Beachballin’

Gastown Snowball Fight

What happens when it snows in Vancouver, and the tech sector gets bored? Here’s M2O’s contribution, via Tris Hussey:

Some photos I took from the front lines:

Add some Facebook pics and a Qik video to boot, and you’ve got a Vancouver social media meetup for the ages.

Links via Tris Hussey and Gus (and Twitter).

Tags: gastown, snowball

iPhone Adventures

Update: It seems like more and more people from around the country (Canada, that is) are seeing this problem. It’s not limited to just BC, though it does seem like it’s likely more popular here.

So I’ve been having problems with my iPhone recently - well, more like ever since I got it. Most of them were fixed by the not-so-recent 2.1 update, but other weirdness has been happening. Things like flickering keyboards, flickering title bars, the phone not ‘waking up’ when I press buttons on it, or waking up just before it gives up on waiting for you to ’slide’, and so on.

All of these, taken individually, are minor problems, and I’ve been into the Genius Bar at the Apple store in Pacific Centre twice so far about them. In the end, I had to grudgingly agree that a few weirdness moments happening occasionally were hardly worth a fuss. The latest issue, however, put me in a spot more than a few times, and I decided to go in and get my phone replaced. On Sunday I booked a Genius appointment so I could go in and have a chat with them. Now, to give you an idea of how busy they are, the only timeslot I could book early Sunday afternoon was Wednesday at 1 PM. Not only are they booking three days in advance, they barely have any spots open when they do.

Today was my appointment, and I went in and talked to the Genius (whose name I forgot - sorry!). I explained the problem to him, and he gave me a look I recognize from having worked in retail before - the ‘I get this problem all the time, I know all about it, and no I can’t help you’ look. After I described the problem in detail (see below), he explained the situation, then swapped me a new phone. So far it’s working great, but we’ll see.

I want to devote a little more time to the issue and to what he told me about it, since apparently it’s pretty common. The symptoms are that your phone, inexplicably, will no longer take calls, and anyone that tries to call you will go straight to voicemail. You can still use data, send SMS messages, and make phone calls yourself, but incoming calls don’t show up. This is apparently a common enough problem that at one point he had a customer and a group of coworkers come in about the problem.

The real issue, he says, is that no one knows what’s causing it. He’s called Fido and Rogers, and even Apple HQ in Cupertino, and no one has any idea what’s going on. The fact that he’s seen it in such numbers is complicated by the fact that no one else - anywhere else - has seen it at all. This problem does not happen, apparently, anywhere else in the world (or at least, not in these numbers). It does not happen in the US. It does not even happen outside of BC. Moreover, it does not appear to happen on other phones either.

With iPhones selling more than any other handset in the US, Apple could be forgiven for not jumping on this issue right away. After all, this is not an iPhone problem - this is a ‘3G iPhones on Fido or Rogers in BC’s Lower Mainland’ problem. Pretty specific, but no one knows why. The only clue is that it seemed to start happening to everyone all at once, and not within a reasonable timeframe of the last update. This is likely a result of a change that Fido/Rogers made to their network, but no one’s talking.

There are a few ways, he suggested, to work around the problem, and it’s worth sharing them in case someone else has the same problem:

1. Swap SIM cards. A lot of people are using old SIM cards instead of the ones that came with their handset. Very old SIM cards do not support 3G. Some of Fido’s newer-but-still-older SIM cards support 3G but may still be flaky, while Fido’s newest SIM cards should work great with 3G. If you aren’t using the SIM card that came with your iPhone, dig that one out, call your provider, and get them to switch you over to the new SIM. This may possibly work.
2. Swap handsets. This is a far more drastic solution, but it may work for some people. Given that it’s not likely a hardware problem, this is almost a last resort, but it might help. Book an appointment at the Apple Store. Some people don’t come back, and some swap two or three handsets with no resolution. Your mileage may vary.
3. This is the most drastic solution in my opinion - disable 3G. As I mentioned above, this is a 3G problem, but not a 3G iPhone problem. Switching your phone back to EDGE will fix the problem. Still, for the amount of time I’m out-and-about, 3G isn’t a tempting option. If you do go this route, though, be prepared for a potentially dramatic increase in battery life. 3G is a battery-drainer, whether you’re using it or not, so if you can’t get through a day without a charge, you should probably do this anyway.

In the end, none of this is guaranteed to fix the problem. The first two might work, but don’t get your hopes up. The third is a workaround, but not an ideal solution. We’ll have to see if the 2.2 update fixes the issues people are having, or if Fido/Rogers end up fixing whatever on their network is causing this.

For more Fido fun, check out my recent Fido Adventures, wherein I try and fail to update my plan, and still save $15 per month.