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jdichter · 06-07-2009, 04:27 PM

I'm not sure how many people in RIM are avid Howard Stern listeners but it appears not many.
Howard Stern had been using a Tero for many years and had recently been given a private introduction to the Palm Pre. Apparently the new palm is incompatible with Lotus notes and therefore Stern went with the blackberry bold.

Much like the rest of us he was thrilled with the device and raved about it daily on his program but taunted members of his staff that never used the blackberry messenger feature.

Recently the comments have gone sour. As much as he loves the device, it apparently it is useless as an actual telephone in NYC. He has a backup ATT phone and his wife also uses a Treo on ATT and both phones have strong signals in the same locations that the Bold is rendered useless.

Where is RIM's marketing department? Regardless weather you like Stern or not the 10 million listeners he has heard him say this week that his wife decided to stick with Palm because the blackberry is too unreliable. The silence from RIM reminds me of GM's culture of silence when they were criticized in the past. Should I sell my shares in RIM now?

BallHawk3 · 06-07-2009, 04:29 PM

Good point.

But did he go into detail to why his bold is useless as a phone? Sounds like he's having reception problems with the device, bad device.

dc/dc · 06-07-2009, 04:33 PM

at&t is one of the best services in NYC, and the Bold is one of the best devices from RIM. It sounds like he needs a new device.

jdichter · 06-07-2009, 04:39 PM

Agreed. But you'd think RIM would be on it trying to clear the air and maybe give him another device. Or perhaps bad publicity to millions of people is the better option. Just hope someone at RIM is listening and addresses this issue.

Trimix · 06-07-2009, 04:47 PM

I wonder if he knows how to do a battery pull or reset.

BallHawk3 · 06-07-2009, 04:49 PM

More like point the blame at AT&T.

Whoever sold him the device should take care of this or at least prepare him for situations like these.

Then again, any average person that say has two or more phones from the same carrier and see's that one device isn't perform as well as the others (especially when it comes to signal) would realize something is wrong with the device or at least call AT&T.

Like I said, maybe it's on AT&T's part and their customer service.

Heck, somebody at least call the man and at least point him in the right direction!!!!

Shaun · 06-07-2009, 06:28 PM

Someone call in and ask what OS he has loaded. I would guess its the version that ships, and an upgrade would help out.

To the original point, RIM Marketing should have been on the phone with him once a week to "check in" since he got the phone. This is pretty close to Oprah having tech support issues and not being proactive. Not a good move for business.

SteveO86 · 06-07-2009, 07:15 PM

I'm still can't believe he is using Lotus Notes lol

djm2 · 06-07-2009, 10:16 PM

And why do you think that RIM has anyone listening to Stern?

monkeypaw · 06-08-2009, 04:34 AM

RIM is in Canada. Not sure, but there used to not be Sirius or XM there. I think the satellite paths didn't get up that far for the whole day so they didn't sell receivers there.

That could be the reason.

mgerbasio · 06-08-2009, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc/dc

at&t is one of the best services in NYC, and the Bold is one of the best devices from RIM. It sounds like he needs a new device.

AT&T service in the NYC Metro area has been horrible since at least the beginning of this year. I have poor call quality, call failed while dialing, network congestion and dropped calls daily.

Numerous threads in this forum, Howard Forums and even the ATT forums. I'm not a Howard fan but anything to draw attention to the poor service we're stuck with is good news.

Regards-Michael G.

rambo47 · 06-08-2009, 04:22 PM

More to the point, chances are Howard Stern is a complete moron. I'll take my tech advice from someone other than a shock-jock radio personality.

monkeypaw · 06-08-2009, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rambo47

More to the point, chances are Howard Stern is a complete moron. I'll take my tech advice from someone other than a shock-jock radio personality.

