Email exchange: Poly PGS Obi Consumer Support v. consumer who returned OBi200. Updated June 28, 2022.

OBiTalk/Poly shipped Polycom OBi200 Google Voice VOIP box with outdated firmware. THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2022

OBiTalk/Poly "support": forums, hidden "email" form. FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2022

Poly PGS Obi Consumer Support <obi.support@poly.com> Jun 24, 2022, 6:39 PM

Dear Kenneth

Thank you so much for your prompt response

I've run a test on your OBi200 ... and everything looks fine

The device is added to your dashboard, firmware is up to date, and Google Voice is connected.

You should be able to make and receive calls by now.

Please confirm if you still need our assistance.

Ken: Jun 24, 2022, 10:55 PM

OK. It's working again. So why did it stop working for much of the day and what should I do if it happens again?

Ken: Jun 25, 2022, 9:18 AM

Failed just now. Rejected by service provider. Reason 603. Unbelievable.

Ken: Jun 25, 2022, 9:45 AM

I'm getting error 603 dialing a mobile number but I can receive incoming calls from that same number and I can call my home number, which is through a cable company, not a land line. My home cannot reach my Google Voice phone, which is attached to your OBi200.

Ken: Jun 26, 2022, 2:27 PM

I'm getting those same stupid error messages again today, Sunday June 26, 2022. Your OBi200 has fundamental intermittent failures.

Ken: Jun 26, 2022, 2:40 PM

I just requested a return of your OBi200 to Amazon. Approved by Amazon. I submitted comments to Amazon as to why, as described in this email thread.

Poly PGS Obi: Jun 27, 2022, 6:30 PM

Dear Kenneth

Thank you for the update

Regarding error message: Rejected by service provider. Reason 603

Could be on the Google Voice side or on our side

Sometimes just dialing the number 1 before the phone number resolves the issue
Other times you need to re-authenticate the connection between them or just configure the modem ports

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need any further assistance

Ken: Jun 27, 2022, 6:34 PM

I returned it this morning.

Poly PGS Obi: Jun 27, 2022, 6:33 PM

Dear Kenneth Matinale,

We value your business and take pride in offering the best possible support. Your feedback will help us improve how we deliver services to you today and in the future.

Please share your feedback regarding Case nnnnnnn, raised with us on 6/24/2022 for your OBi 200 via our online survey. This survey takes less than 2 minutes to complete.

_________________________

My feedback in the survey:

Your product OBi200 shipped with outdated firmware, which caused me to spend one hour on the phone just to get your product registered. Then it failed and I returned it. Your support was almost impossible to find and did not solve or resolve.

You are too convoluted and oblivious.

_______________________

Added one day later:

_______________________

Poly PGS Obi: Jun 28, 2022, 9:11 AM

Dear Kenneth

Yes, we know that you returned to Amazon

I just want to let you know the reason why you're been getting that error message

The case number for your reference is nnnnnnnn. If you need any further assistance, please let us know.

For more options on how to connect with us please click on the below link and select SUPPORT https://www.poly.com/contact .

Ken: Jun 28, 2022, 9:19 AM

So what's the reason for the error message?

Poly PGS Obi: Jun 28, 2022, 10:31 AM

Dear Kenneth

Below you will find the message that I sent you yesterday

Also, you can just type the error message "Rejected by service provider. Reason 603" on the Google search bar and you will get a lot of information.

Regarding error message: Rejected by service provider. Reason 603

Could be on the Google Voice side or on our side

Sometimes just dialing the number 1 before the phone number resolves the issue
Other times you need to re-authenticate the connection between them or just configure the modem ports

Ken: Jun 28, 2022, 10:45 AM

Yes, I read that yesterday but it hardly constitutes an answer by a tech company. Suggesting today that I do a Google search confirms that. I'll include this exchange in my next post on my blog. Do you want the link?

Poly PGS Obi: Jun 28, 2022, 11:05 AM

Dear Kenneth

Regarding your inquiries

it hardly constitutes an answer by a tech company.
I am sorry that the answer is not satisfactory to your expectations.

Do you want the link?
Sure, no problem at all.

