State of the Beta, Vol 1

Submitted by TheProductGuy on

Hello, The Product Guy here again

Now that we have phones out in the wild, we’ve enjoyed reading your comments on twitter, Facebook and our blog.
Thank you for all the feedback, positive and constructive alike.

I wanted to pull together all the issues I have found on the various outlets and post them here so you can see what I see and what we are working on for you to improve your experience.  
(I’ll put these in the forum as well before it launches so we can discuss them in a more organized way there).

So let’s take a look at what’s not working as expected with the phones as they stand adn what we are going to fix based on your feedback:

  1. Google Voice Support - We locked down the functionality of the dialer very tightly before we went live, resulting in not being able to enable this.  I'll make sure we can support GV calls and VM. 
  2. SMS - We need to add support for testing to short codes
  3. MMS - We need to add full support for MMS
  4. Voice Search - We'll include an updated version (also available now from the Android Market) coming in our first over-the-air software update
  5. Caller ID blocking - We need to make sure that the caller ID is blocked for in and out bound
  6. Improved call handover - I agree it’s clunky now, but it will improve in leaps and bounds as we add the single call and then automate.  Those features will release over several updates.
  7. Cannot system reset the phone - We will add back in the option to factory reset so you can remove an account that has been used to download content from the market.
  8. Speaker phone inconsistencies - There are a number of audio issues that we are looking to fix as far as the speakerphone is concerned.
  9. Phone reboots when plugged in - We are looking to display a charging image if the phone is off and then plugged in, rather than reboot.
  10. Dropped calls on Wi-Fi - This one is more situational than the others and dependent on a number of factors.  We will do our best to troubleshoot these on a case by case basis and will use this input for us to provide you with optimum settings for your home routers in the future. 

These ten issues will be added to the beta area of the forum so that you can comment and add new issues as we move forward, and I’ll keep you updated.  If there are any others that I may have missed, please post them as comments to this post and I will make sure we look at them.

Let’s keep the discussion going. We continue to advance the product and look forward to getting the first over-the-air (OTA) software update in your hands in the next week or so.

Until next time...

Comments

Re-add the CM7 Settings

One of the best things about CM7 is the options it has to customize the phone. While they may be a bit advanced for some users, it would be awesome if people could change the settings that can be toggled when the notification bar is pulled down. I'd love to be able to toggle directly between vibrate and vibrate/sound for calls.

More...

I really just like the options that CM7 provides to customize my phone and if they could be there, it would be epic.

forums

How about a time table on when this supposed "forums" will actually be made public and available to us? Granted this is beta but imo this is something that should have been up and ready the day you guys went live. I've been forced to create a twitter account where I get conflicting/wrong answers or no reply at all to my questions. I get form letter answers if any at all via email. I post on the blogs and FB and no reply.

Also how about more info on porting numbers. My son's phone was shipped today (even though I STARTED his order third; as I ordered 3 phones) somehow contrary to RW stating phones would be shipped based upon order start time. I'd like to port his # once it arrives friday (yet somehow my phone won't ship for 2 more weeks even though I started my order over an hour before his).

just so you know, RW posted to FB that porting is a backburner

issue for now while they try to get phones out and working, then they'll turn back to fixing porting, which is a minor issue compared to some of the problems affecting everyone. forward the existing number over for now, and it will be available, hopefully, within a month or so. they just are not porting now. it has to be available to publicly launch, so i'm sure they are motivated to get back to it soon.

Here is what I saw but still have questions

per this post: http://republicwireless.com/content/talking-turkey-prepping-shipping-and...

Okay, now for that qualification. Although we do create your place in line based on the timestamp, and we do process your order based on your place in line, we cannot ship that way in every case. Some orders require more attention than others. The most common delay right now is caused by porting.

Porting is complicated, and we have to get it right. It is, after all, your phone number and we know you can’t be without it for even a few minutes! It seems so simple in the store, but the systems and processes behind it aren’t. It’s not just republic that’s involved, but your soon-to-be-former carrier and some industry intermediaries as well. While most numbers are not a problem, not every number can be ported into our core network. Our hybrid calling technology also raises some new challenges to the traditional process (not much I can say about that without revealing confidential info, sorry).

