Proud Geek

This probably only applies to a handful of you, but this’ll be good to know. If you have a Palm Treo (or probably any mobile phone) with Verizon service, you should be updating your mobile phone on a regular basis by dialing *22899. I update mine on the first of every month (as advised by a Verizon tech support rep), although Verizon’s FAQ recommends doing this every three months. The same FAQ says to dial just *228, but then the caller would get a series of verbal prompts. Dialing *22899 will bypass these prompts and go directly to the update process. The phone will show a series of “programming” windows and then hang up on its own. The whole process would take approximately 30 seconds to a minute or so, depending on how much updating is being sent to the phone.

Benefits of doing this update regularly:

• Longer battery life
• Fewer dropped or blocked calls
• Clear, crisp connections in even more areas across the United States
• Roaming indicator will reflect the price plan you have chosen (available on most price plans after 2/1/2002).

I’m pretty sure this update only applies to mobile phones / smartphones with Verizon service. If you know of a similar update process for mobile phones under other carriers, let me know in the comments.