Has T-Mobile Customer Service Taken A Turn For The Worse?

After T-Mobile’s loss of the JD Power Customer Care award and a continuously growing stream of emails regarding unusually long wait times we begin to wonder just what exactly is going on with T-Mobile’s award winning customer service department. Well someone’s ears were ringing as two sources answered our question with a confidential look at what could be to blame. We’ve received two pieces of information that give us at least some form of an answer as to why T-Mobile’s customer service seems to have dropped from the top spot.

The first is related to the above image as T-Mobile has removed the ability to bypass the automated calling systempass Go and collect $200 instead requiring the customer to input a phone number to properly route the person to the correct place. T-Mobile says it’s taking this step in order to properly route customers and better answer of questions. I say its just another step in ensuring longer wait times by placing customers into a longer queue.

The second is a little more detailed and something we have to be a little more selective on our word choices as we were asked only to post certain things. The short version of the story is that in the past 12 months T-Mobile call centers have seen, in some cases a drastic reduction in staffing, outsourcing and as of late a drop in morale as almost every center believes they are closing when the AT&T deal finalizes. While call volume remains steady, reductions in staffing have lead to very high hold times and a whole lot of customer unhappiness. Our inbox speaks to that. Some call centers have seen reductions in staffing by the hundreds since early this year with some centers looking to further cut staffing as 2011 continues. In fact, some employees responsible for training new employees in the United States call centers are now being sent overseas to handle increases in staffing abroad.

So is T-Mobile looking to downsize ahead of the merger or are they looking to cut costs with outsourced service centers? Either way there is a clear indication that something is going on and there is something behind the recent spat of disappointed loyal T-Mobile customer complaints about lengthy hold times. We’ve begun to really hear a large number of complaints from our readers about call wait times including one reader, Anthony who has tried over the last 5 days just to get someone on the phone and has waited at least 45 minutes each time being unable to do so. Anthony has called from his T-Mobile phone and a desk phone without including his own number.

We’ve been unable to confirm all of the specifics contained within our ninja info but we have no reason to suspect it is incorrect based on the information we are hearing from everyday T-Mobile subscribers who are finding more and more calls being handled by overseas agents. For the moment we are growing increasingly concerned about the direction T-Mobile is headed as we begin the countdown to the AT&T takeover decision. Slowly but surely it looks like the T-Mobile we know and love is becoming the AT&T Death Star, even if the deal doesn’t go through we wonder what a post AT&T takeover talk T-Mobile would look like.

Via: http://www.tmonews.com/2011/07/has-t-mobile-customer-service-taken-a-turn-for-the-worse/

Cellphones don't increase cancer risk in kids, study says

Using cellphones doesn't increase children's cancer risk, according to a new study, the latest in a series of papers that find no link between the phones and brain tumors.

Scientists say the study is important, because it is the first of its kind to focus on children.

The study's authors compared the cellphone habits of nearly 1,000 children

in Western Europe, including 352 with brain tumors and 646 without. Kids who used cellphones were no more likely to develop a brain tumor than others, according to the study of children ages 7 to 19, published online Wednesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Scientists have been eagerly awaiting these results, says Martha Linet, a doctor with the National Cancer Institute who wasn't involved in the study. "It's very reassuring," Linet says.

Researchers, led by Denis Aydin of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, looked at their data in several ways, searching for possible trends with long-term use. They found no increase in brain tumors among children who had used cellphones for five years or more, according to the study, funded by European health agencies.

Some scientists and consumers have been concerned about cellphones' health effects, especially on developing children, because cellphones emit energy close to the brain.

In the study, Aydin and colleagues note that radio frequency electromagnetic fields created by cellphones penetrate deeper into children's brains than adults' brains, mainly because kids' skulls are smaller, the study says. Recent studies have suggested that small children's brains absorb about twice as much mobile phone energy as adults' brains.

But authors also point out that this energy — unlike the radiation given off by X-rays or CT scans — isn't strong enough to damage DNA, cause mutations and lead to cancer. And while many people are concerned about cellphones, no one has ever come up with a way to explain how the devices might cause cancer, Linet says.

If cellphones caused brain tumors, researchers might expect to find those tumors on the side of the head where kids hold their phones. In the new study, however, children had the lowest risk of tumors in the part of the brain exposed to the most cellphone energy, write scientists John Boice and Robert Tarone in an accompanying editorial. They note that there has been no increase in brain tumors — among kids or adults — since cellphones came into widespread use in the 1990s. In their editorial, they note that there were 285 million cellphone subscribers in 2009 in the USA alone. If cellphones really did cause brain tumors, doctors would likely have noticed this by now, they write.

