[pct-l] Trying to find a pocketmail device.

[Matthew Edwards]

The Peek 9's are working.. marginally.
Let me start from the beginning. I feel kinda responsible cause i used a Peek for the last to thru hikes and I was a huge peek cheer leader.
Anyhow, this past October Peek lost their "middle man". Some believe it was Qualcomm.. You see peek needed 10,000 units to get a direct connection from it's customers through T-mobile to it's servers. Since they were a small startup they had to use a middle man.. and that middle man's sim cards to connect between customers and Peek's servers. 
Anyway,  Peek was poised to eliminate the middle man with the release of the Peek9. 
Peek had hoped to still keep the old customers on the Qualcomm network. Well old Qual'y figured it out and simply crashed
Peek's network without warning.. thats the story..whatever.
The long and short of it is all Peek Devices, everywhere in the world, became obsolete last October.
The only solution was to buy a new device, the Peek9, which Peek Co offered at a discount to previous customers etc. Peek 9's still
use the same hard ware but contain different settings and sim cards to communicate directly through T-mobile to Peek's servers
What happened next was the worst customer service debacle ever.
The company became overwhelmed. It turned off it's phones, ignored it's emails, facebook page, and help forums.
At one point so many people were complaining Peek shut it's online help forums off for a week.
To this day folks are being charged for service they never recieved. Emails and phone calls go unanswered. The old model
of Peek devices; Pronto's and Classics, which cannot be used without a new sim card, are still to be found for sale on E-bay and else where.

Okay. The product itself served me well for two thru hikes. The company dealt fairly with me up until the collapse this past October.
It could be that the Peek 9 will work well for you. The main issue at this point is customer service.
I still believe in the original gadget, simple email at $9.99 a month unlimited email and text with no contract.
Personally I cannot recommend the product due to the management practices of the company.
I am really sorry for anyone that got involved with the peek corporation due to my recommendation in the past.
All I can say is it's a great, cheap solution for hikers and you can update your journal with it but... buyer beware.
-Iceaxe