It's frequent that I am using the internet or some kind of thing, and that I become irritated at the website, software, or thing that I am using. Just ask Amanda, she will tell you, "When Scott is using some thing, or the internet, he often becomes irritated at it!"

She would not be lying. She would, however, be smoking while she said it.

So it was that one day I was attempting to find out if the latest CDMA Blackberry (for Verizon) supported EVDO Rev.0 or EVDO Rev.A. This is already boring, so I won't bore you with too much detail. Suffice to say that Rev.A is better (faster) than Rev.0, even though it is not widely used yet.

Unfortunately, no website (not Verizon's, not RIM's) could explain what EVDO Rev the damb Blackberry 8703e uses. (I'm throwing in a lot of terms here so that this post comes up when people are searching for crap about this - to that end, I should mention that EVDO is also spelled EV-DO, something so subtle that only The Google could grasp it).

Hence I sent this letter off to Canada, by Areoposte. I mean, Par Avion. Whatever. You will see what I said here:

Click on image to enlarge.

If it comes up all crappy looking, make sure your browser is showing the full-scale image.

If you don't know how to make sure of that, throw your computer out of the motherfraking window.



I lied a little bit. I haven't been their customer for quite that long, and I've only owned 3 BlackBerries.

The upside is that a guy from RIM called me yesterday and left a rather lengthy voicemail explaining the deal. I will summarize in case anyone cares:

The 8703e supports EVDO Rev.0 only.

Kinda what I figured. The man did take the time to explain that Rev.A is hardly available today, and won't be rolled out big-time until 2008. He assumed I was some manner of idiot whom didn't know any of that. But I did, and here's why that's a stupid response: If I sign a 2 year contract to get the Blackberry cheaply, I WILL HAVE IT IN 2008 WHEN THEY ROLL THAT SHIT OUT! I mean, seriously, why is my request so strange?

He also imitated people at his office and said something like:

"Even here we only call it EVDO and everyone assumes you mean Rev.0. Like I'll say, 'Hey, asshole, how's that new EVDO code coming along?'"

I've paraphrased and added the word "asshole", but you get the idea. It does beg the question as to why they don't seem concerned about Rev.A. I mean, is there something I don't know? I'd think that their R&D jerks would be assuming you meant Rev.A, not Rev.0, because they should be working with the latest crap.

But at least that solves the mystery. He was pretty nice about the whole thing, too. I give RIM a +3 agility boost to their Tunic of Customer Service. Damb, I've been playing Warcraft too much.

I should have sent him a cartoon.