T-Mobile

Would T-Mobile block Twitter users, even if they’re paying for unlimited messaging? I’ve read numerous reports like this of Twitter users missing out on messages from their Twittering friends.

Dozens of people on Satisfaction have been wondering why Twitter was down for them and fuming about the state of Twitter and T-Mobile.

The rhetoric is heating up, and the facts are not all in. But, based on a provocative and sharply worded e-mail response from a T-Mobile representative, things do not look good for Twitter or its enthusiasts:

“...Twitter is not an authorized third-party service provider, and therefore you are not able to utilize service from this provider any longer.... T-Mobile is not in violation of any agreement by not providing service to Twitter. T-Mobile regrets any inconvenience, however please note that if you remain under contract and choose to cancel service, you will be responsible for the $200 early termination fee that would be assessed to the account at cancellation.”

If legitimate, this e-mail, from Marianne Maestas, of the Executive Customer Relations department at T-Mobile, is striking. First and foremost, it positions T-Mobile as against innovation and against small businesses. What do small businesses have to do to comply with these new rules? What has changed in the past few days that warrants this kind of restriction? Closing systems like this brings to mind the e-mail wars between CompuServe and AOL. Haven’t we learned since then that open standards leads to more innovation and wealth? Besides, it’s services like Twitter that make T-Mobile’s product more valuable and more essential to users. It’s short-sighted at best to try to cut off this usage.

On top of that, it’s just plain mean-spirited. Not only are we not going to let you communicate with your friends via Twitter, T-Mobile is saying, we’re going to charge you as much money as possible if you disagree with our position and try to switch to a new service provider. So there.

Telecom providers cling to technologies like SMS and MMS because they control all the traffic on them. This gives them the ability to coerce companies that want access into their network into shelling out cash for exclusivity. It also allows them to set very high toll prices on the simple use of these low-bandwidth services. Companies like T-Mobile have numerous provisions in their terms of use that seriously constrain what users can do with SMS. For instance, T-Mobile expressly forbids the use of URLs inside text messages, presumably because this could lead to communications that don't use the high-tariff services it controls.

It all sounds shocking, and I hope that in truth this is actually a misunderstanding. I wonder if there is an opportunity to get to the truth of the matter and have T-Mobile clarify so that the thousands of Twitter-using T-Mobile customers (and potential customers) can rest assured that the substantial amount of money they pay to telecom companies to stay connected is worth it.

Thoughts? Ideas? Can anyone else confirm this distressing news — or put it to rest? Can anyone from T-Mobile stand up and speak on this issue?

You can also call T-Mobile at (800) 937-8997 or e-mail T-Mobile’s CEO at rdotson@t-mobile.com.

All 8 people in my office on T-Mobile are reporting the same problems off and on since Monday:

- Incoming calls that should ring are going straight to voicemail
- Text messages delayed for hours
- Outgoing calls start to dial and then drop

I just talked to T-Mobile support and they said they're having a "global outage" (no text, no voice, no data) for my area. They couldn't tell me how big "my area" was, or give me any way to find out when it's back up other than to keep trying to make calls. I asked them to send the information in an email and they said they couldn't, but they could put a note in my file.

I live in the Mission District in San Francisco, and I work in the Financial District. Any one else?

Why do cell phone companies charge for incoming sms messages when I have no control over who sends it and if I even want to receive it. Even if I get spammed, T-mobile will still charge me 10 cents a message. The only solution that other companies provide is to switch off sms capability all together. T-mobile doesn't even allow that.

Tmobile has been a giant pain in my ass. I have a Tmobile Sidekick 3, which decided not to turn on one day. I took it into a store, they tried and nothing. Then the fun began. For the next 2 hours we called customer care from the store, and they couldnt verify my warranty. They gave me all kinds of crap. The guys at the store scanned my IMEI # and there it was...my phone had 20 days left on warranty. So they called the sidekick department and after some complaining, the phone was handed to me and she said a new phone was on the way. Gave me a confirmation # when I asked for it and all.

I call on Monday, a few days after all this. To get a UPS tracking #. Tmobile has NOTHING in their system about a new phone coming to me. They acted like I made it up, even saying that "this lady" may have given me a "bogus confirmation #". WTF? 3 hours on the phone with Tmobile last night, and finally a supervisor in the sidekick department promised to send out a new phone by Thursday. We shall see. So mad.