PascalS13

Ask questions for the LG Eve too!

Don't limit yourselves at the HTC Magic/Dream. When I call I ask for why it hasn't been done for the Magic even though I have a LG Eve myself. If they happen to release it for the Magic and not the Eve I'll be really mad and disappointed.

Andy2010

I hope this does make you feel better

From: Mary Freeman <Mary.Freeman@rci.rogers.com>

Good evening Mr. Lee,

I attempted to contact you regarding your letter to the Ombudsman
however I was unsuccessful.

Please feel free to contact me at 416-764-2316 or provide me a time when
it's convenient for me to contact you directly.

Thank you



-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 5:39 PM
To: Ombudsman Office
Subject: Hi Don


I guess this is my last stage of filing my complaint with the provider.
If you do care for Rogers' customers, this is what i have to say.

First of all, I own an android phone ( HTC dream ). On Oct 1st, i called
up Rogers technical support to find out when Rogers' customers will
receive the android firmware update 1.6. Currently the firmware for htc
dream/magic/eve is 1.5. T-Mobile G1 (aka Htc dream) rolled out on Oct
1st for their customers. Rogers Tech support told me that it will be
release soon but not ETA given when it will be rolled out. ... blah blah blah

PascalS13

I just wanted to make sure, but yes it does :P.

Gracias

mjschmidt

@heykillermiller: I hope you are coming back to check this thread! :-)

Your story is a great one, and very important to hear (my Mother-in-law is blind, and could use this tech if we could get it working!)

The problem right now with contacting first level customer support and tech support is that they have NOT been trained properly on Android, and have, in fact been given the wrong information. When I emailed customer support about 1.6, they told me the same thing, that it is already available on the site. Of course the only file there is the recent bug fix/security patch, but no one has explained this to them.

As you know from this thread, I've recently spoken with "Sherri from the office of the president" and warned her that her support people were giving out the wrong info. I don't know if she'll actually address this.

I encourage you and _everyone_ here, to contact the Office of the president here: Contact Rogers - Call Us, Email Us, Send Mail

Click on Step 3 (Contact the office of the president) and tell them that their support people are giving out the wrong info. Tell them that support is telling people that the bug fix file is Android 1.6 when it's not.

@heykillermiller: You should also consider telling your story to the office of the president, and maybe even the ombudsperson if the OotP doesn't respond to you.

They won't budge if it's just a few of us, we all need to bug them on this, or they will try to "wait us out".

__________________
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mjsoctober

Google+

JackTheMan18

Well, it appears to me after reading all that has gone on in this area that Rogers is trying to stonewall us, and trying to put off the complaints. I am quite convinced that it is for budgetary reasons - they just don't want to pay HTC for updates!
I don't think that any amount of complaining (to the president, with negative publicity, to the ombudsman, etc.) will do any good - I think that the decision has already been made not to upgrade because it just doesn't make economic sense for them to do so. I know that sounds quite pessimistic, but nonetheless it is a realistic conclusion given their track record (from winmo phones and others).
As a result of all of this, by the end of December if Rogers hasn't issued their update, I will take the plunge and root my phone and update it to the best of my abilities. I really don't want to do this, but I feel that I am being forced to do so by the lack of support from Rogers.
I hope I don't brick my phone!

Andy2010

I am thinking by end of this year if they don't come up with the update, I will terminate the contract and go with Telus htc hero

mjschmidt

Andy, we need to find out from Telus and Bell if they will be supporting 1.6 and up. If not we may be SOL in general. I tried to find contact info for Bell to ask the question, but couldn't find a proper tech support email addy yet.

Andy2010

Here is the conflicting news i've got.

This report has today been confirmed by HTC who released the following statement:

"Yes, we are working on an Eclair update for the HTC Hero. Because Eclair is a significantly enhanced release, it will require some time to update Sense for this new version of the Android OS. Please be patient while we work to provide you with a tightly integrated experience like the one you are already enjoying on your Hero."

The question now is who's doing the firmware update? Telus or HTC?

Last edited by Andy2010; December 4th, 2009 at 11:30 AM.

GreatBigDog

I'm on the edge of rooting my Dream as well, I've downloaded everything I need to do the Rogers Dream EBI1 to CyanogenMod and have myself a nice little rooting package ready to go. If I don't see a firm date out of Rogers shortly, I'm going to go ahead and root the phone and install the Cyanogen Mod.

