Vodafone Live!

A few months ago, I had logged a problem with Vodafone. I was having trouble reaching Gmail through their mobile Internet offering. It would work sometimes and then not work at all for a week or more. Didn't matter where I was. I could be standing right under a cell mast.

I worked out my phone (Vodafone 715) needs a "cold boot" every now and again. That means pulling the battery out while it's running, waiting a minute or so, then putting it back in and "re-booting" the phone. It seems to help clear up the problems if I have any. I'm guessing the problem was at the Vodafone end as I have not had these troubles for a while now. Perhaps since mid-Feb.

A Vodafone customer service person called me a couple of days ago to follow up. That was good. I like that. I told him the problem was gone now. He then asked if I has any other issues I cared to discuss.

Yeah.

I asked why the mobile data offerings on Vodafone Live! assume that I'm a sports-mad, tits and ass man who likes fast cars? I'm not most of those things and wouldn't waste my time on any of them on a mobile phone. The news offerings are too expensive to be worth using. I don't remember the exact charges,but I do recall thinking:"I'm not paying that."

I also asked why a potentially awesome offering like Sky Mobile TV was limited to sports, soft-porn, hollywood gossip, reality crud, and cartoons. If I want to watch sport, I'll do it on a real TV.

The only thing they had worth watching was the live CNN feed and they have canned that a few weeks ago and replaced it with....more cartoons. *Sigh*.

The remnants of any substantive content on the service are the daily 5:30pm Prime TV news bulletin and a few Discovery channel docos.

I asked if they were they planning on offering anything a grown up person might find interesting? Also, at $10 / MB, their Internet was far too expensive. I could watch Gigs / month of SKY Mobile for $10. Why is other data so much more expensive?

He said he would take the feedback and pass it on. I smiled. I know what that usually means. But I had done all any customer could do: Thought about their service and contributed my time to give constructive feedback.

The platform they have could offer a lot of stuff I'd pay good money to see, hear and do....but at is it is now, there is nothing there for this late-40s, information-loving, mobile wireless would-be data geek.

It's times like this you wish there was a state broadcaster like the BBC who would support democracy and freedom by supplying a mobile video service for people who want to think while awake. The private, commercial operators aren't up to it and see no value in it.

TVNZ 7, for example, would be great broadcast on mobile.