Verizon to open up network

[[LaW]Maverick]

Ok, so Verizon, the most anal phone company of all time, is OPENING UP THEIR NETWORK TO ANY DEVICE!

 

What's that really mean? Simply put, the customer will be able to buy equipment from ANYWHERE that supports CDMA and put it on Verizon's network. What's that mean for us? Well, right now Verizon picks and chooses from hundreds of phones that handset manufacturers present to them and sells only those phones to you. Verizon also cripples these phones and puts a terrible standardized Verizon menu system on them. Well, now companies like Motorola will simply be able to make a Verizon compatible phone (CDMA) and sell it directly to us. That's good news because right now Motorola has to pay royalties and all sorts of other fees to get Verizon to carry their phones. That drives the final cost of the phone up for consumers when not buying them at promotional prices. So if Motorola can sell their phones directly to us, we can buy them at similarly low prices to the promotional ones found in stores, but we'd be able to do everything the phone was designed to do (Such as work with Motorola phone tools) instead of having a crippled piece of crap. Hoorah!

 

That being said, the other major development with Verizon is their announcement that they will be on board with Google's Android. What's that? It's basically an open source platform for phones. Handset manufacturers can take this open source code, without paying tons of royalty money to Microsoft or Linux developers, and design a GUI with it. No more standardized Verizon craptastic menus, and with the program being open source for the companies that are on board with it, manufacturing costs will drop dramatically. Can't beat it with a stick. It's like the cell phone companies are learning that people are ticked off at the way they do business....finally.

 

Anyway, I know there's a lot of people out there that like gadget phones, and these two developments should bring in a new era of ultra high-tech phones. Heck, soon we may even catch up to Japan (who scoffed at the iPhone saying that it was "cute" but wouldn't buy one).

 

Edit: This is supposed to happen middle of 2008 to the end of 2008

Edited December 11, 2007 by [LaW]Maverick

[anonymo]

Only if they stop using CDMA2000 1x will you actually see better phones on Verizon. I highly disagree that the reason you don't have a large variety of phones is because of Verizon locking their phones or charging royalties (which is probably stopping some phones, but in reality it's the network). Their wireless protocol is barely considered third generation and is currently the limiting factor for phone variety. So maybe this is Verizon dropping the hint that they are upgrading their network, I mean, it is the 21st century and all.

[Tek-Almighty]

I take out my years old phone.

 

It has signal.

 

Someone calls.

 

I answer or not.

 

If wife, if stuck on icy road, answer.

 

If house on fire, make call to emergency.

 

No pictures, No video, No games, No text, No MP3, No Email...no care.

 

When did cells phones become a must have accessory...but still disposable? We toss cell phones out like candy wrappers. I have students that have had 3-4 phones by the time they are 16 years old. Simply because they HAD to have yet another feature to distract them while in class, at home, in bed, on bus, at mall, at work.

 

In 10 years of cell phone use, I've had 3 phones.

 

I bought a 2nd phone, when I went from US Cellular to Verizon.

 

I bought 3rd phone when 2nd phone broke.

 

I say buy cheapest phone there is which will work on your network...then use it as a phone. When necessary.

 

That's just me...I'm old and bitter.

[dirtY_joE]

I take out my years old phone.

 

It has signal.

 

Someone calls.

 

I answer or not.

 

If wife, if stuck on icy road, answer.

 

If house on fire, make call to emergency.

 

No pictures, No video, No games, No text, No MP3, No Email...no care.

 

When did cells phones become a must have accessory...but still disposable? We toss cell phones out like candy wrappers. I have students that have had 3-4 phones by the time they are 16 years old. Simply because they HAD to have yet another feature to distract them while in class, at home, in bed, on bus, at mall, at work.

 

In 10 years of cell phone use, I've had 3 phones.

 

I bought a 2nd phone, when I went from US Cellular to Verizon.

 

I bought 3rd phone when 2nd phone broke.

 

I say buy cheapest phone there is which will work on your network...then use it as a phone. When necessary.

 

That's just me...I'm old and bitter.

 

 

 

 

one word AMEN!!

[Unclean]

Well, that settles it... I'm renewing for 1 year now, not 2.

 

Very cool stuff, too. This is huge.

[anonymo]

I take out my years old phone.

 

It has signal.

 

Someone calls.

 

I answer or not.

 

If wife, if stuck on icy road, answer.

 

If house on fire, make call to emergency.

 

No pictures, No video, No games, No text, No MP3, No Email...no care.

 

When did cells phones become a must have accessory...but still disposable? We toss cell phones out like candy wrappers. I have students that have had 3-4 phones by the time they are 16 years old. Simply because they HAD to have yet another feature to distract them while in class, at home, in bed, on bus, at mall, at work.

 

In 10 years of cell phone use, I've had 3 phones.

 

I bought a 2nd phone, when I went from US Cellular to Verizon.

 

I bought 3rd phone when 2nd phone broke.

