From 3 to 2

Up until earlier this week I had three lines with Sprint. 2 were for cell phones, and 1 was for my usb modem. I never used the modem. Well, I did on occaision. But for the most part, when I had access to a flat surface to pull out my laptop (a 17 inch model), I could also find a good wi-fi signal. And if I need to use my sprint LTE service, I just pulled out my phone.

Anyway, last night, I realized that not only had I paid off my modem, but I wasn’t using it, and I don’t need to pay the $30+ a month extra for a service I really didn’t need. It took three tries and I had to change my password, but I was able to cancel the line.

Though after I cancelled my line, I did get a survey spam with a specific emphasis on using chat with business (I had used Facebook messaging on one occaision to try this). It was a pretty sketchy spam. So much I reported it as a phishing attack.

For the first time...

With the exception of 2 months in 2009, when I tried using a BlackBerry, all my phones have been HTC products, starting from my T-Mobile Shadow, all the way to my most recent HTC 10. When I paid the phone bill yesterday morning, I also paid off my phone, and so I became eligible for an upgrade. Sprint doesn't currently offer any HTC phones, so i decided on a Samsung. Unfortunately, Samsung has gotten really good at locking their phones. So I've decided I will not be rooting my next phone. The only reason why I rooted my phones anymore was so I could kill ads with a HOSTS file. There are ways of killing ads without HOSTS (like the adblock extension in Firefox.

So, I've decided to upgrade my phone. And rooting is out of the question for the moment. But it will be worth it. I getting a Samsung Galaxy Note 9...

And yes, I know the irony of writing this post on my old phone...

The past week’s misadventures on my phone…

I finally decided to upgrade my phone from Nougat to Oreo. Since my phone is S-off, it just means flashing the Oreo firmware and then flashing the ROM. Which went well, without any complications. unfortunately, I didn’t like the Oreo ROM. I was so used to the options I had to customize my Nougat ROM. So I thought it would be pretty straightforward. Reflash the Nougat firmware, then the recovery, and then the ROM. Ok, so I did that. And then I didn’t have my fingerprint scanner anymore. Reflashed the Oreo ROM, and everything worked again. Repeated this a couple of times, and each time, I couldn’t use my fingerprint scanner. Finally I downloaded the Factory ROM (Nougat) from Sprint, and ran the execuatable, and it install everything back onto my like it was from the Factory. So I then reflashed my custom Nougat ROM again, and the hardware worked, but I had no LTE data connection. Fortunately, Pierce Transit buses now have WiFi. So, yesterday I reflashed the factory ROM and this time I let it run, which I should’ve done in the first place, as it had to do a hands-free activation again. Once that was done, I then reflashed my custom Nougat ROM, and everything now works again.

If it ain’t broke, then don’t try to fix it….

Ok, hopefully this will last for a while….

Like I said last week, I wiped my tower once again. Went with Windows 8.1. Then, the night after I restored my Steam back-up (normally about an 8 hour job), as I was riding my bike home, I decided to give Windows 10 another chance. So, I did the stupid thing and upgraded to the April Update. Fortunately, most of my work was still intact, so I could just finish up the install. Tonight, I finished the build. Unlike when I did the clean install, I didn’t have any ‘permissions’ issue with the TV Tuner. And as for the lack of Game Explorer, the Xbox app (through the windows store) provides a lot of the functionality (if not all of it). Too bad Microsoft hasn’t done much to announce that.

It’s a good thing I’ve finished it (and I also have all the Windows 8.1 apps that I’ve missed). As my phone took a dump on me Sunday night, and I have to now rebuild that (I’m actually 75% done with that). This time, I’m not installing all the news apps that I used to install and never use (mainly I use Google News and MSN News). The hard part, is since my phone has a fingerprint scanner, I set my phone to sign in to most my financial apps with my fingerprint, and I now have to remember my passwords to sign in again…

Next up after all this will be my laptop…

Just like a new phone…

So about a month ago, I decided to try to install the xposed framework on my phone. Which promptly broke the SafetyNet api status. But I figured I could just live with it. I never use Android Pay (I keep NFC turned off to save battery), and once the netflix app is installed, it is still usable. At the start of this week, however, I started losing root. So I had to wipe the phone and start over. This time, there will be no xposed. Though if I ever go back to running KitKat on my M8, it’ll be the first thing installed…