You can also visit our Forum at any time

http://www.obitalk.com/forum/

***   The End   ***

Updated June 28, 2022, 4:00 PM

OBiTalk/Poly "support": forums, hidden "email" form.

https://www.poly.com/us/en/support/contact/email-support#

OBiTalk/Poly support. That's it. Message just sent (no URL allowed):

After problems getting my new box working, it fails repeatedly. Finally I started unplugging and replugging to "reboot". It might work but fail again with cryptic messages like: has not received response from service provider; 603. Aren't you the service provider. Are you experiencing outages? If so, how can we check that? I posted on my tech blog: Feedback just sent to Poly at its request about the Polycom OBi200:

The OBiTalk tech person was good. But the OBiTalk website is terrible and you sent a new box, which needed your most recent firmware just so I could register and try to connect. You shipped a box which had not been updated to the needed firmware from eleven months before. And the instructions on how to update are buried in a forum in the bowels of your website. Ridiculous and unacceptable.

Oh, and I waited on the phone for an hour before the tech person answered.

________________________

OBiTalk/Poly shipped Polycom OBi200 Google Voice VOIP box with outdated firmware. THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2022

OBiTalk/Poly shipped Polycom OBi200 Google Voice VOIP box with outdated firmware.

You can research the relationship between the companies.

Feedback just sent to Poly at its request about the Polycom OBi200:

The OBiTalk tech person was good. But the OBiTalk website is terrible and you sent a new box, which needed your most recent firmware just so I could register and try to connect. You shipped a box which had not been updated to the needed firmware from eleven months before. And the instructions on how to update are buried in a forum in the bowels of your website. Ridiculous and unacceptable.

Oh, and I waited on the phone for an hour before the tech person answered.

Google Docs needs a single user DBMS like Microsoft Access. Single user, like a spreadsheet program.

I use a Chromebook (Pixelbook from Google) and free Google Docs, mostly its spreadsheet program. I create my spreadsheets on a Google server so I do not need to be concerned about backing up.

Occasionally, I use my Windows 10 Microsoft Surface laptop to run single user database management system (DBMS) Microsoft Access, which came out about 30 years ago. Its basics haven't changed much. In some ways it has regressed. It's ridiculous "ribbon" at the top, which replaces drop down menus, keeps getting more convoluted. What happened to "open tables" I think it was called? Simpler is almost always better.

Also, the Access programming team has not adapted the product for more varied screen resolutions. There are numerous anomalies, including the "ribbon" and "Navigation Pane" (Who knew it was called that?) present with font size that's really small at default resolutions in Windows 10. A solution: Settings "Ease of Access" "Make text bigger" at 170%. Hit the Apply button and Access is now more readable with table and query names in the Navigation Pane larger. The "ribbon" is also larger. Unfortunately, Access error messages are impervious to anything and still have tiny font size. Argh. And the record number info at the bottom gets squeezed vertically to become unreadable. Doesn't Microsoft check this stuff?

Criticism of Access tends to default to it not being multi-user and online. Duh. Would you expect that of a spreadsheet program like Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel?

So why do I use Microsoft Access? Because it supports a relational database structure and query by example. Say what?

Query by example let's you create an ad hoc query based on multiple tables that connect to each other through common keys. A table contains data and is a bit like a spreadsheet in which rows are called records and columns are fields. It can also have a key field, which can contain a unique value, like Social Security number. More on this below.

I use Access for baseball research, which I then present in my blog:

radicalbaseball.blogspot.com

The database I use provides a good example. It contains tables:

People: about 20,000 major league players going back into the 1800s.

Batting: annual data for each player connected to the player via an alphanumeric key field. 110,000 records.

Pitching: same as batting except for pitching data.

Teams: more specific data about the teams.

Franchises: example, the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958 but all time franchise records apply going back into the 1800s. Another example: the original Washington Senators moved to Minneapolis in 1961 and renamed the team the Minnesota Twins. Similarly, the St. Louis Browns moved in 1954 and became the Baltimore Orioles.

Back to query by example. You open a blank query and drag in an "image" of tables with their fields. Let's say from my example the People and Batting tables. You drag your cursor from the PlayerID field in People to the same in Batting. Now you've got a one to many relationship. You cannot do this fundamental DBMS "join" in a spreadsheet. Now you do all sorts of wonderful things with all that data. You can also take small chunks of it and copy/paste it into a spreadsheet and do stuff that's more manageable there.

