Go Live 1535 sim card wiped put by update again.

[Thomas Crevenna]

This it the second time this has happened. The first time right at a year, I went to update the maps and add a years subscription (traffic) to my account. It crashed everything. Contacted help they did all their test's and resets, and it turned out that the sim number was completely gone, no record or sign of it. Also there was no record of the subscription renewal, I had to prove it with my bank records. They replaced the unit even though by the time we got to that it had crossed out of warranty. Well the new maps / update came in I hooked it up and down loaded the maps and 1 update. When I started using it I noticed no traffic. I hooked it up again and nothing. Contacted help they did all the resets, connections, checks. On the 4th call and about 7-8 hours into it, the woman check and saw that the sim card is blank, again. This time they are declining any assistance because of how far out of warranty it is. This unit was 8 months old.
They will not acknowledge that the unit didn't break, it was wiped out by their obviously faulty programing in the update. There are tons of references online and even a few here. They say they have no access to replacement sim cards, the 1535 and 2535 are discontinued . After they denied any further help I performed the reset with the sim card out that shows up on their forum, but nothing the sim # is gone. If they know of this problem they should tell us to remove the sim card prior to installing updates. But they claim that would void the warranty and shouldn't be done. Well I have a second useless 1535 now, I only bought it for the traffic. Now the units required a connection to a cell phone, a fact they are less than up front about in the sales info. I dumped my "smart phone" years ago and have no intention of getting or using another one.
Anyone have any suggestions? Can a sim card from AT&T be used?
The unit still works as a GPS and I have maps for life, but I need the live to be useful.
This is an obvious design fault, I feel they need to stand up for it.
The unit worked...... did the update...... the unit will never work again.

 

[canderson]

Honestly - we have never heard of an update wiping out a SIM card - or even tickling one, for that matter. As for subscription renewal, you should not have had to prove that as if your renewal had already taken effect, it would have been shown on two of their servers (one for the credit transaction, and one for the actual traffic server authentication).


Now -- let's ponder whether the original analysis was correct, or whether something ELSE was wrong both the first time and this time. First possibility:
We HAVE seen situations where the carrier will no longer honor a connection with a particular SIM card due to a cock up in the subscription server and/or carrier database. It's pretty clear when this happens based upon the display that occurs on the 'Network' page when you first turn the unit on. You will want to go to the following menu item immediately after power up, or even better, after a boot cycle with the power button.

Settings / Right arrow / Connections / Network

If you see an initial attempt at a connection with the carrier (shown on the left as status bars) and you see them turn blue from gray, and almost immediately back to gray and refused to populate the MCC/ MNC field, perhaps cycling like this several times over the period of a minute or two, then the problem is the account database.
Please advise what data you see populated on that screen for MCC/MNC, SIM ID, and IMEI.


Second possibility (though I peeked at your IP address, and it doesn't look like your area has been hit at all yet):
You DO realize that AT&T is going to be shutting down 2G service? It's sad, but that's what our older Live devices depend upon for a connection. While this shutdown hadn't impacted very many geographic areas yet, AT&T says the shutdown will be complete by the end of 2016, and has already begun in a very few areas. All we know so far is that they've been stealing 2G bandwidth for their 3G (and they're even cannibalizing 3G to support 4G!) and 4G (LTE/HSPA+) service in some areas, making getting a 2G connection less likely at peak hours in some spots. Best map I've seen so far even breaks down whether it's 850 or 1900MHz coverage that is being lost, with projected dates, some of which have already come and gone. See http://www.fieldtechnologies.com/att_2g_sunset/

In-vehicle telematics systems, environmental telemetry systems, GPS tracking units, and burglar alarms systems are going to be hit hard by this as well. There's a lot of hardware replacement going on already in advance of the total shutdown.