But the study also produced some mixed signals.

In a subset of children, researchers found a higher risk of brain tumors in children whose cellphone subscriptions had begun more than 2.8 years ago.

Overall, however, parents should find these results reassuring, says pediatrician Rachel Vreeman, of the Indiana University School of Medicine, who summarizes recent cellphone research in her book, Don't Cross Your Eyes… They'll Get Stuck That Way!: And 75 Other Health Myths Debunked. "This is a good piece of evidence that parents don't need to be panicked about cellphones and cancer," Vreeman says.

Concerns about cellphones were renewed last month, when a branch of the World Health Organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, reversed its previous position. In the past, the agency had said there was "no conclusive evidence" linking cellphones to brain tumors. Now, the agency classifies cellphones as "possibly carcinogenic" based on "limited evidence," acknowledging that the few links between cellphones and cancer could be due to chance.

The "possibly carcinogenic" category includes a number of staples of everyday life, however, such as coffee, pickles and styrofoam, Vreeman says.

"Scientific evidence has overwhelmingly indicated that wireless devices do not pose a public health risk for adults or children," said John Walls of CTIA-The Wireless Association, in a statement.

Consumers who remain concerned can take a number of steps to reduce their exposure to cellphone energy, such as using a hands-free device or a speakerphone, the American Cancer Society says.

Via: http://yourlife.usatoday.com/parenting-family/story/2011/07/Cell-phones-dont-increase-cancer-risk-in-kids-study-says/49684308/1

IT Leaders Fight New HIPAA Rule

CHIME and MGMA take exception to a proposed requirement to produce access reports within 30 days after a patient's request.

Organizations representing hospital CIOs and managers of group physician practices have serious reservations with a proposed HIPAA regulation that would give patients the right to see a report of who has viewed their medical records and other health data.

Both the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives(CHIME) and the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) said the "accounting for disclosures" rule asks too much of healthcare providers already grappling with implementing electronic health records and preparing to convert to with ANSI X-12 5010 transactions and ICD-10 coding.

"CHIME believes the administrative burdens and related costs needed to compile, transmit, and then explain the proposed … access reports would divert the same resources needed to accomplish other important initiatives, including EHR Meaningful Use, and ICD-10 and HIPAA 5010 implementation, while providing very little value to patients," according to comments the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based organization submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services(HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

OCR on May 31 published a proposal that would modify the HIPAA privacy rule to require "covered entities" to produce disclosure reports within 30 days of a patient's request, down from the current 60 days. OCR, which enforces the HIPAA privacy and security regulations, is taking comments on the proposed change through Aug. 1.

CHIME also called the proposed 30-day period "totally insufficient" to produce an access report. "Generating an accounting of disclosures is today largely a manual process for most covered entities and we believe it will remain so for some time to come," according to the organization's comments.

"The proposed 30-day time frame is simply too short, especially since information would need to be gathered from a variety of sources, including business associates (whose agreements will need to be revised), and may require legacy system access for organizations that are transitioning to EHR systems or a niche vendor handling the disclosure system tracking," CHIME continued.

In expressing its displeasure with the OCR proposal, the MGMA went a step further, citing numbers from amembership survey. The poll found that 90% of respondents thought it would be "very" or "extremely" burdensome for their practices to produce a report according to the proposed rule's specifications. And nearly two-thirds said that they had received less than one patient request per full-time-equivalent physician in the last 12 months for such an accounting.

"Considering how infrequently physician practices receive these requests from patients, the proposed rule fails to meet the statutory requirement to balance the needs of patients with the burden on providers," MGMA President and CEO Dr. William F. Jessee said in a statement. "These reports, which would be required to show all electronic access to a patient's health information for up to three years, could be hundreds or even thousands of pages long, making them extremely challenging for physician practices to produce and of little practical value to the patient receiving them."

CHIME further noted that the "designated record set" healthcare organizations would have to account for is not well defined, and does not mesh with regulations for the "Meaningful Use" EHR incentive program. "One of the goals behind Meaningful Use is to eliminate inconsistency and variability long since built into healthcare information technology systems," the CHIME statement said. "But many technologies beyond the scope of EHR incentive payments remain splintered and variable--the same as before Meaningful Use."

