modems@telebit.UUCP (Modem Mail Account) (04/29/88)
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Telebit Corporation Revision 1.01 28 APR 1988
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TELEBIT TRAILBLAZER WARRANTY AND NON-WARRANTY REPAIR INFORMATION
Many people have requested information about the Standard and Extended
Warranties for the Telebit TrailBlazer (RA12E-T1) and the TrailBlazer Plus
(T18SA-T1) modems. With regard to some common Warranty questions, here are
the answers many users have requested:
1) How long is the Standard Warranty, and what does it cover?
It covers the modem for all Parts and Labor for a period of
one (1) year from date of purchase. Each Modem and Rack Mount
chassis is covered by this Warranty from the factory.
2) How much does the Extended Warranty cost?
If purchased within 10 days of purchase of the modem:
Standalone Model T18SA-T1 $175
PC Card Model T18PC-T1 $175
Rack Mount Card Model T18RMM-T2 $175
Rack Chassis Models T18RCH-T1 or T18REX-T1 $195
Purchase of the Extended Warranty will extend the Standard Warranty
from One (1) year Parts and Labor to Three (3) years Parts and Labor,
from date of purchase of the modem.
If you purchase the Warranty AFTER 10 days of purchase of the modem,
a $50 handling fee will be added to the above amounts.
2) What are Non-Warranty repair costs?
If the modem is no longer under Warranty, flat rate charges apply,
with turnaround of 30 days from receipt of the modem.
Charges for the various models for Non-Warranty repair are:
Standalone RA12E-T1 or T18SA-T1 (per repair) $195
PC Card RA12C-T1 or T18PC-T1 (per repair) $145
Rack Mount Card T18RMM-T1 or T18RMM-T2 (per repair) $195
Rack Chassis T18RCH-T1 or T18REX-T1 (per repair) $195
Expediting charges for Non-Warranty work are available for $100.00
over the normal Non-Warranty repair charge.
3) What is the procedure to return a modem for repair or exchange?
(Warranty or Non-Warranty)
1. You call the Telebit Technical Support number (415) 969-2500.
2. Telebit Technical Support will verify that the modem needs repair.
3. You will be issued an RMA number (Return Material Authorization).
4. Telebit will either send out a replacement modem within 24 hours
via UPS Blue, or will repair and return the original modem within
30 days, at Telebit's discretion.
5. You send the problem modem (within 10 days) to our Mountain View
repair facility. If the modem is not returned within 10 days,
you will be billed for a new modem.
6. Modems returned to Telebit without prior testing by Technical
Support may be subject to charges for "No Trouble Found" at the
same rate as Non-Warranty Repair.
Please contact Telebit Technical Support if you have any questions or comments
about any of this information.bakken@hrsw2.UUCP (David E. Bakken) (05/04/88)
In article <282@telebit.UUCP>, modems@telebit.UUCP (Modem Mail Account) writes: > Purchase of the Extended Warranty will extend the Standard Warranty > from One (1) year Parts and Labor to Three (3) years Parts and Labor, > from date of purchase of the modem. Is the extended warranty a prudent investment? Since its cost is roughly equal to one non-warranty repair I am asking the probabilities of 0, 1, or more than 1 repair being necessary from 1-3 years after purchase. I don't have years of experience managing modems from which to draw a conclusion, so the opinions of some who have would be appreciated. Thanks in advance! -- Dave Bakken Boeing Commercial Airplanes (206) 277-2571 uw-beaver!apcisea!hrsw2!bakken Disclaimer: These are my own views, not those of my employers. Don't let them deter you from buying the 747 you've been saving hard for.
