Windows Phone Update 8107

[bauerc51]

My post was beyond relevant.  To the BBB (Better Business Bureau), Twitter, Facebook I go.

ATT has no right to block security updates and bug fixes that have been approved by Microsoft and the original device maker.

[GBK]

The posts here are disappearing faster than I can keep up.

ATT I'm filing ANOTHER FCC complaint.. and another BBB complaint and I will call support everytime my keyboard disappears or my email gets truncated.

It will cost you more to respond to all the FCC, BBB and my complaints that if you just DO THE RIGHT thing and offer EVERY UPDATE available to your customers past and future. 

[bauerc51]

Agreed, everybody should do this.  So much for "premier partner"

[gmfeld]

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GBK wrote:

The posts here are disappearing faster than I can keep up.

ATT I'm filing ANOTHER FCC complaint.. and another BBB complaint and I will call support everytime my keyboard disappears or my email gets truncated.

It will cost you more to respond to all the FCC, BBB and my complaints that if you just DO THE RIGHT thing and offer EVERY UPDATE available to your customers past and future. 

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And put it on Twitter, using @ATT.

[FlexViking]

I reached out to @m3sweatt via Twitter when he responded to a Tweet I had sent in response to his Twitter question "Would you swap your iPhone for a Windows Phone"?

He works at MS on product & services satisfaction ...

[kweis87]

I am currently writing up a petition on change.org about this, I hear that site gets some good visibility. Would anyone else be interested in this?? PM me or reply to this post so I know.

[shoe]

Do not forget the Federal trade Commission, as well as well as Consumer Protection agency and your local Attorney General in your State as well as the State AT&T is located.

 I have done them all

[pinkfloyd01]

Complaining to BBB, FCC plus am calling tech support every time the KB disappears and happy to join any petition. I'm done with ATT, wife’s contract is up in June, and mine is up in the fall. Fortunately ATT wasn't able to gobble up T-Mobile so going there. Also dropping U-Verse Internet for Comcast and looking for a VOIP solution to remove ATT entirely from my life. Voting with my wallet.

ATT, you are truly pathetic thinking we don't know what’s going on here and more importantly thinking your customers don't matter. Until this year my wife and I have had ATT phones for over 10 years. 

[coffeemike]

I'm trying to keep a cool head about this. I've been looking forward to a Lumia 900 for three months, but this happening right before the launch has really soured me on the experience.

AT&T is a corporate entity, selling me a service, so while they *should* push me the bug fix and security patches, they aren't contractually *obligated* to. And pushing updates isn't zero impact for them, look at the other forums for people who have issues with applying this update or that. It's a balancing act.

What I do see as a MAJOR gap to be addressed is AT&T's communication, or lack thereof, on this matter. The reality is that these updates (7740, 8107) are bug fix releases. I want to see some kind of commitment, roadmap, et cetera of planned updates. If, for example, AT&T has planned to only deploy Tango and Apollo, then *tell us that* - then I know that I'll get an update, planned for spring, that will fix all these bugs.

Does it fix the immediate keyboard problems? No. But it does give me a date to look for in applying updates. It shouldn't have taken three months just to learn that AT&T has no plans to deploy this update - and that word comes only from one of the community managers (thanks, @jamileh!) in the forums.

[Loghorn]

This is unbelievable!  AT&Tis becoming a monopoly monster like before.  Many years ago it was broken up by the government in order to support competition.  And what do we see now?  The same monopoly as before!  I do not want AT&T to have anything to do with how I upgrade my operating system on my phone.  Period.  My ISP does not have anything to do with how and when I upgrade my Windows.  AT&T is an ISP.  I should be able to buy Sansung Focus S or Nokia Lumia 900 at full price if I want to and to have nothing to do with AT&T after that.  The only reason I stayed with AT&T is because it is a premier (privileged) partner of Microsoft that has the best choice of Windows phones. 

[chrislynch06]

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coffeemike wrote:

I'm trying to keep a cool head about this. I've been looking forward to a Lumia 900 for three months, but this happening right before the launch has really soured me on the experience.

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 Agreed.  I too was looking forward to the Lumia 900.  What makes us think that AT&T wouldn't do the very same thing they are doing to the existing devices of not releasing a patch update to their "Hero device?"

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coffeemike wrote:

AT&T is a corporate entity, selling me a service, so while they *should* push me the bug fix and security patches, they aren't contractually *obligated* to. And pushing updates isn't zero impact for them, look at the other forums for people who have issues with applying this update or that. It's a balancing act.

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Really?  So, they shouldn't push out any software updates that the OS vendor has made available that addresses real customer issues?  Sorry, but I do know plenty of people (including myself) that have applied both the 7740 and 8107 updates without issues.  I don't know what other issues you are referring to.  The 8107 update does fix the disappearing keyboard, despite what other reports say.