 

I say buy cheapest phone there is which will work on your network...then use it as a phone. When necessary.

 

That's just me...I'm old and bitter.

Other words of wisdom from our friend Tek:

-horse and buggy>car

-showering only washes off that protective layer of dirt you've spent so long collecting

-there's nothing you can't convey in Morse code

-light is over rated, especially after 5pm

-the internet was much better when it was actually a series of tubes

-get off my lawn with your silly Pogos you punk kids

 

[NOFX]

awesome, google is gonna gonna hit this market hard and hopefully we will see changes. We are getting completely ripped by cell phone carriers.

Of course you can use any CDMA phone on any CDMA network if you unlock it. But who wants to go to all that trouble. If you look at a phone as a peice of electronics, there is no way that it costs that much.

 

all that money is just the companies, locking it and making you pay, basically extortion, except since you don't NEED it, its not extortion. I hope google buys up this airspace, opens up cheap cell service that any phone can be used on. Verizon is only doing it a little early hoping to bring in the customer, because when google announces their plan to do this. You know everyone is going to hop ship from their carrier.

[[LaW]Maverick]

Only if they stop using CDMA2000 1x will you actually see better phones on Verizon. I highly disagree that the reason you don't have a large variety of phones is because of Verizon locking their phones or charging royalties (which is probably stopping some phones, but in reality it's the network). Their wireless protocol is barely considered third generation and is currently the limiting factor for phone variety. So maybe this is Verizon dropping the hint that they are upgrading their network, I mean, it is the 21st century and all.

 

CDMA + EVDO = fastest data network in US, bar none. That's hardly 3rd gen. CDMA isn't exactly out of date, and a lot of Verizon Phones (like mine) support GSM as well. In other words, if you were handset manufacturer, and you were going to make phones unlocked to sell to the masses, chances are you'd make GSM/CDMA phones to appeal to the WHOLE market. Simple enough, right?

 

In addition, I will post up some articles that go into further detail on the open network policy. On top of that, the CDMA network is also the one with the best reception in the US...you can argue it all you want, but the fact is it has the broadest coverage, which is the sole reason I'm a Verizon customer. I've hated the company's past policies, which is why I'm excited for this one!

 

Articles:

Praise from a Skeptic: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew...-opinion-center

4g: http://www.betanews.com/article/Verizon_pr...cess/1197328540

Android: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140347-c...ds/article.html

 

Oh, and let me be the first to say that I absolutely loath Verizon as a company at this point. I'm simply pointing this out because, wanting the best reception, if the company I'm a customer of finally turns around starts doing things right (such as opening up their network) then I'll be happy as all get out. Just so you know, Motorola, LG, Samsung...all those manufacturers do have to pay royalties out the wazzoo every time they make a phone for a specific network. They also have to pay extra fees just to have their names associated with it. For instance, the Verizon xv6800 is actually made by HTC, but you notice that nowhere on Verizon official documentation does it say "HTC," just "Verizon." Why? Because HTC didn't pay the extra money to have their name attached to to the phone for Verizon marketing. I looked all that crap up when I used to work there. It's true, just like activation fees are nothing but fluff to squeeze an extra $35 out of you (admitted by the Verizon regional director guy for my area).

[stutters]

hi, last month called, and they want their news back.

 

(you probably didn't get the call on your zune).

[akaM2]

ATT released a press release basically saying, hello mr verizon we have done this for some time now, welcome to sim cards

[[LaW]Maverick]

ATT released a press release basically saying, hello mr verizon we have done this for some time now, welcome to sim cards

 

Agreed. Like I said, I've hated Verizon's policies and that's why I'm excited. I'm not saying it's not possible to do with other carriers already (though you still have to get a sim card for AT&T and pay extra on top of the phone price), I'm saying that I'm happy to see Verizon not be such @#*$@* bags. :-)

[YoMamma]

Yay for this news! Now I can finally smash my v710 on the ground and buy a better phone. I said I was never going to buy a new phone from Verizon again and now I won't have to! I like the service, but their phone are such crap. I literally had to "hack" into the hex files of my phone so that I could use BlueTooth and make my own good quality mp3 ringtones for free, rather than buy the crappy quality ones from Verizon for $5 a piece.

 

I HATED Verizon's crap interface and the fact that they turned off every cool option that my phone was supposed to have.

[[LaW]Maverick]

Yay for this news! Now I can finally smash my v710 on the ground and buy a better phone. I said I was never going to buy a new phone from Verizon again and now I won't have to! I like the service, but their phone are such crap. I literally had to "hack" into the hex files of my phone so that I could use BlueTooth and make my own good quality mp3 ringtones for free, rather than buy the crappy quality ones from Verizon for $5 a piece.

 

I HATED Verizon's crap interface and the fact that they turned off every cool option that my phone was supposed to have.

 

I hacked my e815 like a mad-man. Their menu systems sucked. I even had custom themes on my e815. I even "hacked" the phone I have now to enable the USB modem on it. Stupid Verizon...