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Why Everyone Should Hate Cellphone Carriers
The Byelorrusian Spamtrap writes "Wired Magazine's made its position clear on the state of play in America's cellular industry, delivering a long, satisfying screed on why all of us should stop complaining and do something about it. 'They own politicians - Sure, it's just phones. In a world where worse things happen all the time amid the muck and despair of human existence, having to pay for premium text is hardly worth worrying about, is it? You can (and should) opt out, and not sign on the dotted line to begin with. But today's cell towers might be tomorrow's Pony Express: they're TV stations, internet access, emergency 911 and news networks all rolled into one. WWAN could well end up supplanting copper sooner than anyone expects: do you want these companies in charge of it?'"
Today: Anonymous prepaid
- buy a pre-activated T-mobile 2 Go SIM off of ebay
- buy an unlocked GSM phone off ebay
No contracts, no fees, no lame choice of stupid phones, nobody knows who you are or how to hassle you. You put minutes on the SIM card and that's that.
This is the "plan" my wife and I have been on since May. Works nicely. Some friends just asked me to set them up with the same deal, since they were sick of paying $90/mo for a set of phones they barely used.
Tomorrow:
Replace handset you bought in "step A" wth an openMoko device. My next handset will hopefully be 100% open-source. I can get partway there with the P2k tools and what not for Motorola, but a truly open device just makes it all that much easier.
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
So the issue is how to get out of the current muddle and to cut ties with these carriers. Of course, we can use Skype or various IM and video conferencing tools to talk to people without making a traditional landline or mobile call. The coming deployment of WiMAX networks will increase our ability to use IP-based devices for calling.
The forthcoming FCC auction of the 700MHz spectrum, now scheduled for January, will introduce more openness into the bidding process, and should enable a company such as Google to develop a competing service. Assuming that happens, there will be an alternative our dependence on the incumbent carriers, which will have its ups (price, flexibility) and possible downs (advertising, privacy concerns).
There are also numerous efforts underway to create devices based on open source software. The Nokia N800/N810 http://www.nseries.com/ is a Linux-based device with a useful developer site http://www.maemo.org/. The OpenMoko project http://www.openmoko.org/ is aimed at developing an open source phone. These devices are, of course, unlocked. When OpenMoko has advanced a little further, you should be able to take anyone's SIM chip, put it in your OpenMoko phone, and make a call. For now, though, the best you can do is to have an unlocked phone. (I have about 8 SIM chips from different countries, and switch them when I travel, thereby avoiding the extortionate international roaming charges of the mobile carriers. You can easily buy "pay-as-you-go" service almost everywhere, including in the US.)
So we can already take various steps to loosen our ties to the cellphone carriers. With some luck, many of us will be able to extricate ourselves completely. It's only then that the cellphone carriers will feel the need to improve their products and services to attract and retain customers.
You buy prepaid cards for these phones. ... There is also much less information about you as a cell phone user, since the only way to track you back to your phone is through the company you bought it from.
Ummm, that's how they track you now. There isn't anything on my cell phone that indicates I own it, but it has a unique identifier (IMEI or whatever it's called) that the cell phone company knows.
In theory if more people used GSM phones and phone cards, there would be more competition since the cell providers can't lock you in to a contract.
No. There are many GSM carriers, even in Europe, that have contracts. Contracts are enforced with contract law. GSM has no effect on contract law. Incidentally, there are GSM and CDMA prepaid no-contract plans in the USA.
GSM has one big advantage for the consumer - it is very easy to switch phones. The cell phone company can't prevent you buying an unlocked phone from somewhere else and using it.
Most phones I call nowadays have very short lead-ins. Usually they now play the callee's message, and then after tell you about the beep, and from the first second of the call, I can press "1" to get directly to the beep. The one remaining notable exception to this is Nextel which for some reason always sends me on a trip of listening as they search for their subscriber, and finally connect me to their voicemail, however, according to the call log, the minutes elapsed don't start ticking until the call is actually connected to their voicemail.