CHIME said the designated record sets "remain too broadly defined and too variable in today's health IT environment. Moreover, the ability to aggregate hundreds or even thousands of access events in any automated fashion is not realistic for most covered entities--never mind across covered entities and their numerous business associates."

The CIO group suggested that the burden should be shifted to the patient to limit the size of access reports. "Instead of requiring access reports that include names, CHIME believes that a safer alternative would be to require patients to provide a covered entity with specific names for the covered entity to determine whether those individuals have or have not accessed the patient's information. The covered entity would then report back to the patient and also be in a position to take disciplinary action, if warranted," CHIME said, noting that many providers already have this process in place.

Via: http://informationweek.com/news/healthcare/policy/231002772

T-Mobile G2 Gets Gingerbread Update

Greeeeeeat news T-Mobile G2 owners as today is a magical day for you. That’s right I’m talking about a Gingerbread OTA update that begins today and will rollout over the next few weeks to all G2 owners. This has been a great week for T-Mobile Android owners who are finally seeing a long promised Gingerbread update arrive. Let’s just get right to the meat of this and tell you what’s in store:

• Android 2.3.3
• Google Books added
• Notification color scheme is now black
• New battery indicator, phone and web icons
• Color-coded network icon and signal indicator
• Pressing the power key on a call disables the proximity sensor
• Wi-Fi improvements
• New SMS and email notification improvements
• Improvements to sending MMS from the Gallery

If you aren’t willing to wait for the OTA to come to you, you can try and go to it by using the following steps:

1. Press the MENU key
2. Tap SETTINGS
3. Tap ABOUT PHONE
4. Tap SYSTEM UPDATES

Note this line from the support document which I’m emphasizing in bold capital letters so people are sure to read it:

IMPORTANT: DO NOT CALL T-MOBILE TO RECEIVE THE UPDATE BEFORE SEPTEMBER 1. THE TIMELINE FOR RECEIVING THE OTA CANNOT BE EXPEDITED. T-MOBILE CANNOT MANUALLY PUSH THE SOFTWARE TO CUSTOMERS WHO ASK TO RECEIVE IT.

Hope you all got that last part!

T-Mobile

Viber's free, no-registration 3G VoIP app officially launches on Android

Hey there, friends. Do you have the voice-calling blues, wishing for a better way to talk to your friends -- without using your minutes? Consider Viber, a free VoIP app that launched for the iPhone last year. Usable over 3G or WiFi, with built-in SMS, it requires no registration, using your existing phone number and contact list. Our only quibble? A disheartening lack of Android support. But our spirits are lifted today, with the app making its way to the everyone's favorite olive-green market. It has all the compelling features of the iOS version, plus a few extras we saw in the limited beta, like pop-up text message notification, in-app call logs, and the option to use Viber as your default dialer. The company must be doing something right, as it claims 12 million active users just seven months after launch. Interested in being one of them? Check the full PR -- with video! -- after the break.

Five Myths About The T-Mobile/AT&T Takeover Courtesy Consumer Advocate Free Press

While the government remains caught between two very separate sides of the AT&T takeover of T-Mobile, consumer advocate group Free Press is continuing its approach of debunking AT&T’s argument that the takeover is necessary. In fact they’ve compiled a list of 5 myths tackling a number of AT&T’s core arguments that attempt to show that AT&T would be able or is already able to achieve the stated goals it has said it needs T-Mobile’s spectrum to accomplish. Let’s just dive right in with a big thank you to Josh Levy from Free Press for compiling these myths and sending it our way:

Neal Freedman D.D.S sits down with MedCom

Neal Freedman D.D.S talks about how far answering service technology has come and how much MedCom has meant to him over the years.

Verizon FiOS Launches on Google TV Ads Platform

This past November we announced that we had struck a partnership agreement with Verizon FiOS, one of the fastest growing television providers in the nation. Today we are pleased to announce that we have completed integration of FiOS’ 4M households into Google TV Ads, opening up inventory across over 50 networks, including AMC, ESPN, Discovery, Fox News, MTV, and other popular channels. With the addition of this new inventory to our system, Google TV Ads has now extended its reach to more than 25% of all US television households.

To ensure a smooth transition, current advertisers’ campaigns will automatically extend to this new inventory when eligible, achieving maximum reach for their message.

For more information or to learn more about advertising with Google TV Ads, visit www.google.com/tvads.

Posted by Sanjeev Das, Software Engineer, Google TV Ads

Allgood Appraisal Group

Rich Allgood of Allgood Appraisal Group visited MedCom at our office to say thanks for all the great service we have provide him and his company.

