To iPad (only) or not to iPad? Introduction

As someone who makes a living—or at least pays the technology hobby bills—partly as a tech journalist and partly as a consultant to startups, extensive traveling is just part of the job.

Along with travel—including significant international travel—comes the requisite gaggle of gadgets, wires, chargers, and receptacle adapters.

For years, I've traveled with a laptop, trading up and down in size (and operating system) to find the perfect balance of power and compactness. From early 10" Sony Vaio laptops, to Apple Powerbooks, to 15" MacBooks and, finally, to the 13" MacBook Air, I've tried it all.

I've even done a few product reviews along the way, testing the use of a widescreen laptop in economy class to see just how much work can be done while staring down at a screen balanced on my ample tummy while trying to peck at the keys. Sometimes it works, at least when fingers fit between the screen and keyboard, until the passenger in front of me decides to kick back and sleep.

One of the last trips, to West Africa, proved the MacBook Air's worth: its thin wedge-shaped front lip could be stuffed down between piles of dirty clothes, virtually disappearing in to a roller-board suitcase during the never-ending stops (where local militia search vehicles for "bombs" or "explosives" while at the same time begging for money).

Could there be an even better approach, though, one that would include a tablet that could be separated from the physical keyboard, allowing for even greater flexibility (or better hiding places) while on the road?

That question, and the sale of my Apple MacBook Air just before last month's worldwide developer's conference, coalesced in to the perfect opportunity to try out the new iPad (iPad 3 for those of us who keep track) as the sole computing device.

Stay tuned in a few days for the outcome of week one of a four-week trip.

What Is Dan Hesse's Sprint Hiding?

The mild-mannered CEO of Sprint (formerly of Embarq and, before that, AT&T Wireless) is a reassuring figure in his TV ads for Sprint: if you have a problem with your service or any questions about Sprint, Hesse says, send an email to Dan@Sprint.com and let him know.

The inference from these commercials is that something will be done to address the problem. The reality is that Dan@Sprint.com is just a PR ploy by Sprint to cover up known problems the company has with various bits of its iPhone and other smartphone provisioning.

One issue in particular that keeps appearing (or disappearing as the case may be) could be called the Case of the Missing Voicemails. Unlike Sherlock Holmes, who tracks down the problem and then corrects it, Sprint is just content to say "we're sorry for the inconvenience, the problem is temporary, we're working on a solution".

The problem with these lines, and others that Sprint representatives use, is that they're not actually designed to find a solution for a customer. In fact, if you hear the words "we hate to lose you as a customer" it really means "yes, we know we can't get our stuff together and make services that we pitch as part of our iPhone or other smartphone packages actually work, but you'll still have to pay $340 per line to leave our service".

Turns out, in the Case of the Missing Voicemail, to use one widespread issue that Sprint is facing, that Dan's company is not just hiding something (a "known issue" that has plagued some users for more than three months) but is in fact obfuscating the facts that the problem is not a temporary one but one that will continue to plague its customers for the length of their contract.

Let's take a look at several ways the company uses "exhausting all options" as a way to create busy work for its customers, so that they'll give up in frustration and just toe the Sprint line.

BlackBerry Visual Voicemail problems. A user on the Sprint forums, known by the handle JTDAV8R, upgraded his device at Sprint's request, but then reported that "my visual voicemail has stopped functioning". (http://community.sprint.com/baw/message/420320)

Like many iPhone users who face the Visual Voicemail break down in service, JTDAV8R reports, "I get no alerts at all when a voicemail is recorded. However if I randomly check the Sprint system the messages are there."

So what is the Sprint response to this type of voicemail issue? Turns out it all revolves around a single button press (#1) to see if any voicemails might have been left in between the time you last checked and the current moment. Ignoring, for a moment, the fact that the phone itself doesn't show a voicemail, and that the visual voicemail (at least on the iPhone) shows NO MESSAGES at all, Sprint insists that randomly calling voicemail multiple times a day is a viable solution. It may be a narcissistic solution, but it's not a practical one and doesn't mesh with Sprint's policy of charging a premium for smartphones like the BlackBerry and iPhone.

