Me being me, I tried to help them…

Fri, Jun 23, 2006 at 11:59 PM
To: sortmeout@virginmobile.co.za

Greetings,

OK, I can see you are trying to make it simple….
BUT, I really can’t figure out what’s going on on page 2 (http://www.virginmobile.co.za/virgin-portal-customer/RefineYourPackage.do )?

I’ve got experience with contract details and all that jazz, but you guys have lost the track…

First you ask for a down payment value, then some minimum willing to spend monthly (you should really make this a dropdown of possible values, because I’m sure the logic behind triggers on discrete boundaries only anyway),
then there’s the confusing “Finance” block with a couple of choices (what is that now? Paying off the phone? Is it included in the R100pm quoted? Or is it over and above the R100 that has to be paid?)

Where’s the line between contract and prepaid? Or what’s your story? It isn’t clear. Try to make it more linear instead of putting blocks of information on one page that confuses the user (for the “create your package” section)

All I want to see is: How much is it going to cost me per X months, final value. No Commitment value AND some other payment value of which the relationship is unknown.
Keep it simple.

Also, you pay R100 commitment, but you fail to mention if you get that as a credit value? And what about the other payment in that Finance block?

It’s just not “there” for the user, i.e. not clear what the cost is…
All because of that “finance” block.

Also, does this commitment amount mean FOREVER? Or is it for some random period of time???

OK, hope you get it right….
(it’s usually easy to understand something that YOU designed; just remember to test it on users first….)

Sincerely,

David

Virgin Money ZA‘s site is awesome in comparison to Virgin Mobile ZA.

Analysis

They have changed their site a lot since then, but still, everyone I know does not understand how virgin mobile works! They are supposed to be “different” and “simpler”, but it’s just not coming out right.
Basically, they are confusing, and customers look and it and say “huh?” and then just walk away.

The site still suffers from too many input fields, options and dropdown boxes; and that’s suppose to be making cellular simpler?

You can read in the news how CellC seems to be performing poorly.

• Cell C’s signal fading fast
• CellC Downgraded [financially]

I sent them these emails back then, which they said they would forward to management, but probably didn’t. Which leads to the second reason they will go down – their 1) customer service people are useless.
(2) Not to mention they call them “Client Liaison Consultant”s, bleh)

Greetings,

No problem. Someone has to tell CellC what they are doing
wrong or right.

I can tell you one thing. Five free sms per day on your
website just does not cut it.
I have seen this single fact that Vodacom has 20 free sms a
day on their website be the deciding factor when people
choose what network that want to be on. I would seriously
consider changing your insufficient daily limit. It is not
that everyone uses all 20, it is just the fact that you
know it is there if you need it.

It is a pity that CellC is the only network that cannot
provide GPRS to prepaid customers. Here are a couple of
reasons why:
Firstly, the number of applications that require GPRS are
growing. Take mxit.co.za for example, the South African
company that is experiencing rapid growth in its services
worldwide.
Lastly, the million rand industries for ringtones/logos/etc
are usually heavily reliant on GPRS.
CellC is unfortunately missing these markets (and
customers).

Even if you have to bring out GPRS for prepaid customers at
a higher price than the competitors do, it is better than
nothing. In addition, it will prevent you from losing more
customers because of this factor.

You can bring these issues forward to management as well.

I look forward to hearing what comes of my views.

Sincerely,
David De Caires E Freitas

i.e.
3) Their website free sms doesn’t stimulate usage amongst users. (Only 5 free sms)
4) Way behind on their basic GPRS offerings when they should have woken up back then.
Clearly MXit Mobile was going to be huge, one could see it in 2005 already.

On Tue, 6 Sep 2005 10:06:17 +0200
“Customer Services” wrote:
>
> Good Day, David.
> Thank for taking the time to express your views as this
> is much
> appreciated and will be brought forward to management.
> Unfortunately we
> need to advise you of the reason why a Prepaid client is
> not able to
> make use of this services. As you may well be aware of
> the fact that all
> international call are billed in arrears and the use of
> GPRS is also
> billed in arrears we can not offer this service to our
> Prepaid clients
> as the cost for using the service is quite expensive and
> for this reason
> we urge our clients rather to take out a contract, if
> they wish to make
> use of this service.
> For any further assistance, please feel free to email us
> at
> [email]custserv@cellc.co.za[/email]
> Kind regards
> Nazeem Marshman
> Client Liaison Consultant

Look, if you make excuses and don’t listen, you ought to go down the drain. And if someone is giving you advice that would have you cost you thousands of Rands via some “consultant”, I would take it and RESPOND to it!