There's a chance it's user error. But RIM, if it finds out should still jump through hoops to help him. Either help him figure it out or get him a new phone. That's cheap advertising for the cost of sending some guy down to NY. Even cheaper if AT&T goes there instead.

jbairdjr · 06-08-2009, 05:39 PM

I guess I agree that this is a carrier problem, not RIM's.
RIM doesnt help out anyone that is having phone reception problems, that is the carrier's responsibility.
I dont like Howard Stern much, but imagine the PR victory if ATT fixed the problem and he continued to rave about his Bold.

monkeypaw · 06-08-2009, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbairdjr

I guess I agree that this is a carrier problem, not RIM's.
RIM doesnt help out anyone that is having phone reception problems, that is the carrier's responsibility.
I dont like Howard Stern much, but imagine the PR victory if ATT fixed the problem and he continued to rave about his Bold.

Intel is a good example of a company that has marketed around it's customers.
They are basically a component supplier, yet people will buy unknown brands of computers because the chip is Intel. When those Pentium chips had the math error, I think they had no warranty liability, but they were the ones who replaced them.

Jase88 · 06-09-2009, 12:25 AM

The OP's post isn't clear about the actual issue, so it's difficult to respond. It coud be a preference/usability issue, or coverage, or both.

And yes, Canada gets Stern on satelite radio.

ArgonNJ · 06-09-2009, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rambo47

More to the point, chances are Howard Stern is a complete moron. I'll take my tech advice from someone other than a shock-jock radio personality.

Can't be too much of a moron. He has had the #1 morning show for decades and is basically a millionaire. I should mention he is also an avid chess player. Regardless, phone/smartphones should simply work for everyone without having to worry about loading RIMs latest fix of the moment. And RIM should worry, he has millions of listeners who may decide against the BB based solely on Stern's assessment of it.

ArgonNJ · 06-09-2009, 01:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbairdjr

I guess I agree that this is a carrier problem, not RIM's.
RIM doesnt help out anyone that is having phone reception problems, that is the carrier's responsibility.
I dont like Howard Stern much, but imagine the PR victory if ATT fixed the problem and he continued to rave about his Bold.

It's not a carrier issue! Stern uses a backup ATT phone, that works just fine. The Bold has been plagued with issues since its release. One has to only search this forum and other forums to see how many have gone through multiple Bolds do to problems with the device.
This is a RIM issue and they better address it.

mgerbasio · 06-09-2009, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArgonNJ

It's not a carrier issue! Stern uses a backup ATT phone, that works just fine. The Bold has been plagued with issues since its release. One has to only search this forum and other forums to see how many have gone through multiple Bolds do to problems with the device.
This is a RIM issue and they better address it.

Stern probably has a 2G phone for a backup. I have no idea, but that's a guess. Many threads with the same story in NYC, poor 3G network with all phones. My experience with the Bold has been otherwise good especially with the latest software.

I do agree, Stren isn't an idiot, the guy is pretty technically savvy. Back when he was on FM, he had an IBM rep that would be on the show talking about Lotus Notes, I bet most people didn't have a clue about that type of software back then. I listened to him for a while, but when Jackie left and he got divorced, listening to him hit on 22 year olds sounded pathetic rather than funny. And, seeing what he did for Sirius and his wallet, pretty smart move if you ask me.

I had a call from the AT&T last night after filing a complaint with the FCC as tech support wasn't getting me anywhere. They offered to troubleshoot my problem. Went back a forth a while, I explained to the guy I had to debrand my phone to get it to 2G. He said that was a good solution! I explained it isn't released software, blah, blah, blah. He said if it works, problem solved and if I needed tech support, he'd get me to the right people if standard tech support couldn't help. I told him tech support said "they're working on the problem" but he didn't acknowledge network issues.

Regards-Michael G.

blitz99 · 06-09-2009, 09:22 AM

i am behind the original poster 100%... i listen daily to stern and love the show. He's ripped that phone in pieces because of the call service, has said it does everything EXCEPT make calls.

Robin seems to like the phone still and Artie also has a blackberry.

I was skeptical of switching from my palm to the blackberry because of what stern said, but when my palm broke i had no choice as i dont want anything to do with the pre as i dont like the slide mechanism and know it is just a breaking point on the phone.

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Howard Stern On Blackberry. Why is RIM asleep at the wheel?