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geckoman

November 24, 2009 7:58 PM

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Is he eligible to get a phone update from T-Mobile and maybe just ditch the Nokia? Not exactly solving the problem as much as it is just moving on, but it appears there will be no help from them. I had a similar problem with a firmware update on my original Blackjack, but thankfully Samsung had the older firmware for me to downgrade to.

2 replies

$\"user-pic\"$

November 24, 2009 8:36 PM

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yeahbut, a new phone deal usually means a new two-year contract. He's already having connections issues with T-Mobile, and they've proven themselves unresponsive to their issues, so why would any customer reward them with more or continued businesss?

Maybe it's time to ditch the contract all together.

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November 25, 2009 4:34 AM

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That sounds like it will cost a fortune. Does T-Mobile charge for early terminations?

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November 24, 2009 8:01 PM

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Nokia moved all customer support to the Philippines from Tampa, FL and outsourced all of their repairs a few years ago. Nokia does not seem really care about the US as it only account for less than 10% of total sales. Now if the customer buys one share, they can contact Nokia via their shareholder line and NokiaUSA from Ft.Worth TX will usually just replace the phone right away. If you want great customer support from a mobile phone maker, Nokia in my own personal opinion may not be the best company.

1 replies

$\"user-pic\"$

November 25, 2009 1:47 AM

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The fact that Nokia never tried to actively participate in the U.S. market never helped its sales. I can't even remember a single instance where Nokia actually attempted to market its phones. Of course, producing phones that are absurdly inconspicuous is another factor as well.

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November 24, 2009 8:13 PM

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The only experience I've ever had with Nokia support was positive. The screen on my unlocked E71-2 cracked in my pocket. I called Nokia, got a rep in about 15 minutes, and got the info I needed to mail the phone to their repair facility in Alabama. Mailed it on a Saturday, had the phone back 6 days later.

That said, I could have just gotten lucky, or the OP could have just gotten unlucky. I'll admit that I've never updated the firmware on my phone, but I usually don't update the firmware on anything unless I am having a specific problem addressed by a firmware update.

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November 24, 2009 8:39 PM

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Me thinks it's probably cheaper for Nokia to flat out replace his phone than anything. The 6103 is a cheap standard model unlike the E71-2.

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haoshufu

November 24, 2009 8:54 PM

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In the US where all carriers customize the phones, never do any firmware upgrade unless provided by your carrier.

I had a foresight. I stopped using Nokia ages ago. The last Nokia phone I had was TDMA.

1 replies

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November 24, 2009 10:52 PM

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Come to think of it, my last Nokia phone was with a TDMA carrier too. Now I use an iDEN service, so that keeps me using Motorola products. Haven't had any complaints with any of their iDEN offerings.

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coren

November 24, 2009 9:10 PM

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\"Reader\" Chris needs contact information. Not \"Senior Editor\" Chris is being lazy.

Riiiiight ;)

2 replies

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November 24, 2009 10:04 PM

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I know! And I've had issues with Nokia in the past, so writing this post was surreal--like I was acting out a consumer issue in therapy or something. Or, you know, just lying. (Chris the OP is real, though.)

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November 25, 2009 10:06 AM

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I want to say that a while back that either Phil or Laura wrote a tip from a Phil or a Laura and they ran into the same problem.

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H3ion

November 24, 2009 10:30 PM

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At this stage, if the OP is a contract customer of T-Mobile, I would think that T-Mobile would just do a swap for a different Nokia phone. As an alternative, can the software update be rolled back, maybe erase everything and download the firmware from T-Mobile?

2 replies

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November 25, 2009 1:36 AM

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The article stated that the firmware update is irreversible.

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H3ion

November 25, 2009 11:21 PM

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I saw that but I thought that meant you couldn't do a rollback. You could still do a complete wipe (like a reformat of a drive) and reinstall from scratch. Maybe not but I thought it was worth a shot.

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November 24, 2009 10:32 PM

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OP, if I could probably guess, you need to reload your UMA certificates, if you're having issues connecting to Hotspot@Home/the WiFi services. Your phone uses specific certificates to identify and secure the tunneled UMA connection back to the T-Mobile UNC (UMA Network Controller).

I don't know the specifics on how to re-load them into the phone, but, http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?knrud225gi2 is the link to the two .cer files that need to somehow be shoved back into the phone... somehow. Supposedly throwing them into the phone's memory and accessing them from the file manager will add the certs back into the phone's OS.

It's worth a shot, at least.

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Kryndis

November 24, 2009 11:44 PM

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I have a 6301 and I had this exact same problem. Chris is right, it's a fairly well known problem inside of the community (at least the community of nerds who actually plug their phones in and patch them ;-) ) and I was never able to find any sort of solution. I wish I had some advice for him, but luckily in my case I was still within the one year warranty and T-Mobile swapped it out.