I can usually spot something that will float or sink before the time.

This was the first email I warned them with:

: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 10:33:55 +0200
To: “Customer Services”

Dear CellC co.

Thank you for responding, in due time.
I would recommend you put this information (about
international roaming on prepaid) on your website, so that
customers like me can find it out without having to waste
human resources.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gradual
disappointments with CellC.
I have been a customer with CellC from the very beginning.
A prepaid customer albeit. Which it seems, CellC has no
consideration for, seeing that there are no services for
prepaid customers.
How can a cellular company be economically viable in South
Africa when they aren’t catering for the biggest market
segment?

Clearly CellC is not attempting to make a good impression
with ACTUAL service.
In times when 3G has been rolled out on other networks,
CellC cannot even provide 2G services for prepaid customers
yet. Absurd.

Never mind the fact that your customers have to PAY to have
their MMS settings sent to them?
Moreover, the fact that CellC MMS gprs does not work on my
simcard anymore is really pushing my irritation with CellC.
(The customer service people do not even listen to
customers, all they do is restate the lines given to them
by management. Might as well have answering machines.)

It is all good and well that you try to have ‘trendy’
adverts appealing to the youth and all. However, at the end
of the day, word of mouth, from people like me can make you
or break you. I have been pedalling CellC amongst peers,
trying to persuade them to use CellC ever since I started
using CellC. Nevertheless, CellC’s disregard for service
provision has made me reconsider. With millions of
customers choosing to go to the major network Vodacom, can
you really afford to lose more?

You should consider that prepaid customers usually become
or recommend your contract customers. I have experienced it
myself.
In addition, the prepaid customers will spawn into your
business customers eventually.
A customer like me, who has spent literally thousands of
Rands on prepaid, would like to know that he is
appreciated. Otherwise, my money could well be spent on a
network that actually has services available.

Maybe CellC is not quite ready yet, maybe one day you will
have people behind the scenes who actually know what they
are doing. But, till then, I have to reconsider. And put
that CellC Contract application on hold.

Sincerely,

David E Freitas

5 No appreciation for individual prepaid users who are recharging a lot. (Rewards or something)
6 I ripped them about their adverts: all the wasted money on promises, but no action/service helps no one.
7 No understanding of basic business principles.

8 The previous commenter was right probably – their careers are all BEE based. It’s not a charity, but a business, hire people who can make it work, regardless of colour. Else no-one is going to have work there.

Quick resolution?

Want a faster response to your query? Seems if you put it on HelloPeter.com, they will actually call you to help you. Because they don’t want to look bad on their website.

Send free CellC to CellC sms everyday.

About the author

David will tell you if your business is good/feasible in no uncertain terms and with high accuracy and amazing insight.

Hallo

Google besoek ons Dinsdag 12:00.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/computer-science-resources-for.html

Translated from Afrikaans:

Google is visiting us Tuesday 12:00.

Awesome!

At least it’s someone from Google, don’t know who exactly, but none-the-less. Cool.

Microsoft also visited our University (Stellenbosch Uni) earlier in the year. Trying to find people to recruit.

Moving countries is probably the biggest reason why people don’t want to go work for these big companies. I have commented on this issue on Charl van Niekerk’s blog before. He was the only person from South Africa to do the Google Summer Of Code this year (2007).
Basically I said that the Summer of Code’s timing isn’t right for South African Universities Timetables. Also, I said that Google should email all the Universities in the country to get more info and spread the word, they went one up on that and are visiting us instead!

As an aside, personally, I think MXit is becoming the Google of South Africa, in its own way. In the fact that they have to handle largehuge scale instant messenging and data transfers in real time. And what seems to be the largest single instant messenger this side of China!

Google Offices in Africa

Google opened its first office in Sub-Saharan Africa, in Kenya, earlier this year.
Google is opening up some offices in South Africa too. Don’t know much about it though. But it doesn’t look technical yet. [1]
Amazon has offices in South Africa, Cape Town, with developers too. (Jerith is someone who works there.)

Here’s the proposed agenda, any questions you all want to know? Let me know, I’ll ask them.
I could maybe write something on my site about the meeting when it’s done for those interested.

