could be worse; at least it’s working again, and now I’ve learned to never power cycle it unless it’s backed up and I’m near a Sprint store.
You’re welcome!
5301792
In theory, as far as I know, you can run a cell phone indefinitely with most of its functions (if not all) so long as you got a WiFi connection (mine will let me turn on phone calls over WiFi, and I assume I can do the same with text messages). Obviously, it won’t be much use if you don’t have a WiFi signal, but depending on where and how you’re using it, that wouldn’t be an issue.
I was actually planning to take advantage of that with a gizmo I bought from Sprint; unfortunately, it didn’t work as intended, and I wound up returning it. Someday I’ll blog about that, ‘cause that was another amusing adventure in tech not working as intended.
5301808
Dunno if I ever griped about it to you, but some years ago a customer called the Friday before a holiday weekend and wanted new spring shackles on their Chevy, ‘cause one was broken and they couldn’t tow their trailer like that. I said we couldn’t get it in, and then they said--maybe thinking that this would make me sympathetic--that it had been broken for two months.
That made me even less motivated to try and fit them in the schedule, y’know? If it broke unexpectedly, I’ll try to be the hero. If you put it off for months, it’s not my problem.
5301818
She’d probably be in favor of it. After all, she’s the Princess of Lurve.
5302005
I know. Which is a shame; there are cars where ‘kill it with fire’ is the best option.
We had a truck towed in a while back where I suggested that the owner ought to take it back to the junkyard where he presumably found it.
5302015
good thing you're the one with the wrenches. Suggesting that is a good way to find them flying at you.
5302011 lol I feel like that's happened to me before. I'm pretty sure I told them not to wait so long next time.
5302015
Then there's the owners.
The story comes to me from a local mechanic friend treating a car with a cracked engine block. The conversation went like this:
"So, did you do any maintenance recently to your car yourself?"
"Well, I noticed my antifreeze was running low..."
"Uh huh..."
"So I filled it up with water from Lake Tahoe."
"...um...what?"
"I figured it would be ok since Lake Tahoe never freezes."
"..."
To paraphrase Brian Regan: "You're a pedestrian now. Get used to the terminology."
5301998
Heh. No hurry, though; they're nice, but I know we both have other things to do, too. You can just get to them when you get to them. :)
5302070
I’ve also had people ask me to work after regular business hours to fix their car, ‘cause it’s ‘inconvenient’ for them to drop it off during normal hours. I’ve considered telling people that I will, but that the labor rate jumps to $200 and hour after regular work, and $400/hour on weekends.
5302088
There are times where I think that automakers would do well to weld the hoods shut on their cars.
Since those little Freon cans are available from parts stores, some automakers have taken to hiding the AC charging ports. It’s a pain in the butt for us, but at the same time, I understand why they’re doing it.
Given the popularity of tuners on some vehicles, I think the automakers would hide the OBD-II port if they could legally do it. I know some dealer mechanics who have to do warranty work on vehicles with turners will reprogram them back to stock and then cut one of the OBD-II wires so the customer can’t reprogram the car anymore (at least until they find the cut wire).
5302147
5302259
Sounds about right.
5302257 lol I need to get me one of those signs that says:
The labor rate is $100/hour
$150 if you watch
$200 if you already tried to fix it yourself
5302629
IIRC, my parents got me a shirt that says that for Christmas one year.
We don’t have such a sign at the shop, but we do have a set of diagnostic dice. Shoulda used them on the Fusion; heaven knows I was out of fresh ideas on that dumb car.