We are building automation to make porting faster, easier and error-free. When our systems are ready, we will be in touch with you individually, via email, to verify that you want to port. In the process we will also confirm the porting information that you provided to ensure everything is all set to handle upon delivery of your phone.

Under the circumstances, with all the other new things we’re building up here at republic, we decided to be conservative about porting. That’s why the earliest estimated ship date is December 8 amongst all the orders with porting requests. No, canceling your porting request now (available soon via My Account) won’t change your estimated ship date. Why not? Because porting is just one of many steps we take to process your phone for shipping. Changing around our shipping schedule on the fly would just complicate and slow down shipping for everyone.

Ok I ordered 3 phones and requested porting for mine (which I ordered 1st). Yet the other 2 phones I didn't request porting and now 1 got shipped today (which was the last 1 I ordered). They stated somewhere else that incomplete orders wouldn't be resolved until after the 15th. Yet somehow today 1 of the 2 remaining incomplete orders got shipped today (so status atm = 1 shipping 12/15 that was ordered 1st w/ porting, 1= incomplete ordered 2nd, 1= shipped today which was incomplete until today).

My questions are these in reference to porting. 1. When will I be able to request porting for the 2 phones for my boys. 2.Since you claimed that port request phones will be shipped later does that mean my phone on 12/15 will be able to be ported asap? 3. If not then why was my phone ship date moved back????

you're going to hate this answer... but it's accurate...

porting will be available when RW can do it reliably and with minimal risk.

since porting can be done OTA, RW could easily have simply shipped everyone's phones unported and then gotten to everyone OTA as the solution came to work, besides i still believe that given how unusual this service is, porting should not be offered until a phone has been field tested for the 30 day return period so the new member has a chance to get fully accustomed to changes in behavior that accompany using a phone of this nature and to be sure that service exists where it needs to do so for the new member. this reduces exposure to problems from routing twice and also preserves the existing rate plan the person may have to return to using if for some reason RW does not work out for them, and some companies, knowing that such porting is about losing a customer, won't allow a rate plan to be available for the returning sub, using the number porting as "change of service" to disqualify someone from a grandfathered plan. they love ditching people from grandfathered plans. since the team explicitly stated day before yesterday that porting is back-burnered, and the link to even put one's self into a "port me later" position is gone from the portal, i'd have the phones shipped and port OTA when it's available to do. it could be a while... your 12/15 date may or may not happen with porting either. nobody can tell right now.

i think RW are discovering there is a LOT more to being an MVNO than there at first appeared to be.

plus, i cannot imagine the teeth grinding going on now with dealing with separate departments of public utilities in every state in order to be certified to do business and provide service.

the upswing of it all is that eventually everything will work and be golden. the wagon trains of the 19th century didn't leave VA and suddenly appear out West, and this all won't happen overnight, either.

consider porting something to look forward to having happen... as i do. i'll be porting... eventually.

QoS

Hello,

The issues with dropped WiFi connections and poor call quality can both be fixed by way of setting up QoS (Quality of Service) on the router properly, with SIP being first priority. Also, DD-WRT is profoundly great open source router firmware. It is leaps and bounds better than any other router software you will find installed by the factory. I don't have the time now, but respond with any questions and I'll be glad to help. I can also supply the information in a more accessible/noticeable place so as to help everyone. Just know that I am in finals this week and next, so I will likely delay getting the complete information up for your use.

-Jeff

DD-WRT

Jeff, I got the impression after reading your post that making the changes you suggest would be worthwhile and a reasonable thing to do.

And then I found out what DD-WRT was.

http://goo.gl/ISVh1

The words, "What to do if you brick your router," are not reassuring. Feelings of fear and trepidation washed over me, and I could feel the beginnings of a cold sweat and panic.

After the smelling salts revived me, I realized (for me, at least) this project was a non-starter. The magic words for me are "plug and play." (I look upon LInux as something that was designed to be broken and Terminal is the condition you wind up in when you mess with it.)

You have to understand the diverse background and ages of those of us who bought into the RW plan, and by bought into I mean embracing it.

I come from an era when radios had vacuum tubes that could light up a room and take the chill out of the air, a time before any television. I will make it even simpler: Much of the history you have learned in school was for me current events.