Sure enough, JTDAV8R faces the same incompetence in technical support:

"Power off the device and remove and replace the battery and power back on," wrote forum contributor Abe (abe2020). "Update profile by hitting Menu – Settings – System Updates – Update profile (try to leave yourself a VM). Go into the visual voicemail application and compose a visual voicemail message (Hit Menu --- Compose) of 5+ seconds and send to activate@vvm.sprint.com".

Sounds complex enough that it might work, but turns out it's just busy work, as JTDAV8R responded to this suggestion back on May 11, 2012, and has yet to receive an answer to the problem. We know why: there is no solution to this "temporary issue" that Sprint is working to "resolve".

"I've been on the phone numerous times with Sprint customer service + their Blackberry tech group," wrote JTDAV8R in reply to Abe's suggestion. "Have tried a hard reset/data wipe, countless re-boots, another ALT + irmi and even downgraded to the previous version of OS 6. Unfortunately I still have the problem with my visual voicemail, and so far no one seems to be able to pinpoint the source".

"Visual Voicemail is still DOA," JTDAV8R concludes. "No alerts or indications of any kind when someone leaves a voicemail on the Sprint system."

Separating voicemail from phone service. Let's recap: the BlackBerry in question does not indicate in any way that a voicemail has been left, Sprint cannot pinpoint the reason, but the company maintains that there is no problem with their phone service.

The problem with this logic, of course, is one that the company does admit to but obfuscates in hopes of maintaining customers.

"Visual voicemail is not a separate service," a Sprint representative is taught to say. The implication is that the voicemail is just something that comes along with phone service. Yet that's also a point where customers can stress this point: if one part of the phone service is not working, why would customers pay for any part of the phone service over the course of a given service month.

iPhone Voicemail problems. So is this issue just limited to the BlackBerry? No, it is much more widespread than just BlackBerry, spreading to the flagship product that Sprint's Hesse expects to save his company from irrelevance behind AT&T and Verizon: the iPhone 4s.

Why use the term obfuscation when discussing Sprint's approach to voicemail issues on premium smartphones, such as the iPhone 4s? After all it's a term that denotes intentional shunting of responsibility off on to a third party. Turns out that's exactly what Sprint is doing.

"I am no longer getting voicemail notifications," wrote Apple forum user leldance. "Called Sprint and they said it was apple's problem and a software update was needed. Apple denied this and recommended a hard reset which did not work." (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3874341?start=0&tstart=0)

Again, no indications of voicemails at all, Sprint denies it has anything to do with their network, sends customer to Apple. What's the solution? Turns out there is no solution.

"I was having the same problems as well as a few others and it really is a Sprint problem caused by the iOS 5.1 update," wrote user EvLwMn. "Apparently something about visual voice mail isn't 100% compatible with their system. They know about it and 'are working on it' [eyeroll]."

EvLwMn wrote about this issue on an iPhone 4s back on April 14. Sprint has yet to respond to this user with a solution. Again, no surprise, because there is none.

A possible solution was suggested on one forum, and it may be the one reason that Sprint doesn't want to let customers know that this isn't a "temporary issue" that it tries to convince customers of: there are particular phones that do not work on Sprint's network in the way that it is currently provisioned.

After 9 days," wrote Sprint forum user mehca back on October 23, 2011, "tech support finally had me check my PRL. Settings>General>About>Carrier and tap to toggle to PRL. PRL51082 is a defective phone and needs to be returned. This is a known issue." (http://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/79413)

If the known issue is a requirement to swap out the phone, Sprint could be in for a world of hurt if the issue reaches the average Sprint wireless subscriber.

My experience with Sprint. Having faced a similar issue with not just one but two iPhone 4s devices, starting in March, 2012, I've spent significant time with Sprint technicians on the phone and in store locations, and can attest that Dan's company knows there is a problem but is actively obfuscating in an attempt to maintain customers that are unable to receive a significant service.

After six sessions on the phone and in person in stores, I finally reached out to the "last resort" by writing Dan@Sprint.com.

Direct Contact. Not. Anyone who thinks that Dan Hesse actually reads his emails (at least the ones addressed to Dan@Sprint.com) will be sorely disappointed. An automated response is generated fairly quickly, saying that the company is looking in to the problem and will contact the customer, but the contact is from a general customer service representative. 

