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MMS: Still a piece of shit

A friend of mine sent me a picture message tonight.

My mistake was to be using my sim card in an iPhone at the time.

As a result I’ve got to go through all that bullshit of ‘visit this URL within 14 days’, and ‘type in your phone number and this stupidly annoyingly difficult to remember password to view the picture’.

Total, unmitigated piece-of-shit bollocks.

I don’t know what PLONKER designed the T-Mobile gateway service, but he or she needs a big slap with a very wet, slippery fish.

FIRST of all, why haven’t I got a click-through, direct to a mobile-web formatted page?

Why the HELL do I have to piss about … and I do mean PISS ABOUT… typing in phone numbers and passwords?

They already include a URL in the text message you get (“http://mms.t-mobile.co.uk”). Why couldn’t they add on my mobile number and the password/unique identifier in the message?

So you don’t forward it to your mate? Some ‘security’ rubbish? Absolute tosh.

WHY is the password they assign you total gibberish? Mine, for this message, is something like ‘kjhkashsw’. Something ‘secure’.

Bollocks. Why isn’t it ‘redcloud’ or ‘bluefence’ or something that any normal person can easily remember?

Anyway.

I calm myself. I click through on the iPhone’s browser to the T-Mobile website, trying painfully to remember the stupid password and…..

Pop up message.

No word of a lie:

“You are using another browser that is not Internet Explorer 6.0 or above. With the browser that you are using we cannot guarantee the full functionality of this website.”

Which, roughly translated means:

“We really, really could not be ARSED to program something sensible. And you can forget about us bothering to look up your device ID and formatting the page for you. This is a total bolt on that we really, really couldn’t be bothered sorting out or thinking about poperly. Thank you”

That’s a smart message.

The page loads. Takes ages. Then doesn’t work. So not only can’t they ‘guarantee fully functionality’, they’ve delivered me zero.

I trust that this system reformats for T-Mobile’s standard range of handsets? I sincerely hope so.

T-Mobile.

Deep breath.

Deep breath.

Ok. I’m fine. We move on.

11 COMMENTS

  1. I have the same shite with AT&T. It's totally bollocks. And arse. I'm trying out my best phoney British accent as I type this.

    I don't even check anymore when I get those ominous SMS's: “I have sent you a multimedia message. It can be viewed at viewmymessage.com, password “BOLLOCKSARSE”

    I just reply back, “why don't you upload the picture, print it, put it in an envelope, buy a stamp, and mail it, seems easier”.

  2. Their thinking is – if you don't have a phone that supports MMS, you probably don't have a browser on your device either.

    Other than that, you're right, utter bobbins.

  3. Ewan, I emailed you about this last year… 😛

    You also get that message if you're out of signal, as I discovered when I was using a SE W850i

  4. MMS: Still a piece of shit. Well, don’t blame the actual MMS, the problem is (as you mention) that iPhone doesn’t support MMS and apperently that T-mobile has a crappy solution for showing MMS on the web.

    So I guess the headline of this post should be MMS: Come on Apple its 2008 or maybe something about T-mobile 🙂

  5. In fact, MMS work quite well! Cross-device compatible and everything. IF… you have a decent, state-of-the art phone that actually does MMS, that is. (Sorry, couldn't resist 😉

  6. I've been on T-Mobile for years, and received a few MMSes… and I've never had this experience.

    No doubt the real WTF is the iPhone.

  7. Yeah, I'm sorry but you're really on a highway to nowhere with this useless rant. Unfortunatley the real WTF is very much the iCan'tBelieveIt'sNotAPhone.

    Stop considering it a phone, it's simply a iTouch with a reasonably fast wireless modem attached.

  8. Yeah, I'm sorry but you're really on a highway to nowhere with this useless rant. Unfortunatley the real WTF is very much the iCan'tBelieveIt'sNotAPhone.

    Stop considering it a phone, it's simply a iTouch with a reasonably fast wireless modem attached.

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