The Axcess/MobiTV Simulator

I added Axcess TV, Alltel's branded MobiTV, to my new E815 and after
watching it all weekend, I thought I'd give potential buyers a glimpse of
what it's like to watch TV on a cellphone data link that has unlimited
data downloading (an extra $10/mo over the $9.99/mo for TV).

You can test it, yourself, before buying anything with an ordinary TV on
cable and a security light timer used to leave your lights on for 10
minutes, the kind you plug in.  This timer does the same thing new cars
do with their headlights/interior lights on after you shut off the car.  
If you don't have or can't find a suitable timer that can be set to turn
off in 10 minutes and NOT come back on automatically, just use an
extension cord and do it manually.

Unplug your smallest TV from the wall and plug it into the security light
timer.  Set the timer to delay turn off 10 minutes and not automatically
reset the circuit back on.

Turn on the timer and TV and tune to your favorite news channel.

Watch TV for 10 minutes.

The timer will disconnect the TV from its AC power and stay off.

Make believe the TV post a message that says:

"Resume Watching TV?"

Press the reset on the timer, turning the power back on to the TV.  The
length of time it takes the TV to boot back up and start showing you the
channel is about as long as it takes MobiTV to reconnect to the phone and
reload the client's buffer to start showing your channel, again.

About every 10th time you watch TV on the timer, take the batteries out
of the remote control so none of the buttons work and you can't display
the Guide or change the channel until you go out into the garage and shut
off the main circuit breaker to your house and turn it back on again,
simulating when MobiTV's TV client or Motorola's OS software crashes so
no button you push makes any control of the MobiTV software.  Just
rebooting MobiTV off then on does not cure this crashing, only rebooting
the hole phone will recover it.  At least you don't have to remove the
battery and replace it!

I haven't figured out WHO is responsible for this STUPID periodical,
total interruption of TV service.  The investigation starts Monday.  It
is to both MobiTV and Alltel's advantage to stop the load on their system
every 10 minutes so users, even user paying double for unlimited data,
can't just leave the TV running an hour or so while they eat breakfast in
a diner or leave it running on their desks at work.  Cellular has never
quite gotten over what "unlimited" anything really means, substituting
their own "interpretation" to suit maximizing profits...like dumping you
off every 10 minutes.

The picture is like watching streaming TV on a slow ISDN line...You get
about 5-10 frames per second, unless someone else is downloading from
their aircards on a laptop, then it balks, stops, reloads, starts again.  
This balking has NOTHING to do with the "Resume Watching TV" nonsense.  
Until the 10 minutes is up, it will reload and restart automatically.  
The "Resume Watching TV" nonsense happens even if you're staring at the
tower with a saturated phone signal and no balking whatsoever.

Before you throw your shoe at the big TV that shuts off at exactly the
time when Fox News has ALERT come on, unplug the timer and plug the TV
back into stable power so it stays on all the time.  My Axcess TV will do
that by the end of the month or it's HISTORY!