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coffeemike wrote:

What I do see as a MAJOR gap to be addressed is AT&T's communication, or lack thereof, on this matter. The reality is that these updates (7740, 8107) are bug fix releases. I want to see some kind of commitment, roadmap, et cetera of planned updates. If, for example, AT&T has planned to only deploy Tango and Apollo, then *tell us that* - then I know that I'll get an update, planned for spring, that will fix all these bugs.

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This is a huge gap, and not just specific to Windows Phone. When has AT&T ever published anything about their update schedule?  This is why carriers should have NO majority, "our way or the highway" control over OS updates.  Sure, if there are new features in the OS (eg. Visual Voice Mail), they have to test it's compatibility.  But they shouldn't have the final say in the update.  They should merely be a participant in the process.

[gmfeld]

The bottom line is we are all sitting with a device that has one or more software bugs, for which MS issued a fix since January.  Instead of fixing what's broke and what they sold us, AT&T is preventing us from getting a fix to the device/software that they sold to us.  That to me is the definition of an unfair and deceptive act and practice, a violation of the consumer protection laws.

[bauerc51]

So this is how I see some conversations going...

Me: I have a problem with my Windows Phone.  The keyboard keeps disappearing when trying to type.

CSR: Yes sir, that is a known issue with the software.

Me: Is there an update available that can be downloaded to fix the issue?

CSR: Yes there is, Microsoft released it in January. 

Me: Where can I find this download link?  Zune?

CSR: Well, unfortunately we are not providing the update to our customers.

Me: But what do I do about the disappearing keyboard?

CSR: Our new devices run the new software.

Me: But I'm not eligible for an update yet, can I force the update via XDA-Developers.com or messing in the registry to make my phone think its on Roger's in Canada to get the update via Zune?

CSR: No, that will void all warrenties.

Me: So there's nothing that can be done?

CSR: Yes, there is plenty that can be done, we just don't allow it.

[Edited to comply with Guidelines]

[lovewp7]

I just spoke to the office of the president of AT&T.  She was responding to my e-mail to the board of directors about the updates on WP7.  I informed her of how angry the community is about the skipped update despite it fixing several usability factors and a security issue (certificates).  She was very nice and told me she is going to go through every channel from the top down to find out what is going on.  She also indicated she would call me back as soon as she learned more about what was happening and what, if any, steps we take from that point forward.

E-mailing the board does work.  They need more info from rational people to get the research done.  Customer service likely cannot help nor can managers and mods on these forums.  Be nice if you decide to take this route. 

I also posted this info on WPCentral so that even if the post is removed here, it's on another site.

[jamileh]

Hey all, just a quick note...

I know this is a very charged discussion and your feedback and comments are important. I've been keeping up on the thread and while I want the discussion to continue, I've noticed a lot of incidents where our moderation team has had to step in. 

This is a very heated discussion and that's ok. We're not here to quell your conversation but there guidelines that we need to abide by when posting on the forums.

Public discussion of moderation action is not permitted. If you have questions about moderation action taken on one of your posts, please either contact the moderator directly or send me a private message with your concerns. 

[AndreHBuss]

I agree.

Discussion and education.

[bluecamelguy]

So, I came into my HD7 from an HTC 2125. When I purchased it, neither the iPhone nor even Android existed, and for six years I stubbornly dealt with my Windows Phone until it finally gave up the ghost. It was so old they had no choice but to replace it. I had requested an android phone, truth be told, but they informed me that I could only replace a WP with another WP, so I hesitantly took it. I was surprised to learn that I actually fell in love with the thing. I loved Metro, loved the social integration, and enjoyed what HTC had done with windows since 2006. Small app market and lack of flash aside, one of the few problems I experienced was the occasional erratic keyboard. When I discovered that I wasn't crazy, and that there was a fix, I was elated. To come to the knowledge that AT&T just "didn't want to" send out the update infuriated me immensely. Why should they force me into a WP and then not support it. In reality, they aren't supporting their customers. I sincerely hope they stem the flow of anger from their customers before they lose more of them.

[GBK]

I feel really bad for all the nokia lumia 900 buyers.. They know not what they're getting themselves into..

They're getting a great phone with a great OS but unfortunately on a carrier that is going to make their experience so much less so... 

ATT doesn't care about its customers that is clear based on the fact they refuse to issue broadly available updates/fixes that address real reproducible issues.

[mrpither]

time to go rogue it appears.  de-brand or upgrade your phone on your own, and just use at&t for service.  or escape if you can to a carrier that cares about its customers.  wondering what that might be like.... 

