Rogers "Turned Off" Internet Access for my HTC Dream

My HTC Dream suddenly, and without warning, lost it's network connection sometime between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning. The loss of Internet access caused some significant problems for me.

This happened when I was 300+ kilometers north of Nanaimo in a small community called Port McNeill. The network connection was working fine on Friday afternoon as I used it with Google Maps to find some directions in Parksville.

On Sunday morning around 9:00am I went to access some information online and I could not get a network connection. I had planned on my HTC Dream to provide me with weather notifications and travel directions. It is about a four hour drive from Port McNeill and on Sunday morning the winds were gusting 40 to 50 kilometers per hour.

It was not until I got home and used my home internet connection that I started to piece together what had happened.

It turns out Rogers turned off the network connection deliberately and without notification.

I called Rogers on Monday and got a voice recording informing me that there was an important upgrade that needed to be applied and that internet access may not be restored for up to 24 hours.

So I downloaded the PDF instructions, the HTC Sync application, and ROM updater from Rogers web-site and upgraded my HTC Dream. I rebooted the Dream after the update was completed and still could not connect to the network.

It was time to talk to a real person at Rogers.

I called technical support and got through to a representative of Rogers. I explained that my network connection had stopped working on my HTC Dream and the Rogers representative told me I needed to install the upgrade. I told the Rogers representative that the upgrade had already been applied to the HTC Dream and the network connection was still unavailable.

It turned out that removing the battery from the HTC Dream helped speed up the acquisition of the network connection.

At this point I asked the Rogers representative what had happened. The conversation quickly moved into a defensive excuse-ridden explanation of why my internet connection to my HTC Dream had been turned off. Here are some highlights of my conversation are listed below. According to the Rogers representative:

  • Rogers sent a text message last week warning of an issue with GPS and the inability to call 911 (I received this; not sure what day).
  • Rogers sent another text message warning that the network connection would be turned off (I did NOT receive this message). The Rogers representative could not tell me when the text message was sent.
  • The CRTC told Rogers that the 911 issue must be fixed by "the end of the week".
  • Rogers had no choice but to turn of the data network connection to comply with the CRTC and ensure that 911 calls would work.

Talking with the the Rogers representative was a frustrating process as I heard excuse after excuse as to why my network connection on my HTC Dream was turned off without notice.

Does't Rogers test 911 functionality using common usage patterns? Anyone who uses Google Maps to in-point their location or to find directions has to have GPS turned on. Google Maps is installed by default on my HTC Dream. The new upgrade from Rogers also includes Google Maps by default.

Rogers really dropped the ball on this. Multiple times.

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Rogers Turned off Internet Access

You lose the internet on your HTC Dream or HTC Magic, AND you lose the ability to make calls AND you lose data sync to your desktop. AND Rogers "911 Update" is a non-self-extracting zip file (1960 again?) AND it only works for old versions of Windows, NOT Windows 7 (I learned that the hard way) AND NOT for any Mac OS. For W7 & Apple types, Rogers supplies "step by step instructions" that I don't see how any normal Rogers customer could possibly follow. It involves formatting 2 Micro-SIMMS a certain way NOT another certain way AND if you can do that, there is still another long, complicated process to follow with killer codes to memorize and key in without error, etc. AND if you do manage to do the update, you earn the privilege of losing everything in your HTC cell phone's memory with no compensation, including Contacts, Apps, Games, Ringtones, etc. AND you lose ALL Rogers Wireless service for 24 hours but they still charge you for a day of no service. Enough, Rogers. I have switched to Telus Mobility, where you can still use your HTC cell phone if you get it unlocked. AND you can pay by the month (no contract) AND if you don't need "My Five," you can save even more money.

upgrade htc to 1.6

hey guys!

if anyone is interested in a SAFE was to upgrade to Android 1.6 for their Rogers HTC Dream, check out this link

http://upgrade.android.32teeth.org/

it is a step by step process. written for those of us who are NON TECH and want to upgrade our phone!

i did mine last night following the steps to the letter and it was super easy and done in less than 30 minutes!

But i didn't notice right

But i didn't notice right away... because when i was at home... I use my Wi-Fi and at work I use Wi-Fi since well, why use my data plan if I don't have to. So was bit later before noticed... so lame, I did the update last night still no internet from rogers how bunk.

same thing happened to me...

same thing happened to me... i did not received the text about the internet suspension.. and also my internet didn't work (and still doesn't work) after completing all the upgrades.

i took out the battery as you suggested but still no luck. i'm now #10 on a waiting list on their live support line.

i hate rogers!

re: same thing happened to me...

I didn't even get a warning when my phone network connection went down. I was told by a Rogers rep that the CRTC told Rogers to get the issue fixed by "the end of the week".

The truth is that the GPS bug had been fixed over four months ago.

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