Why does Sprint TV vibrate and make me hit a button on my phone every 3 minutes?

[stevenmh]

Just signed up for Sprint TV Xtra, and I'm going to have to turn around and cancel if I can't find a hack for this. Every few minutes it vibrates and asks "are you still there" and makes me hit a button. I'm trying to watch at my desk while I'm working, and it's just not usable. I could understand if they wanted to check that you're still there every 30 minutes. Heck, I'd live with 15 minutes. But 3 minutes is not acceptable. Even if it was feasible for me to fondle my phone constantly throughout the day, I wouldn't spend $10/month for something that requires it.

[jfalk]

Steven,

I'm with you all the way. I purchased this phone for uninterrupted radio. This warning message sucks. I called Sprint, and the techs just "side step" the issue. They can't fix it, and they can't tell me why Sprint uses it. It makes the TV/Radio feature more of a toy than a radio.

[stevenmh]

How often do you get it?

I called customer care, and the guy had never heard of this message. He tried telling me my device's power settings were putting it to sleep, but I convinced him that this was not a Windows notification, it was a Sprint TV notification. He forwarded the issue to advanced tech support, and they said that Sprint TV is having an issue in my area, but didn't have an ETA on when it would be fixed. I've unsubscribed to Sprint TV Xtra in the meantime, because TV/radio is 100% useless until this is resolved. My concern is that the "issue" he was seeing may not related to this, and that the message is normal. But since I can never get anyone on any forum to chime in and say they're not seeing this happen to them, I just don't know.

[jfalk]

Steve,

Glad we're communicating regarding this problem. I thought I was going nuts for a while. I found some internet chatter regarding this problem, but you are the only person to detail the problem the same way I have experienced it.

I had 3 or 4 chat sessions to fix this problem with Sprint. I felt they were side-stepping the "Are you still there warning" issue and pretending it didn't exist, or it was an "out of service" error, or they just didn't know. We reprogrammed the phone twice. We tried all the appropriate local setting and that didn't help either. Also, HTC told me they couldn't help because it is Sprint software. I'm sure HTC is correct.

My opinion: the warning is there and the radio/TV cuts out because Sprint doesn't want users to tie up their cell phone tower band width. Like clockwork, a warning message "are you still there" come up every 5 minutes.

Also, I am new to Sprint. I transferred from ATT because their Fuze and their plan was considerably more expensive. Sprint gave me lots of discounts that ATT wasn't prepared to give.

Overall, though, I am very impressed by the phone. It's a powerful little brick and it does most of what I want: It combines a PDA, camera, phone (and even flashlight). Tomorrow I am going to the dealer I got the phone from to give him one more chance to fix the radio from cutting out (he won't be able to do it). Also, my wife didn't like her phone, so she wants to change it out. I am hoping he'll feel bad and give me either another little discount or maybe he'll actually fix the problem.

My thinking is that eventually Sprint will come out with a fix or better radio/TV software. I think I like the phone too much to get rid of it.

Regards,

JFalk

[stevenmh]

I told the rep I spoke with that I understood if they wanted to prevent someone from starting up the TV and then walking away and letting it burn bandwidth for 8 hours, but that every 5 minutes was out of control. He said that they don't care about the bandwidth, and that the message shouldn't be happening at all and he had never heard of it. It could be that he just doesn't know what he's talking about.

I've started this thread in other forums, but for some reason it's too much trouble for anyone to come in and say "yeah mine does that too" or "mine never does that." Maybe nobody really uses the TV / radio.

[jfalk]

Steve,

He never heard of it? I just don't believe that. This message is worded very matter-of-factly. Now, OTOH, there is a setting to allow the radio to play in the background, but that doesn't work.

Like I said, I'm going to present the problem to the Sprint store where I bought the phone. So either they find out what's going on (maybe they can test out another phone there), or I'm going to ask for another discount.

JFalk

[Coal]

I told the rep I spoke with that I understood if they wanted to prevent someone from starting up the TV and then walking away and letting it burn bandwidth for 8 hours, but that every 5 minutes was out of control. He said that they don't care about the bandwidth, and that the message shouldn't be happening at all and he had never heard of it. It could be that he just doesn't know what he's talking about.

I've started this thread in other forums, but for some reason it's too much trouble for anyone to come in and say "yeah mine does that too" or "mine never does that." Maybe nobody really uses the TV / radio.

I can confirm it DOES do it, I had it happen all the time when I used Sprint TV. Its built into the application, which is coded by someone else for Sprint.

I am surprised Sprint Techs know nothing about it BUT sadly its there. I would say its something they would see if they used TV on their device but I bet most of them have never even opened the application itself and let it sit for 10 minutes.

I stopped paying for the service for this one reason. Sadly its not a switch on your account they can flip. Its just there.

[jfalk]

Coal,

Thanks for the feedback. Doesn't that suck? I mean, afterall, we're paying for "unlimited" use.

It's a shame a fouled-up feature like this is there to screw up what is otherwise a wonderful phone.

[Coal]

Coal,

Thanks for the feedback. Doesn't that suck? I mean, afterall, we're paying for "unlimited" use.

It's a shame a fouled-up feature like this is there to screw up what is otherwise a wonderful phone.

Yes it does suck. I agree with it being maybe every 30 minutes if it HAD to be there. Every 3-5 minutes is a very very big hassle.

I have never actually checked into if it sends a reply to the server if you respond or not but it would be interesting if someone looked into the app to find out.

[Bkprbob]

I have run into it as well. It is to conserve bandwidth. It didn't bother me too much but I didn't use the service very often. The screen on my phone is sharp but too small to watch for any length of time. I don't recall having to press any button while I watched a little of a football game a few weeks ago. I think I watched for 10 minutes or so.

[levelup3]

I am glad to read it here.