GBD

Andy2010

Rooting the phone is not a good solution, this is essentially what Rogers is trying to do is to get the user take care of their own problem. We paid for it and why should we take chance of damaging the device and having the warranty being voided.

bunhead

@GreatBigDog I am in the exact situation as you. I have all the parts needed to root my phone but I am holding off because I have still not officially been told "NO" just yet. I hope to get a little more info out of them today. I will keep you all posted on my progress. We need to keep the pressure on them and not revert to name calling and pointless swearing. Remember people try to stay professional and polite. I have already slipped a little with the polite bit (I had a little back handed complement about roger's commitment to the customer), earlier today.

I will be pursuing options to get out of my contact if we don't have a definite answer by the new year. I am currently pricing out options to go to other companies for my television service, Internet service and cell service. I hope rogers is actually watching this thread.

bunhead

Good point Andy2010. I just don't want to torture myself with a technological brick that is only 3 months old. I have another rogers forgotten phone (windows mobile 6 palm 750). I was promised that the android phones would not be left behind by rogers when I got my Dream. I guess it is my fault for a) believing them this time and b) not getting out of my contract when I had the chance. The only problem is with the Canadian dualopoly there really isn't much sense in jumping ship. I agree with you Andy2010 we shouldn't have to do this (root our phones) but at the same time I don't feel I should be forced into using what is not essentially a crippled OS on an otherwise great hardware platform.

Andy2010

Any words from HTC yet Mike?

Andy2010

Eris currently running firmware 1.5 is going to get updated. *sigh*



Verizon Wireless has said that the HTC Droid Eris will receive a significant system update at some point in the fist quarter of 2010. The update will boost the Eris' version of Android to at least 2.0, and possibly even 2.1.

GreatBigDog

Patience is a virtue that I have precious little of. But I'll try to exercise the minuscule amount that I do have to the very best of my ability (For Now). But I really want to get Google Maps Navigation and you need 1.6 to get it. I would also pay for CoPilot Live but since I can't get access to paid apps that's out as well.

So far I've sent two email's into Rogers about 1.6 update. It says on their site that they will respond within 24 hours. It's be a week since the first one and about 26 hours since the second one. If I can figure out how that twitter thing works, maybe I'll go pester the support team there.

gbd

Andy2010

I just called up Mary from Rogers to validate Sherri's claim. She said that she can't confirm the date but she can confirm that it is in testing with Rogers right now.

bunhead

This is fantastic news! Now how come they couldn't just come out and say this when we asked in October? *sigh* Of course this is also assuming that Mary is not just blindly agreeing in the hopes that we go away.

GreatBigDog

I know, if they would just come out and say yes or no it would be much better for them in the long run. I don't know why they do this, it just serves to aggravate their customers.

If they came out and said no we are not going to update the phone then I would root mine and leave them alone. If they came out and said yes it will be available on this date, depending on how long the wait was I'd either root my phone or wait for the update and leave them alone. Either way I would leave them alone.

This (er ,hmm ,I'll check ,It's on the site ,Looking into it, Soon, Maybe) bull is what's upsetting everyone.

gbd

bunhead

I agree 100%. All I have been after is an answer.

GreatBigDog

Could it be, look, is it, a pinpoint of light at the end of that long dark tunnle

Andy2010

When i spoke to Mary she said "I know Rogers are in testing with the updates" . Then I specifically asked, " Can you confirm that?" and she replied "Yes, I can confirm that"

mjschmidt

Careful! Remember, Sherri (from the OotP) told me that they weren't getting it to test until _late_ Dec! and this was after she (supposedly) called in senior managers from tech depts and Rogers Mobility to "get an answer".

Keep in mind also, that if you call or email customer support, they are telling people that the minor bug fix/security patch on their site is android 1.6.

So there is a LOT of miscommunication and ignorance going around like a bad cold at Rogers.

Either Sherri (from the OotP) got it wrong, or Mary got it wrong,.

mjschmidt

I think with these people you have to clarify which updates you mean. Mary perhaps thought you mean the security update that's already on the site?

@Everyone: When you are corresponding with Rogers, make sure to tell them what I was told, that Sherri from the "Office of the President" (make sure you say the whole thing) said they weren't getting it until the end of Dec. That way if they say they know something different, ask them to confirm it with Sherri. Otherwise you've got scores of people all telling us different things, and never on the same page.

