One of my character traits is that I am very loyal to someone until they do me wrong.  I am not saying that T-Mobile has done me wrong.  I am saying that despite the fact that I have not had a signal at work for 11 years I have stayed with them.  I would love to stay with them even now but I am reaching the end of my patience.  At the beginning I just had phone service.  Now I have phone service as well as data on my phone.  I am paying a premium price for the data and voice though I do not have a signal most of the day.  I am under a two year contract that expires in May 2011.  I have been entertaining the idea of changing service providers.  Since having no signal in my office is the main problem, I thought I should try other providers to see if any of them work.  I have found that most of the people that receive calls in my office are using AT&T.  I found one person that uses Verizon and gets one bar in my office.  Another person that uses Sprint that gets two bars.  When I ask them to follow me down to my wife’s office downstairs, the only one that still gets a signal is AT&T.

I often tell people outside of work that I may have no option but to switch to AT&T and they tell me NO!  They tell me what a huge mistake it would be to switch to AT&T.  I hear this from so many people.  They tell me how I will be having dropped calls.  My answer to that is currently I am not able to get calls at all.  What is worse?  No calls or dropped calls.  The reason that AT&T gets a signal when no one else does is because their antenna is on the water tower directly in front of the building I work in.  The closest T-Mobile tower is nearly two miles away.  You may know how I know this.  I have done extensive research through the FCC search and reading antenna registration numbers on towers.  I have searched and found tower sites for every cell phone antenna for 10 miles and have posted them on Google Earth.  As a ham radio operator, I have some experience in this area.  The point is that if T-Mobile would just put an antenna on that water tower, it would fix everything.  I have suggested this information to them but so far no response.  I spoke to a T-Mobile employee on Twitter, @TMobileUSA who gave me a contact email that I could submit my presentation to the company.  If it is not fixed by next May, I will have no choice but to choose another carrier.  I am very doubtful that they will fix it so that is why I am doing research with other providers.

My other problem with this sorry Blackberry 8900, there is no fix for it.  Once it goes into SOS mode, it stops searching for a signal.  Every time I leave my office, I have to turn the phone off and then turn it back on so that it will search for a signal.  Over the years I have paid thousands of dollars for service that I have not received.  A monthly service fee for service that I could not receive.  It is so frustrating to not even be able to receive a text message when I am at work.

It is unfortunate that only one cell phone signal can be received resulting in only having one choice.  Would the other providers be willing to put their antennas on the same water tower?  There are 23,000 employees and most of them work in this building.  I have been with T-Mobile for ten years and have been very happy with them other than the fact that I get no signal at work.  Now that data plans are available, the lack of signal is a big impact.  I have reached the point that I am tired of paying for a service that I cannot even use 10 hours out of 24.  Out of the remaining 14 hours I am asleep from 6 – 8 of them.

When I am paying a monthly fee for both phone service and data, I would like to get more than two to three hours a day’s worth of use. We have already decided that if T-Mobile does not put their antenna where we can receive it or have a repeater in the building  by May 2011 then we are going to have to cancel our four phones.  Over a ten year period I have spent thousands of dollars for service that I have never been able to use.  If someone at T-Mobile is listening, please contact me at paul dot mccord at gmail dot com and I can give you the latitude and longitude of all of your towers versus your competitors.  I can give you the coordinates of the water tower that can reach into the building.  I am an amateur (ham) radio operator and have done extensive research through the FCC to locate towers of T-Mobile as well as the competitor’s cell phone towers.

I have listened to ridicule for years from my coworkers for sticking with T-Mobile because we cannot use them at work.  I am a loyal person and like to stay with them but I have finally reached my point.  I am not very optimistic but I will be anxiously awaiting a call.

I am actually happy the problem is on the provider’s end and not on my own.  At least this gives me the confidence of knowing that it is not my equipment that is malfunctioning.  I truly have been very happy with my service over time.  I love being able to Twitter, Facebook, and listen to the Internet radio on my phone.  I guess I can give them the benefit of the doubt and give them a second chance. Hopefully it will be working by the time morning arrives.  If you have a Blackberry and your service is not working then you can put your mind at ease and know the problem is not on your end.

***UPDATE 12/23/2009***

It appears the service is back online this morning. I had about 20 emails, 20 text messages and a few Twitter messages all waiting on my phone this morning when I got up.

