Verizon Details 'Open Access' Device Testing Still no word on what you'll pay to actually have free choice... Wednesday Mar 19 2008 15:06 EDT Today is Verizon's Open Development Conference, where we're hoping to hear more about Verizon's "any app, any device" open access tier that got the U.S. media so hot and bothered a few months ago. While originally hailed as an "open access paradigm shift" by some, it's pretty clear that Verizon Wireless is simply charging users a premium if they actually want to have a choice of what hardware and software they can use. The company will still make locked handset, "get it now" loaded phones their primary sales push, but the new tier will be a decent alternative for those who want a little more freedom (and have the bank to pay for it). This week's conference is focused on getting tools into the hands of developers who'll then submit their CDMA devices to Verizon for testing. By the end of this year you should be able to take any CDMA device for a stroll on Verizon's network. Devices will take 4-8 weeks to get Verizon approval, which needs renewing every 36 months. While Verizon did offer some retail and support details for vendors, they still haven't stated exactly what customers will pay for the honor. We're placing our bets that the privilege will come at a steep premium, and will most likely involve per-byte-billing or massive overages. Sorry, but charging your customers more for something vaguely resembling choice after years of crippled phones, contracts and walled gardens isn't so much innovation as it is overdue and half-hearted adaptation. If we're right and this is really Verizon marketing's way of injecting per-byte-billing into consumer consciousness, Verizon's "open access" plan isn't going to be half as sexy as they're making it out to be. |
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Freedom isnt Free!Sorry couldnt resist | |
| rit56 join:2000-12-01 New York, NY |
rit56
Member
2008-Mar-19 2:40 pm
The business modelfor what they'll do to the internet if they succeed in getting rid of net neutrality | |
| jjoshua Premium Member join:2001-06-01 Scotch Plains, NJ |
jjoshua
Premium Member
2008-Mar-19 2:42 pm
Open != OpenWelcome to 30 years ago.
Does my home phone need to be approved before I can plug it in to the phone jack?
You would think that "open" meant that any device that is compliant with the network protocol should work without Verizon's approval.
Not. | |
| | Jonbo298 join:2004-01-12 Council Bluffs, IA |
Re: Open != OpenIs your home phone as advanced as a cell phone? No. Does your home phone have to be compliant with specific protocols? No. Landlines are all the same.
Verizon is ensuring any phone allowed on their network will not screw up. Would you want alot of pissed off customers because they bought a phone from a company saying its Verizon network capable, but yet it's not.
Without rules in place to pass certification, it would be much worse then it is now. Do I like the fact I can't use any CDMA device? Not too much. But I'd rather have whatever company wants to use their device on Verizon, pass certification.
This is better then it has been. But landline phones are much much less 'sophisticated' then any cell phone out there. | |
| | | openbox9 Premium Member join:2004-01-26 71144 |
openbox9
Premium Member
2008-Mar-19 3:20 pm
Re: Open != Opensaid by Jonbo298:Does your home phone have to be compliant with specific protocols? No. Actually, there are ITU standards for many things...including your "home phone". said by Jonbo298:But landline phones are much much less 'sophisticated' then any cell phone out there. Yes, but the sophistication is really irrelevant with standards are available and equipment is manufactured to this standard. BTW, I agree that VZW needs a certification process to minimize some of the concerns that you pose. | |
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to Jonbo298
quote: Verizon is ensuring any phone allowed on their network will not screw up. Would you want alot of pissed off customers because they bought a phone from a company saying its Verizon network capable, but yet it's not.
Cough GSM Cough I can take any 850/1900 GSM phone and pop my AT&T SIM in it and make calls on AT&T's network. Nice Try Verizon - your NOTwork sucks as does your technology choice. | |
| | | | DaveDudeNo Fear join:1999-09-01 New Jersey |
Re: Open != Opensaid by itguy05:quote: Verizon is ensuring any phone allowed on their network will not screw up. Would you want alot of pissed off customers because they bought a phone from a company saying its Verizon network capable, but yet it's not.