Only ONE of them can be right.

bunhead

So she can confirm that she will check into it? or she confirmed that some tech has it in their "lab" under going stringent rogers quality testing. *snicker* *snicker* ROFL! damn I almost got that out with a straight face.

Andy2010

I did not tell Mary that Sherri said that. I just said someone posted on the forum and someone from Rogers had to bring in the Director of Device Management to get some answers. Mary is also from the office of the president.

Mary Freeman
Office Of The President
Rogers Communication Inc.

Last edited by Andy2010; December 4th, 2009 at 01:26 PM.

mjschmidt

Except that Mary told you they are testing it _now_ and Sherri told me they wouldn't get it to test until _late_ December.

They can't both be right. We need Mary to go check with Sherri specifically and get their answers straight!

Andy2010

You are right. One of them must be wrong. Mike what you need to do is write back to Sherri and say Mary Freeman from OoTP confirms that it is in testing now and ask if it's true. We have to make them eat their own words.

Last edited by Andy2010; December 4th, 2009 at 01:51 PM.

JackTheMan18

I could be mistaken, but, what was the reason that Rogers blocked the paid market in the first place? Was it for the very same reason that they block SIP port 5060? Are they afraid of new apps that will cut down on cell phone minutes?
Why is Rogers the most customized firmware out there?
What are they trying to do?
Is there a good reason for being suspicious of Rogers' motives?

Andy2010

First of all, Rogers did not block the paid market. If you read the earlier post from gnugu, google hasn't open up paid market Canadian but with a little push from Rogers will definitely help. I haven't tried SIP with 3G but with wireless it works. They customized it so that you can't go to other provider with their phones.

JackTheMan18

SIPDroid works no problem over wifi, for use over 3G, download the development version, and change the port number from the standard assignment.

mjschmidt

We're getting off topic. For the sake of ensuring the info re getting Android 1.6 does get lost, please fork these discussions to a new thread. :-)

OT = Getting Android 1.6 from Rogers.

TinBasher77

Well I've been watching this thread for a while now and finally decided to register so I can thank everyone who's doing their best to get answers out of Rogers.

Yesterday I also sent a Tweet to Mary@Rogers and this is the reply I got:

"We evaluate all new updates HTC makes available for our product and we will inform customers of upgrades if applicable"

Nice standard answer eh?

Hopefully Andy2010 is getting more accurate information from Mary than the rest of us seem to be getting.

mjschmidt

@TinBasker77: Unfortunately, no, we're still getting conflicting reports. If you scroll up a bit, you'll see that Mary from the office of the president told Andy that they were testing the update _now_ but Sherri (from the OotP) told me yesterday that they won't get it from HTC until "late december".

So, someone is lying, or no one in the office of the president actually knows what is going on. I will try to contact Sherri again tonight to ask her to go talk to Mary, and try to get on the same page.

TriC

I don't even care about 1.6 anymore. By the time we get it from Rogers everyone else will have 2.0 sent down to them...

Macmee

I unlocked my dream and switched to Bell, I'm still dependent on this 1.6 update though, because I do not feel save using a non official rom with my device, especially since it could brick as I am required to change SPL revisions.

Even though I'm still with Bell now I still rely on Rogers to produce this update. I wish they'd hurry up. I called HTC who told me to call Rogers who told me to call HTC....morons

onlyafterdark

Well, I just got my token response from Rogers Blackberry tech support. Nothing new to report, just the same old when and if bs about future updates. They did say that they are receiving quite a few comments about the updates which is good to hear. Unfortunately it wont make any difference in my current thoughts about Rogers and future business I will have with them.

What I found really funny about my response from Rogers is that it came from Blackberry support. It shows what we have all been thinking, they have no one who knows anything about Android and were never serious in supporting the Dream or Magic. It will be very interesting to see how Telus and Bell handles Android, but from what I have seen from the big three in the past nothing will be different and Android will remain crippled in Canada.

