This is a must-read account if you're contemplating the LG CU500 phone.
The Cingular store sold me a USB cable for my CU500 phone so I could transfer contacts and MP3 files to the phone.
The CU500 manual, page 34, says if I connect the phone to my XP PC it will recognize the phone as another drive (like a USB thumbdrive, one would presume).
As the manual says, the PC initially prompts you to install a modem driver, which it says to cancel. After doing that I waited for the "new drive found" message to appear but it doesn't. So I went to the Cingular support forum site and after searching for past answers to no avail I used their Live Chat tool.
They responded that they support only modem data transfers and gave me LG's phone number. I replied that I'd found forum references to LG PC software for transferring data between Outlook and this phone (which is something else I want to do), and wondered if this software is what I need? They could only refer me to LG.
... does not work with the LG500 despite the text of their web page specifically mentioning the CU500. Insofar as transferring MP3 files they said that the manual is wrong and that the only way one can get music on this phone is to buy the music from Cingular.
So... Cingular salespeople promise that the CU500 can sync with a PC and that you can use it like any other MP3 player. Both claims are apparently untrue, or at least not known to the people at LG.
---
(Editorial comment: I tend to oppose offshoring of support work but my experience with LG convinced me that it would be no great loss to end-users if their work was sent to India or China. They were truly amazing. The first support person laughingly said the manual was wrong, that perhaps whoever wrote it didn't have one of the phones to try when he wrote it. About the software she said there was no software for the CU500 to sync with a PC with but she sent me to Accessories to confirm this. I replied that their Accessories web page about the PC syncing software specifically refers to the CU500 but she said the page was wrong, too.
So the manual and the web site are both wrong, and her responses were like I should expect this sort of sloppy work.
"Accessories" in turn said the software is a "spare part" so he sent me to them. "Spare parts" responded that it was after 5:15PM so I couldn't have been told anything by anyone because they're closed, even though I'd been internally transferred. She said all software was sold by Accessories, so I had to start all over. Etc. Hmm. Come to think of it the whole lot could be offshored. Sad. I think the one who said they were closed also said they're located in Alabama.)
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Celtic Dragon Posts: 251
Phone Model: SE w610i/BJ II
Service Provider: Cingular/AT&T
Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:39 pm
timmy2 wrote:
So... Cingular salespeople promise that the CU500 can sync with a PC and that you can use it like any other MP3 player. Both claims are apparently untrue, or at least not known to the people at LG.
Did you try putting your music on a data card? Its insanely easy to sync your music to your phone from your PC with it. and voila! instant MP3 player.
timmy2 Posts: 2
Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:31 pm
Thanks for the tip, Celtic Dragon. I'm heading to the store now to buy a microSD card for the phone.
I should also add that today I gave LG Support another chance by calling them. I reached a guy that actually had substantive responses. He said the phone must have a memory card inserted before I can even hope to see it appear as a drive on a PC. And software for syncing it with Outlook, etc., will come out eventually. Separately, I found a post on Sundeen's forum that they will release Vcard compatible with the CU500 in late September.
ggnmae Posts: 1
Tue Nov 14, 2006 4:50 pm
i hadn't gotten the "usb" cable but, i did get a memory card for the lg cu 500 and through windows media i was able to record my own cd's into mp3's and sync them straight to my memory card. as far as using songs from my itunes library they are listed under a different format making it so i could inly play the song while my phone was open. as far as creating your own ringtones. i did that with windows media as well o and the sound recorder. it did't cost me one cent to do either.
talon4x4 Posts: 1
Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:25 pm
If your looking to sync your CU500 with Outlook check out the lin below. I haven't tried it yet but I did do the thing to remove the annoying confirmation sound and it worked perfectly.
Take advantage of the technology you bought.
Actually the accounts of which you spoke are really really inaccurate.
