I have not gotten any feedback on my phone either when they had it (they may have found it but nobody has returned my email asking if they found it). I think they may have run out of track with this modem to be honest. I think they are scrambling to figure out a replacement because clearly this one has all kinds of problems. If the u.fl connector popping off so easily on my original modem is any indication then maybe this modem has run it’s course and was never a quality item to begin with.
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The question then becomes…can we just buy some other kind of modem?
In my particular case I strongly suspect a bad antenna, but a defective modem isn’t completely ruled out.
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This is not easy, constrained as it is by:
- must be M.2 with correct keying and correct pins used
- must physically fit (thickness needs to be checked carefully, other two dimensions should be right as long as you buy the correct format, 3042?)
- must have a driver for Linux on ARM
- must have an open source driver
- must not require firmware blobs (although you are clearly free to waive this requirement and even the previous if you are desperate)
- must be able to get it working yourself
- must support voice (because of the target market, a lot of modems around are data-only)
- counterproductive as far as mucking around with antennae.
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I’ll reach out to support directly to see if they can explain the communication gap to me, and if there are resources that they would need in order to provide informative responses.
I’d have to see the thread of what has already been discussed, but I do know that, in general, u.fl connectors can be very finicky and delicate; this is a quirk we’ll have to cope with for now, due to the form factor and removable nature of the cellular modem in the L5.
Perhaps securing the connector with a small piece of kapton tape could be a workaround if the connector is easily disconnected. A bad connector would have to be replaced, of course.
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In my case the u.fl connector on the modem had a cold solder joint and the grip of the cable on it was stronger than the solder joint, so it came off still connected to the cable, so while putting tape over it might be a good idea I don’t think it would have helped me in my situation.
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The prior thread is here:
It started with me wanting help reflashing the unit (because I couldn’t remember my password) then went to re-flashing the modem, then to me still struggling to get the doggone thing to make a call–which is where I gave up a year and a half ago. After comment 66 where I reported it could make a call but only if unrealistically close to a tower (I had to park outside the gate of the people whose property the tower is located on) it transformed into a discussion of someone else’s issues.
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I’ll try to loop back to your more recent comments, but a quick update from support:
Joao Azevedo replied to him on January 26th. I see no further replies from him.
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Several emails sent on January 29th.
Another sent January 31.
Yet another sent February 2,
Two more on February 5.
Another on February 8.
And again February 20.
Mails received FROM Joao since January 29: One on Feburary 5th, where he told me my modem was using the updated stuff, and he told me how to make a log file.
I’ve sent log files on Feb 8, both from where a call could be made, and where one could not be made, and never got a response after that. I pinged him again on February 20 thinking maybe I had just fallen through the cracks. And apparently he never got those emails.
This is EXACTLY the same point where communication broke down the last time, once I had my settings right and sent a log file, I never heard from him again.
Edit: did you see this @JCS ?
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I would get a response from Joao but he would tell me that he would check with the team but I have never gotten a response from anyone else on the team, or any response from log file submissions. I really think they are at a roadblock with this modem.
I think rather than not responding or stringing things along it’s time to just be honest about what’s going on with it. I’d rather hear that they have an issue with the modem that isn’t solvable at the moment and they are looking into a replacement instead of this black hole where nothing comes back out.
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Since we’re speculating rampantly … maybe they forwarded the logs to the company that makes the modem and Purism is “getting ghosted by support”. The bottom line is that the modem is a blackbox and Purism can’t fix bugs in the modem firmware. Purism is reliant on fixes being forthcoming from the modem manufacturer.
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Is it really “profit” when they deny all refunds and ghost customers that have been sold defective equipment?
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I understand that, trust me I support this company more than most, but when you send emails to support and get nothing back sometimes for weeks, that’s a problem and that’s what leads to speculation and posts like this. I’ve been in a demanding customer facing role my entire work life and this is just an expected courtesy to acknowledge concerns. What is the point of having a support@puri.sm email if you never answer emails? It makes me think that Joao is the only tech support person which might be true, but be forthcoming with your customers, especially ones that are going out of their way to support you during this product development.