So if anyone from the big three are reading this thread, I dare you, surprise me.

techthentic

hey everyone!
joined because i was getting so frustrated with the lack of updates and found this forum on google
Originally I had quite a bit of faith in Rogers, but I highly doubt they're actually reviewing 1.6 for release early next year. Not to mention even if they are telling the truth, 2.0 will be out for most android users elsewhere by the time we get 1.6.
My original decision for the Magic actually hinged on the prospects of having a phone that would be consistently updated, so my phone would not be rendered obsolete way before the end of my 3 year contract.
But considering how our phones are pretty much obsolete about 4 months after launch, has anyone tried to get out of their contract penalty free? or gotten Rogers to switch them to one of the other smartphones (BB, Iphone)?

davidelewis

This was also the primary reason that I got my HTC Magic from Rogers. If Rogeres is not prepared to update the Android OS for their phones, then I'll be "rooting" my phone and updating it myself. I would prefer not to do this ... if I have to update it myself, then I will not be renewing my contract with Rogers. I'm sure I'm not the only customer who feels this way!

techthentic

rooting and updating myself would be the easiest option for me, however, I bought this phone legitimately, I don't want to run any risks of bricking or anything. Hell I just don't even want to waste my time considering os updates should be something Rogers provides.
If they can't keep up and provide the same service as everyone else, how can they expect to have me locked in a contract thats longer than everyone else's

vikingisson

Well I've rooted and updated. No real difference other than I'm using a different UI. Functionally the same but I don't yet run anything that requires v >1.5. So far only a couple of apps that need root, hence my rooting. So unless there is a critical need I wouldn't get too worked up yet unless they never update and apps start breaking. I don't ever expect much from Rogers or any Canuck provider. The need for sight limited apps a few pages back is the best argument for an update I've heard so far.

risking going off topic, not true. I use it against my own PBX just fine, WiFI and 3G. This app is more critical to me so that I won't need my N800 anymore and can pass it down to my kids.

PascalS13

Good evening,

So I just called Rogers tech support again this evening because my voice dialing does not work on my LG Eve. I already know it is because the LG Eve runs on Android 1.5 but I called anyway. (for those who don't know Android 1.5 does not support voice dialing)

We did some testing and nothing worked (obviously).

But one thing surprised me: without me asking, she started talking about Android 1.6 wich instantly caught my attention. She said the main reason why my LG Eve does not have voice dialing is because Android 1.5 does not support it and Rogers is currently working with HTC to release 1.6! (She said that without me asking me anything, remember!) She also said that it should come out some time after the holidays but she couldn't give me a more precise date.

I then asked why it was already released on other wireless providers (like T-Mobile, etc) and she said that it is mainly because Rogers noticed the blatant problems with voice dialing and 1.5 so they really had no choice but to start workin' on 1.6.

Personnaly, I believe her. She really took the time to help me, was really helpful and I believe this information is true.

onlyafterdark

Except to me, Rogers is coming at this from the wrong direction. Updates to Android phones should not be held back just because Rogers says so. We invest a lot of money over a three year contract on a device that should be upgradeable until there is a hardware limitation.

As others have said already, Android is thought of as a developing platform that will get through its growing pains by frequent updates to the core OS. How is it helping us get the most out of our investment by keeping these updates from us unless there is some blatant bug or if we scream loudly enough? It doesnt. What it does show is that we as Canadians are continually screwed from all angles by the telecoms/phone companies (depending on who is actually keeping the update from us). But that is a topic for another thread.

PascalS13

I agree with you.

Basicly, Rogers never would have worked on releasing on the 1.6 if the 1.5 would have worked great with everything. Even if 1.6 had more features.

4runnerguy

i am also with rogers i like there services but they are pissing me off for not releasing 1.6 or even 2.0.
i all just keep calling them and bug the sh!t out of them

mjschmidt

@Pascal: I hate to disappoint you, but I'm afraid she was either lying to you, or is freeforming from her script.

1. While voice dialing does not work _properly_ on Android (like it does on most dumb phones) it _does_ work with some tweaking. As mentioned, I have an HTC Magic with 1.5, and I use my Motorola Blue Tooth headset for handsfree dialing while driving. You can read about it here: Voice Dialer - Not really a voice dialer?

2. From everything I've read in other threads & forums re the voice dialer, it is NOT fixed in 1.6. So, again, Rogers is either lying, or ignorant. Google hasn't even bothered to fix it yet, they have listed it as an "enhancement" of "medium" priority. You can read more here: Issue 1181 - android - [VoiceDial] Voice confirmation for Voice Dialer - Project Hosting on Google Code

Now, back on topic re: Rogers support of Android and 1.6: Despite what all of you are being told by tech support, please remember, Andy2010 and I have BOTH been in touch with the "Office of the President", and were both told different things!!! So obviously, no matter what a lowly tech tells you, they don't actually know what's going on, if even management can't get their message straight!

I will be emailing the OotP shortly to update them on the conflicting info and see what they say. I will post the contents of my message once it's done.