Oh and then I can't believe how nice it is to have the iPhone where I have on-demand instant access to any voicemails, in any order, as long as I choose to store them. Having to wait for the call to connect to my voicemail, and then listen to the messages in order, and then have some expire from their storage after 16 days if I chose to "Archive" them... I mean wtf, archive a voicemail and it's gone in just over 2 weeks? That's not archiving.
Gravity Sucks
Gee, yeah, AT&T spent, what, nearly 3% of their network's value on improving it in '06. That's... huge? I guess? 2006 Annual Report
just get a prepaid phone from t-mobile - pretty cheap, and no contracts. Is 10c/minute that expensive? I use 300 min/month, and that would be about $30.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
The GSM networks are indeed more limited (T-Mobil and Cingular are the ones I've accessed) and the reception is not as good perhaps. However, you can buy very reasonably priced unlocked phones. I bought an unlocked from from Telestial in San Diego three years ago. I think that it cost around $100 US. I've used it in Spain, and twice in Italy. I now have a US SIM chip for it. I feed it T-Mobil cards every once in a while.
I hope you're able to take care of that smoke coming out of the ears problem. It sounds painful.
There are a couple possibilities:
Go with a prepaid plan like Virgin Mobile. I pay $5/month for about 25 minutes, and 5 cents/text. Plus, the money in my account just accumulates when I don't use it all. Of course, this is only a good deal if you don't chat a lot on your phone.
Or, in smaller cities, there's Cricket Wireless, which gives you unlimited voice and text for $45/month. This works great for my daughter, who's going to school in a town that has their coverage. But it wouldn't be good for someone who travels a lot (roaming fees).
or your ISP shuts off your connection for redistributing your service unauthorized.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
I am certain that figures would be higher in the US because of your lower population density, but remember that this is only true for the radio network. Core network upgrade prices are not proportional with territory surface, only with traffic and traffic is proportional with customer base and thus profit (fair game).
In the end, yes, the US mobile operators are price gouging, but this is because of greed, not network upgrades.
Didn't you get the memo? It's "The new at&t" now ;)
T-Shitty - both of these networks are less than... adiquateDefine adequate. I took a coverage hit to switch to T-Mobile instead of Verizon and live in one of the worst areas for T-Mobile (Binghamton, NY). Go to this site and key in "Binghamton, NY" and check it out for yourself.
In spite of the spotty rural coverage, it works at my house, it works all around the city and it works in every major city where I would conceivably travel to. It worked like a charm in the Outer Banks when I went there for vacation. And on a daily basis it provides me with coverage in 90% of the areas where Verizon would have. Plus I can use it anywhere in the World free of charge with an open wi-fi and broadband connection. If I'm willing to pay I can use it almost anywhere in the World with a GSM network. Let me know how seamless that international roaming is for you with CDMA.
If you are an urban/suburban dweller then I don't see why T-Mobile isn't a viable solution. It doesn't work everywhere that Verizon does, but I honestly don't give a shit if my phone doesn't work in the boonies. I only go to the boonies if I want to escape for awhile, and when I'm looking to escape I really don't want my solitude interrupted by my fucking cell phone ringing.
he GSM system in the US uses two different carrier bands than GSM systems in the rest of the world.Uhh, don't make it out like it's JUST the US. Most of the Americas use the 850/1900 bands. Europe and Asia tend to be 900/1800 And since when did quad-mode phones "cost significantly more"? My quad-band Motorola V195 on T-Mobile set me back a whooping $20 with one year contract. Don't want a contract? You can buy them on eBay for less then $50.
If you want the ability to use another companies sim card in your GSM phone, you have to UNLOCK your phone. Various companies have variously bad policies on thisUhh, what exactly is a "bad policy"? T-Mobile will unlock them after you've been a customer for three months, free of charge. It's my understanding that AT&T's policy is similar, though I have no direct-hand experience with them.
GSM isn't as widely deployed (outside of major cities) as CDMA is, but it's a workable technology for any geek that would rather have control over their phone and use a published open standard instead of the crippled phones/royalties owed to Qualcomm of the CDMA market.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.