Q.: My.T-Mobile.com web site problems?

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tlvp - 02 Jul 2009 07:14 GMT

For the past two weeks, while logged in to my.t-mobile.com in the
hopes of repairing errant Email Filters that are blocking their
email-to-SMS gateway from sending me SMS versions of emails sent
to my handset's <my10digits@tmomail.net> "virtual" email address,
the page

https://my.t-mobile.com/EmailSettings/EmailFilters.aspx

rolls over to an error page, typically

https://my.t-mobile.com:443/500.aspx?aspxerrorpath=/EmailSettings/EmailFilters.aspx ,

with page title "Server Error" and body text as follows:

<beginquote>

We're sorry -- there was an error in processing your request.

Please hit your browser's back button and try your action again, or try again later.

<button>[go to my tmobile home]</button>

<endquote>

The most recent time, actually, it rolled over, instead, to:

https://my.t-mobile.com/Login/500.aspx?aspxerrorpath=/Login/Default.aspx ,

which reported (but probably my login had just already timed out):

<beginquote>

Server Error in '/Login' Application.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Runtime Error
Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a <customErrors> tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This <customErrors> tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".



<configuration>
<system.web>
<customErrors mode="Off"/>
</system.web>
</configuration>

Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's <customErrors> configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.



<configuration>
<system.web>
<customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="mycustompage.htm"/>
</system.web>
</configuration>

<endquote>

As I said, this has been going on for two weeks (at least), and has
prevented me from repairing errant Email Filters that are blocking
their email-to-SMS gateway from sending me SMS versions of emails
sent to my handset's my10digits@tmomail.net "virtual" email address.

Anyone else here meeting these problems find a work-around?
Anyone here from T-Mobile aware of a time-to-resolve for it?

[I'll refrain from asking why T-Mobile thinks it's appropriate to do
web-site remodelling, as the Customer Services reps tell me is going
on, on production servers, rather than on dedicated "test-beds" :-) .]

TIA, and cheers, -- tlvp

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John Navas - 02 Jul 2009 16:18 GMT

>For the past two weeks, while logged in to my.t-mobile.com in the
>hopes of repairing errant Email Filters that are blocking their
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
>Anyone else here meeting these problems find a work-around?

I've experienced lots of problems on the My T-Mobile website.
T-Mobile is aware of problems and working to correct them.
Unfortunately, I know of no work-around in the meantime.

>Anyone here from T-Mobile aware of a time-to-resolve for it?

I doubt anyone from T-Mobile is here, think you'll have better luck
calling Customer Care, opening a Trouble Ticket, and asking for
escalation.

>[I'll refrain from asking why T-Mobile thinks it's appropriate to do
>web-site remodelling, as the Customer Services reps tell me is going
>on, on production servers, rather than on dedicated "test-beds" :-) .]

I think the issue is that bugs unintentionally got deployed, and
T-Mobile is now scrambling to fix them as fast as it can. My Guess(tm)
on the cause is that cost cutting may have impacted the website staff,
exacerbated by a design that's hard to maintain.

The only options I see are to either (a) tough it out until T-Mobile
gets it fixed or (b) change your number or (c) switch to another
carrier. I'm going with option (a), for the time being at least.
YMMV.

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Best regards,
John <http:/navasgroup.com>

If the iPhone is really so impressive,
why do iFans keep making excuses for it?

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tlvp - 03 Jul 2009 08:13 GMT

>> ... [errant Email Filters description snipped] ...
>>
>>Anyone else here meeting these problems find a work-around?
>
> I've experienced lots of problems on the My T-Mobile website.
> T-Mobile is aware of problems and working to correct them.

So they tell me, too.

> Unfortunately, I know of no work-around in the meantime.

Not a surprise; but thanks for confirming.

>>Anyone here from T-Mobile aware of a time-to-resolve for it?
>
> I doubt anyone from T-Mobile is here, think you'll have better luck
> calling Customer Care, opening a Trouble Ticket, and asking for
> escalation.

I thought the presence here of a lurking T-Mo rep unlikely, too, but ... .

Anyway, I've called -- repeatedly. I've apparently opened at least two
Trouble Tickets, but no one can tell me what their numbers are.

