Personal technology woes

I had personal experience last night of how poorly some major technology companies use the Web. I have a new mobile phone, a nifty Ericsson that will (when that day arrives) allow me to use GPRS networks. But last night it wouldn’t connect to a network. Instead, it gave me the message: “No access”.

The user’s guide does not explain this message. Nor does the Ericsson site. The site does offer a so-called Solution Finder. Its clever, Flash-based design doesn’t work.

I wondered, however, whether my problem was a network one, rather than a fault with the phone. So I went to the Vodafone site, to see if there were network problems. There is a well-signposted link for What’s New. Nothing about network problems.

Imagine my surprise this morning when the radio news informed me that Vodafone had resolved a computer fault that downed its network. It’s staggering to me that they didn’t think this was newsworthy on their site.

Addendum: A plus point for Sony Ericsson Mobile. I’ve just received an email in answer to my emailed complaint last night. It provides a detailed answer to the “no access” message with a clearly written solution. There is intelligence out there after all (even if they haven’t a clue about the Web).