NEW TECHNOLOGY ARGH! (file under "First World Problems")

 I've known since the end of last year that I needed a new phone.  But I also suspected the process was going to be horrible.

I was correct in my suspicions.

When I got to T-Mobile on Wednesday  I let the salesman sell me on saving money by getting an S22 for free.  I like the S22 - it's smaller than my previous phone (actually, about the size of my phone before that) and fits comfortably in my back pocket.  I also bought a sparkly new case for it.

"All you need to do is change your phone number."

"No no no," I said. "I want to keep my old number!"

"Well, T-Mobile has this app called Digits and your interface will be just the same.  The transition will be seamless."

Upper photo from T-Mobile website

I fell for it.

Almost two hours later I was leaving the store, hangry and exhausted.

The first thing I figured out (though it took me a couple of hours) is that Digits does not accept consumer texts -- like codes from Yahoo or anyplace else.  That means every business that needs to be in contact with me now needs the new phone number -- so much for "seamless." When I contacted their customer service, someone was on the chat with me not answering.  SO annoying.  (But then, maybe that person didn't know the answer either.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time fighting with the phone to get it to connect with my hearing aids, to little avail.  (No one in the office Friday, no one in Idaho, at the answering service, who knew anything about my brand.)  Finally, I had other stuff to do (like weed whack the lawn.) 

For almost a full day, Digits worked.  Then, suddenly last night, it stopped and erased all the texts I'd already received. ARGH! I went to various web pages to figure out Digits and everything I read was so complicated that, rather than having someone out at T-Mobile take the time to explain it to me, I'm going to learn to live with my new phone number with its Eugene prefix.

As Ozzy Man might say, "Digits is Destination Fucked" 

And I'm not the only one to feel this way.

"Why do I hate Digits?

The Android version of Digits app sucks. It doesn’t work reliably as it is supposed to be. I would often miss phone calls from time to time."

"Chronically, unusably buggy

This app is Bug City, and has been for years."

 

Lessons learned:

The next time I go to T-Mobile, eat something first and be prepared to say "no" to any deals.

What I have to do now:  Send out a text to all my friends and change my phone number various places.  

Not a life or death issue but annoying nevertheless to this old queer.