Indeed, the last CS rep I spoke with asked *me* for my trouble ticket
number, as she was unable to find it listed in my record, though the
*fact* a trouble ticket had been opened *was* recorded there.

She then undertook to open a *new* trouble ticket -- the second one,
now -- and promised to phone me with its number once it had a number
assigned ("within 24 hours," she said). No word yet, 48 hours later.

>>[I'll refrain from asking why T-Mobile thinks it's appropriate to do
>>web-site remodelling, as the Customer Services reps tell me is going
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> on the cause is that cost cutting may have impacted the website staff,
> exacerbated by a design that's hard to maintain.

Looks to me more like "seat-of-the-pants" hot-patching on production
servers, not the cleverest way of rolling out an untried new system.

> The only options I see are to either (a) tough it out until T-Mobile
> gets it fixed or (b) change your number or (c) switch to another
> carrier. I'm going with option (a), for the time being at least.
> YMMV.

As I've got too much to lose with option (c), and nothing to gain from
option (b), I've only got option (a) to go with -- and the off-chance
that having that handset's service compromised by the failure of the
email-to-SMS gateway to correctly forward emails to the handset may
qualify me for a pro-rata credit towards my t-Zones Talk'n'Text charges.

Thanks for your take on things, John: much appreciated.

And cheers, -- tlvp

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John Navas - 03 Jul 2009 16:51 GMT

>> I doubt anyone from T-Mobile is here, think you'll have better luck
>> calling Customer Care, opening a Trouble Ticket, and asking for
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>now -- and promised to phone me with its number once it had a number
>assigned ("within 24 hours," she said). No word yet, 48 hours later.

Call during normal USA business hours to maximize your chances of
getting a rep in the USA (rather than Bangalore), get your call
transferred to Tech Support, and then ask for your case to be escalated
if you have Trouble Tickets more than 72 hours old. I've gotten good
results that way.

Lowest level Customer Care reps can't do much on technical problems,
although to be fair, a very helpful USA rep was able to finally fix the
MyFaves problem on my SE TM506 with patient troubleshooting -- she
finally suggested a new SIM and offered to immediately credit my account
for the cost, but the T-Mobile store gave me a new SIM for free, which
did fix the problem much to my surprise since my SIM was only a few
weeks old and otherwise seemed fine -- seems there have been recent SIM
updates that correct some problems.

>> I think the issue is that bugs unintentionally got deployed, and
>> T-Mobile is now scrambling to fix them as fast as it can. My Guess(tm)
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>Looks to me more like "seat-of-the-pants" hot-patching on production
>servers, not the cleverest way of rolling out an untried new system.

I'm pretty sure the system was tried (tested), but "sh.t happens",
especially in such a dynamic and complex environment -- what then
matters is the response, and the recent big MyFaves glitch was fixed
pretty fast.

>> The only options I see are to either (a) tough it out until T-Mobile
>> gets it fixed or (b) change your number or (c) switch to another
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>email-to-SMS gateway to correctly forward emails to the handset may
>qualify me for a pro-rata credit towards my t-Zones Talk'n'Text charges.

By option (b) I really meant completely replacing your current account
with a new account that would have default (no filters) settings.

However, even without any filters I think you're going to see problems
with the email-to-SMS gateway -- I'm forwarding all email from a few of
my contacts to my phone that way, and it's only working well 50-80% of
the time. Sometimes messages come in corrupted with no content
(although I at least know an email came in that I can check from the
phone), and sometimes messages come in hours late and sometimes out of
order.

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Best regards,
John <http:/navasgroup.com>

If the iPhone is really so impressive,
why do iFans keep making excuses for it?

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Steve Sobol - 03 Jul 2009 18:34 GMT

> Call during normal USA business hours to maximize your chances of
> getting a rep in the USA (rather than Bangalore), get your call
> transferred to Tech Support, and then ask for your case to be escalated
> if you have Trouble Tickets more than 72 hours old. I've gotten good
> results that way.

You don't need to go through two reps. Call during USA business hours,
and when the computer asks why you're calling, say "tech support" or
"problems making calls" and you'll get transferred directly.