I do not know of any other end user program that does anything this powerful so easily. Microsoft Access generates SQL.

SQL (Structured Query Language) is a standardized programming language that's used to manage relational databases and perform various operations on the data in them. ... SQL became the de facto standard programming language for relational databases after they emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The user of Access can view and even edit the SQL that his query generates but that user has no need to do that.

I tell people that they should learn to use a spreadsheet, that it's the closest thing to programming for non techie people without learning to program. It can be used at work. But if not at work, it can be used in their own lives, sort of like learning to be an electrician, plumber, carpenter but not doing that as a profession. Such skills always come in handy. Same with knowing spreadsheets.

Access databases go beyond spreadsheets. They are not for everyone. But for single user work that exceeds the capability of a spreadsheet program, you cannot beat Access.

But I'd like to get away from my Windows 10 Microsoft Surface laptop and the stagnation that Microsoft has let impact Access. I'd like to stick with Google Docs on my Chromebook. So, we need Google to build its better version of Microsoft Access. Please.

Optimum support email: NOT.

Address not found

Your message wasn't delivered to OptimumSupport@optimum.net because the address couldn't be found, or is unable to receive mail.

Message blocked

Your message to OptimumSupport@optimum.com has been blocked. See technical details below for more information.

Nice, huh? About all you can do is guess as to what might be a working email. There's no online form, either. Only the incredibly artificial intelligence of the little Optimum online box that cannot understand anything.

Customers are stuck calling for support on the phone and being jerked around interminably by a call prompting system that doesn't seem to know when a support person might be available. Finally, there's the announcement that "all of our support people are busy". Yeah, all one of THEM.

Altice Optimum new 2021 box self installation: "BPE not provisioned". And pairing the remote control may be impossible.

Feedback to Altice Optimum on self installation of a box because the previous box crapped out:

I wasted a couple of hours talking to your support person who missed obvious clues. Apparently, the box needed to be provisioned. I told her repeatedly that the error message that flashed on the screen mentioned that "BPE not provisioned". Finally, I took a photo so that I could read the entire error message but still it never occurred to her. Later, I called back but this time I selected the other call prompting option for provisioning and I spoke to Mohammed, who fixed everything, although even that took another hour.

All because you failed to inform me about the need to get your box entered into your system as one that should be connected to my account. Ridiculous.

Altice One box: more problems. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2018

OKCupid scam: text message asking for driver's license and Social Security number.

Actual message, cleaned up a bit, including hiding the last four digits of her phone number:

Update after posting: her phone number is no longer in service, so there is no need to hide it: ‪(646) 564-8210.

She sent the photo, which was not one of those she had posted in her now deleted OKCupid profile.

Hi Joe. THIS IS aGNES
Message by ‪(646) 564-nnnn:

AGNES, Friday, February 26 2021, 9:05 PM

Hi, Agnes.
Fri 9:06 PM
May I call now?

Message by ‪(646) 564-nnnn:

I want to be sure you real. So many fake profiles on OKC.

I would like to see your ID before further communication between us 9:16 PM

Message by Joe: I have an ID? 9:17 PM

Message by ‪(646) 564-nnnn: Your driver's license and I will do the same 9:18 PM

Message by Joe: Video call? 9:18 PM

Message by ‪(646) 564-nnnn: I will do that after confirming you are real 9:18 PM

Message by Joe: We could have a conversation. It will convince you I'm not a Romanian guy in his underwear trying to pull a scam. 9:19 PM

Message by Joe: I'm getting the license. 9:20 PM

Photo of driver's license

Message by ‪(646) 564-nnnn: When was the picture taken?

