An Unhelpful Divergence Leading Nowhere from Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Veriizon?

[maevinj]

Re: Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Verizon?

I have seen reports on reddit and elsewhere of other people finding the same thing (5 minute limit), so it's not just my phone. Various other Lumia handsets have had similar restrictions; my review Icon, at least some 1020s, and other odd ones. The weirdest part is that it seems to be carrier configurable; AT&T seems to have a particular habit of capping the timeout to 5 minutes.

I have the 5 minute limit on my 928.

 

[TexasLabRat]

Re: Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Verizon?

I have seen reports on reddit and elsewhere of other people finding the same thing (5 minute limit), so it's not just my phone. Various other Lumia handsets have had similar restrictions; my review Icon, at least some 1020s, and other odd ones. The weirdest part is that it seems to be carrier configurable; AT&T seems to have a particular habit of capping the timeout to 5 minutes.

Well it's definitely not a universal AT&T image thing as the one in the store doesn't have it. But maybe the review unit group did some "prep" work on the outgoing phones that caused a policy to be set. Can't imagine how/why they would do something like that but I suppose it's possible.

 

[DoctorPizza]

Re: Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Verizon?

Well it's definitely not a universal AT&T image thing as the one in the store doesn't have it. But maybe the review unit group did some "prep" work on the outgoing phones that caused a policy to be set. Can't imagine how/why they would do something like that but I suppose it's possible.

Perhaps to protect the OLED screen. While I have seen the occasional LCD device with a 5 minute cap, it seems much more common on OLED handsets.

 

[Generalheed]

Re: Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Verizon?

So....will the XL work on Verizon over VoLTE with the AWS band?

And roam on AT&T & T-Mobile's network for 3G coverage

 

[Gungzwei]

Re: Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Verizon?

.....

A less generous person might be inclined to make inferences about how seriously Microsoft is taking this product.

Your whole article read as though you are that "less generous person".

"As best I can tell, the Lumia 950 is a perfectly adequate phone. But there are limitations to my testing, and I only received the handset late on Monday."
The timing didn't fit your schedule, so you'll just write about how terrible you assume it to be?

 

[MikeSo]

Re: Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Verizon?

Perhaps to protect the OLED screen. While I have seen the occasional LCD device with a 5 minute cap, it seems much more common on OLED handsets.

My Icon with W10M has the "Never" option. Odd that it differs.

 

[Fenoy]

Re: Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Verizon?

My L928 has the 30s, 1m, 3m, 5m, 15m, 30m and Never options.

 

[anon(7901790)]

Re: Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Verizon?

I'm criticizing your review because you didn't follow through and get an activated SIM put in the phone for cellular function testing. You could have, you chose not to (I gave you hints on how you could have done so earlier..including alluding to the fact that the SIM shipped with the phone wasn't the only one in the world that could have worked). Also, you claimed that you couldn't set the screen timeout and that precluded you from running other tests when it clearly COULD be set (I have a picture I took in the MS store of the setting menu if you would like to see it)..then you belittled those who claimed otherwise. So yeah...you didn't do your job IMHO.

There are other items which are your opinion that I disagree with..others that I agree with. But that's not why I'm criticizing your review...it's the lack of effort and the lack of completeness that didn't do an Ars article justice...followed by your snide comments to others both on the Ars site and this one.

You criticize my review because you think that I didn't try to get the SIM activated. You're mistaken in that belief. I'm really not clear why you're so desperate to defend this phone's honour.

I did my job. If Microsoft can't be bothered to send me a SIM that works with the phone that they're claiming is their flagship, that ain't my fault.

We need a Thunder Dome forum.

Two posters enter. One poster leaves. Two posters enter. One poster leaves. Two posters enter. One poster leaves.

It's cute that you think I never bothered to talk to Microsoft to get the SIM working. I did. Several times. Guess what happened?


I'm not the one who isn't doing my job properly.

"Hi to the MS people who sent me the phone. The SIM you sent isn't activated. Can you send me another SIM or get this one activated so i can do a proper review of your phone that thousands of technical people with money to spend will read? k thx bye".

Twitter @panos_panay: Hey Panos, I'm trying to write a review of your new 950 Lumia and the SIM that was sent isn't activated. I'm having a problem getting that resolved. I can't write a proper review of a phone without a working SIM. Can you help me out?

*look around the office* Um, does anybody have a AT&T nano sim I could borrow for like 30 minutes?

Once again..if you can't be bothered to actually do your job, just say "no thank you" next time.

"Hi, Microsoft Support, I have this phone that hasn't been released yet and the AT&T SIM hasn't been activated pls help"

"Hi, AT&T Support, I have a SIM that's in someone else's name, paid for by someone else's credit card, and registered to someone else's address. Can you activate it for me? No, I don't know what name, address, credit card, or anything else."

Microsoft's PR/marketing/review people are the ones who need to get the SIM activated. They told me that they would. They did not.

So to be clear: you think that Microsoft's front-line product support have anything useful to say about a product that hasn't been released yet, and that AT&T will help me activate a SIM that I don't even own? "Yeah I have this SIM that's billed to someone else's credit card and address, neither of which I even know, but I want you to enable it and let me slurp down a ton of data and rack up lots of call charges". Tell you what, you try it, see how it works out for you.

I don't deal with support staff. I deal with Microsoft and WaggEd's PR and marketing people. The only ones who can fix the SIM situation are Microsoft. They have people who manage review hardware, press relations, and such. I deal with them on a near-daily basis, and have talked to them on numerous occasions since receiving the review phone on Monday. They told me on Wednesday that they would fix the SIM issue. At the time of publication it still had not been addressed. The SIM is still not activated.