I would like to thank Shawn Wright for Tweeting the post…

“@tmonews can you confirm 3G in OKC? My phone just started indicating 3G…”

It was his Twitter post that made me check to see if it was true.  It looks as though our T-Mobile has finally turned on 3G for most of the Oklahoma City metro area as you can see from the map above.  This image was taken from the T-Mobile site.  I am both happy and disappointed by this map.  Happy because it is finally here and sad because the metro area coverage is very poor, even missing Norman completely.  I am going to believe based on previous examples of T-Mobile’s 3G deployments that this is just the first wave of coverage that is expanded within weeks.  I have seen this happen in other cities around the country as well.  I do think this is a positive step and I thought it was important enough to share even before leaving for work.  Since neither T-Mobile, nor Tmonews.com has announced OKC’s turn on yet, it leads me to believe this is not even official yet.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope that T-Mobile does a massive expansion over the OKC metro real soon.   This is great news for the T-Mobile faithful.

To clarify what a DDoS attack is and how it works I will try to explain.  A malicious person will find open computers around the world and upload a “bot”, or a program that runs automatically at set times.  This person will upload these bots onto other computers as they find them open.  These bots will ping a site continuously from many different victim computers sort of like what happens when you are access a web site.  These attempts to reach the site are at such a high volume that it takes up all of their bandwidth preventing legitimate users from being able to access the site.  When I say bandwidth, I am referring to a sort of a pipeline and its size.  The larger the size of pipeline, the more data that can be sent through the pipe.  If all the contents of the pipe are being consumed, then nothing else is left for anyone else.

Twitter still rules the social networking world despite what you may hear from other sites.  The reason I say this is because if you actually go to Friendfeed,  you will find that at least 50% of the traffic on there started by a Twitter post.  Of course from there, people will comment on Friendfeed.  The same can be said for Facebook because most of the traffic that I see are originally posted as Twitter.  Most of these sites have their own features that are very useful but again they depend on the traffic that is generated by Twitter.  With each news story that comes out putting down Twitter, they continue to grow.  In fact their growth is exponential with each story that comes out.  This is probably a result of people’s desire to follow the crowd.  In fact just this morning I un-followed 500 people/bots/strangers.  I will admit that I love the ability to get news from Twitter in real time even before it is on the news.  I can find out when a roll over accident is on the freeway before it is even broadcast on television.

So unless someone can come up with a tool that is so easy to use through short messaging system (SMS) they will continue to rule.  With smart phones becoming more prevalent people can update a news story directly from the site.  Instantly millions of people will know within minutes.  In some cases these posts actually result in the media’s attention instead of the other way around.  Having Twitter is empowering to the individual.  As it has been seen recently, there were individuals in Iran that were posting to the world the violence that was going on.  These Twitter posts were fed into many social networking sites and also to the news media.  In fact every major news entity in the United States has a Twitter page.    I know some people that use them just to follow news sites so that when something happens, they get a message to their phones.  It is inevitable that at some point a new technology will come out and unseat Twitter as the major social tool but for now they remain on top.  I will continue to follow these technologies and see new breakthrough tools as they develop.

Being connected has always been important to me as a ham radio operator.  Since I work at a government agency, it is expected that freedoms would be limited.  Over the years they have become computer oriented and forced the work force to become computer literate or lose out on their benefits.  People use to hate the computers but our employer pushed it upon us.  I had no problem with it but I clearly remember others fighting it with all they had.  Now they have eliminated personnel offices and now you must go online to be able to edit your retirement, medical, and insurance benefits.  If you do not get online, you will not be able to get to your benefits.

Through the passage of time, the same people that have pushed this upon all employees, are now restricting access to virtually everything.  One by one they have eliminated access to web mail, social networking, and plenty of other sites.  Just this morning I noticed that my own site is now blocked from viewing from work.  I am not sure if the reason my site was blocked was because it is a blog, or if it is because I have visited it too many times.  I do understand there are reasons for these restrictions because many people do not want their tax dollars to be used for paying employees’ a salary while posting on Myspace.  There are other reasons such as the malware that has become prevalent online.  What ever the reason, it has made it virtually impossible to check your email or do anything online from work, even on an official lunch break.  My work has even banned the use of flash drives, a tool that we used every day for official business.  I understand their are threats out there but the government always goes to the extreme on everything.  I  know it is only a matter of time that we will not be able to go to any web site that is not a .mil, or a .gov domain.  They have already made it where you have to digitally sign every email you send if it has an attachment or a URL in it.

