Short story: Google Voice DOES work on Sprint phones including Hawaii, but will NOT work if your Sprint phone is under a corporate account (like mine). Here’s the details:
I was really excited to enable Google Voice on my Sprint EVO 4G phone “Hawaii Sprint Customers: Do we get Google Voice?“. So you could imagine how bummed I was when Google Voice says, “Unfortunately, Google Voice cannot be enabled on this Sprint phone. Please contact Sprint for more details as to why this cannot be enabled.”
Worse yet, other Hawaii Sprint customers were telling me that it worked just fine for them. Damn! Why me, Lord?
Well today I finally called Sprint. They were a little puzzled too but after digging around, we found out why: My Sprint is under my corporate account and apparently business accounts are not allowed to enable Google voice. While I’m disappointed, I can see why. On a policy level, if this was my company’s phone, I can certainly see that my boss might not approve of me implementing various re-routing and voicemail rules that Google Voice allows.
So, if you’ve got a personal/home Sprint account, you should be good. If you’ve got corporate, you’re out of luck.
Final note: a shout-out goes to the Sprint folks. I’ve only been with them for a year but their customer support has always been excellent, the service has been fabulous (I can’t recall a single dropped call that my phone caused) and the phone (other than the absolutely crappy battery life) has been an incredible workhorse. Thanks Sprint!
Google inching into social network space with “People Widget”
/in Neat Tech & NewsFrom one view, this looks like a nice feature that shows people relevant to the email you’re processing within Gmail. I think it’s Google’s latest attempt to put the camel’s nose in the social media tent. Google absolutely must stop the Facebook freight train because as soon as Facebook starts offering search, it will be the beginning of the end of Google
Your Google Phone is now your wallet too and that’s only the start
/in Neat Tech & NewsThe next generation of Android phones will come equipped with NFC (Near Field Communications) hardware which allows encrypted wireless transmission of your credit card data. Instead of swiping your credit card through a reader, you’ll just tap approval to your phone. Google is going to make a fortune just from the licensing and processing fees alone. But they won’t stop there. This is also the basis of an astoundingly broad loyalty program. Google Wallet will not only store your credit card, but it will also store whatever membership card the store has. So say bye-bye to your starbucks card, your Safeway card, and hopefully my library card. The Google tentacles are spreading and I must say I’m loving it.
Mac malware woes not over yet. New Superbug released.
/in Neat Tech & NewsMy Mac friends *used* to boast that their Macs never got viruses to which I used to smugly respond, “That’s because there’s so few Macs, no one cares”. But it’s different now as Macs are the new hip cool in thing. Along with popularity comes virus targeting and I assure you this is just the beginning. Welcome to the world of popular computing platforms Mac peeps!
Google adds easier Check-in and Ratings to Maps. Foursquare can’t be sleeping easy.
/in Neat Tech & NewsGoogle really is the new Microsoft. It used to in the ’90s that every good startup idea got squashed or bought by Microsoft. Now it’s Google’s turn to stomp any potential threats. Foursquare’s check-in concept is quickly being replaced by Google Maps check-in and you can bet this is not the end of it.
Remember: Google the is the Microsoft. Microsoft is the new IBM. And Apple is the new Sony.
Tmobile 4G going to 42mbps, HNL too!
/in Neat Tech & NewsI SO love competition! While I’m going to stick to my current contract with Sprint, it looks like I’ll have two other high speed 4G carriers to consider next year: Verizon’s LTE (22mbps) and Tmobile’s HSPA+ (apparently 42mbps). I can’t wait to try them out! Truly amazing how speeds can increase so dramatically in such a short time. Only last year June, I bought the world’s first 4G phone which was about 4-5 times faster than 3G networks (about 4-5mbps vs. the 1mbps). One year later we’ve got networks almost 10 times faster than my 4G. Got to love technology!
Android security hole getting patched
/in Google, Neat Tech & News, Security AlertsNice job of Google patching up a security hole. Previously, you were exposed to a security hole if you were connecting over an open, unsecured wifi network.
http://mobile.pcmag.com/device2/article.php?CALL_URL=http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2385565,00.asp
oh, you shouldn’t have! RT @Li…
/in tweetsoh, you shouldn’t have! RT @LightBoutique: weve got ticket package stays for @peterkay @MENnewsdesk #gigtickets
Your Android Phone is probably hackable. Uh oh
/in Google, Neat Tech & News, Security AlertsI’ve got a Sprint EVO 4G phone myself so this article is of particular interest. I’ve not gone into the details but I will, and I suggest you do too! It seems that there’s a good chance of a security risk if you’re connected to a public, unsecured wifi network. So until this gets fixed, Just Say No to free unsecured wifi and continue using your 3G/4G network for connectivity.
Wireless, battery powered Hard Drive enters the market
/in Neat Tech & NewsThis is a fabulous product idea. Seagate added wifi and a battery to their latest 500gb hard drive and some smart software as well. It’s really designed to stream media content to the new generation of tablet devices. It connects to your computer via wifi and presents itself as just another drive/computer on your network. Drag and drop files over to it like any other hard drive and then carry around those files anywhere. This is *the*perfect* device to load up with movies before your next vacation and then watch them on your iPad/Android Tablet/Laptop/Big Phone.
Here’s why you can’t get Google Voice on your Sprint phone
/in Neat Tech & NewsShort story: Google Voice DOES work on Sprint phones including Hawaii, but will NOT work if your Sprint phone is under a corporate account (like mine). Here’s the details:
I was really excited to enable Google Voice on my Sprint EVO 4G phone “Hawaii Sprint Customers: Do we get Google Voice?“. So you could imagine how bummed I was when Google Voice says, “Unfortunately, Google Voice cannot be enabled on this Sprint phone. Please contact Sprint for more details as to why this cannot be enabled.”
Worse yet, other Hawaii Sprint customers were telling me that it worked just fine for them. Damn! Why me, Lord?
Well today I finally called Sprint. They were a little puzzled too but after digging around, we found out why: My Sprint is under my corporate account and apparently business accounts are not allowed to enable Google voice. While I’m disappointed, I can see why. On a policy level, if this was my company’s phone, I can certainly see that my boss might not approve of me implementing various re-routing and voicemail rules that Google Voice allows.
So, if you’ve got a personal/home Sprint account, you should be good. If you’ve got corporate, you’re out of luck.
Final note: a shout-out goes to the Sprint folks. I’ve only been with them for a year but their customer support has always been excellent, the service has been fabulous (I can’t recall a single dropped call that my phone caused) and the phone (other than the absolutely crappy battery life) has been an incredible workhorse. Thanks Sprint!