Saturday, July 10, 2010

Three and ZTE F102 Saga: We ... haven’t altered any functionality for Skype

UPDATE: I wrote this application as a workaround. Three it seems are changing Skype on other phones on the Three network.

This is part 3, part 2 and part 1

Edited to remove account specific info.
I followed their instructions and it downloaded the "minimise background" version and lo and behold it still doesn't work. I'll now going to follow their official complaints procedure and if that doesn't rectify it take this one to small claims for the cost of two phones.

Hi Benjamin

I’m sorry to hear you’re having problems while using Skype on your phone.

I understand your concerns about this matter because after updating the Skype application, the minimize option doesn’t work. I note that the application shuts when you minimize it. We as a network provider haven’t removed or altered any functionality for Skype. However this change may be a part of the Skype update.

To resolve this, please redownload the Skype application by using these steps:

• on your phone, go to Planet 3
• select Services
• select Social Networks
• select Social Networking Apps
• choose Select Skype and click on the download link.

Once this is done the Skype application from the Planet 3 will replace the existing Skype application on your phone. This should resolve the problem related to minimizing of the application.

If not, then please call us and we can book the phone for a software reflash to remove any settings related issue.

I’m sure this information has helped. If you still have any problem, just call us and we’ll take care of the rest. You can tell us what you thought about how we handled this by doing a quick survey – call us on 02030 941503. We’d love to hear from you, and we’ll use your feedback to help improve the way we do things.

If you have any more questions, please call on either 333 (free) from any 3 mobile phone or 0843 373 3333 (national rate) from any other phone and we’ll be happy to help.

Kind regards

Seher Ahmed
3 Customer Services

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did this fix your problem? I'm curious as I've the got the same problem.

Benjamin said...

No - Three it seems are doing this to other (cheap?) phones. As a workaround I wrote this application to help friends contact me by waking up Skype: http://silentdevelopment.blogspot.com/2010/07/free-kicker-10-released.html

Anonymous said...

Thanks Ben. I've downloaded and installed your fix. Most of my friends are overseas though and use the skype client on their computers so this fix won't help me that much but I've installed it nonetheless.

I've tried leaving skype application in the foreground and it drains the battery in about 12 - 15 hours.

There's got to be a way to fix it - I'm guessing the guys who built/packaged the skype app for ZTE phones would know how.