Google University Meeting Agenda

1. Introductions
1. Introductions from University
2. Introductions from Google
2. Overview from Google
1. Google overview
2. New Africa office overview
3. University Programs overview
4. Growth and opportunities in Africa and worldwide
5. New Initiatives

3. Overview of Google Programs
1. Google Apps
2. Open Source
3. Summer of Code

4.Questions and Answers
1. Google and University discuss
5. Next Steps
1. Determine best point of contact within University and Google
2. Best method of communication going forward
3. Discussion

Other topics to discuss

**************
• Understanding the various departments / degree programs offered pertaining to ICT
– (e.g. Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Informatics? Multiple programs?)
– What is the curriculum for each of these departments?
– Is the curriculum standard or is it customizable for each student?
– Are there different specializations or tracks of study within these courses?
– Would it be possible for us to obtain an actual course list?

• Student Statistics
– demographics
a. What is the ratio of male to female students university-wide?
b. By ICT department…
c. What is the general age of most incoming students?
d. How would you characterize the ethnic diversity of your university?
e. What is the total number of students enrolled in each of the aforementioned ICT

departments?
f. Where do most of your students come from? (both in terms of which high schools and regionally within the country)
g. What is the percentage of international students? From which countries do they hail?
h. What is the ratio of incoming students from urban vs rural areas?
– matriculation
i. What is the graduation rate? (both university-wide and for each of the ICT departments)
j. What do students do after graduation?
k. Who are considered the favorite employers among the ICT student body?
l. What is the employment rate among graduating students?
m. What percentage of students go on for additional education?
n. What percentage of graduating students stay in the field of ICT / engineering?

• Academic Calendar
– when do classes begin?
– when are exams held?
– when do students graduate?

It’s capable of everything else too though.

I’ve been using Mandriva Linux (previously known as Mandrake) for a few years now. A pity, the thing just has not been getting better.

I always wonder, “Why are there so many different types/brands of linux?” (called distro’s, short for distributions).

Most people use Windows (XP). It’s a fact. Developers, office workers, you name it, they all use Microsoft Windows.

It’s not easy for them to exactly try something else.

Well, try this: Ubuntu Linux

How?

Go to the Ubuntu site and you can get a free copy to install (or test) on your computer for free.
They will send it to you free of charge too.
shipit.ubuntu.com

* If you are someone who likes to explore or play around with your computer, then this is a great way to start learning linux, etc.
* Scared of the black screen command line? Don’t worry, with the new Linux desktops out, you won’t even have to see one.

Comon, let’s stop using a hundred different (distrowatch.org) linux distributions, and start focusing on making one great and popular, Ubuntu!
Microsoft has a Windows fits all. Why can’t there be a free Operating System (OS) like that?

Ubuntu is free. Windows is not. Just by the way.

UPDATE: Even easier to try Ubuntu:

• Use a virtual machine – A program that runs a whole computer in a window. So you are in Windows, but you can switch to a window where Ubuntu is running and it thinks it’s its own computer. (Make it full screen, and you won’t even know it’s just a program in Windows.) Try VMWare or Virtual PC, both Free VM‘s
• Wubi, Install Ubuntu the easy way – No need to change your hard drive partitions either, install Ubuntu in windows as a program (into a folder). Then when you reboot, it’s an option to boot into Ubuntu. Here: wubi-installer.org

There’s plenty of help for Ubuntu users on the internet. And it’s really easy to get help should you want to find out how to do something!

NEW: Apple, the legends, iTunes brought out iTunes U , U stands for University I guess.

iTunes U has arrived, giving higher education institutions an ingenious way to get audio and video content out to their students. Presentations, performances, lectures, demonstrations, debates, tours, archival footage — school is about to become even more inspiring.

Great, another place where you can get world class information for free.

Isn’t it amazing that the internet can allow me to get content from the top universities in the world, for free, from the comfort of my own country?

apple.com/itunesu/ – University and educational material (MP3′s etc) via iTunes!

Some universities’ iTunes U sites:

• itunes.stanford.edu
• itunes.berkeley.edu
• itunes.psu.edu
• itunes.duke.edu

Mostly American universities.
Who will be the first South African university to have an iTunes.domain? itunes.sun.ac.za? or itunes.uct.ac.za?
apple.com/education will help you.