Last edited by mjschmidt; December 7th, 2009 at 07:34 AM.

mjschmidt

UPDATE: I sent a new email to the Office of the President today asking them to clarify the discrepancy between Sherri's answer, and Mary's answer regarding 1.6 (and the fact that customer service and tech support are also spewing BS to callers)

Here is what I sent:

"On Dec 03 2009 I spoke with Sherri from the Office of the President, with whom I had been talking on and off since Nov 30 2009 regarding Rogers lack of support for Android phones, specifically an update of the operating system from ver 1.5 to ver 1.6.

Sherri was kind enough to spend a good deal of time looking in to this matter for me, including contacting Tier 2 support, and talking to the Director of Device Management from Rogers Wireless. She informed me that Rogers would be getting the Android 1.6 OS update _from_ HTC at the end of December for testing and evaluation, and that we _might_ get the update in the new year.

I shared this information with the growing group of upset Rogers Android customers on one of the very popular Android forums, and heard from another Rogers customer that he had spoken to Mary Freeman from the Office of the President (via email & phone) and that _she_ told him that Rogers was testing 1.6 _now_.

Obviously both things can not be true. Either Rogers is testing 1.6 _now_ or they are getting it to test at the end of December? Which is it?

I am not alone in this. I am very active in an online community of Rogers Android customers who are getting very upset by the misinformation and lack of support, especially when other members of the forum are calling technical & customer support and being told everything from "I don't know" to "You can download it right now from our site" (which is just plain untrue).

So, given the conflicting information, _we_ want a definitive answer regarding Android 1.6. Are you testing it NOW as Mary said, or are you getting it at the end of December, as Sherri said? I suggest Rogers management get the message straight, and make sure customer and technical support are on the same page, because we are all talking to each other online, and we are not going away. Rogers sold us a device under the pretense of supporting it. We expect that we will have Android phones as good as those of customers of other carriers, like our US cousins who are already on 1.6 and, in some cases, 2.0!

Please contact me via phone or email with a DEFINITIVE answer.

You can follow the forum of very upset users here: Rogers Dream 1.6 Update

You can also read an interesting article and reactions of Rogers customers here: Dear Rogers: When Will Android Users Get 1.6 and 2.0 Updates? | Android in Canada Blog

Thank you,

Michael Schmidt
Very Upset Rogers Customer"


Please everyone remember, no matter what you hear from Customer Support or Tech Support, the official line from the Office of the President has been the following:

Sherri: Rogers will get it from HTC to test at the end of Dec.
Mary: It is in testing _now_.

They can't both be right.

If/when you call customer or tech support, if they tell you something different, ask to elevate the call, because they don't know what they are talking about. No matter what they tell you, what you see above if the current official response 9even though it conflicts).

You can also contact the Office of the President here: Contact Rogers - Call Us, Email Us, Send Mail

Click on Tab 3 to send them an email, but only after you have jumped through the hoop of contacting regular support (make sure to get the name of the person to whom you spoke/emailed).

GreatBigDog

In response to my tweet:
GreatBigDog01: @RogersHelps I need Andrioid 1.6 update for my HTC Dream to use Google Maps Navigation. When will you have the update available?

This is what I get back:
RogersHelps: @GreatBigDog01 Hi Dan. We evaluate all updates HTC makes available for our product and we will inform customers of upgrades if applicable

mjschmidt

You should reply and say " You did not answer my question. Did not ask if you would inform me. I asked when it will be available. Please answer question asked." (132 chars with spaces).

GreatBigDog

I finally received an email back from an inquiry that I sent through rogers web site last week.

You can guess where it points me. This is my reply back.

Thank you for your reply, although it's been much more than the 24hrs that was stated when I sent the inquiry. I specifically asked not to be pointed to the 1.5 version that you have already on your site and that's exactly where I was pointed to. My HTC Dream is running Android 1.5 with a build number of 1.86.631. 146733 CL#42949 and unless the PDF document http://downloads.rogers.com/wireless/products/htc/dream/dream_software_update_final.pdf is incorrect it's the same build number that I am currently running which is Android 1.5.

So I ask again please let me know when the 1.6 update will be available.

If you are unable to provide me with an answer could you kindly refer me to someone else in your orginization that may have more information that you have.

Regards,
Don Rayner

GreatBigDog

Tweeted them back, had to adjust it a bit as the @RogersHelps counts towards the total characters.