Posted on 08/06/2016 10:58:18 AM PDT by MarchonDC09122009
Top Story: Mobile provider is locking U.S. soldiers out of their phone service | Komando.com
http://www.komando.com/happening-now/368529/top-story-mobile-provider-is-locking-u-s-soldiers-out-of-their-phone-service?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=notd&utm_content=2016-08-05-article-title
August 5, 2016
Top Story: Mobile provider is locking U.S. soldiers out of their phone service By Mark Jones, Komando.com
Top Story: Mobile provider is locking U.S. soldiers out of their phone service
Life in the United States military can be tough. Your life can be put in danger at any moment, whether you are in a war zone, or simply patrolling a U.S. base. It's stressful for you, your family and everyone who cares about you.
Having access to reliable phone service is an essential necessity in a soldier's life. It could be the only way to stay connected to loved ones. That's why it's so disturbing to hear that some of our military personnel are being left without service.
An undisclosed number of our active troops and veterans are having to deal with no phone service. Defense Mobile, a service provider set up for the military, has disabled some of the troops' phone numbers. Their service being cut off is the result of the company's financial troubles.
Defense Mobile's CEO Anthony Montoya says the company is restructuring and he is trying to get it back on the right track. He said Defense Mobile lost coverage from some of its carriers due to financial problems. He would not say how many active members and veterans are affected by the issue.
Montoya says the company is processing refunds for phones that could not be activated through PayPal and it takes up to five days to collect. He said they are working with customers every day to find them new carriers in which to switch. The best way for affected customers to get a response is by submitting a request through the support page on the Defense Mobile website.
However, an Army reservist told the Military Times that the company is now ignoring complaints on its support website page. He said Defense Mobile had been a great provider, until the day they dropped service to all customers with little warning.
For now, Defense Mobile has stopped selling phone service until it makes it through its transition period. There is no timeline for when the company will be back in business.
More at original source.
Unclear what areas of cell service coverage are affected, domestic and foreign?
benefits
Mobile service provider drops troops and veterans
Karen Jowers, Military Times
10 days ago
Defense Mobile says it has had to dropped service to some customers, who complain that refunds have been too slow.
An unknown number of troops and veterans have been locked out of phone service as the result of the financial troubles of a mobile phone service company that caters to the military.
“We praised you as the best service ever, and then you swipe our service, our number and our money from under our noses,” wrote one customer on Facebook complaining about the company, Defense Mobile.
An Army reservist said the company had disabled phone numbers and refused to answer messages from its support website page, email or Facebook. “The service was great until with little warning (24 hours) the company completely dropped their service to ALL their customers (June 30/July 1),” the reservist wrote in an email to Military Times.
MILITARYTIMES
Free app lists veterans benefits, discounts
The company is in the process of restructuring, said its chief executive officer, Anthony Montoya, who recently took the helm. “The company wasn’t doing well. I’m trying to get it on the right track,” he said.
He declined to specify how many veterans and service members have been affected.
Montoya said the company lost coverage with some of its carriers.
I almost signed up with this company. Now I’m glad I didn’t. I hope they and their customers get through it ok.
Ping
Emailed my Congressman John Carter.
Only thing that perks a response from him is about military affairs.
It should be addressed early next week.
Thank you for your follow-up effort!
RE: “Emailed my Congressman John Carter.
Only thing that perks a response from him is about military affairs.
It should be addressed early next week.”
Yes, we would probably have lost the Battle of the Bulge without high quality cell phone service.
They’ve been in trouble for a while now. They stopped taking on new customers in May and warned customers at that time they would shut down in 30 days. http://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/mvno-defense-mobile-stops-accepting-new-customers-undergoing-business-transition
It looks like the GSM service was the first to go down. That should knock out most of their international services.
My theory would be that they cut prices to build market share, then tried to make up for the losses by increasing volume. At some point you run out of money, and the folks that actually own the bandwidth that you are re-selling are going to cut you off.
Saw another story that Verizon had also cut off their CMDA service along with ATT’s cut off of their GSM. At that time, that would have just left their customers on Sprint, it appears.
Ain't it the truth. Stationed overseas in the 60's, we would write a letter and wait 3 weeks for an answer.
Some people suggest there’s a number of battles we would have lost if our dedicated servicemen would have had better situation awareness. If they had known the magnitude of the threat coming toward them they might not have held the line. Anyone remember Cheech and Chong and the bit about the Japanese Admiral briefing the kamikaze pilots.
PAR, thank you for the additional details on this military cell service company’s risky business.
It could be that it was always planned to be a bust-out, but without more, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to mis-management. It appears that they originally marketed through an exclusive deal with Radio Shack at launch, and Radio Shack had to unload an inventory of 17,000 Defense Mobile phones they filed bankruptcy. At the time, RS lawyers said that the chain “ have not had success selling the handsets in a large volume”.
In any event, it doesn’t appear to be anti-military (I’m not sure ‘locking out’ is a fair characterization of what happened); more a problem of not paying their suppliers while collecting money for pre-paid phone plans.
In my opinion, “Komando” ‘s journalistic skills are lacking. 10 or 15 minutes with Google would have enabled them to produce a much better story.
Active Duty ping.
Thanks for the ping.
Especially with frostbite.
It wasn't that great in 1944. All they had were flip-phones back then and really crappy texting plans. No Angry Birds, no Pokemon Go. I don't know if I'd have had the courage to fight on...
Top Story: Mobile provider is locking U.S. soldiers out of their phone service | Komando.com Komando ^ | 08/05/2016 | Mark Jones
Wow, top story! And it's about someone who hates the troops! Tell me more, oh bloggy one!
Top Story: Mobile provider is locking U.S. soldiers out of their phone service | Komando.com
Yes, you said that.
http://www.komando.com/happening-now/368529/top-story-mobile-provider-is-locking-u-s-soldiers-out-of-their-phone-service?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=notd&utm_content=2016-08-05-article-title
Okay, details please.
Top Story: Mobile provider is locking U.S. soldiers out of their phone service By Mark Jones, Komando.com
Yes, I know.
Top Story: Mobile provider is locking U.S. soldiers out of their phone service
Grrrr! Get to the point!
Life in the United States military can be tough. Your life can be put in danger at any moment, whether you are in a war zone, or simply patrolling a U.S. base. It's stressful for you, your family and everyone who cares about you.
Huh?? Yes, duh. What is the story??
Having access to reliable phone service is an essential necessity in a soldier's life. It could be the only way to stay connected to loved ones. That's why it's so disturbing to hear that some of our military personnel are being left without service.
Oh, Good God, enough editorializing! Tell us what happened!
An undisclosed number of our active troops and veterans are having to deal with no phone service. Defense Mobile, a service provider set up for the military, has disabled some of the troops' phone numbers. Their service being cut off is the result of the company's financial troubles.
Um, okay, a company is going out of business. Man, that's never happened before. So no one is against the troops; they are failing financially. Troops will get new carriers and move on, I guess. So, a non-story with a retarded build-up. Glad I didn't give anybody a click outside of FR.
I still scratching my head over the part about how a soldier
needs to stay connected to his family.
I was in a combat zone (VietNam) for a year back in 1970
and I called home one time - from a USO.
Somehow I don’t think the lack of communication detracted
from my combat readiness. But you know ... that’s just me.
(Maybe I should blog about this?)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.