“Over the past year, there’s been a lot of lip service in the mobile-phone industry about making our wireless networks ‘open.’ The idea, consumer and open network access advocates have argued, is that open networks would let consumers buy any mobile device from any source and run it on any network. This is especially important in the U.S., where handsets work on a particular network—CDMA from Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel or GSM from AT&T. Under most circumstances, your device remains closely controlled by your carrier of choice,” Jack Gold reports for BusinessWeek.
“But in recent months, carriers including Verizon Wireless and AT&T have announced their intention to make “openness” a part of their strategy going forward. It’s a great idea in theory,” Gold reports.
“Yet the question remains whether we are achieving, or even moving toward, open wireless access,” Gold reports. “Are the carriers just creating a PR campaign, spinning their brand of openness for the benefit of consumers and regulators? Well, for right now at least, the claim of achieving openness is dubious at best.”
Gold reports, “The industry has a long way to go before it’s anywhere near open.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “James W.” for the heads up.]
The last time phone or cable company did something that is “good” for the customer, ended up costing that customer more money.
My understanding is that at least Verizon and AT&T;, will be using the world standard for 4G networks. It won’t be an overnight change, but they appear to be headed in the right direction.
Normally, I would say YES! America needs open mobile phones!
Hmm… but anytime AT&T and Verizon tell us that they want to have an open network; WATCHOUT!!!! There’s going to be something coming that benefits AT&T and Verizon.
I often wondered why AT&T’s Go Phones have worse coverage than if you use the same phone with a monthly payment plan. The same hardware. The same network. How does that work?
You can already use any GSM phone you want on AT&T;. Just pop in the SIM and go.
I’m not quite sure how these networks are ‘closed’. You can easily get any GSM unlocked phone, stick an AT&T prepaid (‘Go Phone’) SIM into it and pay as you go. The phone is yours, the SIM is theirs, no credit checks, no monthly ball-and-chain, no 2-year prison sentence, just paying exactly what you use; no more, no less.
Of course, you could forget about an iPhone for $200 with such an arrangement. Still, it would be great if we could see a $600 iPhone with no SIM inside (and no attached contract).
Obama and his crowd of socialists will be the best bet to open things up. Then let them sink to the lowest denominator. A free iPhone for all, especially for those who pay no taxes. Get on board everybody, get on board.
In other news the RIAA members embrace digital music.
This is not going to happen as it goes against their business model. If and when LTE lights up you COULD have devices that could be moved to your carrier of choice but I’m thinking they will still find a way to “tie” you to their network for X period of time.
Europe is vastly different and devices do not carry the huge unlock price.
At&t;did say at some point they would well an unlocked iPhone $599/$699 but I doubt you’ll see that anytime soon. Just buy a touch and enjoy wifi for free where you can find it.
Yeah, it’s “open”. If you can get the device you own unlocked, and the network happens to use a frequency your device supports, you can use it with them. But only in certain ways, that maximize the amount of money you have to pay the network each month.
For the network operators, ‘open’ is not really an adjective, but more of a verb, as in ‘open your wallet’.