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That may be true. But then Purism should say that’s the case. It’s the “radio silence” that is the issue here. Even if support can’t help, a customer should at least expect an e-mail explaining that when that support ticket is closed. Ghosting is not OK. It appears that they don’t even have a (working) ticketing system.
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I would hope that that is something that @JCS might look at. (I have not myself had cause to require Purism Support and I suspect that the same is true for you, in which case we don’t really know how well support works, let alone what improvements are feasible and when those improvements could be deployed.)
However as a customer I would be more interested in the outcome than in how glossy their ticket system is.
Bear in mind that this is the omnibus “support-complain” topic - so there is no single actual issue to resolve.
I understand that the “radio silence” cuts across all possible issues raised in this topic. That is, that’s what ties the disparate actual issues into this topic.
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Given what JCS relayed regarding the notes/records from support ( Getting ghosted by support - #67 by JCS ) vs. the reality of that same support interaction given here by the person who was on one end ( Getting ghosted by support - #68 by SteveC ) we absolutely can say that the support ticketing system does not appear to work. i.e. We don’t have to rely on our own non-existent experience to form our opinions.
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Sure you might not care about what tools are used until those tools or lack thereof impact the outcome. In this case the tools or lack thereof do impact the outcome.
And my experiences with support, while resolved, were resolved much slower than they would have been had they not been forgotten/missed multiple times.
If the outcomes included better communication than the tools or lack thereof wouldn’t come up as a potential issue. After all, I’d prefer to give the benefit of the doubt that the tools, or lack thereof, are the issue than it being an issue of the people themselves.
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A ticket system can shurely help you, but it is just a small part of the support puzzle.
When starting to use a ticket system, the complete process of support needs to be (re)organized as well.
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I have found multiple times that things were forgotten about and when sending ping emails to find out what’s going on, only then do I get some sort of response. A ticketing system is an absolute must in any technology based business, because no only does it benefit the customer in aiding in resolving issues in priority but it also helps the company discover trends in any particular issue and you can gather statistical information about these issues. It’s a very valuable tool that usually pays for itself over and over. I don’t know if they have such a thing, but I assume they are not just keeping track of RMA numbers on a spreadsheet somewhere, but maybe they are. Either way there has to be better feedback and visibility to the customers as to the progress of tickets.
I wouldn’t have posted this if I could at least see what was going on or lack thereof because of some external uncontrollable circumstance but just bouncing emails back and forth with no new information or “I’ll check with the devs”…isn’t really a satisfying answer. Give me a glimpse into what they are doing to try and solve the problem at least so I don’t think they are just stonewalling me, because that’s how it feels when you don’t get information back.
I understand this isn’t a Google or Apple phone, I’m not going to crucify the company because they haven’t solved my problem in a week, maybe they discovered a challenge that was unforeseen or some design issue that needs to be resolved or a third party isn’t cooperating…anything other than no information or silence.
I understand that I’m more of a partner with Purism with this product and I know this is a David vs Goliath scenario, but open the kimono and at least let us know what’s going on with this issue because it’s a big one. This isn’t a phone if the phone doesn’t work. If they tell me “listen this modem we picked turned out to be a dud in the long run, we need to pivot to a new one and that will take time.” Hey I’m good with that, I’ll just use it like a pocket computer until then, but let’s just start being honest with each other like partners should be.
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The support department does use a private GitLab repository for issue tracking, so it has labels, deadlines, ways to ping people for comment or implementation, etc. Of course, it is a private repo as it contains confidential information.
Email threads are conducted either independently or via an email alias, and I don’t have visibility (or desire to, tbh) into any of those activities as I don’t work in that department.
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My suggestion, based on various online entities that I deal with, is that there should be a ticketing system where the customer initiates the creation of the ticket, and the customer can participate along the way in that ticket, and only that one customer can view any aspect of that ticket (but of course some Purism staff would be able to view all aspects of the ticket). So it would be all web-based and random emails would have no role in it. (Email has proven to be a little troublesome e.g. emails getting blocked as spam or otherwise lost, plus other difficulties or limitations with email as it relates to support.)
However I really don’t think a better system is going to address the actual problems being raised here.
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