Router settings

Buried deep in the help file in my router (it's a d-link, btw), I found this:

"Application Level Gateway (ALG) Configuration
Here you can enable or disable ALGs. Some protocols and applications require special handling of the IP payload to make them work with network address translation (NAT). Each ALG provides special handling for a specific protocol or application. A number of ALGs for common applications are enabled by default.
...
SIP
Allows devices and applications using VoIP (Voice over IP) to communicate across NAT. Some VoIP applications and devices have the ability to discover NAT devices and work around them. This ALG may interfere with the operation of such devices. If you are having trouble making VoIP calls, try turning this ALG off."

Interesting. I haven't tried it, and this is the kind of thing I would hope RW can tell us easily (I'd post it in the forums, or send them an email, but...). Sounds pretty confusing to me that this protocol is supposed to enable VoIP, yet at times can get in its way for certain devices. So which is it for the RW phone?

DD-WRT

Jeff--

Yes, I would really appreciate that, I have run DD-WRT for years but have never dabbled in the QOS settings. That would be really helpful!

John

Thanks for the update

I hope the forums will be up soon, it will eliminate a lot of redundancy and scattering of information. Until the forums are up banging out a short update daily will go a long way in appeasing the masses. I for one have had no problems placing or receiving calls over wifi at home. GV is an important service for me and allows me several options for testing the phone, I appreciate you making this a priority. So far I'm a happy camper.

Google Voice

Yes, thank you for the update. I really appreciate being in the loop and knowing what to expect.
I also want to mention that GV is critical for me. 80% of usage is through GV. If that isn't functional by my shipping date I'll likely have to cancel.

won't hold charge, no user manual

Hi-My phone is fully charged and I have not used it, but within less than 24 hours the battery is fully drained. What's up? Also, can you put a manual online, so maybe I can figure this out for myself? Thanks

If the phone was turned on...

for that 24 hrs, even though you didn't use it, that is perfectly normal for an android phone. If you have never owned an android phone before you will soon find that all android owners go from charging at home to charging in the car to charging at the office. It is just a way of life for android owners. However, if the phone was turned off you need a replacement battery.

there are going to be a lot of ruined batteries if people

do what you suggest. thankfully, they are dirt cheap for this phone.

still, batteries require being set up, which is a bit of a process, but the payoff is very good life both per charge and in number of cycles. even in the best of circumstances, it's very difficult to get a regular phone to work well with a single battery. smart phones are absolute power pigs, though. if a person doesn't mind replacing batteries often and without warning, by all means, just keep the thing topped up... but nothing is more frustrating than a battery that dies in ten minutes after charging all night.

Actually you are incorrect....

Lithium Ion batteries have no memory effect. The 1st charge is the same as the 5th and the 70th. Lithium Ion batteries actually prefer partial charges rather than deep cycle full to the top charges. Deep discharges stress these batteries and they really should be recharged at about 30%. Everything you stated applies to NiCAD not lithium ion. It's kinda what I do for a living.

that's an oversimplification and contrary to what Motorola

put me through a pretty intensive technology seminar (a whole frikn day) for just rechargeable battery tech.

1st, 10th and 300th charges are definitely not the same (1st being the worst by far in my hands). however, i didn't go to school for battery technology, i went for other engineering, so there may be new preparation/manufacturing techniques that reduce the problems, even though i still consistently see improvement in capacity by my handling.

as i mentioned, though... the batteries for this phone are SO cheap (stupidly cheap) the only reason to really worry about blowing through batteries is contributing to the waste stream.

so, i hope people recycle, which is actually really easy now in so many places!

NiMH batteries also greatly benefit from setup cycling. i can't outright accept the "lithium ion batteries have no memory effect" declaration. many vendors today still suggest careful setup at first... for phones, portable music devices (playback and pro recording), test equipment, etc.

the best bet is having spares so that batteries can be treated well without worrying about running out of juice altogether.

A little info about these batteries...