I'd go back to T-Mobile. It's a known issue and they should make an exception. You had no reason to believe a manufacturer's update would hurt your phone and it's a feature of the T-Mobile network that isn't working. Keep calling until you get someone who agrees.

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November 25, 2009 10:02 AM

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I would go back to a T-Mobile store. Ask to speak to a manager...explain the problem. Then, in no uncertain terms, explain to him (or her) that if they are unable to provide him phone service with their own official product, he will be cancelling his contract with no termination fee.

Basically, in the end, it's a T-Mobile issue. Yes, the Nokia update broke the phone, but it is T-Mobile's responsibility to make sure that the phones they sell are supported by their service.

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$\"user-pic\"$

November 25, 2009 10:12 AM

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I suggest looking into the extended warranty that is included on most credit cards. The Visa and Amex extended warranty services double your warranties for devices bought with those cards. If you go ahead and send to Nokia repair center for them to reflash or repair, you can submit the repair cost through the Credit card extended warranty process and they will reimburse that repair cost as long as it doesnt exceed the original cost of the phone (in which case they would just refund the original cost). You can get preapproved or just submit the repair cost after the fact as long as you have original receipt and proof of warranty. Just confirm you have that benefit before moving forward. good luck!

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That's Consumer007 to you

November 25, 2009 1:02 PM

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Why is someone at HQ protecting the paying customer from speaking with Sue Spradley? He is important enough for her to talk to.

1 replies

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That's Consumer007 to you

November 25, 2009 1:04 PM

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Sigh...pronoun trouble \"protecting Sue Spradley from talking to a paying customer...\" or \"preventing paying customer from talking to Sue Spradley\". Take your pick.

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That's Consumer007 to you

November 25, 2009 1:18 PM

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Hey Chris:

I just contacted Chantal Boeckman, listed as Sue Spradley's customer contact on the Nokia website, and asked her to get in touch with consumerist to resolve for you right away.

chantal.boeckman@nsn.com

Further, here is Sue's link on Linkedin.com: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sue-spradley/a/21/6bb

Join up and send her a message on their with your thoughts, lol :)

CEOs should NOT be protected from dealing with paying customers and linked.com is a great tactic to get a hold of them personally.

I'll post any response I get from my message to Chantal.

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brianguyy

November 25, 2009 4:13 PM

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\"I had a foresight. I stopped using Nokia ages ago. The last Nokia phone I had was TDMA.\"

my thoughts exactly. I saw a Nokia smartphone advertised for Black Friday which seemed like a really good deal, and then thought \"naaah better not\". haven't had a Nokia phone in a long time, (I'm a tech guy -- computers and software -- but when it comes to phones, I only upgrade every 2 or 3 years). their phone technology at least in the U.S. sadly just lags, even HTC which is a newly up and coming manufacturer easily blows them out of the water.

I can see why someone would have bought their T-mobile phone for the Wifi capabilities though. T-mobile started to push this a while back, and seemed like a really nice feature to have for some users.

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LadySiren is murdering her kids with HFCS and processed cheese

November 25, 2009 4:56 PM

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I'll pass this along to a Nokia communications guy I know, see if it helps. No promises but hey, you never know.

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jcg1483

November 25, 2009 9:18 PM

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Hey Chris (and everyone),

As LadySiren mentioned in the replies below, she contacted a Nokia PR person she knew - me. I've contacted our Customer Care team and asked that they look into this ASAP so we can have an answer for you (Chris) and see what can be done. I'll do everything in my power to resolve the issue to the best of my ability.

Please note that neither Sue Spradley nor Chantal Boeckman work for Nokia Inc. Sue is the president of Nokia Siemens Networks (http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/) - a subsidiary of Nokia that handles infrastructure equipment, is a joint-venture of Nokia and Siemens and is a completely different company from Nokia. I realize that at first glance her LinkedIn profile says she's the president of Nokia but further down it clarifies and states that she is the Head of Nokia Siemens Network. Also, Chantal Boeckman also works for NSN and is my counterpart there, working in the PR department.

Chris - if you can somehow send me your email address privately, I'll gladly contact you when I know more (most likely early next week due to the holiday).

Best,
Joe

PS - in case you need proof that I work for Nokia, please find my LinkedIn at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jgjanuary

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$\"user-pic\"$

November 30, 2009 1:41 PM

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Chris,

I understand your frustration regarding this matter. Please accept our apologies that your experience with Nokia was less than satisfactory.

This issue was corrected on NSU and you currently have the ability to reflash the software to your phone and this issue will no longer be present. When you connect to NSU it will show you that you have the latest software version, but it will present you with the option to reflash the 8.22 software to the phone again. We have verified that following this reflash process will correct the issue that you described.

If you do not feel that this is an acceptable solution for your issue, I ask that you please post a response here and I will contact you on the Email listed on this site for additional options.

Sincerely,

Dustin R.
Nokia Inc.
Customer Care

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