the importance of truly clean contacts

Reminds me of travelling "dentists" applying acid to people's teeth to whiten them. Not long after, the teeth rotted away.

Where? I don't see anything wrong. If you're wondering about the 18 month lifetime for commodity cell phones, please consider that it's an average. Some people keep their phones literally forever. I know one techy type that just loves his Qualcomm QCP-6035 phone because it uses Palm OS. On the other foot, I have a few regular customers, that regularly buy replacement phones from me (usually the same model). Mostly, they loose the phone, but quite often sit on them while open, break connectors, or possibly use it for a soup spoon. Smartphones are more expense, and tend to be treated slightly better.

If you have a problem with me refurbishing old phones, while Sprint refuses to do so, it might be because the typical cell phone outlet has minimal technical talent and can't fix anything without sending out to a 3rd part. They do that with warranty issues. The customer gets a refurbished phone, in trade for their "defective" phone. However, that applies only to fairly recent model phones, not to older phones.

Very unusual. On the 18 pin connectors, I see mostly dirt in the phone connector and breakage in the charger connector.

Note that all that applies to the older 18 pin connectors and similar mutations. The industry has gone to the micro-USB-B connector as the standard power supply connector. Unfortunately, the receptacle end in the phone is usually quite flimsy and easily broken. In addition, the connector on the end of the charger end is easily contaminated with dirt, but lacks any easy way to clean out the dirt. Immersion in some insolvent often helps, but not always. With the new, standardized, and allegedly improved micro-USB-B connector, I now see more intermittents and "cannot charge" problems than with the older connectors. The previous mini-USB-B connector was somewhat better.

There seem to be various mutations of DeOxit and Cramolin floating around. The one that worries me is the original, which contains oleic acid. That's great for removing oxides and corrosion, but not so good as it's mildly corrosive to copper. I use it on exposed contacts, but not inside cavities, where it can't be washed out.

Memory fault. I as somewhat off on the age.

No reason as long as it's working. However, if it fails for some reason, you might balance the cost or repair or replacement with another used antique, against the purchase of a new PDA/Smartphone with more features. Incidentally, I think I have a T3 in my pile somewhere.

Yep. That's why I fix them and resell them. I'm not getting rich on this, but I like doing it. Oh, if you're curious, it's now: computah, network, appliance, cell phone, sewing machine, power tool, TV, and 2-way radio repair. Indecision is the key to flexibility, or was that the other way around?

So I shove the phone down the throat of a bankrupt person?

Oops. I just hate it when I have to double check my spelling chequer.

How loose? ;-)

On Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:56:42 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell" put finger to keyboard and composed:

Thanks for that.

I just checked the instructions on my Brasso can.

All it states is that it is "for polishing Brass, Copper, Steel, etc".

I also have a can of silver polish whose instructions warn that it should not be used on silver or gold plated items.

- Franc Zabkar

On Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:11:22 -0700, Jeff Liebermann put finger to keyboard and composed:

Not at all. In fact I think it's admirable.

In fact I'm typing this on a 14-year-old Win98SE box. :-)

- Franc Zabkar

You can reduce the silver sulphide back to silver metal using a bit of aluminum foil and some sodium carbonate solution. Works great on badly tarnished silverware, and doesn't leave big copper splodges the way polish does. (Polish contains abrasive.)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

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Expecting them to bend over backwards is a 1950s and earlier approach. = Nor do i tolerate lame excuses. I do require civility and appropriate responses as limited by the employer (who often has a specific interest = in non-servicability of the [already obsolete when you bought it] product).

?-)

Brasso.

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I'll remember that one.

?-)

The poster is correct. I have a kit with a large aluminum plate. You put it and the silverware in a hot washing soda solution, and the tarnish goes away.

Yes, I was. I expected Sprint to at least have a spare charger to check the unit. I was also extremely displeased that Sprint couldn't be bothered to hold onto the interface adapter needed to download the contents of my phone. That's outrageous when they're trying to get you to buy a new one.

I combined it with another trip. I rarely go out for just one thing. I've combined as many as seven or eight trips into one.

I started courteously, then became "emphatic". I'm 65, and have reached the point where I say (when appropriate) "I don't care what your company likes or wants. All I care about is what I want." Businesses are not people, and are not deserving of respect, per se. I suspect companies often hire very courteous and "sweet" people to wait on customers, on the assumption that most customers won't get angry with them. Well, I ain't "most customers".

No, I'm cranky and demanding. I expect companies to value every customer's business, and to make every /reasonable/ effort to make the customer happy. The business exists to please the customers -- not just the stockholders. (It used to be true -- and might still be -- that Costco stock doesn't have the "high" value it should, because the company is perceived as being more-interested in customer satisfaction than simply making money.)

It's not the people so much as it is the company. The head office sets the policy.

I should report my recent outstanding experience with Hewlett-Packard. After successfully setting up a local network with my ProBook 4530s, the computer suddenly stopped connecting. Running ipconfig revealed that all the 802 hardware was disconnected.

When I called HP's 24/7 service line, I was connected with someone in India who, much to my surprise, proceeded to treat me courteously and intelligently (for which he received effusive thanks). Even more to my surprise, he admitted that HP was aware of this problem (!!!), and it might hardware failure.

After some unsuccessful troubleshooting, he suggested I return the unit. HP sent me a shipping box via FedEx, and I returned the computer yesterday via FedEX Overnight, all at no cost to me. In other words, I received "full" warranty service, even though HP specified only a limited warranty (IIRC). (The FTC defines a full warranty as not costing the purchaser anything.)

This is the kind of service I expect from HP. I hope HP fixes the computer properly, because it's one hell of a notebook at a giveaway price.

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I actually had a service manager at a local large auto parts and service store which is part of a chain here in the Northeast tell me that he didn't care about one customer's satisfaction, (mine). He had lots of customers, and didn't need any more. I was so pissed off I wrote a letter to the president of the company. I was reimbursed for a

service store which is part of a chain here in the Northeast tell me that he didn't care about one customer's satisfaction, (mine). He had lots of customers, and didn't need any more. I was so pissed off I wrote a letter to the president of the company. I was reimbursed for a

I intend to call Sprint, eventually.

By the way, the HP 4530s came back at 11:30 this morning, less than two days after I'd shipped it, with a note saying the radio was defective and had been replaced. (I'm not sure it was defective.) Anyhow, it was in the same condition I shipped it, and another hour on the phone with a courteous, intelligent (that's not sarcasm) HP guy did not resolve the problem. I'm now resetting the routing to factory settings, and reinstalling the system, to see what happens.

You might want to call Sprint fairly quickly:

-- # Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060 # 831-336-2558 #