Maria called me in tears the other night upset that after two hours on the phone with a technical support export for Verizon that she had lost her entire calendar. Maria’s calendar was used to keep track of her entire life; every appointment for her two children and other social events. Now if you ask Verizon they will tell you that it is not their fault Maria lost all her data, and technically they are right. Companies like Cingular, T-Mobile and Verizon are only concerned with making your phone work. Having your all-in-one device work, that is their sole objective; they need to make sure it syncs but are not concerned with what can happen during the sync. Some technical support representatives may warn you that you may loose data during this process, but some do not even think to bring it up. If it is not on the technical support script they read, they may not even know that this is an issue. Therefore, if you have an all-in-one smart-phone like a Blackberry or Treo here are a few things you can do to keep this from happening to you.

First, start by truly understanding how your sync program works. Does your PDA over ride the computer when there is a conflicting appointment or item? Or is it the other way around? Take the time to learn what items are syncing, for example are you updating your calendar, contacts, tasks, email or all of these items? Are they all syncing to the same desktop application or different software products? For instance, some people may have their calendar and contacts synced with ACT and email synced with Microsoft Outlook.

Second, don’t go it alone. Ask a family friend who has a true grasp on this process or hirer someone you trust to help you out. You can even ask them about the items in point one to see if they truly understand.

Three, backup your information to a third location like a flash drive or external hard drive. If you are having major PDA device issues before you call technical support create a backup. Backup the data on each of the applications you synchronize with. For my readers who may have concerns now and don’t have time to create a backup because you may need some help with this process, print your information out. A print copy will at least allow you to feel for the short term you have something if your technical expert makes a mistake.

Four, learn how to use the backup. Once you created the backup of all your information be sure you know how to restore it if you ever need it.

Five, ask your cell phone technical support representative some of these questions:

• Is what you’re asking me to try to fix on my phone effect my synchronization software?
  
• Will I loose any data if I have not backed up my phone recently?
  
• I am concerned that the changes you ask me to make will cause a loss of data – how can I avoid this?
  
• Can you walk me through backing up my information, before we start making changes?
  

I have seen too many of my clients deal with this problem, with all of the wireless companies out there. You may get lucky and work with a support expert that does know what they are talking about, but you may not, and you need to be prepared. Remember the cell phone companies are only focused on making your phone work. They may not be aware of, systems you have set-up or even support those systems. Being an informed consumer will help eliminate the frustration you may feel when working with technology.

Everyone can use a little Technology Therapy ® please pass this on to friends who may need this therapy session, and please feel free to vent with me. Post your good and bad experiences here and help others avoid this issue in their life.