I just got back from a flight to the east cost the other day on Delta Airlines. Of course we had to go through Atlanta, which isn’t too bad until you are delayed by the weather. If you find yourself in the Atlanta airport with a little time to kill be sure to check out the African sculptures on exhibit in the lower connecting tunnel between Terminals A and T. It really is some amazing art work.
So Delta, what’s the deal? Are you guys so hard up that you have to overcharge for crappy food just to make a buck? I remember when they used to give you the ‘whole’ can of soda with your cup of big block ice. Now you get what ever is drizzled over that little cup of big block ice. I’m sure they get about three servings per can that way. Then you want to charge $3 for a half can of Pringles. And why would you charge us $8 for something that was only barely eatable when it was free? Why are you charging us at all on a flight that is four hours in length? I have to admit that the free cheese crackers were good, but you could have given us two and left the can to wash it down with.
Why is it that we have all this cool new technology on the plane to keep us distracted for the duration of the flight such as built in TV’s in the seat back in front of you but only a portion of it is useable? There were supposed to be 24 channels of Dish network television broadcast live into the plane. The most I had working at any one time was 6. Well that isn’t completely true. There were times when about 10 of the other channels were coming in but they all were showing the same thing, how to work you new dish network. The channels that were supposed to be there, the ones I wanted to watch, were replaced with this lousy instructions video for new users. The others channels were either blacked out or said lost signal. A guy can only watch so much HGTV. If this was an effort to sale me on the Dish network I would definitly be looking at cable.
Movies were available but for $5 bucks apiece. Even old TV shows from HBO were $2 an episode. There was one free trivia game available, the rest costing $5 apiece. Add another $2 for headphones and you would think that something should work right.
Sometimes I like ala carte, sometimes I don’t. This just feels cheap and abusive on your part. I am not expecting great things, or wonderful things. I am talking about simple little things that can make a big difference. The TSA has made it a pain to go to the airport, you should be doing what you can to make it less of a pain once we have crossed over to the other side. With competition what it is in the airline industry, you would think that you would be doing what you could to differentiate yourself. It doesn’t have to take much, when little things mean a lot.
Now least you think I am just a nitpicker, let me say that I have been on commercial aircraft since the 70’s and I know that aircraft have gotten a lot better in that time. From take off to touch down and all points in between, the rides seem to be smoother. The moving map GPS that lets you know were you are, were you are headed, how high up you are, how fast you are going and when you are expected to arrive is one of the coolest inventions to be added. The fact that you can personalize your entertainment to taste is remarkable. And though the speeds have not increased greatly in the last couple of decades, you still cover ground faster than any other alternative choice. Flying commercial is still a pretty nice way to travel, all in all. It’s just that it could be so much better. I hope we haven’t given up trying. After all, we love to fly, so let it show.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
06 March 2008
New cell phone not all it's cracked up to be
I have been playing with my new phone from T-Mobile. As you know I was having quite a struggle deciding which cell phone company to go with. I did not want to get a phone in the first place but my wife was insistent that she be able to get a hold of me when needed and I finally agreed. After carrying it around for a couple of weeks if it was up to me I would still be phoneless. The one or two times it is useful, do not make up for the pain of hauling it around, making sure it is charged, and trying to call at just the right time of day to avoid creating excessive charges.
Anyway, I got on line today to check the status of my usage. There is a charge for a text message. Why I do not know. I know that the ones from T-Mobile are free and I don’t open are look at or request any from anywhere so why have I got a charge for a text message on a brand new phone?
I decided to call and ask about this. This was also a test of the customer service department and I must say that any and all of my dealings with them have been great. They really do have a good customer service. The people are people. They are friendly, cheerful, considerate, and they really are trying to help. I like that. This is such a vast difference compared to dealing with AT&T that I once again have hope for the communications industry.
The one thing my customer service rep could not do was change T-Mobile policy in the one area that needs to be changed. I do not want text messaging. I do not want to receive it; I do not want to send it. I do not want it, period, end of story.
