Update on using an iPhone

I have been using an iPhone since late may and it is handling the many email accounts much better than the android phones were.  I am generally happy that I made the switch.

New cell phone

I have been having issues with my android phone running slow and locking up for a couple of minutes at a time.  I did a factory reset and the behavior returned after about a month.  T-Mobile replaced it under warranty and the refurbished one they sent me started to do the same thing after about a month.  This past Monday, the screen cracked on the refurbished phone causing over half the display to stop working.  I was feed up with these problems and spent the money to get a new phone on a payment plan.  I am now using an iPhone and will see how well it works for me.

Charter Cable in Reno sucks

Today for no obvious reason our Internet and phone went down. We both know IT and networking. It is not an issue on premises and they will not check their system to the dmarc without someone here to sign paperwork saying they were on-site.

Stupid arrogant companies that treat customers like morons that understand nothing at all.

Busy times since last post

      A lot has happened since my last post.  I have graduated from TMCC with an Associates of Fine Art and am now taking classes at UNR towards my Bachelor degree.

      We have sold the house we were living in and have moved into a 32 foot fifth wheel travel trailer.  Lot rent for the trailer is less than renting a house or apartment.  The data issues we were seeing with T-Mobile appear to be related to something in the area where the house was.

     We are also resident artists at Reno Art Works, actively working on our fine art photography, paintings and other projects.

I will try to remember to update this more often now that I have an IPad with a keyboard it is much easier to type stuff.

Busy weekend

This weekend was a busy one around the house. 

I rewired or travel trailer repairing the damage caused by the thief that stole the two coach batteries over the winter. They cut wires off after they had disconnected them.   This mentioned I needed to trace the wires out and build available schematic of the trailer wiring for the batteries.  Now all I have to do is buy replacement batteries.

The other big project was to get the lawn mower running again and cut the grass jungle that was the front yard.  Some of the grass was over one and a half feet tall.

Still fighting with T-Mobile about their "service" in our neighborhood

I am in the middle of another round with T-Mobile about the 3g/4g coverage here.  This time the engineers say we have "excellent"coverage here. If this is excellent coverage, I do not want to see good or fair coverage.

They keep trying to say the problem is our equipment, which seems unlikely since we have been through several handsets each and we spent last week in San Francisco and did not have a single connection issue our data issue.

Multiple handsets over a several year period points to a network problem, a tower problem, or they simply cannot cover this area for some unknown reason. If the issue is the third one, they need to admit it and update their coverage maps to have a hole in this area.

The really sad thing is that they have a 2g/edge cell under a mile from my home and I can see the antennas from my roof. The system keeps trying too connect is to the nearest 4g tower that does not seen to be able to cover this area properly.

We like the service except for the fact they cannot seem to provide the promised service where we need to most and they insist that they are providing it.  I Ann almost to the point of changing carriers to one that can provide a working signal to my home.

If they had a signal booster they could send me, it would solve the problems. They will not have any until this summer and it sounded like I would have to pay them tho ship it too me to resolve their problem.

Location : 7745 Yorkshire Dr, Reno, NV 89506,

Location : 7745 Yorkshire Dr, Reno, NV 89506,

Data service questions finally answered.

I finally received an answer about the ongoing data problems that I have been seeing in the area of my home.

It turns out that the nearest 3g+ cell is several miles to the south of my location and the closer cells are 2g. The coverage map for the public shows solid 4g data coverage in this area; however, according to t-mobile's engineering department I am in a 2g service area. The closer cells are supposed to be upgraded "soon", a nice vague timeframe that I take to mean sometime in the next five years.

Part of the problem is the fact that the phones are configured to give priority to faster cells over slower cells, even if the slower cell provides a stronger signal. So, due to the facts that T-Mobile is providing inaccurate coverage information and the design of the systems, my wife and I have to deal with our phones going dead very fast at our home.

Thank you T-Mobile for providing exaggerated coverage information and almost two years to admit it to me unofficially.

Location : 7745 Yorkshire Dr, Reno, NV 89506,

New phone

I picked up a new phone last week. I am still on T-Mobile and finally found out why we were having data issues on our old phones.  It seems that the sim card affects your data connection.  The data is working better, but still had issues.

The new phone is a Samsung Galaxy s2 is very nice.

Location : 7705-7715 Yorkshire Dr, Reno, NV 89506,

Location : 7745 Yorkshire Dr, Reno, NV 89506,

T-Mobile customer service seems to be going downhill

I just spent over on hour on the phone with T-Mobile customer service trying to resolve an issue with Web site login.  I was only hung up on twice by their system.  It will take them up to 72 hours to fix a login problem.

Location : 7745 Yorkshire Dr, Reno, NV 89506,

I did some portrait work today.

I did some portraits today for a web site.  They look good and it felt good.

Student government elections

Today is the first day of campaigning for the Truckee Meadows Community College student government association officers.

I am running for treasurer.

Trip to San Jose for the weekend

The explorer is full of stuff for four people for a weekend in San Jose.  Should be a good weekend, get to see a bunch of friends we see once a year.

Honor society at tmcc

I just spoke with the faculty advisor for ptk at tmcc.  One of his first questions was if I was interested in being an officer.  They are in a rebuilding phase.

It would look good on resumes to have been an officer of the chapter.

Location : Address not available

New blogger client

Google has released an official blogger client. I am posting this entry with it.  I am not impressed with it, very limited from what I have seen so far.

Box 1 arrived

First box showed this morning.

Location : 7745 Yorkshire Dr, Reno, NV 89506,

Camera ordered today

I ordered my new camera today through amazon.  Pentax k-5 with 18-55mm lens, 50-200mm lens, battery grip, and battery. They should be here by the end of the week.  I will post more info later on  my photography blog including photos of the unboxing of the equipment.

Location : 7745 Yorkshire Dr, Reno, NV 89506,

New camera soon

I will be ordering a new camera soon, a  Pentax K-5 kit and some accessories.  On my Photography blog I may do an unpacking post with pictures.

I am looking forward to having a good digital camera and may pull my portable studio equipment back together. 

Location : 7745 Yorkshire Dr, Reno, NV 89506,

Report on new rom in phone

The new rom,  CM 6.1.1 , is very smooth and fast.  I have found no issues yet with it and the data performance is great everywhere but our neighborhood.  It looks like I will be rooting my wife's phone soon.

It is time to start complaining to t-mobile about the data issues in our neighborhood and see if they will do anything about it.

Location : Address not available

New year

It has been a good holiday season.  My stepson David and his family were up for the week to visit. They are now trying to get over Donner summit and get home.

I am getting ready for the new semester at school.  Cleaning my office for a space to do homework and other projects.

In the other projects area, I am planning on getting a new camera later this month. You can follow the updates on that at  Http://brencerddwr.wordpress.com and details about my cameras.

Location : Address not available

Updated my phone rom

I finished updating to froyo on my phone. I will check it out for a couple of days then root my wifes phone and install it on there.

So far it is nice and fast.

Location : 7745 Yorkshire Dr, Reno, NV 89506,