"I have been a customer of MedCom's since 1994. They have always given me excellent service."

"The best part is their professionalism. It makes me look more professional."

Blackwell Memorial Home discusses their long relationship with MedCom

Betty Davis from Blackwell Memorial Home, a 10 year customer of MedCom, sits down to talk about some of her wonderful experiences with MedCom. Check out the video below.

"My clients they were very happy with the answering service and the quickness of their reply and getting in touch with me."

"I think they are very friendly and very willing to do anything I ask them to do, sometimes over and above what their requirements are."

Their professional services have been a great help to me."

Harris Comfort speaks to the Quality of MedCom's Service

Check out the video of Harris Comfort speaking to how MedCom has helped their business grow by providing excellent service over many years.

"We've been in business for over 50 years using at least other answering services before MedCom. They're the ones that have been the best of them."

"The experience has been very good, and I can't even remember a customer complaint."

Unlimited Verizon Data Plans Ending

What a better way to open a new era of limited, tiered data plans than to bring it on back to the QWERTY slider that had a huge part in starting the Android revolution? That phone was the original Droid and now its grandchild, the Droid 3, is out of the nursery and up for order on Verizon's page. Full-price is $459.99, but on-contract it'll set you back a quite reasonable $199.99. For that you get a 1GHz, dual-core processor, 16GB of storage, 4-inch HD display, and an eight megapixel camera around the back. To get it you'll need one of Verizon's new data plans, which start at $10 monthly for 75MB and go on up to $80 for 10GB. Oh, sweet unlimited data, we're missing your soft embrace already.

Update: We've added the official PR after the break. Looks like this one won't be making an appearance istores until July 14th or so.

Verizon speaks up, confirms usage-based data plans are coming July 7th

Verizon speaks up, confirms usage-based data plans are coming July 7th

By Brad Molen posted Jul 5th 2011 2:00PM

The leaks about Verizon's usage-based plans have become so abundant that it's been nearly impossible to shake off with any amount of skepticism, but one key ingredient's been missing from the saga: official word from the carrier itself regarding the exact date and specific pricing. A mere two days before DataGate's rumored debut, Verizon's finally cleared its throat to make a statement confirming the inevitable. The unlimited smartphone data plan will predictably make a sad and sudden departure from the company's brochures -- lingering only for those grandfathered into it -- and a tiered structure will enter in its place.

There were no surprises on pricing: for smartphone data, plans start at $30 for 2GB, $50 for 5GB, and $80 for 10GB. New customers can add mobile hotspot service for an extra $20, and Big Red will throw in a couple additional gigabytes as well. Customers currently using the unlimited LTE mobile hotspot will be given the option to retain that service for another $30. We've yet to receive confirmation from our spokesperson, but will keep you updated as soon as we get word. Knowing is half the battle, though, so take action -- interested parties only have two days left.

Cellphones are dangerous / not dangerous: cancer experts say 'What, me worry?'

If you haven't already gotten whiplash from the ongoingcellphone-cancer debate, a freshly released scientific review might just do the trick. In the paper, published Friday, a panel of experts from Britain, Sweden and the US conducted a thorough survey of previous studies, before concluding that existing literature is "increasingly against" the theory that cellphone use causes brain tumors in adults. The researchers also questioned the biological mechanisms underpinning this hypothesis, while acknowledging some lingering uncertainties, since data on childhood tumors and longer-term research are still lacking.

The results come just a few weeks after the World Health Organization released its own literature review, in which it claimed that cell phones should be considered "potentially carcinogenic." ButAnthony Swerdlow, a professor at Britain's Institute of Cancer Research and leader of the most recent investigation, said his group's work doesn't necessarily contradict the WHO, since the latter was simply seeking to evaluate cancer risks according to its own "pre-set classification system" -- under which things like pickled vegetables and coffee are also considered "potentially carcinogenic." Unfortunately, this doesn't mean that the debate will die down anytime soon, though Swerdlow expects more definitive conclusions within the next few years -- assuming, of course, that all of our brains haven't turned to oatmeal by then.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/04/cellphones-are-dangerous-not-dangerous-cancer-experts-say-wh/

Where to Get the Best Fireworks in America

Jesus Diaz — If you're really into fireworks, maybe you should move you butt to anysquare state. But whatever you do, don't move to New York, New Jersey, Delaware or Massachusetts. They have a total ban. The awesomerest state is South Carolina.