Message by Joe: How the heck do I know?
Do a video call or forget it. 9:26 PM

Message by ‪(646) 564-nnnn: I'm sorry for asking too many questions. I was a victim of online scam

Message by ‪(646) 564-nnnn: I'm asking when the pic in the license taken because it is a bit different 9:27 PM

Message by Joe: DMV takes terrible photos. 9:28 PM

Message by ‪(646) 564-nnnn: What is your SSN? Mine is 050 134 9920 9:29 PM

Message by Joe: Forget it. 9:30 PM

Message by ‪(646) 564-nnnn: Hmmmm 9:31 PM

Message by Joe: You scammed me into sending my license. That's a first. 9:31 PM

Message by ‪(646) 564-nnnn: I'm not scamming you here. You do not understand the trauman I went through when A man I met online took over $240.000 dollars from me 9:32 PM

Note: Her money uses a period instead of a comma, suggesting European use. And she uses both $ and "dollars".

Message by Joe: Send your driver's license 9:32 PM

Message by ‪(646) 564-nnnn: He deceived me of marriage and loan the money from me for business, 9:32 PM

Message by ‪(646) 564-nnn: I will send to you but the driver's license with the pic of you don't look the same 9:33 PM

Message by ‪(646) 564-nnnn: If you can't let me confirm your SSN to be sure you real then I'm not for you 9:34 PM

Message by Joe: Your (OKCupid) profile disappeared. Just when I was about to report you. Enjoy the weather in Romania. 9:34 PM

Message by ‪(646) 564-nnnn: I keep my profile hidden because of too many fake profiles sending me messages 9:35 PM

Message by ‪(646) 564-nnnn‬: Do you still want to video chat or not?, Friday, February 26 2021, 10:00 PM
______________________________

Hey, Google, shove your woke TV commercial.

What the heck? I'm minding my own business watching the local broadcast of the Knicks NBA game and from out of nowhere comes this commercial with a steady stream of woke nonsense, ending with a little black girl shaking her fist at the camera. Fade out to the Google logo.

Hey, Page and Brin and the Indian guy running things in your absence, get some common sense. It's obvious that a big part of the intended audience is your clown employees, isolated and insulated in your corporate campus. Wake the heck up!

Altice Optimum TV channel lineup options are secret.

On the Optimum website all I could find was a PDF file of the hardcopy of the TV channels sent to customers, which is almost impossible to understand and is out of date and with no prices either on the document or elsewhere on the website for existing customers.

https://www.optimum.net/cdn/static.tvlistings.optimum.net/ool/static/prod/documents/channel-listings/channel-lineup-SouthernWestchester.pdf

Plus, even if you want to increase your TV service, you must call. You cannot do it online. Getting a live person on the phone takes time and may take multiple attempts.

What the heck? Apparently Altice Optimum does not want its customers to understand their TV options.  

Altice Optimum DVR playback error: VID-218: does NOT playback!

It happens from time to time. Instead of playing a recording Altice Optimum displays this error: VID-218. And shows an OK button to click. Obviously, it's not OK.

It impacts a few recordings but not all. I have two set top boxes, those mini Altice boxes. The secondary box seems more vulnerable.

Tonight neither box will play any recordings.

I searched on the error code VID-218 but could not find an answer. I rebooted both boxes. Then I logged into the Altice Optimum website and sought support. I wound up in one of those useless chat sessions, which ended this way:

VID-218
You - 7:51 PM
Let me get one of our live experts to help you. I'll just need to grab some quick info from you, then I can get you to an agent.
Can I have your name?
Allie - 7:51 PM
Ken
You - 7:51 PM
And your 10-digit phone number?
Allie - 7:51 PM
999-999-9999
You - 7:52 PM
I will transfer you over now to our Technical Department so we can get the team to help you. Thank you for your patience! One moment...
Allie - 7:52 PM

(After waiting five minutes I decided to provide information, hoping that the tech person would be able to read it and that would make the conversation shorter and more productive.) I typed:

VID-218
No DVR playback.
You - 7:58 PM
I can replay DVR recording on my Android phone but not on my TV using your Altice mini box.
Waiting 15 minutes. Call me: 999-999-9999. Bye.
You

_________________

What the heck?

Google blogger.com: new version sucks even worse.

Feedback just sent to Google about blogger:

The earlier version sucked. So far the new sucks much worse. I have almost 3,000 posts. How do I get back to the first? 

Formatting seems random. Font and font size are a mystery. Even if it looks OK while editing, the published result could be anything.

Do you test? Ever?

Google account storage: how much and why?