Google also broadcasts the talks that are given at the Google Offices to the world for free. Again, without technology, those talks would have fallen only on the ears currently in the room. Now anyone can be there, without actually being there.

• Google Tech Talks 1
• Google Tech Talks 2

Check out my previous page: time management i for some more links.

Verification of server certificate failed. Please check the date setting in your device.

Some solutions you could try:

• Check that the date on your phone is OK, i.e. the correct year and not last years date.

• Check your Date/Time setting and make sure it is set to update from the network.

• Lastly, try downloading Opera Mini again from mini.opera.com.

Phones that have experienced this: Nokia 6020.

Here is the article
sundaytimes.co.za “The blog graveyard”.
Article seems derived from the original article at The Sunday Times, England – technology.timesonline.co.uk

What’s it about?

“Hey guys, I’m soooo sooo sorry I haven’t written in a while!!” she wrote.

It has been a long wait for any Lohan fans who may be hoping for an update. That entry was posted in October 2003. Lohan’s blog has since taken its place in the Internet’s fastest growing graveyard — of an estimated 200-million blogs that have been started, then abandoned.

The extraordinary failure rate of online diaries and claims that interest in blogging will soon begin a precipitous slide are sparking an intriguing debate about the future of self-expression on the Internet and whether blogs, once seen as revolutionary, are destined to become a footnote in the history of computing.

To the embarrassment of millions of Internet users — from Hollywood celebrities such as Lohan, Melanie Griffith and Barbra Streisand to countless ordinary parents, workers and would-be poets — the evidence of failed diary-keeping cannot be easily erased from search engines that continue to provide links to blogs that have lain dormant for years.

Some Internet analysts call them “ghost blogs”, lingering reminders of a cultish enthusiasm for self-expression that is rapidly wearing off. Others liken the abandonment of blogs to “the suicide of your virtual self”.

Why am I saying this?
Show me how many people have had an active personal’ish site for a few years? A few maybe? Good.

I reckon that if you have something to share…

If it is obtainable elsewhere (another site for example):

If you like it:


• Link to it or bookmark it online. Use del.icio.us bookmarks, some place that other users will be able to find it.
• Make suggestions or comments on what is lacking or can be improved. Or some praise even.

If you don’t like it:

• Make a suggestion to the creators of the site. Maybe something is missing, then you can complete it.

Can’t find it anywhere?
If the site/source is really bad and has no hope of being revived by the author or it isn’t possible to take over the management of the site/source/page, then you have some options:

1. Add it to wikipedia – it’s maintained and will be around for a while. In contrast to your personal domain which ceases to exist when you get bored and stop paying the registration fee.
2. Wikipedia not appropriate? Consider using a Google powered free hosting service like blogger.com or googlepages.com to power your new site/information.
3. Need more tools? Try finding a site that provides or deals with similar information – can you maybe partner with the site or create a new section for it? Please don’t create another forum.. unless you really have to. Learn to search.
4. Lastly, you could get your own domain name and hosting for your website and do as you please.

There are many options, no excuse to pollute the web.
Collaborate to make it better and cleaner. If we don’t do it, who will?

This isn’t specific to blogs, it’s the same for any site, website, forum, what ever you want to call it. A html site is a html site no matter what name you give it.

The Problem

I noticed that dropdown boxes (<select> html elements with <option>’s) on Motorola phones were being shown as a list, instead of as the usual dropdown list that we are used to.

Normal dropdown box html	How a dropdown box should look like
<select> <option value="CellC">CellC</option> <option value="MTN">MTN</option> <option value="Vodacom4me">Vodacom</option> <option value="Virgin">Virgin Mobile</option> </select>	CellC MTN Vodacom Virgin Mobile

Motorola shows it “wrongly” like this instead:

CellC
MTN
Vodacom
Virgin Mobile

Which does waste a lot of space on the limited screen size of a mobile cellphone.

The Solution

Fix Method 1: Leave out the closing /option tags

This is the easiest way to fix, although it doesn’t make the markup XHTML, it is still valid HTML.
You have to leave out the closing OPTION tags.

Like so:

<select>
<option value="CellC">CellC
<option value="MTN">MTN
<option value="Vodacom4me">Vodacom
<option value="Virgin">Virgin Mobile
</select>

That’s it, the Motorola will then display the dropdown as a normal PC browser would.