These batteries are safe to discharge down to 3v (the real 0% empty for lithium ion batteries) but the minimum operating voltage for these phones is around 3.5v (which is about the 15-20% of the discharge curve) So the whole "never completely discharge your phone battery because it is bad for it" myth is bunk. You can't completely discharge the battery in these devices and 15% is a safe discharge level for the battery to prevent shortening the lifespan. (it is true that discharging a lithium ion battery to 3v every time does shorten lifespan)

When "training" the battery, what you are really doing is training the battery controller chip/software the phone uses to ensure safe charging of the battery. (overcharged lithium ion batteries have a really nasty habit of exploding violently)

The phone measures the voltage at the point the phone stops running (0%) and the voltage for when it is fully charged. (100%) This should be 4.2v but can change as the battery ages. These changing voltages as the battery ages is why the battery controller uses a rolling average. This is why "re-calibration" is recommended every month or so. Though these batteries do loose capacity as they age as crystals develop in the electrolyte. (up to about 20% over 200 full charge cycles from 3v to full 4.2v, less with careful use and charging)

The batteries are happiest...

when they are operating between 35% and an 80% charge. BTW, I bought a battery for this phone for $5 shipped, so you are correct, they are crazy cheap. I'm a recently retired RF engineer, my user name is my ham radio call sign. I work with and spec out battery systems all the time.

that's closer to my understanding

monthly "training" or cycling does seem to help a lot, but the first several charge cycles are important.

and overcharged Li-Ion batts do tend to be a bit "surprising." ipods aren't intrinsically dangerous, it's generally the setup. i've noticed that nearly all makers of end user product no longer provide much info beyond "don't leave it on the charger," to reduce exposure to liability.

i don't think a Li-Ion battery has ever failed on me except in a computer running the backup for the bios.

anyway, i do understand that due to the chip, dead isn't actually fully dead, it's just under functional voltage.

still, recycle your batteries, kids!

Battery Vampire

This is a SmartPhone. They suck power like there is no tomorrow. Plan to charge every night when you brush your teeth. You do brush your teeth every night ? You do don't you ?

Obsessed !

Remain calm and composed. This is just a phone for gosh sake. And a very entry level one at that. Darn basic.....

I'm not obsessing about the

I'm not obsessing about the phone (I know it's a low end phone), I'm obsessing about trying out the service. I'm excited to try out anything that deviates from the "normal" wireless landscape.

mms problems

I don't have my phone yet, what are the mms problems? I really want to port over, but these issues scare me a little bit, tiny bit.

there is currently no porting... give that a while, and mms?

is apparently not working yet. that's bad new for buyers, auction people, insurance adjusters, contractor verification personnel, cops/ems, or the hapless hubby getting approval for the purchase he was sent to make, etc.

mms is a big feature for people. they know. i'm sure that it will work soon, but don't expect porting right away. that is something to work on in a bit, according to a post RW made yesterday.

Rootkit Carrier IQ on Androids

I just read about Carrier IQ's 'HTC IQ Agent' that logs private data and can't be removed by many Android phones user easily, if at all. It's not limited to one type of phone but gets implanted like a nasty virus on many phones running the Android OS. Please tell me this malware is not being installed on the phones RW ships out! .

Re: Rootkit Carrier IQ on Androids

You should be aware that Sprint told CNET that it's a Carrier IQ customer. The software has infected (there is no other word for it) 140 million Android phones.

Trevor Eckhart shows how the software -- known as Carrier IQ -- logs every text message, Google search and phone number typed on a wide variety of smart phones -- including HTC, Blackberry, Nokia and others -- and reports them to the mobile phone carrier.

The software is not installed on iPhones.

http://goo.gl/yjXbx

The people behind this should be put up against a wall and shot.

I am quoting from the link:

I am quoting from the link:

"According to Eckhart, you can't easily turn this off. You would have to root the phone and replace the operating system, Wired says. (This article at Lifehacker explains what to do.) Also, the software is not installed on iPhones."

Now, if you have information that contradicts this, please provide the link.

OK...here ya go

To date, the user tracking controversy surrounding Carrier IQ has focused primarily on Android, but today details are surfacing that the company also may have hooks into iOS. Well-known iPhone hacker Chpwn tweeted today that versions at least as recent as iPhone OS 3.1.3 contained references to Carrier IQ and later confirmed it's in all versions of iOS, including iOS 5.

We were able to independently verify that at the very least, references to Carrier IQ's servers do exist within iPhoneOS 3.1.3 in a file located at /usr/bin/IQAgent. What exactly that binary is able to access or how it may communicate with either carriers or Carrier IQ is not yet known, though there are references to an IQAgent log on the device as well as...

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/30/2601875/carrier-iq-references-discove...

Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated.

