Blistov's Tech Review

Please see the bottom of the article for updates.

I received an SMS from Rogers/Fido on Saturday (01/23/2010) night, indicating that they were discontinuing data services  on Sunday (0124/2010), to all G1 customers, until we updated our handsets to Rogers update 1.5.  They claim that this is to fix an outstanding bug with their original release, in which 911 calls would not be completed if the GPS was enabled. Now, this is of course, mostly bullshit.   The 911 bug did affect some early Rogers G1’s, but Rogers has known about the bug for nearly a year, and publicly stated so nearly 10 months ago.  The update they insist we install, installs Android to 1.5, radio 3.22.26.17, and SPL 1.33.0010.  This new android and radio do not add any new features, other than perhaps allow you to call 911 (don’t you wish you’d needed to call 911 a week ago, and could thus, sue Rogers?).  SPL 1.33.0010 prevents fastboot, and they also install flashrec-1.1.2-20090909, thus preventing updated G1’s from being rooted (for the time being anyhow). So, I called Rogers to discuss this.   I spoke to the supervisor to what they call, “The Office of the President”. When I received my Rogers G1, it  didn’t work.  There were too many bugs to actually use the phone, so I rooted it, installed CM, and all was well.  I currently run CM 4.2.11, which runs on Android 1.6, with Radio 3.33.  My phone then, is NOT affected by the 911 bug.  I explained this to Rogers, who adamantly refused to even consider not disconnecting my data services.  I  gave them a hypothetical situation.  I have a stock G1, affected by the 911 bug.  They discontinue my data services, but I don’t notice, because I don’t use data.  How then, am I protected from the 911 bug?  Well, I’m not, and Rogers is clearly pushing this update for other reasons (like locking down our phones again, and using the 911 bug as a cover). I’d pointed out the obvious fallacy in their logic, and made it evident that hundreds, if not thousands of G1 users will never know their data services are gone, and one of them will find themselves in an emergency, requiring 911 assistance.  Rogers straight out stated that they did not care, as they had provided the update, and it was no longer their responsibility.  I also pointed out that many G1 users run Android 1.6, and many require the 1.6 framework.  Again, they don’t care. Now, getting back to the 911 issue, Android 1.5 and up, with Radio 3.22 and up, resolve the 911 bug, so anyone running later versions would have no reason to be disconnected from the network.  Makes sense?  Not to Rogers. Anywho, long short, Rogers is forcing all G1 users to run Rogers ROM’s, or gtfo their network.  Some of you may recall legal precedence for this kind of issue, dating waaay back to the 70’s when Bell (then Northern Telecom) tried to force its customers to use Bell branded phones, and tried to attach a special fee to modem/fax use.  The courts ruled against Bell, and the CRTC jumped in and made all sorts of rules to prevent telecom’s from requiring proprietary hardware, on standardized networks.  This does, legally, carry over to GSM carriers.   GSM is GSM.  If your phone supports GSM on the frequency of a carrier, the carrier must provide a signal.  Period.  (Perhaps I’ll track down some citations at some point, but I’m too dead ATM.) So, in the mean time, anyone with a G1 on an un-updated, or non-Rogers ROM, is being told “Rogers doesn’t want your business anymore”. I’ve been keeping up on the XDA forums here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=622129 where I’ve been encouraging Rogers customers to call in and complain, and demand their data services be restored.  Rogers won’t budge, but we do need to make a valiant effort to convince them, before complaining to the CCTS (Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services). If this issue affects you, or if you have some free time in the near future, please, call Rogers to express your anger and rage, and point out the OBVIOUS fallacy of their claim that this is to resolve a 911 bug.

Rogers Customer care: 888-764-3771  (this usually doesn’t work so try business line)

Rogers Business solutions: 866-727-2141

Trever Rodrigez (team manager for the office of the president of Rogers) – 416-935-7543

Escalate your issue to the Office of the President, and then to the Office of the Ombudsman.  Once you’ve contacted either, and data services still haven’t been restored, file a formal complaint with the CCTS and/or CRTC.

CCTS – 1-888-221-1687

*UPDATE* 1325, 01/24/2010

Some Rogers customers have confirmed that Rogers is able to simply flip a switch, to re-enable data services to your account.  Call in and demand they do this.  Some have had to resort to trickery.  Perhaps tell Rogers you’re running a G1 you bought from T-Mobile, and that the Rogers update will brick your phone, and that T-Mobile already fixed your phone’s 911 issue .  Thanks to BRad from XDA-Developers.

*UPDATE* 1526, 01/24/2010

I believe I’ve determined that Rogers is associating your SIM with a flag that says you’re using a G1.  Once that happens, they continually scan your phone to check if you’re running their ROM.  I found this  by putting my G1 SIM into my old Rogers Motorola handset, and still have no data. However, another Rogers customer with two phones (Dream G1 and Magic) and two SIM’s (one for each) discovered that his G1 has no data, while his Magic does, indicating this is not a flag on the account, but rather, on the SIM itself.   Still trying to find better confirmation of this.  If it is the case, Rogers should be able to unset the G1 flag from your SIM once their silly agent has stopped running.