But even more important, I do not want to pay for it. And I shouldn’t have to. No one should have to pay for a service that is neither requested, nor desired and at this point pay for something they have no control over. You see, T-Mobile like many or all cell phone companies charges you for incoming and outgoing text messages at a per message rate or if you get flooded you can always upgrade to unlimited for about $20 a month, but they will charge you whether you want it or not. You can not opt out. There is no place to go, no setting you can make, and no switch they can throw that will kill text messaging for you. You are stuck with it.
I really dislike that fact. The person I spoke with was very apologetic for that and said that T-Mobile may change that in the future but for now that is just the way things are. T-Mobile evidently gets quite a few calls concerning this. The person I spoke with said it comes up all the time. “HELLO”. It is time to wake up and listen. People want the ability to turn this off. A communication company of all companies should be able to listen. Give the people what they want. It would certainly make me happier if I thought I was in control of my expenses.
Other than that how do I like my Blackberry Pearl? (You can’t see it but my hand is wavering back and forth). So far, so, so. The phone is simple in some areas and needlessly complicated in others. I know we haven’t begun to stretch it’s capabilities so far but I am still trying to figure out how to block text messaging. Set up is taking some time. It is not as intuitive as I had hoped. Battery life is shorter than planned so you are always trying to remember to put it on the charger about every third or fourth night. It really sucks up the juice if you are actually using it. This is a worry if you travel much. Will I be able to find access to power on the road? What about overseas? What will it be like if I use the media player functions on it? Will I ever be able to figure out how to use the media player functions on it?
I also go the Motorola H700 bluetooth ear piece headset with it. Again, so far, so, so. The earpiece is noisy like I got a bad speaker in it. When you turn your head away from the phone, which is in my pocket, it seems to get worse. Again, battery life seems less that adequate with no real way of knowing how much life is left. This means that it could die on you in the middle of doing something, which it did to me and that is how I know. The range of the unit is not great but I don’t recall ever reading what to expect so maybe that is normal for these things. I pretty much have to stay within a cubicle distance. I have also been told that I sound like I am speaking in a barrel. I find myself repeating myself more than I should. Not an ideal situation.
This is disappointing because being able to talk hands free is a very good thing. Especially when driving. I still do not recommend anyone drive while under the influence of cell phone but if you have to hands free is the only way to go.
I hope to report later that all is well and that it has become a useful tool but for now I is just so much dead weight. I feel like I have to baby sit it as much as it is babysitting me. Until there is a better way, I guess we just have to go with what we’ve got.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
Anyway, I got on line today to check the status of my usage. There is a charge for a text message. Why I do not know. I know that the ones from T-Mobile are free and I don’t open are look at or request any from anywhere so why have I got a charge for a text message on a brand new phone?
I decided to call and ask about this. This was also a test of the customer service department and I must say that any and all of my dealings with them have been great. They really do have a good customer service. The people are people. They are friendly, cheerful, considerate, and they really are trying to help. I like that. This is such a vast difference compared to dealing with AT&T that I once again have hope for the communications industry.
The one thing my customer service rep could not do was change T-Mobile policy in the one area that needs to be changed. I do not want text messaging. I do not want to receive it; I do not want to send it. I do not want it, period, end of story.
But even more important, I do not want to pay for it. And I shouldn’t have to. No one should have to pay for a service that is neither requested, nor desired and at this point pay for something they have no control over. You see, T-Mobile like many or all cell phone companies charges you for incoming and outgoing text messages at a per message rate or if you get flooded you can always upgrade to unlimited for about $20 a month, but they will charge you whether you want it or not. You can not opt out. There is no place to go, no setting you can make, and no switch they can throw that will kill text messaging for you. You are stuck with it.
I really dislike that fact. The person I spoke with was very apologetic for that and said that T-Mobile may change that in the future but for now that is just the way things are. T-Mobile evidently gets quite a few calls concerning this. The person I spoke with said it comes up all the time. “HELLO”. It is time to wake up and listen. People want the ability to turn this off. A communication company of all companies should be able to listen. Give the people what they want. It would certainly make me happier if I thought I was in control of my expenses.
Other than that how do I like my Blackberry Pearl? (You can’t see it but my hand is wavering back and forth). So far, so, so. The phone is simple in some areas and needlessly complicated in others. I know we haven’t begun to stretch it’s capabilities so far but I am still trying to figure out how to block text messaging. Set up is taking some time. It is not as intuitive as I had hoped. Battery life is shorter than planned so you are always trying to remember to put it on the charger about every third or fourth night. It really sucks up the juice if you are actually using it. This is a worry if you travel much. Will I be able to find access to power on the road? What about overseas? What will it be like if I use the media player functions on it? Will I ever be able to figure out how to use the media player functions on it?
I also go the Motorola H700 bluetooth ear piece headset with it. Again, so far, so, so. The earpiece is noisy like I got a bad speaker in it. When you turn your head away from the phone, which is in my pocket, it seems to get worse. Again, battery life seems less that adequate with no real way of knowing how much life is left. This means that it could die on you in the middle of doing something, which it did to me and that is how I know. The range of the unit is not great but I don’t recall ever reading what to expect so maybe that is normal for these things. I pretty much have to stay within a cubicle distance. I have also been told that I sound like I am speaking in a barrel. I find myself repeating myself more than I should. Not an ideal situation.
This is disappointing because being able to talk hands free is a very good thing. Especially when driving. I still do not recommend anyone drive while under the influence of cell phone but if you have to hands free is the only way to go.
I hope to report later that all is well and that it has become a useful tool but for now I is just so much dead weight. I feel like I have to baby sit it as much as it is babysitting me. Until there is a better way, I guess we just have to go with what we’ve got.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
01 March 2008
Sometimes IWON games just don't pay out
I have been an IWON user for some time, many years actually. I am a sucker for a sweepstakes, giveaways, and freebies. When IWON started their website they had a pretty decent homepage, free e-mail, and you could get entries into their sweepstakes for doing normal web activity. I was hooked. But then so were a lot of other people. I never won a thing but there was always the possibility, so I kept trying.
I was stuck with dial up for the longest time which didn’t help matters any. Let’s face it, slow is slow. I have since upgraded to DSL which is much better, but I suspect that there are still even faster ways to go.
Anyway, IWON has just changed there whole program. They have more games and more ways to earn entries (called coins) and that is supposed to help you have more chances to win. In the old program you could earn up to 100 entries per day and those entries were put into all sweepstakes. Now you have to earn 100 coins to make one entry and you have to decide which sweepstakes you are going to put it towards because it does not go into all sweeps.
Well, on the home page there are a couple of standard games you can play with which to earn these coins. One is a big prize wheel and the other a sort of slot machine. Today it finally happened. I spun the slot machine the full amount of times and ended up with absolutely nothing. The big prize wheel only gave up 500 coins, enough for a mere 5 entries. That won’t change your odds of winning anything by much.
5 entries in to be divided among the 7 sweepstakes, compared to the 100 entries in all sweepstakes for the day and you can see that we are not playing the same game. Of course you can earn and extra 30 coins per search, and you can earn more coins for playing some of the other games available, and some of those other games are kind of addicting. They have variations on casino games, some sports games, but also they have some pretty fun word games, and number games like Sudoku. By playing these extra games you can build up some extra entries but you can sure loose a lot of time. Oh, and did I mention that the whole time you are playing they are flashing advertisements at you. You have to pay for those prizes somehow.
I suppose I can’t complain too much, though in all the years of playing and using IWON it wasn’t until last December that I finally won something. I ended up hitting the IWON search sweepstakes for some $10 gift certificates to Amazon.com. That is like having a lousy game of golf but then hitting a really good tee shot on the last hole. You know you have to come back for more.