Calls to 757-223-3379, the phone number in the email, lands one in a department that is called--and not tongue in cheek, since telcos don't do irony well--the "Dan@Sprint.com" department.

In speaking to the "Dan@" representative, there are key phrases to look for: fancy terms like "partnering with upper management" or "exhausting all possible options" are used as an effective, albeit courteous smokescreen to fully address problems that are taking place at Sprint--ones the company is fully aware of but either not competent enough—or not willing—to fix.

That's an issue I wanted to address, but found that the representatives were trained to ignore that question.

A Similar Story. Rather than spending undue time on my specific story, let's look at one from an online forum that eerily matches my own, where a customer had two iPhone 4s devices (one his own, one his wife's) that not only was not receiving calls but also was not showing voicemails.

"We are not receiving our visual voicemail or notifications of voicemail at all," wrote forum user Medic_Coop. "Yesterday, we were not even getting our calls at all.  They would just go straight to voicemail, and we would get NO notification as to a missed call or a voicemail being received.  So, this is a BIG problem."

Similar to MedicCoop, our two phones don't show that calls have come in, and those that do come in do not show up in the visual voicemail, so there is NO WAY to know that a voicemail has been left.

The Sprint "solution" to a "known issue". Worse, as the "Dan@" representative witnessed, not all voicemails appear: on the sixth round of tech support on this issue, with the "Dan@" representative listening in, a Sprint tech support representative attempted to leave a voicemail.

Not only did the tech support rep's voicemail not appear, but her attempt to leave the voicemail triggered a previously left voicemail to appear, one that the "Dan@" representative had left TWO HOURS earlier.

Faced with that obvious flaw in Sprint's provisioning, what was the "Dan@" representative's response? She said would "partner with upper management" to see what possibilities existed to honor our request to leave Sprint and go to a service provider whose voicemail system actually worked (AT&T is one, Verizon is another).

She "couldn't promise" but she wanted to "exhaust all possible options" and would contact me again the next business day. There was a glimmer of hope because of the failure of Sprint's provisioning right in front of her.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the tech support supervisor brought in to solve the problem while the "Dan@" representative was on the phone DISCONNECTED us after almost two hours of tech support busy work. One moment the tech support supervisor was there, the next she was gone.

Fast forward to the next business day. Having heard nothing from the Sprint "Dan@" representative by 5 PM, I called and left a message. The representative returned the call, stated that she is "sorry for the inconvenience" and that she "would hate to lose me as a customer" but that the penalty for early termination still applies. So much for "partnering with upper management" to bring some common sense in to the discussion.

I've now asked to speak to a supervisor (upper, upper management, perhaps?) and am told I will receive a call tomorrow after the supervisor researches the issue and "exhausts all possible options" for the "known issue" of voicemail. I hold little hope that this will end well, but there are always next steps beyond the supervisor. Who knows, maybe Dan Hesse will actually read one of his emails...

The irony is that the unlocked iPhone 4s I'm having trouble with performs admirably on other networks, including its visual voicemail, in various parts of the United States and other countries. Even before Sprint representatives admitted there is a provisioning issue, and suggested I get another phone, I have been able to satisfy my own curiosity and know that the issue lies solely within Sprint's sphere of responsibility.

That assumes, of course, that Dan's company will take responsibility for an issue that various Sprint representatives told me required hard resets and soft resets (iPhone) partial resets and full resets (voicemail) and enough update attempts (##UPDATE# or ##873283#) to populate an entire army platoon

Medic_Coop summed up the insanity that is Sprint's obfuscation of a very real problem with basic service provider functionality, speaking of both his and his wife's issues with Sprint's provisioning:

"We both are on call at our jobs (Emergency Medicine) and rely on having phones work when we need them," he wrote. "I know everyone's situation is different, but I know everyone also wants their devices to work properly when needed."

"What is being done to fix this problem," he added, "and what is the time frame?  I have had multiple tech support calls and have 2 different tickets open with them."

That question was written back in October, 2011, almost eight months ago. Seems Sprint's "temporary" problem is on track to celebrate its first birthday in just a few months.