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Steve Sobol, Victorville, California, USA
sjsobol@JustThe.net

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John Navas - 03 Jul 2009 20:17 GMT

>> Call during normal USA business hours to maximize your chances of
>> getting a rep in the USA (rather than Bangalore), get your call
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>and when the computer asks why you're calling, say "tech support" or
>"problems making calls" and you'll get transferred directly.

To Customer Care, not Tech Support, as I know from having done this
quite a few times over the past few weeks.

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Best regards,
John <http:/navasgroup.com>

If the iPhone is really so impressive,
why do iFans keep making excuses for it?

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Steve Sobol - 04 Jul 2009 00:13 GMT

> To Customer Care, not Tech Support, as I know from having done this
> quite a few times over the past few weeks.

I'm working on a problem with Family Allowances, and I am getting
through to tech support that way. Make sure the computer asks if you are
calling from the phone that is having the problem...

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Steve Sobol, Victorville, California, USA
sjsobol@JustThe.net

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John Navas - 04 Jul 2009 17:10 GMT

>> To Customer Care, not Tech Support, as I know from having done this
>> quite a few times over the past few weeks.
>
>I'm working on a problem with Family Allowances, and I am getting
>through to tech support that way. Make sure the computer asks if you are
>calling from the phone that is having the problem...

That's what I'm doing. Perhaps there is a difference in region or rate
plan.

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Best regards,
John <http:/navasgroup.com>

If the iPhone is really so impressive,
why do iFans keep making excuses for it?

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tlvp - 04 Jul 2009 05:18 GMT

> For the past two weeks, while logged in to my.t-mobile.com in the
> hopes of repairing errant Email Filters that are blocking their
[quoted text clipped - 69 lines]
>
> TIA, and cheers, -- tlvp

Thanks, John; and thanks, Steve. FWIW, I've learned to *refrain* from
calling on the line whose handset's having the problem, as the first
thing I'm asked to do is to switch that handset off (and, often, pull
and reinsert its battery and SIM). Were I *calling* from that handset,
that would be the end of the call :-) .

But anyway, it's not handset or cellular service problems I'm encountering,
it's the failure to load of the EmailSettings/EmailFilters.aspx web page on
my.t-mobile.com.

Apparently none of the CS Reps or Tech Reps can get onto that page either,
and apparently none has any way of accessing the filters database without
getting onto that page, or I'd just have them delete all filters there.

Cheers, -- tlvp

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Steve Sobol - 04 Jul 2009 08:39 GMT

I think you misunderstood what I said.

My point was: when you call in, if you want to be sure you are going to
be transferred to tech support -- NOT customer service -- make sure the
computer asks you that question... "are you calling in on the handset
having the problem."

I understand you're not having a problem with the phone.

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Steve Sobol, Victorville, California, USA
sjsobol@JustThe.net

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tlvp - 04 Jul 2009 23:50 GMT

> I think you misunderstood what I said.
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> I understand you're not having a problem with the phone.

Yes, Steve, I evidently *did* misunderstand. Thanks for clarifying.

Cheers, -- tlvp

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tlvp - 07 Sep 2009 02:51 GMT

> For the past two weeks, while logged in to my.t-mobile.com in the
> hopes of repairing errant Email Filters that are blocking their
[quoted text clipped - 69 lines]
>
> TIA, and cheers, -- tlvp

As posted elsewhere, there's now a workaround to this problem,
even if that web page is still failing to load correctly:

According to a post by "derifto" in the T-mobile Forums, at

http://forums.t-mobile.com/tmbl/board/message?board.id=General&message.id=4049#M4049

a support rep *can* deal with a customer's email-SMS filters
via a workaround documented in T-Mo Knowledge Base article
number CCKB642079. In a nutshell:

| Call 611. Tell the rep to find Knowledge base
| article number CCKB642079. The support rep can use
| a ... "backdoor link" (documented there) to get into
| the filter area.

(The above paraphrased to save space and gain clarity.)

Worked for me to get an offending filter, that was completely
blocking all email-to-SMS functionality, removed, thereby fully
restoring all email-to-SMS functionality.

Cheers, -- tlvp

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