by Krishen Kota, PMP

Background Information

I got my Treo 650 sometime in May and was excited to have a compact all-in-one phone/pda to replace my old T-Mobile PocketPC 2002 Phone Edition?. I had waited a long time because I was waiting for T-Mobile to carry the 650, but when my PocketPC phone finally died unexpectedly, I found out that PalmOne also sold a noncarrier specific, unlocked GSM version of the 650 that was suppose to work with TMobile's service. Once my new Treo arrived, I experienced a few days of bliss with my new gadget. Soon after however, I started having a problem; when I went to send an email, my wireless would be off. I would get a warning message saying:

"The phone is off. Would you like to turn it on?"

At first, the Phone Off issue only happened every two or three days, but soon progressed to every day, then numerous times per day. I started researching the Treo message boards, PalmOne support, and T-Mobile support, along with talking to colleagues to try to find the answer to my issue. My co-worker had problems with the wireless and other miscellaneous problems, and his service provider, Cingular, told him that he needed a new SIM card, which he got and his problems immediately disappeared. I decided it made sense, since I had the same SIM card from 4 years ago. I went to my local T-Mobile store, they switched out my SIM without any hassle and my phone seemed to work without issue. Unfortunately, after only a few days, the same "Phone Off" problem started reoccurring.

Having reached a point of utter frustration I figured I would need to send back the unit, wait for a replacement, reload all my software and settings, and hope the replacement worked. Really not liking the thought of going through all that, I started looking more closely at the slot the SIM card fit into, and noticed the way the contacts were designed. It seemed the way the contacts were designed they would barely touch the SIM card. I then asked a co-worker if I could see his SIM card, which he agreed to. I noticed that he had some very light, but noticeable groves on his SIM from sliding the SIM into his Treo. My SIM card on the other hand only had a few isolated marks where the contacts actually touched the SIM. I remember thinking, the SIM card might be momentarily loosing contact with the phone and thus the phone is turning off. Thinking back further, this also made sense that the phone often turned off immediately after removing it from the case, but never did when it was just sitting on my desk.

I told my theory to one of my fellow AdminiTrack colleagues, Don Draper, who is our company's head of Support and Development, and he quickly fashioned a fix using two PostIt? Notes and a pair of scissors. After a successful two-week test with no Phone Off issues I absolutely love my Treo. It now helps me streamline getting things done, instead of becoming another issue to spend time on. I decided to document my findings in case this fix might work for others who have experienced this problem. If the instructions in the following document fix your Treo Phone Off issue, please email me at kkota@adminitrack.com and let me know.

Download Solution to Phone Off issue

Before downloading the following document, please see the disclaimer below:

Download Solution

Disclaimer: The information in the document above contains information that is considered the opinions of Krishen Kota and is not an AdminiTrack, Inc. endorsed solution. Following the instructions in the document referenced above could potentially void your warranty or could violate the terms of the agreement with your service provider. If you have any concerns you should check with your company's technical support staff or with the service provider or manufacturer from which you acquired your device. All registered trademarks referenced in this document are owned by their respective companies: PalmOne, Microsoft, 3M, and T-Mobile.

 Copyright © 2006-2009, Krishen Kota, All Rights Reserved

---