There they have prohibited any small rockets less than 3 inches long and half an inch thick. That's right: They have a ban on ridiculously sized fireworks.

The nation's capital is, ironically, the lamest when it comes to celebrate the 4th of July. It doesn't have a total ban, but look at their description: Prohibited products include, but are not limited to, "firecrackers of any kind of description. Any fireworks that explode [...] or intended to move after the piece is placed and fires."

http://gizmodo.com/5817575/where-to-get-the-best-fireworks-in-america

Register to Win Free Phillies Tickets

MedCom has developed a new email contact system to reach our customers. With this new contact system, MedCom will provide clients with up to date information on the latest products and services available. These emails will alert prospective and current clients to current industry news, cost saving ideas, account management amongst many other topics.

All registered emails will be entered into a drawing for 2 Free Phillies tickets at Citizens Bank Park! Click here to register. The game will be held on August 13th 7:05pm vs the Washington Nationals (game time and date subject to change).

The winner of the drawing will be contacted via their registered email address. The drawing will take place on July 29th, 2011. Only valid email addresses currently registered are eligible to win.

Gmail’s Getting a Whole New Look To Match Google+

Kelly Hodgkins — Google is on a roll this week. It took the tech world by storm withGoogle+, freshened up the user interface of Google Calendar and just unleashed a new design for Gmail.

Jump into Gmail, hop to your settings and check out the two new themes (Preview and Preview Dense) you can try on for size. Not surprisingly, they make Gmail look a lot like Google+.

This new look is just a preview of what is to come. Google is working on a whole new interface that you can customize for your screen size and personal taste. [Google via The Next Web]

The Android Apps Everyone Should Have June 2011

Casey Chan — It's that time of the month again, which is to say it's time to clean up our list of the absolute best Android apps. What new apps will show up? Which apps get cut?

Note: These are the apps that have been added or removed to ">our massive list of best Android apps during the month of June.

Added:

Google+: It's Google's big soiree into social "sharing". The app has it all: a stream that shows what your friends are talking about (like Facebook), Huddle which is an easy to set up group chats (like GroupMe) and will even automatically upload the pictures you take on your phone to the cloud (like iCloud). Once you get a Google+ invite, one of those features will pull you in.

Lightbox: Lightbox is a stylish camera app that's good enough to replace the stock camera app. Though it doesn't have basic features like zoom or autofocus, it does give you the ability to add 10 trendy filters after your shot. Your artsy photos can be shared via Twitter and Facebook and is automagically beamed down to your Honeycomb tablets and Lightbox's web interface. Like Instagram and iCloud but for Android. Free

Cut the Rope: An iOS game mainstay, it's finally available on Android. And it's Free at GetJar! The premise of the game, if you've been living under a rock, is to feed Om Nom his candy by cutting ropes in strategic fashion and also gathering as many stars as you can. Trust me, it's not as boring as it sounds. You'll be addicted in no time. Free.

Connection Checker: A simple but incredibly useful app that disconnects you from terrible Wi-Fi and 3G signals. Basically, if you have a crappy Wi-Fi connection it'll flip you over to 3G and turn off Wi-Fi. If you have a bad 3G connection, it'll put you on Airplane Mode until it gets better.

Prox: A genuinely clever app, Prox can control your Android phone without ever touching the touchscreen. The way it works is that the accelerometer determines how you hold the phone (left, right, toward, away) and can associate an action for the grip. You trigger that action by waving your hand over the proximity sensor. So you can load apps, change ringer mode, open notifications, turn off the screen, etc with a simple wave of the hand. It could prove useful in cold weather situations or if you want to pretend you have wizard powers.

BBC News: It's the inimitable news network, available on your phone. Which is great because you can still catch up on the latest breaking news, personalize the homescreen to your interests, share a story via email, SMS or social networks has been included also, and watch the news too. Free.

Crackle: Sony has released Crackle, an app that streams full-feature movies and popular TV shows to Android for free. For free. For free! We're talking popular TV shows like Seinfeld or big times movies like The Da Vinci Code and all completely free! The app is the same ad-supported streaming service as the Crackle.com website (and iOS apps) and has a decent catalog from Columbia Pictures, Tri-Star, Screen Gems, Sony Pictures Classics and other studios. It's obviously not as comprehensive as Netflix or Hulu but you're not paying a damn thing.

Removed:

Nothing!

Visit our updated list of the Best Android Apps right here