 

[Thomas Crevenna]

I can only tell you what I know, in the connections screen there is no longer any sim information, the number and IMEI info is gone, just blank spaces. They can't even find it on their end by remotely going into my device.Exactly what happened the first time.I should have learned and removed the sim card before updating. If it's not in it it can't get affected. That's depressing news that they designed the unit that can't be kept current and will be outdated and dropped. Traffic (live) is the only reason I bought the Tom Tom. As for never hearing about this before there are plenty of other references to this happening. Their decision in the 600/6000 makes no sense to require a smart phone to connect via blue tooth. Most smart phones have apps for maps/.GPS/traffic making the stand alone GPS redundant.
I am really disappointed in Tom Tom by this, I bought it expecting a system that would give me years of trouble free service, but even with a second unit it hasn't even made it for two. Tom Tom service can't even replace the sim card or repopulate the information, now they can't and won't replace the unit. Again warranties cover defective units that fail or break, the unit was working fine until hooked into their system for the updates. The problem isn't in the unit it's in their system and I've wasted way to many hours on the phone time after time trying to get it resolved. It's a flawed design and I shouldn't have to pay the price for it. They still show the 1535 online with no reference to the 2G being discontinued.

 

[dhn]

Call Customer Service. You may need to ask for 2nd level (or Supervisor) support in order to reactivate your card.
United States
866 486 6866

Monday - Friday: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. EDT
Saturday: 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EDT

 

[canderson]

SPECIFICALLY, ask for someone who deals in particular with LIVE service issues.

What can I say. I (and and all of the moderators here) have updated a GO 1535TM with new code more times than you can possibly imagine, and not once did the update 'wipe' the SIM. In fact, the SIM's ID isn't updatable by the unit itself.

In the one case I experienced where the device would not connect and data was not populated on the Connections page mentioned earlier, it was necessary for TomTom to re-initiate the Live account with the carrier. The SIM was, as expected, untouched. It was the account on the server that had been blown away, making that particular SIM non-gratis with the carrier.

 

[Thomas Crevenna]

Been there done that,At least a dozen calls this week Talked to super, nada, zip, total dead end. It seems so common sense, but companies have outgrown their ability to provide base level common sense service to their customers.He said his hands were tied because the unit had been replaced once, it's discontinued, and they can't verify the sim information. Duh, the sim information or the lack of it is the problem.
I do appreciate all the responses.

 

[canderson]

Do you have a tracking number for this problem by chance? The "They can't verify the sim information" just does NOT sound right.

 

[dhn]

It is an extreme longshot, Thomas, but I've notified a contact of mine at TomTom in Amsterdam about your plight. Nothing at all may come from it, I want you to understand.

But, we are trying..........

 

[canderson]

Yes - will help if you can give them that ticket number, though.
@thomas -- if you DO have one, please let us know.

 

[Thomas Crevenna]

Thanks the # 150521-006729

 

[Thomas Crevenna]

I agree I find the whole situation hard to believe, that a second sim card would appear blank seems really odd. That the sim card which to my understanding is only used for the connection for the live to be wiped out in a map update also seems odd. But the reality remains, that's what happened twice in the same exact way. What I fail to understand is Tom Toms inability to figure out the problem and resolve it. I mean they have engineers that designed the things. I'm saddened that they designed a unit around 2G which has been outdated for some years now. Phones in recent years were designed to adapt from 2G to 3G why wasn't the go live? And why are they still selling them to people? How pissed will people be when they find out the units they bought will no longer work as advertised?

 

[canderson]

Thanks the # 150521-006729

@dhn
Did you pick that up?

 

[canderson]

I'm saddened that they designed a unit around 2G which has been outdated for some years now. Phones in recent years were designed to adapt from 2G to 3G why wasn't the go live?

To be fair, a lot of industries were caught by surprise by AT&T's announcement (though it WAS a while back) that they would be sunsetting their entire 2G service. The reason it was used, I would imagine, is that it was a technology they were comfortable with from long ago in the earlier Live units, the data rate is more than adequate for this service, and cheaper to supply. TomTom didn't have a technology-compatible unit to replace it with in North America, and were already moving on to Nav4 (see below) where this would no longer present a problem.