[GBK]

Just got off the phone with office of the president.  Like it has been said here before-  ATT has told me they will NOT be releasing 8107,  period.  They will also not commit to any other releases in the future either.

[shoe]

Has anyone got anyone at AT&T to tell us Why?

[GBK]

I was told (by a non technical person) "I'm sure there is something in the update we didn't like"

hmm yep.. 'customer satisfaction'.. that's what was in that update.. and ATT just can't have that.

[JohnsonsPlace]

Based on my email to the AT&T CEO, received a call from a gentleman indicating he was from the Office of the President. He wanted to verify some points I had raised in my email. I did my best to explain things and also past on to him what's going on in this forum, i.e., petition, BBB/FCC complaints, etc. He was extremely nice, took the information and said that he was going to have to do some research to find out what this was all about. Further, he provided me with his direct line in the event I needed to bring something else to his attention before he had the opportunity to get back to me. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

[jropelato1]

I can't beleive how rediculous At&t is being about these updates.  Time to jump ship it seems.  Either going unlocked or to Verizon.  Thanks for ruining the experience of such a beautiful phone and operating system At&t. 

[jessejames945]

I would suggest that you get on this and find a solution to the problem you created. I want my update, [Per Guidelines:  Keep it Relevant and Appropriate].. Or we could just flood the customer care line with the know disappearing keyboard issue and get some retribution.

[rbunson]

The really sad and unfortunate thing about this whole process and issue is that we knew that this would happen. Paul Thurrott said it would happen. Initially ATT and the other US carriers were keen about being on top of the whole upgrade process (NoDo and Mango). Even Microsoft made it incredibly transparent about the upgrades and the stage that they were in. Now that Microsoft took that away, but still allows the carriers to be the guardians of what's "Best for its users", we are not getting the update on the preferred network for Windows Phone in the US.

The part that really steams me is that unless you are full of cash and willing to buy the phone outright, you get locked into a 2 year contract. Those that can buy phones annually will be able to stay on "current" gen phones. For us that have 2 year contracts, we shouldn't be left out to pasture when ATT decides that they no longer wish to support the very phones that we use EVERY day to conduct our lives. This is the crux of my argument, as a user I don't care if ATT wants to be the leader in choice of current phones, I want my phone to last and be fully supported for the entire life of the contract at a minimum. If Microsoft said that they will not be offering Windows Phone 8 (Apollo) or 8+ on my model of phone, then hopefully Microsoft would be clear - as they often are - about legacy support. However, when it's the middleman - the carrier - that is getting in the way of what some would call a critical update, then there's clearly a breakdown. I'd really like to have Visual Voicemail enabled on my phone ATT. I'd also really like to have tethering enabled on my phone ATT, I'd really like it if you'd let ME choose what I want. I want the latest update and I want ALL the features of the phone!

[KeyboardGone]

I also emailed the Office of the President and the guy that called me back was really nice, professional (& competent) and is looking into both the update and the environment here in the forums. 

I also spoke with someone in the "Urgent Care" technical support team.  He suggested that anyone with the problem call customer service and describe the issue so that widespread nature of the problem is logged and will get more attention. 

[alle0j]

Everyone, don't become a victim of AT&Ts complete lack of customer service.  I worked for them for over 8 years, in new technologies, and helped launch customer service for WorldNet.  At that time, their discipline in launching and supporting products and services was the admiration of any industry.  How far they have fallen.  Do yourselves a favor and head on over to xda-developers and force the updates.  Many have forced 7740 and 8107 and have fully functional WP7 devices on AT&T, and no disappearing keyboards.  Most methods of forcing the updates actually use the MS servers or cab files taken from the MS servers.  Some WP7 phones are harder to force than others, you need to decide for yourselves whether you are comfortable doing it.  I gave up on AT&T support for WP7 long ago but will not be victimized by this "Premiere???????" company any longer.

[FlexViking]

I got a response back from corporate Nokia.  Here is what they said..

Great to hear that you’re interested in the Lumia 900! We’re really determined to win hearts in the U.S.

Right now we are focused on launching the product with AT&T – so I unfortunately don’t have any more info to share regarding availability on other carriers. But your suggestion is noted J

I didn't ask about other carriers.  I said I was excited about Nokia & Microsoft teaming up.  I talked about if Nokia truely wanted Windows phone to be successful in the US, they needed to start holding the feet of AT&T to the fire because users are not going to adopt a platform that they know will be choked off by AT&T

[_rick]

AT&T not acting in the best interests of their customers? shocking!

Almost inconceivable to hold back an update that fixes a known/common problem affecting your users. 

I'll also be contacting the BBB and cancelling my AT&T service. 

AT&T Continues to Harm Windows Phone Users