For this reason, I am determined that when my cell phone contract expires, I am going to get a smart phone.  For financial reasons I have delayed going to this because I have too many expenses to deal with going to college again.  As a ham radio operator, I run two repeaters while connected to the Internet allowing world wide communication over a small radio.  With this license, also comes responsibility to patrol the frequencies and make sure that our station operates within the guidelines of the laws that govern their operation.  I control the operation of these systems over the Internet.  Also I just like being able to use the Internet when I am not home and when I am not on work time, I would like to research.  I am so tired of not being able to even check my email from work.  It looks like the time has finally come to get a smart phone with Internet.  My biggest challenge will be waiting for my contract to expire in June so I can change my plan and still get a discount on a new phone.

To many people it seems foolish to even consider staying connected while mobile.  I have met some people that complain that they want to leave their cell phones at home when they go on vacation.  Not me!  I like being connected where ever I am.  If I am not in the mood to talk to someone, I can just send them to voice mail.  With that said, I believe I will just have to adjust and make this finally happen.  No more having my employer preventing me from checking my own email while on my break time.  It is important enough to me that I am finally willing to break down and purchase a smart phone and actually pay for the service.  Many times I get phone calls telling me about someone misbehaving on our repeaters and I need to turn it off remotely.  Without this ability, I lose control of a system that I am responsible for.  So again, I guess it is finally time.

“Out of courtesy to others please turn all cell phones off.  Cell phone activity is not allowed in this office”

Every time I see things like this, I get angry.  Since when do we have a right not to be offended?  Oh yeah…  Since the inception of political correctness.  I reject this policy and WILL use my cell phone when I go to these places even if I have no one to call just to make a point.  I am tired of people taking away our rights just because someone does not like it.  I could live with this policy if they said “Please turn your cell phones to silent” because that would make a little more sense.  There is no right to not be offended in this country.  If you do not like it, then look the other way.

I will continue to use my cell phones in businesses and when I am approached, I will tell them that if my cell phone is not welcome then neither am I and not come back.  Until people start defying these ridiculous rules and standing their ground, they will take away all your abilities.  All I wanted to do is sit there quietly and send text messages while I sit there bored in the waiting room.  I make a point to put my phone on silent when I am in public places.  What exactly is so offensive about being on the cell phone?  They have a phone right there in the waiting room that people use and talk just as loud as if they were on their cell phone.  The point is that we have an element in our population that has a hatred for cell phones and for some strange reason want to oppress anyone that uses them.

It is sort of like the over publicized bashing of people talking on their cell phone while driving.  They have singled this out as the most dangerous thing anyone can do.  They ignore people adjusting the radio stations, putting on makeup, and eating all while driving.  You never EVER hear anyone complain about any of these activities.  I actually watched a television show where they had a car accident and found a cell phone in the floor board and came to the conclusion the accident was directly related to the person talking on their cell phone.  It was never even established that he was talking on it, but rather just the presence of a cell phone in the car made it clear that it was the cause. Talking on the cell phone is no more dangerous than changing the station on you car radio.

I noticed this trend several years ago.  Even before it was politically correct to bash people for talking on their cell phones, I ran into many people on a one on one basis that it was clear they did not like these new gadgets and they could not understand why anyone wants them.  I am guilty of doing this myself and lose all objectivity when talking about Apple products.  In my mind they are overpriced and not worth the money but I never advocate taking away their right to use them.  This whole topic about cell phones makes me so angry that when I see people with their bumper stickers telling you to hang up and drive, I pull up beside them and pretend to be talking to someone.  I get so sick and tired of these politically correct bozos telling the rest of us how to live.

I see more police officers talking on their cell phones while driving all the time.  I just want to pull up beside them and hand them a jelly filled donut and shake their hand for having the courage to do the right thing and ignore these crazies.  These are the same people that sit around telling you to change your light bulbs to these overpriced fluorescent  bulbs that do not work.  I realize that I am painting with a very broad brush and likely not being fair with my statements.  I apologized if I am unfairly accusing any of you.  It is pretty common to lose objectivity when you are posting out of anger.

Talking on your cell phone is not what makes a person a dangerous driver.  Some people are dangerous anyway and they could cause an accident while chewing gum.  Some people are more alert than others and no amount of laws is going to change that.  So those of you that have a special hatred for electronic gadgets can just get over it.  I will continue to use my phone in the doctor’s office, in my car, and anywhere else.

I did read an article on Tmonews.com that T-Mobile plans on increasing from 100 million people with 3G capability to 200 million in the year 2009.  They just will not say which cities those will be.  I really wish they would at least let us have a hint so we can make some plans.

Also I am a big fan of Blackberries but so far T-Mobile does not offer any blackberries with 3G capability even if it was available in Oklahoma City.  I do take a lot of heat from my friends for staying with T-Mobile but loyalty means something to me.  I know they will get 3G service here eventually but I am becoming impatient.  I know there is a lot of infrastructure to change to get this service but I believe we have a large enough market to justify the expense.

