T-Mobile Data Out(r)age

The head honchos at T-Mobile have really dug themselves into a hole this time.

In early October, thousands of T-Mobile sidekick users were thrown off kilter when the data stored in their beloved smart phones disappeared literally overnight. Thanks to Microsoft's decision to outsource from Sidekick SAN to Hitachi, untold Sidekick users woke up one morning scratching their heads. For reasons unknown, Microsoft failed to make a backup before starting.

After a slew of angry phone calls from rightfully pissed-off Sidekick users, T-Mobile offered up it's first seemingly apologetic release, straight from the hands of their CEO. Or at least his interns.

The release contained information that a $20 data credit for the month would be automatically added to everyone's bill, courtesy of the company. Customer responses were overwhelming, and none of them were good.

"The $20 data credit is a joke," one T-Mobile customer posted on the website's support forum. "I don't even have any data to use the credit for."

But there were still the hopeful, willing to accept the $20 while waiting for their data to return. On the morning of Oct. 10, all hopes were shattered when the company issued the following release:

"Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger's latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device - such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos - that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger. That said, our teams continue to work around-the-clock in hopes of discovering some way to recover this information. However, the likelihood of a successful outcome is extremely low."

To make a long story short-- sorry, but your shit is gone.

Inevitably, there are lawsuits. Lots and lots of lawsuits. T-Mobile even suffered a slight scare after one customer threatened to blow up T-Mobile's customer service headquarters after she was refused a free contract cancellation.

On Oct. 19, T-Mobile issued the first of several restoration programs. By backing up now available data to your computer, you may access some of your lost contacts. T-Mobile is offering Sidekick users a $100 gift card to be used on one of their products in addition.

There they go adding salt to the wound again. Even if we are getting a $100 gift card, who says we want to spend it on them?

Can this gift card be used for the contract cancellation fee?

Until Sidekick data services are completely back to normal, Microsoft/T-Mobile have postponed the sale of Sidekick contracts.