USA Today - MUST READ ! ! !
FCC ruling changed phone industry in 1968; it could happen again today
Maybe U.S. consumers need another Carterfone to bust open the cellphone industry.
No, this is not referring to some hotline on Jimmy Carter's White House desk. ("Mr. President, Brezhnev's on the Carterfone yet again. Something about Prince Albert in a can.")
The landmark 1968 Carterfone Decision is a "neat historical analogy" to a couple of current conflagrations in technology, says J.P. Auffret, professor at George Mason University's business school.
One should alter cable TV this year. The other might result in cellphones that work with any wireless carrier — the way any telephone works no matter what company you use for landline service.
Kevin Martin, c...
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Maybe U.S. consumers need another Carterfone to bust open the cellphone industry.
No, this is not referring to some hotline on Jimmy Carter's White House desk. ("Mr. President, Brezhnev's on the Carterfone yet again. Something about Prince Albert in a can.")
The landmark 1968 Carterfone Decision is a "neat historical analogy" to a couple of current conflagrations in technology, says J.P. Auffret, professor at George Mason University's business school.
One should alter cable TV this year. The other might result in cellphones that work with any wireless carrier — the way any telephone works no matter what company you use for landline service.
Kevin Martin, c...
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The New MOTO RAZRall. This GSM/CDMA/IDEN/PCS/WCDMA/EV-DO Quad band phone is hip slim and only costs $1000 on a new contract. Would this in fact then force carriers to use the same network, or force handset makers to combine technologies in phones? Either way it sounds expensive.
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the network card (gsm vs cdma) bit should be a pluggable commodity module, just like your network card in your PC is.
going this route long term reduces costs and frees the phone makers from having to develop a phone from scratch for each service provider.
in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it's already that way in phones like the RAZR which is available in both verizon and cingular/tmob flavors.
exposing this capability to the user, which would allow them to migrate as easily from CDMA to GSM as SIM cards do migrating from provider to provider in europe is the logical next step.
going this route long term reduces costs and frees the phone makers from having to develop a phone from scratch for each service provider.
in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it's already that way in phones like the RAZR which is available in both verizon and cingular/tmob flavors.
exposing this capability to the user, which would allow them to migrate as easily from CDMA to GSM as SIM cards do migrating from provider to provider in europe is the logical next step.
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Some of the Nokia's I would get would have a spot for the SIM card. So I would imagine it was basically the same phone for any carrier...
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That means that cellular manufacturers would be required to make phones which work on any network. I recently posted an article in the T-Mobile and Alltel forums concerning a Dual-mode CDMA/GSM handset. It is one thing when phone's specs are carrier driven. When they are government driven then I believe the price of handsets will increase. Every handset made in the U.S. would have to support every wireless carrier's technology. Imagine a Dual-mode CDMA 850/1900 GSM 850/1900 handset. Can we also cram into it the 1700/2100 frequency that was recently purchased from AWS? GSM and CDMA? It is either mandate every capability in handsets or force all carriers to switch to the same network. Either option seems a bit high-handed and op...
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Never going to happen I don't know why folks continue to day dream about something that has such a slim chance in hell of happening.
although I bet this would come before unlimited text!
although I bet this would come before unlimited text!
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More government legislation instead of allowing the free market to work? No thanks.
On the cable company side of things, I'm in favor of the ruling. The cable companies are not losing anything in the deal and they're not being forced to lease infrastructure at below market prices. The DRM debacle has far reaching consequences however, and the supporters have huge pockets. I don't expect to see this do anything but continue to drag along.
On the cell phone side of the world, we're not talking about equipment with network interoperability, we're talking about competing technological standards. The GSM/CDMA debate is far from over and there are enough customers on both sides of the fence to ensure it doesn't end anytime soon.
M...
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On the cable company side of things, I'm in favor of the ruling. The cable companies are not losing anything in the deal and they're not being forced to lease infrastructure at below market prices. The DRM debacle has far reaching consequences however, and the supporters have huge pockets. I don't expect to see this do anything but continue to drag along.