Another thing that I have always loved about T-Mobile was their street level coverage map.  This map is a clickable map that allows you to browse right up to your house and see how good their signal is right at your home.  Just today I logged into their site and they have changed it a bit like Verizon’s map making it more difficult to make a distinction of where the tower is.  This may sound trivial to most people but I have strange hobbies and one of those is finding antennas.  As a ham radio operator I have always taken an interest in antennas or towers.  With T-Mobile’s map, I could tell exactly where the tower was.  This way I could know which ones were T-Mobiles and not another carrier.  Well just this morning they changed this to make it not as easy to find the towers.  Now they make it look like if there is any signal at all, it is dark green.  I am not sure I like this although it is not a deal breaker for me.

I just want to tell T-Mobile if you are listening, I have four phones in Oklahoma City and I want 3G service.  I want to stay with you but if you cannot guarantee service in a city/metro with more than a million people, then I may have to shop around.  Please make us one of the next cities to roll out 3G service because I work in a place that blocks access to virtually every web site around.  I cannot check my personal email, go to any social networking sites, or even check the scores to last night’s Thunder game.  If I could get 3G service on my phone, then I would not need their service.  Remember, Oklahoma City was one of the original Voicestream cities and when T-Mobile took them over, they were still one of the few that had great coverage and a great customer base.  Let us know where the next deployments will be so we do not worry about it.

I will stay with T-Mobile if they can get 3G service.  I live and work in the city so we should be able to have access when it is deployed.  I am checking the web site every day sitting on the edge of my seat anxiously awaiting that announcement … Just kidding.  I hope to hear great news soon.

My dad just had cataract surgery done on both his eyes in the past couple weeks and he is very pleased with the results.  This morning he has an appointment with the doctor to follow up after the surgery.  I am glad he had it done since his vision was getting pretty bad.  He says that he can see without glasses.

It looks like Firefox has finally captured 20% of the browser market.  I really like Firefox though I really wish it was more automated to install Windows Media Player plugin.  I love the ability to customize the browser with all the plugins like mail retrieval, social networking, and photography.  Virtually anything you would like to do can be done with this browser.  I really love it when new web based toys are invented.

I am doing research to find a new 3G phone or third generation phone that can be used on a GSM system. I have been a T-Mobile customer since they were Voicestream back in 2000. They have been very good to me. Now that they have the broadband speeds, I want to get a new phone that has faster Internet and a full QWERTY keyboard. I know it will be sort of expensive but I like being able to have the Internet with me when I travel. The sad thing is that most of the phones that I find are not available in the United States. Having a good camera phone that can post directly to Flickr is real hand when you are out on the street witnessing a crime or something. I like to take my camera places with me so I do not miss anything but it is not convenient where I work. My office is in a very large bay with many cubicles in pods. I really do not feel comfortable leaving an expensive camera in that environment. The Google G1 phone is looking very attractive as an option.

I know most of you are thinking that I am crazy for wanting to be connected all the time. That is who I am, I mean after all I became a ham radio operator for a reason. I think it is wonderful being able to keep in touch even when I am on the road. I can just send a Twitter message and it shows up on the website so you can keep people up to date where ever you are. Unlike many people, I am not concerned about privacy. As long as I am not posting my social security number, I am not worried about anything else. Your address and pictures of your house are already on the Internet whether you realize it or not. I can look at the front of virtually anyone’s house using Google Maps/Street View. For those of you not aware of this, Google hired a company to drive up and down every street with a pole on the top of the vehicle with six cameras on it.

Courtesy Davis Voice.com

You can zoom right up on your front door. I actually think this is exciting technology and do not worry about privacy at all. If you use Google Earth you can zoom up even closer. Now Microsoft has Virtual Earth and Yahoo has Yahoo Maps.

I know I have spent a considerable amount of time chastising the Google worshipers but I must say I am becoming a convert. I have been amazed with the integration of Gmail, with GTalk, Google Documents, Google Calendar, and the contacts. With the prospect of getting a G1 phone, the possibilities of syncing my Gmail contacts and calendar with the phone sounds pretty exciting. I am still in my anti-Apple mood though . To use an Iphone would mean that I would have to switch to AT&T. I really do not want to do that if I can get out of that. Secondly Apple products are way over priced and I cannot support them in their gouging efforts. Oh well… I will get away from my Apple bashing . I just received a Skype message from Larry, KD5MAF telling me there is a 40 meter net about to come on 7290 KHz that he wants me to join. I better send this post in so I can check in on the net. If you are a ham radio operator, join us.