A recent email exchanges:

from: googleone-support@google.com
to: Ken
date: Mar 26, 2020, 4:01 AM
subject: Re: Your Google Support Inquiry: Case ID [2--1234567890123]
mailed-by: cases-outbound-prod.bounces.google.com
signed-by: google.com

Regarding your inquiry about how much storage you have on the account, currently  you have a total storage of 102 GB. All the files you have stored or saved on your Google account will stay on the cloud storage even if you didn't renew your subscription, however you may not be able to use other Google Services such as Gmail, Google Drive or Google Photos if your storage is more than 15 GB at the end of your promotional storage on October 31, 2020.

I hope this clarifies your concern.

Thanks,
Kerwin
The Google One team

_______________________

from: Ken
to: googleone-support@google.com
date: Mar 26, 2020, 8:15 AM
subject: Re: Your Google Support Inquiry: Case ID [2-1234567890123]

mailed-by: gmail.com

OK, so you implied that any Google account gets 15 GB and the extra is from the purchase of Google product. So, if I got 100 GB for a year by buying the Pixelbook Go, Google actually added another 85 GB to the 15 I'd already have with my free account.

Not being able to use "Gmail, Google Drive or Google Photos" is a euphemism for the account being suspended.

__________________________

from: googleone-support@google.com
to: Ken
date: Mar 27, 2020, 3:30 AM
subject: Re: Your Google Support Inquiry: Case ID [2-1234567890123]
mailed-by: cases-outbound-prod.bounces.google.com
signed-by: google.com

Hi Kenneth,

Thanks for the response.

Each Google account is entitled for a default storage of 15 GB. So, either you purchase or avail of a promotional storage of 100 GB, 85 GB will be added to the 15 GB storage to make it 100 GB.

Your account will only be suspended to use Google One services like Gmail, Google Photos and Google Drive if your storage usage is more than 15 GB and if you did not renew your membership. Once the promotional storage expires your account will go back to the default storage of 15 GB, so make sure to manage your storage if you don't want to renew the membership.

Thanks,
Kerwin
The Google One team
__________________________

Chromebook backlit keyboard.

Email to Bobby Payne, Chrome Unboxed website.

https://chromeunboxed.com/about/

Robby,

I've watched many of your reviews. I think overall that you do a great job but with one glaring exception. You evaluate keyboards almost totally on feel, which is overly impacted by the fact that you touch type.

Many of us must look at the keyboard to type, which makes seeing the keys clearly even more important.

I bought the Asus C434 flip because of good reviews, especially yours. You weren't nuts about trackpad but loved the keyboard, which is backlit. Unfortunately, the keys are the same silver as the rest of the unit and their lighting varies from acceptable to really bad. It's also not easy to adjust the backlighting.

I also have a Microsoft Surface laptop, which has keys with dark gray background and the light of the keys adjusts to the light in the room. It's keyboard is way better than the Asus Chromebook. I got a new Windows PC just to run one program: Microsoft Access, which is by far the best single user DBMS for any operating system. I use it for my Radical Baseball blog.

I'm accustomed to a Chromebook that is not backlit and works just fine that way.

I'm returning the Asus and will monitor new Chromebooks for a replacement for my Toshiba, which will lose automatic updating, as my primary PC. I've been a Chromebook convert for about ten years.

Kenneth Matinale

TurboTax 2018 problem: does NOT include estimated tax paid.

What could be more fundamental than determining whether retired people have already paid their income taxes in the form of estimated tax? And yet TurboTax is missing that for the 2018 tax year.

The new tax rules have resulted in a shorter 1040 tax form that has only 23 lines, none of which deal with estimated tax. Maybe that's where TurboTax dropped the ball.

The previous version of the 1040 tax form used for many years had 79 lines and included for 2017:

65 2017 estimated tax payments and amount applied from 2016 return

Even if your previous returns using TurboTax included estimated tax paid, TurboTax does not explicitly prompt you for that tax, even if you are listed as retired. That's two very obvious cues that TurboTax misses in its online system.

Despite numerous, tedious on screen cartoons that are supposed to simulate rechecking your return for ever more elusive "savings", TurboTax misses that essential item every damn time. It never prompts you for estimated tax paid.

