Advice Line | Bob Lewis | InfoWorld | And now, time for some self-indulgence | March 6, 2008 03:09 PM

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And now, time for some self-indulgence

March 06, 2008 | Comments: (0)

And now, time for some self-indulgence

I use a Treo 700P. Not the newest technology, but certainly not obsolete.

I don't travel to Europe very much, but I do have a trip next week, so I called my cellular provider to activate international roaming.

I waited in the various queues, was only transferred once, and then was told, "to activate international roaming, call this number:" followed by a toll-free number.

Think about this for a moment - it's a telephone company, and its customer support representatives can't transfer me to another number in the same company!

Which leads to the first piece of advice: If you're responsible for the company's telephone technology ... Don't. Do. This. It. Makes. Your. Company. Look. Stupid. And. Incompetent.

Are we clear?

And now for the coup de grace: I called the number and talked with a very nice person who told me the Treo 700P isn't compatible with European cellular telephone standards - it can't be made to work.

This leads to my second piece of advice: At least be honest. The 700P works fine in Europe, for providers that use GSM. My cellular provider doesn't support international roaming on the Treo 700P. Blaming Palm isn't just cheesy.

It assumes I don't know how to use Google.

- Bob

Posted by Bob Lewis on March 6, 2008 03:09 PM

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COMMENTS

Hey smart guy InfoWorld blogger, the Treo 700p is a CDMA device - it can't roam to Europe. Verizon and Sprint do offer some phones that contain both a CDMA and GSM radio and therefore can roam, but not Treos. The 700p was never shipped in a GSM variant - the closest is the Treo 680, or the new Centro - both of which are available on AT&T
Who. Looks. Stupid. And. Incomptetent. Now?

Posted by: anon at March 7, 2008 01:42 PM

Okay, everyone. Can we just pretend the second grip in this post was a shot at Palm, rather than the cellular carrier?

Much appreciated.

- Bob

Posted by: Bob Lewis at March 8, 2008 12:57 PM

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