This was only the third time I’ve reinstalled the ROM on my phone. And it feels just like a new phone…

So, it’s Easter today…

It was also my day off. $day-job was open today, but with a reduced schedule. I have no ego. If I need the specific day off, I’ll request it beforehand. Otherwise, if I’m scheduled I’ll just show up and work my 8 hours. At my previous location there was a concerted effort to make sure that my schedule was steady (and for almost a year, it was carved-in-stone fixed) in recognition of my Commute From Hell. But that went out the window when I transferred. But hey, when work is only a 20 minute walk you really need not worry about scheduling as much….

Today is Easter:

Now why would you think that I would not post the Holy Hand Grenade Scene? Anyway, being a diabetic, this is my answer to the Easter Bunny: Sacred Relics…

Updated the software on my phone. Ended flashing the ROM 4+ times before I realized that Googling it would help, and I was a simple setting that I needed to toggle. Anyway, My HTC 10 is running the latest Nougat ROM from Team Venom. Marshmallow was taken off for good. I am noticing that there were about 10 or so apps that I bought from the Spamazon Appstore that weren’t available yet. Copied them over from the HTC One M8, and attempted to sideload them. I got them installed, but they won’t work. I guess I just wait for update. Maybe some day, I’ll post about the the nightmare it was to acquire and activate the phone. I won’t be taking this up with Sprint anymore. Too many excuses, too much DoubleSpeak, and an offshore call center. They’re even worse than Comcast. At least when you escalate to social media on Comcast, they have their shit together. Not Sprint.

Made all my credit card payments yesterday. And I still have money left over….

Anyway, I gotta go. Day off is ending shortly, and I still have to binge-watch American Dad on Netflix…

New phone arrived today…

I thought I was past the frustrations from trying to upgrade my phone last week (balky websites & and agents who didn’t give a damn). I went through Worst Buy to order it, and unfortunately for Sprint, Best Buy was the only party involved who had their shit together….

So the phone arrived today at 1:30 in the afternoon. I put the memory card in, powered the phone on, and nothing happend. I was able to logon to my Wi-Fi, but the phone wouldn’t activate. I went to the Sprint website, and the website was ‘down for maintenence’. All day. Sprint support was really no help. Even the executive team told me to call them, which I couldn’t since I didn’t have access to a phone. And they told me to go chat with an agent, but abain the website redirected to the site maintenence. WIth all the issues I’ve had trying to get the phone, and actviate it, I’m seriously thinking that Sprint is doing this deliberately.

But nevertheless I got my HTC 10 and I got it activated. I had previously downloaded and prepared Marshmallow and Nougat ROMs for my phone. So I went and put some Sunshine on it. And once I was S-off, I flashed TWRP, and then I installed the Nougat ROM (I had previously dabbled with the Marshmallow ROM on the HTC One M8, and that ROM was based on the ROM for this phone, so I went with the new ROM). I’m still in the process of moving in, but I’m impressed with it so far. For the first time I have a working Andriod Pay (something I’ve never had due to issues with my phone being rooted), were it not for my cards not working with it, but that’s life. I will miss the IR blaster, so I guess that means I need to not lose the remote. The camera looks good, too. But we’ll save for another post. Work calls tomorrow….

Well, after last week’s fiasco.

After the fiasco last week, I was not amused. Probably I shouldn’t have asked for the head of the Sprint agent in Puyallup, but in an of itself trying to place the order was an epic fail on the part of Sprint. I would’ve cancelled my account on the spot were it not for the fact that we’re leasing my brother’s iPhone, and I’d be on the hook for remaining payments. So I was stuck with Sprint, and my phone was showing its age. But fortunately, Worst Buy is a Sprint reseller. And I was able to order an HTC 10. They didn’t have one in store, but they were available on line, and I was able to do in 10 minutes on bestbuy.com on my HTC One M8 what I couldn’t do for the life of me on Sprint.com on my computer.