What is true is what they say you can do with the phone and it's features. Those are all RIGHT. What is wrong are the people you have been speaking with. They are WRONG. Those aren't errors in the manual and website. And what that imported dimwit said about "author must not have had a phone when they wrote it" is absurd. There are mounds of staff paid a lot to avoid lawsuits of invalid print, etc. So that's not only total BS but it's lying to the customer so they feel more comfortable. (BAD SERVICE) and it's also sabotaging the company feeding their entire family. I really hate the india hull centers because I lost a great job at HP to it and I wouldn't care normally because I am employable but when my replacement is lazy and incompetent and thumbs their nose at the company THEY sought a job at who pays them more than they can make anywhere else in their impoverished country, well I want to kick their teeth in quite frankly. The division I was in was contracted support which means it's not some schmuck who bought a $299 PC calling us, our group was Teir III for their Enterprise Servers, and they weren't warranty. They were PAID SERVICE AGREEMENT callers. Needless to say when they tried that india crap with companies like USPS and BLOCKBUSTER it didn't bode well and they lost Blockbuster as a result of it. Carly Fiorina (then CEO) was F I R E D! 3 months later, our division was reversed back to US hull and to avoid major law suits they offered us a handsome package or our old jobs back with an 8% increase. I took the package and exited happily, but this is WAAAAAAAAY off point.
Understand that all of the people you have spoken with have one thing in common, their objective isn't to help you or to learn LG's products. It's to dump your call as soon as possible so they can get to the next one and empty the queue, or get back to their ham sandwich. (I have woken up call takers in India before!) Either way "technical" support technically isn't there. So the experience should just tell you the company has it's act together, the manufacturer does too, it's just they are both way too cheap to invest in customer satisfaction. After all if they have some highly paid over educated call taker to help you, and you get helped where's the revenue in that? They already have your money before you call so. . . .it's understandable to a point.
Anyhow just keep this in mind, Cingular is the best company to be with.
3G
GSM
SIM CARD TECHNOLOGY
ROLLOVER
and.
NO FUGGIN LOCK DOWNS.
Verizon and everyone else are notorious for having the exact same phone but all of it's features (like the coveted OBEX file transfer) are locked out so you MUST use their network to transfer data (a.k.a. PAY THEM)
The only feature I have seen locked out on a cingular phone is the dialup modem. It's technically enabled but it only let's you dial the #77* or #99* trunk which is THEIR radius server to the internet. So you can still use the phone to get your laptop to the internet anywhere in the world (like a 56K version of an AirTouch card) but you can't use AOL, netzero, etc. to do it you must call their server. Keep in mind, they'd lose their arse in allowing free unlimited dialup internet so that lockout is totally reasonable. They are a company and need profits to at least some extent.
Other than that it's (the phone's features) totally open wide. You can get a microSD (btw it MUST be a SanDisk brand. PNY, etc. won't be recognized) or you can use bluetooth. I do both but that microSD adapter is REALLY cool and usually comes with most sandisk cards.
Hope that helps a bit.
Sorry for the Bible length post but obviously a personal nerve was struck when kudos were being paid to a worthless organization. Don't get me wrong I am not a biggot and that call center in no way reflects the people as an ethnicity. Almost all of the citizens in the US of Indian decent are very intelligent professionals be it computers or medicine, etc. They actually have a much stronger work ethic simply because of what it took to get them to the US. It's the people who see a way to milk billion dollar corporations for a job that they view they shouldn't have to work at.
Call the HP parts source or the Dell server part exchange counter. I just did for a client to get them a cable for their RAID backplane and it's probably about a $12 part. This guy in Canada hull got me the part# and the price but stated I can't buy it through him because he's just tech support so he xfered me to India hull and that guy was already ½ an a-hole tone wise and said "no he's wrong you can't get that part alone it's a sub-part of an entire sub-backplane kit and you need to buy the mini-backplane kit which will include the cable"
I objected to this highly and sure enough called back in got Canada parts sales and I got the cable for $12.00 next day air for free.
I know this BARELY is on topic for the thread, and I apologize for that but I don't want to see two great companies who put out a phenomenal network and electronic products at amazingly low pricing get flamed while some blatantly ignorant and lazy individual gets undue praises. People take a lot of what they see in forums as gospel and grape vines grow faster than anything and before you know it, LG and Cingular will be on the bottom again and the theiving bastages at Verizon will once again be the only game in town and people such as myself won't have the option of shopping for a better rate. So really I am just trying to protect my assets.
Sorry for the Bible length post but obviously a personal nerve was struck when kudos were being paid to a worthless organization. Don't get me wrong I am not a biggot and that call center in no way reflects the people as an ethnicity. Almost all of the citizens in the US of Indian decent are very intelligent professionals be it computers or medicine, etc. They actually have a much stronger work ethic simply because of what it took to get them to the US. It's the people who see a way to milk billion dollar corporations for a job that they view they shouldn't have to work at.
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