*UPDATE* 1758, 01/24/2010

Data services restored!

I spent  another hour on the phone with a manager at PDA tech support.  I inquired about the magic SIM flag, which she denied existed, and asked about the note, instructing support agents to NOT escalate issues pertaining to callers running rooted, or non-rogers roms, which she also denied, though I could hear someone chuckling in the background.

After pointing out the legal ramifications (for an hour) of discontinuing contracted services, she finally agree’d to try to help me (while maintaining that there is no SIM flag she can simply un-set to re-enable my services).

She asked me to power cycle my phone, which I explained I could not, as I was using it to talk to her.  She made an exasperated sound, and hung up on me.

On a hunch, I power cycled the phone, thinking she unset the flag while still not admitting to its existence.  Phone rebooted, and my 3G icon came back!  Go figure.

So, Rogers still maintains that there is no way to re-enable your data, but I’ll bet if you call, and call, and call, and tell your friends to call, and make it clear you will not be installing their update, they will grudgingly restore your services.

Woot>!

*UPDATE* 2201, 01/24/2010

Several people on xda-developers forum have discovered that you can more easily restore your data services by calling in to any rogers wireless support office, and ask for a “network refresh”.  We don’t know if this is a permanent fix, but it’ll get services restored quick.  We’ll just wait and see what happens tomorrow.

*UPDATE* 01/26/2010

Most people seem  to have managed to get their data services restored, although a few are still struggling.  My data has been on since the 24th, without incident.

If I’m wrong, and heaps of people still aren’t able to get data, please let me know.

*UPDATE* 02/07/2010

My data services were once again disconnected yesterday afternoon at about 1300.  I didn’t discover this until about 1830, when I was trying to phone a gym to find out their hours of operation, and my call was intercepted by Rogers support.  Rogers had blocked and diverted ALL calls for all customers using a non-Rogers Android G1 with their 1.5 update.

On a hunch, I figured I’d check just how far Rogers was willing to go, to make sure my day was ruined, so they could force me to install their update (for the purpose of un-rooting my phone).  I tried  a few other numbers, which were all diverted to Rogers support, and then tried 911.  Yea, no shit.  They intercepted my 911 call, to talk to me about downgrading my OS/Radio on my handset, which they do not even own.

I spent about an hour convincing the support rep to re-enable my voice services.  During this outage, one of my customers had been frantically trying to get ahold of me by email and phone, and claims their phone calls were not being connected.  I explained this to the support rep, who managed to waste nearly 30 minutes before restoring my voice services.  I’ve outlined this most recent incident on xda-developers here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=5564466&postcount=513

Now thus far, I haven’t found anyone else who has verified the 911 interception, so in my complaint to the CCTS tomorrow, I will be extremely careful to ensure they understand that the 911 interception may have been coincidence.  Either way, I have a record of the call on my phone (which I’m sure everyone knows, could have been falsified).  It would cause some serious damage though to Rogers, if someone out there who is currently having their calls intercepted, could schedule a 911 test call with their local constabulary, to confirm or deny my experience.

Either way, Rogers has once again, without any warning whatsoever, disconnected services (this time both voice and data), in an ever increasing effort to control my use of my personal handset.

*UPDATE*02/07/2010

Thus far, no one else has been able to confirm the 911 interception (though thus far, no one has actually tried as far as I know). Rogers has acknowledged that they are aware of this (unconfirmed) issue, and promptly claimed the issue did not exist in the first place. Immediately after posting this, I heard back from several Android users who’ve told me that Rogers is now, apon call interception, asking if you have an emergency and had intended to call 911. I have no way to confirm this, as my voice services have since been restored, but this may indicate that they were in fact intercepting 911 calls, were made aware of it by me and possibly others, and were working to fix the issue. Either way, it sounds like if this WAS an issue, it has been resolved. So my hat is (theoretically) off to you Rogers, for a quick response time to a potentially dangerous lack of foresight.

P.S. Sorry for the sensational post. I try to keep things as neutral as possible, but the importance of my calls being intercepted, added to the possibility of an intercepted 911 call, is difficult to downplay.
I’ve inadvertently created a bit more of a stir than I’d intended, but ultimately if Rogers was accidentally intercepting 911 calls, and my sensationalism made them aware of this, good.

P.P.S.  Apparently I over/misuse punctuation.  I apologize, for any, inconvenience! or confusion this may, have caused.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 at 1:47 pm and is filed under Uncategorized and with tags: 911, Android, CCTS, CRTC, data, disconnected, discontinued, dream, g1, rogers, ROM, services, update . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.