So, fast forward to today. UPS has my phone, and it is out for delivery. I’ve already downloaded the Marshmallow and Nougat ROMs from Team Venom (I’ve been using their ROMs ever since my HTC One M7), and copied them to my memory card. And I also have everything ready to s-off and root my phone….

An open email to Sprint:

I just sent to this to Sprint. I had been attempting to upgrade, and it didn’t end well:

<Quote>

My account number is: xxxxxxxxx. This is in regards to my phone number: (253) xxx-xxxx. I recently paid off the phone, and decided it's time to upgrade to the HTC 10.

Lately, Ive been unable to login throught the Sprint Zone app. I always get an invalid password error. And God help me if I try to login online. If I try to logon through Firefox, it just keeps bouncing back to the logon page. If I logon through Google Chrome, I can get the validation text sent to me, but when I enter it, the page just displays a bunch javascript, and I don't logon.
But Friday I was able to finally log on, and I attempted three times to order the phone upgrade. Two times, when I went to pay for it, it was displayed that my newer debit card would be charged, but it came back with a 'declined', and then I get a text that the charge was made to my other card (an entirely different card number)! You were telling me you were charging one card but actually attempting to charge the other!

But I finally got that straightened out and I placed my online order (#ow-srso-xxxxxxxxx) to be picked up in Puyallup at 4227 S Meridian Ste B Meridian Plaza Shopping Center, Puyallup WA 98373. I got there early, and I was not impressed. One employee at the counter who was more interested in having a personal conversation with the two women (family members?) than he was about helping the three other people in the store, one of whom had an appointment, and the other two I overheard talking about buying three phones. At this time any sales droid capable of rubbing two neurons together would realize that that's the time to start doing your job. Not this person. I finally get up to the person, told him that I had an appointment to pick up my upgrade (I was early, but he wasn't helping anybody else either...). He then told me that he was shorthanded, and it was take at least 20 minutes. One of the ladies he was talking with when I came up then chimed in saying it would take more than 20 and snickered. That's when I walked out. Without my phone. He called after me, but if he isn't going to do his job to begin with, then he's not going to do it at all.

So I then called customer service. I jumped through all the hoops. Only to get an agent whose accent was sufficiently thick enough that I knew that I had reached an offshore call center. I hung up.

So, what needs to happen is:
1. Order #ow-srso-xxxxxxxxx needs to be cancelled forthright. And I need the $61.00 I paid Friday to start it refunded.
2. Your website needs to fixed so that I can login without repeated attempts.
3. Whoever was working at the Puyallup store at 11:15 this morning (4-2-2017) needs to be fired, and you need to publicly acknowledge this. Ignoring customers is never acceptable.

Then, I need an explanation as why this was all allowed to happen. Why am I being treated like garbage at every turn? Why is it so impossible to logon? Why is it so difficult to order an upgrade? And more importantly WHY DID I HAVE TO LEAVE THE SPRINT STORE WITHOUT MY ORDERED UPGRADE? But failing that, just tell me what obligations (ie contract, leases) I have left on my account and what I need to do to fulfill them and move to another carrier. Unlike you, I follow through on my promises.

<\Quote>

I’ve already gotten an acknowledgement back from the VP of customer service, but if it take that kind of escalation to get a human operator who know his/her shit then the battle has already been lost…

It happened a couple of weeks ago.

I went to the Sprint store with my brother 2 weeks ago to upgrade his phone, since I’m leasing his iPhone. And it turns out that they were out of his preferred phone. While I was there, I addressed a matter. It was time I address some very poor judgement that I used 2 years ago. I had never used the tablet. Sure every once in a while, I took it out and used the LTE internet. But I was always so concerned about going over the limit that I kept it home. And on the home Wi-Fi. So, I was paying $20+ a month for something that I didn’t use. I’m a man of integrity, so I kept my end of the contract. And this last summer, I paid the contract off. And while we were are the Sprint store, I cancelled the service. I told the clerk that I never used it. And that was the end of it….

It is possible to pay off a cell phone contract and cancel service without drama…

2 weeks later….