And why are they still selling them to people? How pissed will people be when they find out the units they bought will no longer work as advertised?

They haven't sold a 2G unit for a little while now, but they are AFAIK still selling Live subscriptions, and you can still find them in the refurb market. Like you, I'll be curious to see how they manage that problem. So far, they don't even seem to be acknowledging that it IS a problem .. or will be, anyway.

Their solution in the fragmented and somewhat volatile North American market (Europe is a piece of cake by comparison) on new 'Nav4' models is to have the user supply the data connection with their own smart phone. I guess they figure that even if the carriers keep playing musical chairs with coverage and technology, a TomTom owner will be updating their phone based upon local availability of service.

 

[canderson]

I'm curious. Have you tried pulling and reseating your SIM card in your 1535? Carefully peel back the serial number label in the trap door at the bottom (in case you hadn't noticed it before, that area is where you'd install a uSD card for more storage, too). The uSD slot is exposed, but the SIM is under the label.

 

[dhn]

Got feedback from my contact and I'm afraid it isn't very promising:

I went through the case and it seems to me everything has been done with this customer. As the warranty has expired a while ago and this device model is discontinued there's little more to be done. But the case is still on-going and they're discussing a new device with discount. Let's hope there's a satisfying solution to be reached

Sorry.

 

[Thomas Crevenna]

On Tom Toms forum site there is a reset procedure basically 2 drum rolls with the card out waiting in between. After Tom Tom giving up I decided I had nothing to loose. It didn't help still no sim info. I'm not asking for a new unit, this one is fine. I just need them to figure out how get get my information back on the sim card. If this had only happened once I wouldn't be as pissed. But the same thing has happened twice, and they can say what ever they want. A healthy unit cannot go from working to not working and the sim info coming up missing after a connection to their system without there being a problem with the system. And why would I buy a new unit at 25% off when the whole live system will be moot soon. Not to mention I have 0, zero faith that after this happening twice that it won't happen a third time, they haven't changed or addressed anything. I performed the down load from a Mac, they say it shouldn't matter but??? Maybe there is a compatibility issue?
I just need them to figure out how to get my information back on the sim card or generate and activate new info. If they can access it and see it's not there and they know it must have been there, why is there such a problem. I'm not asking for anything other them to make right what their system made inoperative.

 

[Thomas Crevenna]

From what I have read the sim card card gets deactivated when the subscription expires (in the US) . They claim they reactivated it but still nothing?

 

[Thomas Crevenna]

I'm not alone
https://en.discussions.tomtom.com/t...ervices-something-wrong-with-my-sim-card-3097

 

[canderson]

OK - I'm dredging a VERY old pond here, and brain farts are to be expected under the circumstances.

Back in the Middle Ages (when the Nav2 units were just being released), there WERE instances of completely blank data for MCC/MNC, and SIM ID / IMEI AFTER a map update. However, there was always an associated reason displayed for it, even though the reason was not accurate. Back then, the Nav2 device would usually say "Warning: TomTom services do not work abroad or in an area without coverage, Error code: 1001". When this happened, the account had to be reactivated by TomTom.

When Nav3 was released, the same thing could occur, only without the error message as a guide (even if a poor one!). Occasionally, a couple of hard resets with the power switch got things organized again. More often, the account had to be updated by TomTom.

I am curious ...

Services / Right Arrow / My Services
What is being reported there?

Settings / 3 Right Arrows / My TomTom account
Go ahead and try logging in, even if already done. Any issues?

 

[Thomas Crevenna]

My services: It just spins.
My Tom Tom account: just spins.
The spinning is to be expected as it doesn't see a sim card.

MENU
Connections
Connection status
MCC/MNC: BLANK
SIM ID: BLANK
IMEI: BLANK
MODEL: BLANK
00.02.08_US

Thanks for the help everyone.