Fix Method 2: Add a Optgroup

In HTML there is a cool <optgroup> tag. Which allows you to group items in a dropdown list.
Example:

        
        v3
        v360
        
        
        6230i
        7250i
        

So, to get the motorola to display a dropdown list as we would like it to, we just have to add one <optgroup> element to the <select>ion box.

Like this:

<select>
<optgroup>
<option value="CellC">CellC</option>
<option value="MTN">MTN</option>
<option value="Vodacom4me">Vodacom</option>
<option value="Virgin">Virgin Mobile</option>
</optgroup>
</select>

In PHP before generating the “option” tags I check if it’s a Motorola phone and do this:
if (strstr($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], "MOT-")) {
echo '<optgroup>';
}
And remember to close it afterwards.

The Tools

Motorola actually has a browser / internet / xhtml / html-mobile / wml /wap simulator-emulator program so that you can test how your webpage / wappage will look on a Motorola.
It’s called the Motorola ADK (Application Developer Kit).

ADK Features

* Supports WML, cHTML and xHTML-basic
* Syntax Directed Editor and Script Debugger
* WML Script Compiler: 1.2.1 Compliance
* WML Script Debugging
* Incorporates actual browser components – to achieve Realistic Simulation capabilities across Motorola and other devices

Download the Motorola E398 ADK. Requires Login / registration first. Get Skip Registration here or Download Moto ADK directly.
The actual cellphone model / version of the ADK doesn’t matter as their browser is pretty much the same across all the phones. (V3, V3x razr, renders the same way as MOT-E398)

Happy testing!

I came across this problem because the contact quick list I have on my free sms sites (CellC, MTN, Vodacom) weren’t showing nicely on Motorolas. Now that’s all fixed

UPDATE: Added a new workaround. (exclude the closing </option> tags)

Yahoo! uses Google too!?

Specifically, the Ask Yahoo! service used Google search results and forgot to change the word Google to Yahoo!

It starts here: How many countries are there in the world? – Ask Yahoo!

Notice the line

We realized the chances of finding a Yahoo! category on the subject were about as small as Andorra, but we were confident the Google search results would point us in the right direction.

MMm… someone left the word Google there?
While the link actually points to a search.yahoo.com result page.

Internet Archive – Wayback Machine

I then went into the Internet Archive (yes, Yahoo archives the entire internet…) and looked at this Ask Yahoo! page in the past.

And I found that the “Google search results” link originally pointed to “google.yahoo.com” search results.

http://google.yahoo.com/bin/query?p=how+many+countries+in+the+world&hc=0&hs=1123

Strange, Yahoo used to have a google.yahoo.com subdomain …
google.yahoo.com in the past.
It used to just point to a Yahoo search page. But from 2002 onwards it just became a page with just “Do you yahoo?” on it before the subdomain was removed from yahoo in about 2003.

You can still see the “do you yahoo?” page archived here.

Digg this || Post page to del.icio.us

UPDATE: Get sms notifications of events on ANY calender! In fact, now you can schedule reminders for events on your personal calendar or any other calendar to which you’re subscribed.

NEW: Google calender mobile cellphone version!

Visit calendar.google.com on your mobile web browser.

• Multiple calendars on one account – so you can separate the different parts of your life/schedule (work, home, etc)
• Share events and calendars – You can let a calendar be show to the public or share a calendar with someone.
• Planning an event? – You can create invitations, send reminders and keep track of RSVPs right inside Google Calendar.

Now, the main reason for this post is the SMS/text notifications you can setup for any event! And it costs you nothing!

Staying on schedule
You can set up automatic event reminders, including mobile phone notifications, and instantly bring up anything on your calendar with the built-in search tool.

And they support all three networks in SA – MTN, CellC and Vodacom.

How to enable SMS notifications

• Login to Google Calendar with your Google Account details (same as your GMail)
• Click Settings at the top right.
• In the Calendar Settings page click on the Notifications button.
• Then enter your cell phone details and follow the instructions.
• You’re done. Now any notifications you put on an event will come in an SMS/text to your cellphone. All for free!

Poor Google has to foot the bill for all the SMSs sent. I wonder how viable it will turn out to be?

• Google Calendar Tour
• mycee.co.za – The guy who told me about this cool feature!
• goosync.com – You can sync Google Calendar to your mobile device for free as well.