About two weeks ago, I downloaded the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. First, I did just a regular install with my Windows 10 usb flash drive, and did an in place upgrade to 10. After about a day and a half, it occurred to me that the media creation tool had been upgraded as well, and so I re-downloaded it and did a clean install of it.

Equipment-wise, all of my hardware still is supported. No surprise there, as my previous upgrades all worked before. After the clean install, I realized that I only had Windows 10 Home (since I upgraded from Windows 8.1 Pro, and in fact I specifically upgraded to Win8.1 Pro to get Win10 Pro). No problem, I just went to buy an upgrade, and had I gone to the Windows Store, I would’ve been able to upgrade for free, due to my digital entitlement. But, I simply entered my Win8.1 license key and all was good.’

This afternoon, I just finished reinstalling my last item of software (you may remember the the adventures I had which started this). Lesson learned. I’ll be more careful about downloading stuff from the internet. And I’ll be backing up more often. If it wasn’t for my 2 tB usb hard drive, I’d be screwed…

And at the same time, I got tee’d off at my phone, and decided to wipe that as well. But that, too is up and running…

This week's misadventures on the internet...

So, Thursday I was summoned to Mrs. Fields. The owner (and sometime boss, but I try to avoid it now since current day-job has me full-time). And he gave me a non-functioning tablet with marching orders to fix it. Since I had to get up at uber-early in the morning Friday and Saturday, so I told him that I would work on it today, with it being returned Monday....

So last night, I get home from work, and I pull out the tablet. Initial diagnosis was a severely depleted battery, and after a few minutes on the charger, I got into download mode and flashed a recovery. Getting into file manager, and I see why it wouldn't boot up. Somehow he managed to completely wipe the tablet, system and all. Apparently he tried to do a factory reset from recovery. Never a good thing. If you need to do a factory reset in Andriod, there is way to do it. If you do it in recovery, you're more likely to completely wipe everything. I should know. I do that everytime I flash a new ROM to my phone. So needless to say, I found the stock firmware for it, and flashed the tablet back to factory condition. And an overnight sit on my charger, and we're good to go.

And then the Anniversary Update hit. It actually hit on Tuesday. Last night after fixing the tablet, I finally downloaded it. So far, I'm impressed. I am trying to use Windows 10 as my daily driver (there has been a recent sidetrack with the virus I got a month or so ago). But this is why I always have an up to date backup....

So I got Marshmallow last night….

So I got around to upgrading my phone to Marshmallow last night. I went with the VenomROM, like I’ve always done with this phone. All the previous ROMs that I’ve had on this phone have been Sense 6.0, and my current ROM has Sense 8.0 (it’s actually a port from the HTC M10), so there are going to be some changes. But I do like the fact that Andriod Pay now works (never worked before because my phone has always been rooted). I do have some concerns about the home screens (bfore I was able to have a 5x6 display on the home screen, but now the best I can do is 4x5), but that’s nothing really to be concerned about. I’m still working my way through setting it up, but I’m sufficiently impressed. At the least the mail app doesn’t crash when I try to write an email…

Candy, anyone?

Nothing special here. I’m just putting Marshmallow on my phone. I don’t know how well it’ll work out, but I also have my KitKat and Lollipop ROMS also stashed away on my phone’s memory card. Hopefully I won’t need them….

A better start today...

Today starts better than yesterday. Yesterday, I forgot my phone. So there was no facebooking on my break. No browsing the news on the bus. And I was a little bit cranky without my lunchbreak power nap timer...

Just when I realize....

With the last three posts or so about my computer going nuts on me (long story short: have to replace video card), I finished 'moving in' to phone. Usually, I flash the ROM, then I install all my apps, from the Google Play store and Spamazon. There are also a few that I sideload. Then I tweak. I suppose since I have Titanium Backup Pro (and the pro key), I could just back up all my settings, and be done with it. But there is something to be said about setting up my phone like new. There are always new things I want to try. Sometimes the changes are for the better, but there are times (usually) when it blows up in my face. I guess that's why I keep at least three ROM installers on my phone (and yes, I've decided to flash a ROM on my phone while on the bus home).

Irony: Tonight, I finish signing in to all my apps, and setting shortcuts on my phone, and now I have to start over on my computer....