On the cell phone side of the world, we're not talking about equipment with network interoperability, we're talking about competing technological standards. The GSM/CDMA debate is far from over and there are enough customers on both sides of the fence to ensure it doesn't end anytime soon.
M...
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I hope this happens cell comps just scared that there will be no more contracts boo hoo children only argument you have is to match it to video game hardware saying they only have software that runs on there systems. Kinda the same thing.
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What makes you think there wouldn't be contracts? The only difference is that carriers won't take a loss on subsidizing equipment.
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Look forward to longer contracts or much pricier handsets at first anyways.
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Well it makes sense only after you complete your contract which offsets the subsidy for you to get your phone unlocked. The only way you should be able to do whatever you want to with your phone is if you pay FULL PRICE for that device. If not, you play by the carriers rules. There is absolutely no need for any form of government regulation. Sounds like they are headed toward a mild form of socialism or something.
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The ability of an individual to utilize their private property as thet see fit (put their phone on the network of their choice) is not socialiam. it is the purest form of capitalism.
Socialism occurs when restrictions are placed on the use of private property (locked phones).
Socialism occurs when restrictions are placed on the use of private property (locked phones).
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I have to disagree. Socialism occurs when the government steps in and places restrictions on the way a company is allowed to do business. A cellular network is private property, not public property, so the fact that the government would set rules on how the network is to be used and protected is true socialism.
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The telecoms are right in the fact that the market is already competitive on its own. And, with manufacturers opening their own stores such as the Motorola store (I think it's in Chicago?) it is already moving to the point (slowly) where you can purchase a handset free of a service provider.
This is similar to arguing that it isn't fair for Halo to be available ONLY for the XBox and asking the FCC to make it so that if you purchase a video game you should be able to play it on ANY system. But in order for that to work that would mean the systems would have to be compatible enough to play the same game. Cellular networks are no different... my cousin is using an unlocked Nokia phone on Cingular's service even though the phone wasn't setup ...
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This is similar to arguing that it isn't fair for Halo to be available ONLY for the XBox and asking the FCC to make it so that if you purchase a video game you should be able to play it on ANY system. But in order for that to work that would mean the systems would have to be compatible enough to play the same game. Cellular networks are no different... my cousin is using an unlocked Nokia phone on Cingular's service even though the phone wasn't setup ...
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I think all the points about phones needing to be CDMA+GSM in order to satisfy new legislation are off-base. The issue is that wireless providers lock phones, keeping you from using with other networks. It's NOT saying that manufacturers need to make more versatile phones, it's saying providers need to stop limiting them.
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I would disagree with you there. In his example he lists the apple iphone, but then goes on to ignore the technological differences in the networks themselves. By complaining that a cingular iphone can't be moved to verizon, he his making the case for one universal carrier technology.
He is also making the case that carriers should not be able to offer exclusive deals, offering phones unique to them, which certainly smacks of socialism, or at least entitlement, which flies in the face of our mostly capitalist market.
His remarks on inkjet ink were probably closer to the original idea, but he didn't really follow that one to a decent conclusion.
He is also making the case that carriers should not be able to offer exclusive deals, offering phones unique to them, which certainly smacks of socialism, or at least entitlement, which flies in the face of our mostly capitalist market.
His remarks on inkjet ink were probably closer to the original idea, but he didn't really follow that one to a decent conclusion.
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CDMA and GSM are not compatible technologies. You can take your Verizon handset to Cingular and huff and puff all day long and they cannot use it. Period. Now currently Cingular and T-Mobile handsets are compatible and perhaps they are locking handsets to keep them off the other's network. However when T-Mobile starts cranking out AWS compatible handsets which will operate on the 1700/2100 MHz spectrum, it is going to be a whole new game. I am not convinced that Cingular has any plans to utilize the AWS spectrum it purchased for cellular at all. I am of the opinion that they will either hoard it or use it for some other purpose, especially now that AT&T is united under one banner.
The other thing is some carriers simply refuse to ...
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The other thing is some carriers simply refuse to ...
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