Now, in fairness to you, it is quite likely the Update on that website appeared after your post. Quote:

"Update: chpwn notes that initial research indicated that Carrier IQ's software may only be active when the iPhone is in diagnostic mode. In a blog post, chpwn confirms that, based on his initial testing, Apple has added some form of Carrier IQ software to all versions of iOS, including iOS 5. However, the good news is that it does not appear to actually send any information so long as a setting called DiagnosticsAllowed is set to off, which is the default. Finally, the local logs on iOS seem to store much less information than what has been seen on Android, limited to some call activity and location (if enabled), but not any text from the web browser, SMS, or anywhere else. We'll let you know when more details arise."

So what is POTENTIALLY accessible (with the DiagnosticsAllowed is set to On, which it wouldn't be)? This, according to the chpwn website:

CoreTelephony
your phone number
your carrier
your country
active phone calls
(However, I only saw it noting that a phone call was active, not what number was dialed or it was received from. But, I am not going to claim it doesn’t do that: it’s certainly possible, but didn’t see it.)
CoreLocation
your location (Only, however, if Location Services are enabled.)
(Possibly more I haven’t yet found.)
As Carrier IQ claims in their video, communication with the remote server is all done via SSL. Importantly, it does not appear the daemon has any access or communication with the UI layer, where text entry is done. I am reasonably sure it has no access to typed text, web history, passwords, browsing history, or text messages, and as such is not sending any of this data remotely.

It appears that if you really care about this, Windows Phone 7 is the only mobile operating system without this installed. ;P However, I think the blame here really belongs with the US carriers who obviously demanded this: personally, I am completely fine with this data being sent off (especially if it helps AT&T’s network improve), but I would definitely prefer if it was more transparent — even if you can disable it with that toggle, Apple only explains that it “might contain location data”. <end quote

http://goo.gl/BBXdW

You asked for a link...

I didn't have the link that I had read the day before, most people don't ask me to prove what I say so I didn't record the URL. I googled the subject and found several sites with the info. I copied the URL for one of them and sent it off. And I really don't care about it as I have seen raw CIQ reports and no where was there anything but digested and formatted system statistics. I'm not a conspiracy type person, I'm more of an Occams Razor guy. Simple, carriers need this information to run, maintain and build out their systems. They just don't care who you were calling or why. They have way more important things to do...like run the cellular system.

I'm more of an Occams Razor guy

As I am. But the simplest explanation is that almost all large companies (the one's who have the resources to do it), have no respect for anyone using their services, and will happily sell whatever information they can glean from you.

With them, you are not regarded as a person, as someone with humanity, but as an object from which they can extract profits.

I have no issues with capitalism, but that is the ugly underbelly of it. There are some companies I will never ever again do business with, starting with the top three wireless providers. I will do everything in my power to put them out of business, and that includes being an unpaid evangelist for RW.

this is akin to the Google Hotspot Mapping project

and the data they were recording for a long time: we all recall that they had to go back and destroy data and avoid capturing other data in order to continue their project.

keyloggers are built into common webapps you use, too... ever wonder why if you spend time on a website and then go to Google something, if it's related, the autocomplete for searches is spooky related to your previous activities? Yahoo! also have keyloggers in some of their popular webapps, like flickr. at least Facebook is more up front: they just want you to input lots of info... then they share it without your opt-in. meanwhile, back at the Twitter ranch, they've already stood up to the NSA and FBI and refused them "fishing expedition" privileges and also won't give up user info without court fights.

keyloggers serve some purposes, but the potential for easy abuse is obvious.

i think we'd all like an assurance from RW that there is NO KEYLOGGER EITHER IN THE PHONES OR THE ROUTING SOFTWARE.

this does not mean that the sms/mms servers don't have legally mandated latency. cellcos are mandated to hold sms/mms for, iirc, 180 days. since they are such a tiny memory load, some carriers apparently have them archived for years.

something to consider if you like texting people to extort them. prolly not a good idea.

RW, PLEASE ASSURE US IN WRITING THAT THERE ARE NO KEYLOGGERS BEYOND LEGALLY REQUIRED ARCHIVING. THANK YOU.

CM7 Doesn't include CarrierIQ...

From what I understand anyway...

It's something that would have to be added back by RW...I don't believe that would have to thought to add it back at this point(due to the state of the beta software)...

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