googletel

Verizon today announced that they are opening up their wireless network to all compatible CDMA devices, TechCrunch reports. A friend just messaged me citing this as good news, "they are opening up the walled garden, eh?". While this news is encouraging, I tend to think Verizon is still evil.

Firstly, unlike the unlocked GSM phone market, third party sales of CDMA devices aren't exactly flourishing. Where will customers be coming from with their untethered CDMA phones? I'm guessing, and I know Verizon is hoping, that customers will be bringing their Sprint devices right on over. So what appears as a friendly act of openness, could really boil down to a customer grab.

Secondly, I'm guessing that Verizon will be charging some reasonably substantial "service activation" fee to bring devices to their network. Really, they aren't losing anything when compared with selling subsidized phones chock full of Verizon services. What I think this announcement boils down to is a seemingly heroic attempt to sway public opinion towards Verizon with promises of openness. Brilliant, but evil.

Ditch the long contracts, ditch the pricey cancellation fees, and support non-BREW third party software, then I'll be impressed. Long live Googletel!

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Yesterday I came across this Wired article "10 Reasons To Throw Away Your Cellphone", the contents of which I wholeheartedly do not agree with. Therefore, I shall refute each claim and defeat the evil cellphone haters.

1. It makes your life more complicated: Wrong, my cellphone makes my life easier. It makes my wife less angry with me, it helps me when I am lost, it amuses me when I am in a line, it helps me realize what meetings I am missing, it lets me check my email without starting my stupid laptop, and, above all, it lets me call people wherever I am. My cellphone makes life more complicated than sitting alone in the woods, yes, but easier on the whole.

2. It's horribly expensive: Maybe. Thankfully my Nokia E61i super phone is a loaner from Nokia and my bill is EQO subsidized. For me it is cheap, and that's what's really important. For the rest of the world, cost versus benefit, people are shelling out aren't they?

3. It enslaves you to a one sided contract: Agreed, the carriers are screwing us because they can, but without them our phones would just be walkie talkies. Googletel, please save us.

4. It makes you perpetually available: Turn it off. Set it to silent and ignore it.

5. It is boring: Clearly this man has not played S-Tris 2 for S60 3rd edition or taken naughty pictures and immediately Shozu'd them to unsuspecting victims. And how could he cite the iPhone as boring!?! The iPhone is the most fantastically amusing device I have ever come across.

6. It must constantly be recharged: True, but so must all of us. This is really not that bad, I spend more than half my life sitting at my desk or driving, both convenient charging locations. I have never run out of battery, plus batteries these days usually get at least a few days.

7. It knows where you are: If you are like me, and you are, nobody cares where you are. More important is that you know where you are, which is really the true value of GPS on a phone.

8. It encourages stupid people to become a public menace: That I will agree with, cellphone use while driving is bad. Thankfully I have been blessed with the prodigious skills required to call my wife every night on the way home from work. Come on, everybody does it.

9. Ubiquitous pleather accessory shops: I agree, I hate cellphone accessories, mostly because I work in Richmond, BC, land of Hello Kitty cell straps. I am defeated on point nine, but I must go on...

10. It turns you into a public annoyance: Whatever, everybody can remember a hilarious incident involving a poorly timed incoming call! There is truth to this point, but with great power comes great responsibility. We can all do our part; I throw popcorn at, or kick if they are close enough, anybody who even opens their phone in a movie theater.

I believe I have proven by the theory of mathematical induction that cellphones are indeed quite beneficial. Even though I failed to strike down each and every point, I still give myself 7/10.

Q.E.D.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Yesterday TechCrunch reported that the FCC had released the auction rules for the 700MHz spectrum in their post FCC Fails To Mark Its Place in History. Indeed, GigaOm reckons that Google was awarded half a win in their battle to ensure Open Devices, Open Applications, Open Services, and Open Networks for this prized frequency band. What does it all mean? Well, the ruling in favor of only Open Devices and Open Applications is a step in the right direction for American Wireless and should ensure that the big carriers can't sell locked devices as they do on their current networks. Check out the CTIA's response to what openness there will be, bloody fascists. More importantly, what TechCrunch is alluding to with the title of their post is that the FCC missed their chance to turn the American wireless industry upside down. In not mandating Open Services and Open Networks, the FCC is basically blocking any plans Google may or may not have had for GoogleTel. Personally, I was really hoping the FCC would have the guts not to take the middle road here. A new national carrier in the form of GoogleTel would be a joy to see and could only benefit the consumer.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist