OK, so people knows the story, here is what has happened. Late last year, I had an RIM 8320. I had no problems with it, and was happy with it with the exception of no 3G, nor GPS. So, in November, I had decided to buy a new phone. Considering that a new smart phone would have cost $400 +, I was forced to take it on a payment arrangement. With me being a good customer with T-Mobile, they were willing to risk $600 on me.
So, I looked and looked and there were only 3 smart phones that would have ran Android or RIM. I wanted one of those for the Google Voice app that allowed me to make calls with Google Voice so my number showed as my GV number. There was no RIM that met my needs as the 9700 wasn’t available. The options I had were G1, Motorola Cliq that would have came in a couple of weeks, and HTC Magic (My Touch). So choosing the best of options, I chosen the My Touch.
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A few months ago, my bank (Citizens Bank – PA) has offered a service to allow a customer to be protected from over draft fees as long as the over drafts were $30 or less. All of this wonderful glory for just $4.99/month. Now, for those that have decent banking systems in their countries, let me give an explanation of what this system is (until August 15, 2010) all about. First, if you go 1¢ below $0 because of a purchase you made, the bank had a right to charge an over draft fee. This fee ranged from $25 – $50 per over draft. Now, there were also practices that maximized the charges. For example, if you had $100 in the bank, and you had 3 transactions of $96, $5, and $2.50, instead of the two smaller charges coming through, therefore only imposing 1 over draft, the biggest charges will come through first. So, that will be $100 – $96 = $4 – $5 = -$1 – $35 (overdraft) = – $36 – $2.50 – $35 (overdraft) = $73.50 for charges that would have gone -$3.50.
So, to help their consumers a few months ago (literally this year), Citizens Bank decided to offer their customers a Buffer Zone. They will not impose any over drafts as long as the overdrafts are not more than $30 combined. In the above example, the $3.50 over draft would = $3.50, and not $73.50. However legislation was passed to require banks to get permission from the customer to charge over drafts. If they do not have permission, they would be required to cover the charge (of course making a negative balance in the account), or deny the charge. Basically, no $35 over draft charges for something as small as 1 penny.
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In late 2009, Google acquired Gizmo, and stop new accounts. In addition, they extended any telephone numbers you have with them to 2015, and suspended any new numbers. OK, this is the sign that Google will be doing something amazing within a year, right? Isn’t this what they do? Buy companies, adopt them into the Google Family, and make the employees lives better?
Now, here’s a really interesting brain teaser. Even before the acquisition, one could set up their Gizmo ID with Google Voice, and ring either the computer, or a SIP device just by someone calling your phone. Now, Google has an advantage. One, they support SIP Broker (most of the time), and support iNum. There’s even an iNum number for every Gizmo users (I will explain how later). However, even almost a year after acquisition, Google supports neither.
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Original Article ( http://b.fsp.im/1424a )
Finally, someone that seen the exact same things I have seen, and put it on a site that a thousand times more popular than mine. AT&T, and the big gripes I have with them (which is why I would never go back to them) also came with the same conclusions. So, why is it that AT&T is so popular? Why is it that people would stay with them no matter how many times they bend them over and do them in the you know where? I actually know someone that would claim that AT&T can do no wrong even though they were the last to reduce their unlimited plan just months ago, and have took the liberty to screw him in doing so.
So, what would give these customers pause in dropping one of the worst carriers. Yes, one could say that Verizon has locked features out of their customers when the phone clearly supported it, but at least they had customer service, and catered to their business. AT&T is more likely to blame their customers for their problems. So, what does Ars Technica and I see in common – all things. Here’s a run down.
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Earlier today, I called T-Mobile to find what the rates of +882, and +883 calls were. After about 20 minutes on hold, it would seem as if they are mistakenly perceiving these calls as if they were satellite calls, and therefore be charged as if they were +881 calls.
So, how did this come about to be such a big mess? Well, I have no idea why, but every satellite carrier is provided with the +881 country code for a very long time considering the need to acquire VOIP only country codes. Iridium Satellite for example has +881 6+, and +881 7+. So after the country code, any phone number beginning with 6, or 7 would be on Iridium. Globalstar uses +881 8+, and +881 9+.
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