A less generous person might be inclined to make inferences about how seriously Microsoft is taking this product.

And I suppose neither Microsoft nor AT&T have a support number you could have called if you actually were interested in reviewing the device. I'd say you really phoned it in...but in this case, you literally didn't.

The units are carrier locked; even a T-Mobile SIM won't work.

As for your "reference": I can't use AT&T's online activation because I do not know the number allocated to the SIM (it was not supplied) nor the ZIP code the SIM was shipped to. Microsoft said that they would have the SIM activated; they failed to do so. It is not a question of being unable to "figure out" what to do.

 

[RumoredNow]

Re: An Unhelpful Divergence Leading Nowhere from Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Veriizon?

No real help in here for users of the original thread so I've set you up in your own space...

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Re: An Unhelpful Divergence Leading Nowhere from Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Veriizon?

No real help in here for users of the original thread so I've set you up in your own space...

Bless you!

But you didn't move it to the Thunder Dome forum.

 

[RumoredNow]

Re: An Unhelpful Divergence Leading Nowhere from Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Veriizon?

I thought that the 950 and 950 XL forums were the Thunderdome.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Re: An Unhelpful Divergence Leading Nowhere from Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Veriizon?

Oh snap!

 

[jmajid]

Re: An Unhelpful Divergence Leading Nowhere from Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Veriizon?

my ATT 520 that i had on 8.1 (cyan) and then upgraded to 10586 has never for timeout.
I agree, having more than one sim card is something that most bloggers/journalists seem to have in their repertoire or bag... not that hard to get - go to any one of the stores that will be more than happy to sell you a new ATT go phone prepaid line... Walmart, BestBuy, Target, ATT stores - both corporate and authorized retailers...
I'm sure that NY state and NYC has plenty of these types of stores...
i know i personally have access to ATT go phone, ATT post-paid and TMO sims in 3 different sizes.

 

[920Walker]

Re: An Unhelpful Divergence Leading Nowhere from Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Veriizon?

Does that make the current, invitation only, hidden Surface Phone forums Fury Road, or Furry Rd.?

 

[920Walker]

Re: An Unhelpful Divergence Leading Nowhere from Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Veriizon?

my ATT 520 that i had on 8.1 (cyan) and then upgraded to 10586 has never for timeout.
I agree, having more than one sim card is something that most bloggers/journalists seem to have in their repertoire or bag... not that hard to get - go to any one of the stores that will be more than happy to sell you a new ATT go phone prepaid line... Walmart, BestBuy, Target, ATT stores - both corporate and authorized retailers...
I'm sure that NY state and NYC has plenty of these types of stores...
i know i personally have access to ATT go phone, ATT post-paid and TMO sims in 3 different sizes.

That would be too Bright of an idea.

 

[feereless]

Re: An Unhelpful Divergence Leading Nowhere from Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Veriizon?

so i didnt bother to read this thread since it was just back and forth... but all you had to do to get the sim activated is call att and say... hey id like to do a hardware swap on my account....

give them the sim number.. which btw is on the sim card..... and MAYBE the phone's IMEI.. MAYBE.. sometimes they dont care about it.. and that btw is on the back of the phone under the battery. so i really dont see why this was so complicated... they have never asked for a zip code in my entire life when activating a sim..


said from someone who has worked with phone activations for ALL carriers for 3 years... dont say i dont know anything

 

[TexasLabRat]

Re: Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Verizon?

My L928 has the 30s, 1m, 3m, 5m, 15m, 30m and Never options.

I still maintain that the issue Dr. Pizza is having is that a group policy has been picked up via active sync (email) which is locking out values over 5 minutes. The out-of-the-box settings of the AT&T 950 include a "never" option as I posted above with a photo. The review phone was clearly not "as it arrived from MS" as it had a custom theme..who knows what else (including mail accounts) has been done to it. But, without having the device in my possession so that I can do a hard-reset, I can't prove it /sad panda.

 

[DoctorPizza]

Re: An Unhelpful Divergence Leading Nowhere from Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Veriizon?

so i didnt bother to read this thread since it was just back and forth... but all you had to do to get the sim activated is call att and say... hey id like to do a hardware swap on my account....

give them the sim number.. which btw is on the sim card..... and MAYBE the phone's IMEI.. MAYBE.. sometimes they dont care about it.. and that btw is on the back of the phone under the battery. so i really dont see why this was so complicated... they have never asked for a zip code in my entire life when activating a sim..


said from someone who has worked with phone activations for ALL carriers for 3 years... dont say i dont know anything

I don't have an AT&T account at all, and have no interest in buying one. Their service is overpriced (well, all US telcos are really, it's one of the things I miss about Europe), and this is literally not something that has ever been an issue before. Every review phone I've previously been issued has come with a 1-month pre-activated SIM.

I don't think Hotmail accounts can even be used to set EAS policies, and that's the only account I have set on the phone.

 

[Chad Welsh]

Re: Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Verizon?

Don't bash the Doc about the SIM issue, I have to deal with that sort of thing when my company sends a demo unit out and sales support forgets or some data gets missed or screwed up between them and the actual carrier and the sim is either not activated, corrupted or a thousand other things so just chill a bit. "It Happens!!" (Forrest Gump 1996)

 

[elindalyne]

Re: An Unhelpful Divergence Leading Nowhere from Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Veriizon?

Sims suck... Currently have an activating TMobile sim for my XL that's useless until they finish over the # porting. As for Verizon supporting the phone, currently that's a non-starter. The FCC docs do not include certification for any of the CDMA bands. While the phone's might work on the verizon/sprint bands it would be illegal to do so.

I can confirm that screen timeouts go no longer 5 minutes on the unlocked version and double tap to wake doesn't exist yet.