I know I will be back for more. After all the some of the games are kinda fun and challenging, even if the most seen phrases are ‘Sorry’ and ‘Try Again’. Also I am not the only one that thinks so for as I type this I see that there are 125,976 people logged on at the moment.
My biggest complaint for them or any web site is the fact that they can and do generate spam mail through their advertisers. Of course, anyone that has an e-mail account and has told at least one other person the address to that account will have received some spam. I have lost the use of more than one e-mail account to spam. I have even gotten spam from my own account address as someone was spoofing my address to send out spam. That is the worst kind of uncool. If ever there should be a target for malicious computing, spam frauders should be at the top of the list.
The other thing that pushes my buttons about IWON is the use of pop ups and pop unders. They do it to excess and it drives me nuts. I was using an old computer with an old browser and it was so bad that it drove me to action. I just downloaded the latest version of Mozilla Firefox, a way cool browser. It seems like it is compatible with everything. It uses less resources too so it should perform better than that other browser. I am going to try it for awhile and see if there are any problems. At least I have something now to block those pesky pop ups.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
I have added some tip pages for those that are spending time on IWON. Check it out, you might find something new. IWON TIPS Page 1.
I was stuck with dial up for the longest time which didn’t help matters any. Let’s face it, slow is slow. I have since upgraded to DSL which is much better, but I suspect that there are still even faster ways to go.
Anyway, IWON has just changed there whole program. They have more games and more ways to earn entries (called coins) and that is supposed to help you have more chances to win. In the old program you could earn up to 100 entries per day and those entries were put into all sweepstakes. Now you have to earn 100 coins to make one entry and you have to decide which sweepstakes you are going to put it towards because it does not go into all sweeps.
Well, on the home page there are a couple of standard games you can play with which to earn these coins. One is a big prize wheel and the other a sort of slot machine. Today it finally happened. I spun the slot machine the full amount of times and ended up with absolutely nothing. The big prize wheel only gave up 500 coins, enough for a mere 5 entries. That won’t change your odds of winning anything by much.
5 entries in to be divided among the 7 sweepstakes, compared to the 100 entries in all sweepstakes for the day and you can see that we are not playing the same game. Of course you can earn and extra 30 coins per search, and you can earn more coins for playing some of the other games available, and some of those other games are kind of addicting. They have variations on casino games, some sports games, but also they have some pretty fun word games, and number games like Sudoku. By playing these extra games you can build up some extra entries but you can sure loose a lot of time. Oh, and did I mention that the whole time you are playing they are flashing advertisements at you. You have to pay for those prizes somehow.
I suppose I can’t complain too much, though in all the years of playing and using IWON it wasn’t until last December that I finally won something. I ended up hitting the IWON search sweepstakes for some $10 gift certificates to Amazon.com. That is like having a lousy game of golf but then hitting a really good tee shot on the last hole. You know you have to come back for more.
I know I will be back for more. After all the some of the games are kinda fun and challenging, even if the most seen phrases are ‘Sorry’ and ‘Try Again’. Also I am not the only one that thinks so for as I type this I see that there are 125,976 people logged on at the moment.
My biggest complaint for them or any web site is the fact that they can and do generate spam mail through their advertisers. Of course, anyone that has an e-mail account and has told at least one other person the address to that account will have received some spam. I have lost the use of more than one e-mail account to spam. I have even gotten spam from my own account address as someone was spoofing my address to send out spam. That is the worst kind of uncool. If ever there should be a target for malicious computing, spam frauders should be at the top of the list.
The other thing that pushes my buttons about IWON is the use of pop ups and pop unders. They do it to excess and it drives me nuts. I was using an old computer with an old browser and it was so bad that it drove me to action. I just downloaded the latest version of Mozilla Firefox, a way cool browser. It seems like it is compatible with everything. It uses less resources too so it should perform better than that other browser. I am going to try it for awhile and see if there are any problems. At least I have something now to block those pesky pop ups.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
I have added some tip pages for those that are spending time on IWON. Check it out, you might find something new. IWON TIPS Page 1.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)