Cough GSM Cough I can take any 850/1900 GSM phone and pop my AT&T SIM in it and make calls on AT&T's network. Nice Try Verizon - your NOTwork sucks as does your technology choice. Thats the first thing that came to mind, I can buy a phone anywhere and drop my sim and everything works. With Nokia its auto configured. So there is no effort involved. Plus i can choose which interface i like. The Verizon interface was enough to drive me away. When Verizon catches up with LTE. Maybe i will consider device freedom on Verizon. | |
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gballMaster Yoda Premium Member join:2000-11-28 South Bend, IN |
gball
Premium Member
2008-Mar-19 3:03 pm
AHHHJust one of the trillion reasons I hate Verizon. I'm so glad I'm not locked to them anymore. | |
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Yada bla
Anon
2008-Mar-19 3:08 pm
All this stuff!Nifty, all this stuff for just a little more a month!!!
Oh wait, I already have it and I'm not paying anything extra.........
I dont get it. What appears to be happening here is they will be cutting your freedom and then making you pay to get it back. Yes I didn't read the article, but I think I have a good idea what they are trying to do. | |
| DaveDudeNo Fear join:1999-09-01 New Jersey |
GSMGet your own device, put in sim card. Thats freedom | |
| | EPS4 join:2008-02-13 Hingham, MA |
EPS4
Member
2008-Mar-19 4:58 pm
Re: GSMAs long as you want to choose between T-Mobile, which has no 3G and poor coverage, or the Deathstar AT&T, which also has fairly crappy 3G coverage (though admittedly has fairly good 2G coverage), that's "freedom"... Plus you can put up with all the downsides of TDMA (the division method, not D-AMPS) based systems...
Honestly, the only real benefit I see to GSM is the global thing, and because our spectrum bands are different than Europe, you still need a "world phone" with a special radio, which makes that advantage only marginally better than our CDMA carriers, which offer dual-radio phones for overseas. | |
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jester121 Premium Member join:2003-08-09 Lake Zurich, IL |
Ugh!Is that really a sample of the interface? Welcome to the late 1990s, when color screens first became available. | |
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Re: Ugh!Unfortunately yes it is. I like my voyagers screen though limited.
Will some one wake me when I can put my own apps on the phone. I want an irc client and maybe a vpn and ssh client. And I don't want to pay $10 for it and turn out the damn thing is useless like half the crap from GIN. | |
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to jester121
Re: Ugh!To be fair, that's an old screen interface used on the old RAZR v3c and v3m. The newer devices use a more streamlined interface. Some of the newer phones also use Adobe Flash Lite The writer of this article decided to use an old interface image for some reason or another. Perhaps for the added drama effect?
I'm a T-Mobile user myself, but in all fairness, I'm not sure why anyone but the most hardcore mobile nerds get so aggravated over the choice of VZW's interfaces? Nobody forces nobody to use their service or phones.
I've never EVER have heard anyone in my family, on the street, at a club etc, ever complain about the interface their VZW phones use. But if I formed my opinion over internet boards like this one, I'd be inclined to think everyone was up in arms over it. Get over it already.
As an analyst, I see that VZW's profit margins are higher than AT&T Mobility or Sprint. I guess from a business perspective, locking down their handsets isn't a bad idea. I bet you if Sprint or AT&T could get away with following VZW's business model, they would. The truth is, they can't. Neither of them come close to the amount of postpaid retail net adds each quarter. AT&T's only saving grace is the large sum of prepaid/tracfone users they use to inflate their subscriber totals.
The only reason I don't use VZW is because T-Mobile works great where I need it and I can get the same services for about $ 35 less per month. I don't change my phones everyday so the phone freedom or phone swapping benefit with GSM is irrelevant to me as it is to most users.
In the end, I say buy what you want. Let your wallet speak for you. But don't demonize a product or service that obviously works well for millions and millions of people. If there is any indication of consumer happiness, VZW takes the cake survey after survey - poll after poll. They must be doing something right? Perhaps some of us are too nerdy to appreciate things for what they are and work ourselves up over stuff that isn't all that important? | |
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the bright side.... is that depending on the authentication (ESN? How about in demo?) this may be attainable for those willing to mod their phone. | |
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