Speaking to two TurboTax reps:

The first simply drones on about there being new tax rules, even after repeatedly being told it's not about deductions, etc. but about estimated tax paid. Finally that person sends you to an expert ... after a 20 minute wait on hold.

The expert is genuinely surprised but confirms. Then you are shown a convoluted way to find way your down in the TurboTax menus to a place to enter your estimated tax paid.

With many articles written about people being surprised that their taxes have increased after the changes in tax rules, you may think that a higher tax bill may be due to that. But it may also be due to gross incompetence by a company like TurboTax.

If you discover this problem after filing your taxes with the IRS through TurboTax, you will have to wait until March 7 for TurboTax to be able to handle tax form 1040X to amend your return because of the mistake by TurboTax. Be sure to list that as your reason for omitting your estimated tax paid. Then you have to print, sign and mail in 1040X to the IRS. TurboTax can't do that electronically.

Oh, for your 2018 tax return TurboTax will still generate those quarterly 1040-ES forms for paying your 2019 estimated tax even though TurboTax did not apply it to your taxes owed for 2018.

1&1 IONOS contradicts itself on it's website about "Private registration".

You can't make up stuff like this.

https://my.ionos.com/domain-privacy/matinale.net#open-flyin:https://www.ionos.com/help//?utm_term=164&utm_campaign=domain-privacy&utm_medium=help-and-learn&id=164&source=control_panel&utm_source=controlpanel&utm_content=article%2Bfly-in;point-to:domain-private-reg-inactive,top,true;

Private registration

If you do not want your domain contact data to be publicly available, you can protect them by activating the Private Registration.

https://www.ionos.com/help//?utm_term=164&utm_campaign=domain-privacy&utm_medium=help-and-learn&id=164&source=control_panel&utm_source=controlpanel&utm_content=article%2Bfly-in

Enabling Private Registration for a 1&1 IONOS Domain

A private registration helps you prevent unwanted promotional emails and calls. Your personal data is replaced by anonymous company data from 1&1 IONOS in the publicly accessible WHOISdatabase. Private registration is free for all new top-level domains as well as for the extensions .net, .name, .mobi, .org, .com, .biz, .info, .in, .me, .sc, .tv, .vc and .ws, but not, for example, for .de domains.

Use the following button to activate private registration. You will see the option right after selecting a domain.

Enable Private Registration

Information About the Publication of Domain Contact Details

Anyone registering a domain must include their personal details such as their name, address, email address and telephone number as domain contact details in the WHOIS database. The WHOIS database is publicly accessible and can be viewed by anyone. It is intended to provide a way for third parties to contact the domain owner, for instance, if they wish to purchase the domain from the current owner.

However, this data can also be misused for spam mails or unwanted advertising calls.

Preventing the Publication of Personal Details

1&1 IONOS gives you the option to prevent this data from being published. If you enable private registration, 1&1 IONOS does not automatically forward your customer details to the WHOIS database. Instead, we replace your details with our general company details. This service is available only for certain top-level domains.

If you activate private registration, we will forward all inquiries relating to your 1&1 IONOS domain to you, and you can decide for yourself if you wish to respond to these inquiries.

Please Note: 1&1 IONOS may revoke a domain's private registration if there is evidence that it is being used in violation of our Terms & Conditions. If this is the case, the domain owner's contact details will be reported to the WHOIS database.

---

Did this article help you?

No. 1&1 IONOS support people just mindlessly repeat that their company is European and is GDPR compliant. Hey, read your own documentation. Here is today's exchange of emails:

from:		hosting@ionos.com
to:		ken
date:		Jan 6, 2019, 7:46 AM
subject:		C123456789
mailed-by:		ionos.com
signed-by:		ionos.com

About your concern even if we change domain name status into public the name and the information on your domain name will be 1&1 Ionos due to GDPR rule.
____________________________

from:		Ken
to:		hosting@ionos.com
date:		Jan 6, 2019, 8:01 AM
subject:		Re: C123456789

Send me the link to the exact text of this specific GDPR rule and quote it.
___________________________

I'm still waiting.

I'll send the link to this post to hosting@ionos.com, etc.

1and1.com
Gunter Eberling, VP 1&1 IONOS