grr@cbmvax.UUCP (George Robbins) (05/05/88)
In article <282@telebit.UUCP> modems@telebit.UUCP (Modem Mail Account) writes: > > 2) How much does the Extended Warranty cost? > > If purchased within 10 days of purchase of the modem: > > Standalone Model T18SA-T1 $175 > > If you purchase the Warranty AFTER 10 days of purchase of the modem, > a $50 handling fee will be added to the above amounts. What goes here? When I called the number listed in the manaual a couple of months ago to check on the details of the extended warranty program, the support person indicated that the special "sign up within 10 days" price had been eliminated in favor of an across-the-board extended warranty price reduction. Has this changed again, or is there some confusion? It is painful to comtemplate paying $225 "insurance" for each modem when you don't even get ROM upgrades included in the deal... -- George Robbins - now working for, uucp: {uunet|ihnp4|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr but no way officially representing arpa: cbmvax!grr@uunet.uu.net Commodore, Engineering Department fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)
wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (05/09/88)
I agree with George that $225 is kind of pricey for the Trailblazer extended warranty. I think I'll just hedge my bet that the thing keeps working indefinitely, and then ante up the money if/when it breaks. It is my understanding, as George said, that the warranty coverage costs the same regardless of when you buy it. In that case, the way to go is to buy the warranty when the modem gags, then send the beast in. There really isn't much to go wrong in the trailblazer. About the only item subject to mechanical stress is the line realy, but that ought to last years. Even the "standard" Trailblazers with the fan are pretty rugged. As a torture test I disconnected the fan for several hours and put the cover back on; the modem got only a little warm. Naturally, I don't advocate disconnecting the fan as a matter of routine! Closed up in a confined space may make the fan an imparitive; I conducted the torture test with the modem on a bench top. Now, if the service contract included a clause to ensure that the most current firmware were installed.... I just might bite. By the way... Several people have mentioned that the level 3 --> level 4 firmware upgrade seems expensive. It really isn't all that bad. I just had to buy some 27512 EPROMs (same type as used in the Trailblazer). The best price I got was $10 each. That means, that $20 of the upgrade is parts! Given that, the price seems in line, as it is about the same cost as going from DOS 3.2 --> DOS 3.3 on an IBM PC. --Bill wtm@neoucom.UUCP
rick@seismo.CSS.GOV (Rick Adams) (05/10/88)
I consider purchasing the extended warranty a foolish waste of money. (This is usally true of ANY product, not just modems.) If they included new firmware as part of the warranty, it would be a good deal. Consider that you are basically betting Telebit $175 that your modem will fail in the second or third year. (Not likely. Modem failures are usually withing the first 90 days [barring lightening, etc]. Couple this with the non-warranty repair price of $195. You need to have TWO failures within that 2 year period to come out ahead. That's HIGHLY unlikely. It's always fun to ask "Why do you feel your product is so unreliable that I need the extended warranty?". (Especially to appliance salesmen) ---rick
jerry@oliveb.olivetti.com (Jerry Aguirre) (05/11/88)
In article <1161@neoucom.UUCP> wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) writes: >There really isn't much to go wrong in the trailblazer. About the >only item subject to mechanical stress is the line realy, but that Well, actually I have already had a failure in both units I bought (TB+). Fortunately it is a nuisance failure and doesn't affect normal operation. Our computer room is rather noisy so I set the speaker volume to max so I could monitor connections (s61=255 M1). I suspect this was agrivated by problems in debugging the dialer routine. The modem would ocasionally be placed off-hook and left there for a while. The phone company would eventually send me that over volume "HANG UP THE PHONE" message and tone. Apparently this was too much for the audio output. Both modems are now silent at all times regardless of settings. I will have to see about getting them repaired before the warranty expires.
srd@peora.ccur.com (Steve Davies) (05/11/88)
In article <21563@oliveb.olivetti.com>, jerry@oliveb.olivetti.com (Jerry Aguirre) writes:
. Our computer room is rather noisy so I set the speaker volume to max so
. I could monitor connections (s61=255 M1) ... The modem would
. ocasionally be placed off-hook and left there for a while. The phone
. company would eventually send me that over volume "HANG UP THE PHONE"
. message and tone. Apparently this was too much for the audio output.
. Both modems are now silent at all times regardless of settings.
One of our TB+ modems has also failed in the same way.
--
Steve Davies srd@peora.ccur.com {cbosgd!codas,uiucuxc,hoptoad,petsd}!peora!srd
Concurrent Computer Corp/2486 Sand Lake Road/Orlando, Fl. 32809 (407)850-1040lyndon@Nexus.CA (05/12/88)
In article <21563@oliveb.olivetti.com> jerry@oliveb.UUCP (Jerry Aguirre) writes: >In article <1161@neoucom.UUCP> wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) writes: >>There really isn't much to go wrong in the trailblazer. About the >>only item subject to mechanical stress is the line realy, but that I was just talking to Richard at Telebit about this. They are claiming an MTBF of 40,000 hours for the Trailblazer. Note, this isn't a published spec so no promises...
wtm@neoucom.UUCP (05/12/88)
I forgot that the newer TB+ modems have a little round thing that looks more like a microphone than a speaker. The older nonplus versions had a regular paper speaker that seemed to endure just about any abuse .. the paper speaker was also much louder than the transducer thing in the TB+ units, so one didn't have to set the volume to 255 to be blown out of the room. So.. I guess other than the relay, the speaker is vulnerable. I stand corrected. Thanx for the info. --Bill
jeff@tc.fluke.COM (Jeff Stearns) (05/14/88)
Both of our Trailblazer+ modems lost their speakers during the first week.
It looks like other folks see the same problem. I don't see how Telebit could
be including the speaker when calculating the alleged MTBF of 40,000 hours...
(BTW, our modems connect to a PBX which does NOT complain loudly if the modem
stays off-hook.)
--
Jeff Stearns
Domain: jeff@tc.fluke.COM
Voice: +1 206 356 5064
If you must: {uw-beaver,microsoft,sun}!fluke!jeff
USPS: John Fluke Mfg. Co. / P.O. Box C9090 / Everett WA 98206piet@cwi.nl (Piet Beertema) (05/14/88)
Both of our Trailblazer+ modems lost their speakers during the first week. I don't see how Telebit could be including the speaker when calculating the alleged MTBF of 40,000 hours... Calculation for the speaker must be different then: speaker_MTBF = 40,000 / S61_setting or about one week at max. volume... -- Piet Beertema, CWI, Amsterdam (piet@cwi.nl)