It is finished…

Finally. Just finished reinstalling my games. I even added some more Thanks to Steam and Origin. With the exception of Halo, which should be arriving tomorrow, courtesy of Spamazon Prime. Now all that is left is to rearrange the Start Menu to my liking, which may take a while, as I’ve never really put much thought in how to arrange it.

I also tonight finished logging in to all my apps on my phone. Now to customize the home screens, and I’ll be set. Until the next time I get tee’d off and I wipe everything from orbit. With regards to what works on Windows 10 and what doesn’t, I’ve found a couple of workarounds:

• Repurchasing them electronically. If it’s on Steam or Origin, then it’s probably compatible. There were quite a few games that I’ve repurchased. And I’ve also found some classics that were re-released. This is actually my preferred option. It can be expensive and rather frustrating, but compatibility is more guaranteed…
• My Windows XP virtual machine. It’s no longer supported, but then again, neither are the games that will only work on it. And I really don’t like usually compatibility mode…

Hello World, for the umpteenth time....

Day two of my weekend today. Absolutely nothing planned. Aside from flashing Marshmallow on my phone today. While I did make a donation to the LeeDriod project last week, I've still decided to go with the VenomROM this time around. Mainly because it's what I've been using since I upgraded my previous phone to KitKat, and I know how it works. If it doesn't work out, I still have my copies of KitKat and Lollipop on myth phone, as well....

Edit: didn't go that well. Ended up inadvertently deleting the Google Play Services framework, so I just decided to wipe and go back to Lollipop. Easily done since I have ROM stashed away on my memory card....

Three times…

This weekend, I started with my computer running Windows 7 and my phone running Kit Kat. Friday night, I had finished updating my backup for the Tower (application of lessons learned long ago) on my 2 TB usb hard drive. For some reason, I thought it would be cool to put Windows 8.1 back on my tower. So I pulled out the system restore kit that I burned right when I brought my computer home, and I proceeded to wipe everything. After installing Win8.1, I then proceeded to update it. Over 3 GB’s of updates. And then I went to restore all my documents. But somewhere in all this, I realized why I really didn’t like Windows 8.1. So, I pulled out my Windows 10 usb thumb drive, and wiped it again. This time, I immediately went to download the 1511 update. Afterwards, I was installing drivers (all while watching Mythbusters wrap up). And then I decided to try an reinstall the SecDrv driver. Big Mistake at the time. A few minutes later, I was installing another program, and windows installer wouldn’t work. So I said fuck it, and I wiped my tower again. For the third time. This time, I didn’t dink around with the SecDrv install. And I finally got a semi-functioning Windows install. I suppose I could have gone back to 7, but that would be no fun. Besides it’s easier for me to Netflix and Hulu on my tower from Win10 than Win7.

I started this weekend with KitKat on my phone. I then gave Marshmallow a try. And I didn’t like it. So I went back to Lollipop. This wasn’t as big a deal as it is for my computer, as my phone’s memory card has enough space on it that I can keep multiple ROMs on it….

In all this, did I mention that I got a ‘new’ printer last week. My mother gave me her HP OfficeJet 4622. Like my Lexmark, it supports Wi-Fi printing, it’s a multi-function printer, and it has individual ink tanks. But unlike my Lexmark, it also support mobile printing. I can now print from my cell phone….

About last week…

Remember last week when I said I was switching to the Badboyz ROM? About that….

I use my phone as my wake-up alarm. It’s convenient. I can set a different alarm for each day, which comes in handy when you’re working a variable schedule. Unfortunatly this was also the deal breaker for me with the BadBoyz ROM. Last week, I had to open at work, which meant getting up at zero-dark 30 in the morning. Right when your alarm is going off is not an appropriate time for the phone to crash. Which it did. And the alarm never went off. So I got up almost an hour late. Fortunately, I was able to haul ass, and I made it to work on time.

Also, during that past week, I also was able to address the issue with being unable to sign on venomroms.com. Since I was able to re-sign on, I went with the Venom ROM again. This time, I also haven’t had any problems with my phone so far (thanks to flashing current firmware). When I previously attempted Lollipop ROMs, I was never able to use the Sprint Zone app.