Last Friday, November 2, 2007, we went back to Smart Wireless Center in Festival Mall Alabang to report the problem “again” about the error in the mobile device (N92) regarding their myTV service. It happened before (October 28) and the customer representative at that time provided solutions in which he did by re-setting/re-format the mobile device. We don’t have any ideas as to what was the cause of the device error. The rep. didn’t provide any extra details about the possibilities on how did the error occurred on the first place.

The error was all about the “program guide” under N92’s mobile TV application. These program guides are being loaded whenever the application was started for the first time or if there’s a need to after the phone was out of the broadcast range for some time.

“Mobile TV uses a large amount of device memory to store the program guide. The device attempts to update the program guide periodically even if Mobile TV is not on”. excerpted from Nokia N92 User’s Guide page 12

MTV Philippines is the only one viewable channel on myTV without activating the subscription. Among the package are these 9 premium cable channels which requires activation by subscribing on to myTV. Smart myTV is a per month subscription which costs a flat rate of P488/month.

The problem we encountered with our N92 was that the premium channels are no longer viewable anymore. We can still watch MTV but the rest pops-out a message< span style="font-weight: bold;">“End of Preview” every time we select these premium channels. You need to select “Preview” from the phone’s “Options” menu in which the device retrieves the activation rights through 3G or GPRS connection… but to no avail. “Can’t connect SmartBundle1 to server. Program guides are not up-to-date” is the only message returned every time. Under Mobile TV settings, the subscriptions indicate that the phone is still subscribed to SmartBundle1. I don’t get it. What is causing the error? When the phone experienced the problem the 2nd time around, I thought the device itself was the culprit. The next thing that went in to my mind was to replace the unit. We acquired the handset from them (Smart Wireless) through a plan. It’s possible since it was still weeks old and we have the official receipt on hand. We only found the answer when we went back to the wireless center.

Since I am the techie guy in the family, my mom let me do the talking and explained the details about the unit’s problem. The help desk lady there said that…

“We need to re-set the unit sir.”

That was quick. I never expected a straightforward answer. Before I ask her again, my mind tells me that the lady knows about this already or she encountered the same problem as ours from previous customers. I then asked her as to what is causing the error. Is it the phone? She replied then.

“Sir myTV service is experiencing technical/system problems at the moment. There’s no notice yet on when the issue will be resolved. The only solution at this time is to re-set/re-format your device to bring back it’s default software and hardware configurations. You must backup your contacts to your memory card as this will wipe them off.”

I said…

“So you mean we have to go here (Smart Wireless) and let the helpdesk re-format our device whenever the problem occurs again?”

That’s a hassle.

“That’s the only option sir.”

I asked her to teach me instead on how to perform the soft reset and the hard reset. So that the next time the error occurred again, I will be the one who will reformat the device. No hassle on going to them again. The procedures only requires you to enter some code on the phone to do the re-setting. The lady gladly noted the steps on a piece of paper. Within 3 minutes, she already finished the re-setting and we were able to watch the premium channels again.

Aside from N92, N77 and P were also affected by the problem. Since the program guides are updated periodically by the phone itself, there’s nothing at the moment that can prevent the error from happening. How’s that for a newly launched first of its kind service in the country? Will this be the same with the Smart Wifi issue in which it was re-branded to Smart Bro because of numerous complaints? Will Smart re-brand myTV if ever the early implementations of this service don’t click? Not to mention the protest the service is facing from PCTA. As of this writing, the Smart myTV service subscription is still FREE (contrary to their “until August 31 free-view period”) until further notice. That means I have to enjoy free live cable channels on the phone… up to sawa!

Subscriber’s who own Mobile TV capable handset’s (specifically N92 and N77) may inquire about the methods on how to re-set the device. Just email me (located on my Contacts). I’ll provide you the methods for soft reset and the code for hard reset. This procedure may only work on N-series devices.

UPDATE 11/24/07:Smart already has details about the soft reset procedure. However in my case, it is not enough. One should do both, the soft and hard reset to fully reset the phone.

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