Re: 3G? What about CDMA?

2008-04-17 Thread Fred Janon
CDMA is being phased out: end of April in Australia, began a few years ago
in the US. Carriers are switching to GSM. Pack more subscribers on a cell,
even if they need more cells. GSM allowed Europe to unify their mobile
network before the US even realized that they had to do it for
interoperability and other reasons (more secure, etc...). I could travel
through Europe and not loose a call from England to Germany through Holland,
France more than 10 years ago. I could not even imagine that in the US at
the time.

On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 6:26 AM, Tilman Baumann [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 Kevin Dean wrote:

   With CDMA, you will not be able to use your phone on their network
   unless
   they say ok.
  
 
  This is also true of GSM. It would be stupid to adopt ANY technology
  that didn't give you the ability to reject who could use it. If the
  carrier didn't have ultimate control then they'd not be able to boot
  non-paying people from using their network. It is not the technology
  but the policy of the carriers that allows this movement.
 

 With CDMA it is (or at least was) common policy.
 No so with GSM. Any provider which would do this would go out of business
 soon.
 It screws Roaming and it screws the open phone marked. (Open marked not
 open phone ;) )


 Just my 2 Eurocent
  Tilman


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Re: 3G? What about CDMA?

2008-04-17 Thread Lowell Higley
I believe CDMA is a proprietary technology owned/licensed/patented by
Qualcom.  If that is correct, you'd have to license to use the patent.  Kind
of conflicts with the idea of an open phone.  I guess no more so than some
of the GSM stuff... but hey.. who knows.

On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 11:02 AM, Steven ** 
[EMAIL PROTECTED][EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:

 I talk with friends and co-workers about OpenMoko and the Neo
 Freerunner all the time.  Inevitably, they say something like That's
 cool.  Will it work with Verizon? or That's cool.  Will it work with
 Sprint?.  And of course, the answer is no...  I don't think any of my
 friends are with att (even though they're supposedly the largest
 wireless carrier in the US) or any other GSM provider.  They're all on
 Sprint or Verizon.  I myself was originally on Verizon and switched to
 att solely for the Neo.  But most people aren't willing to do that
 (and most are locked into contracts with a $250+ early termination
 fee).

 So, have you considered making a CDMA version of the Neo?  I think
 that'd about double your sales in the US.

 -Steven

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3G? What about CDMA?

2008-04-16 Thread Steven **
I talk with friends and co-workers about OpenMoko and the Neo
Freerunner all the time.  Inevitably, they say something like That's
cool.  Will it work with Verizon? or That's cool.  Will it work with
Sprint?.  And of course, the answer is no...  I don't think any of my
friends are with att (even though they're supposedly the largest
wireless carrier in the US) or any other GSM provider.  They're all on
Sprint or Verizon.  I myself was originally on Verizon and switched to
att solely for the Neo.  But most people aren't willing to do that
(and most are locked into contracts with a $250+ early termination
fee).

So, have you considered making a CDMA version of the Neo?  I think
that'd about double your sales in the US.

-Steven

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Re: 3G? What about CDMA?

2008-04-16 Thread Kevin Dean
GSM is essentially an international standard. With some exceptions,
CDMA isn't used much.

Furthermore, even in the USA, Verizon will be deploying a GSM network
soon (next few years). So a Freerunner WILL work on Verizon in the
near future.

Don't count on a CDMA device, using a relatively closed network
doesn't meet the aims of the Openmoko project.

On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 2:02 PM, Steven **
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 I talk with friends and co-workers about OpenMoko and the Neo
  Freerunner all the time.  Inevitably, they say something like That's
  cool.  Will it work with Verizon? or That's cool.  Will it work with
  Sprint?.  And of course, the answer is no...  I don't think any of my
  friends are with att (even though they're supposedly the largest
  wireless carrier in the US) or any other GSM provider.  They're all on
  Sprint or Verizon.  I myself was originally on Verizon and switched to
  att solely for the Neo.  But most people aren't willing to do that
  (and most are locked into contracts with a $250+ early termination
  fee).

  So, have you considered making a CDMA version of the Neo?  I think
  that'd about double your sales in the US.

  -Steven

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Re: 3G? What about CDMA?

2008-04-16 Thread Steven **
I don't see how GSM is much less closed of a network protocol than
CDMA (the interchangeable SIM cards being the big difference).  The
GSM chip is the most locked down hardware on the Neo.  A CDMA chip
would be no different.

As far as the aims of the Openmoko project, I don't see how CDMA
conflicts with that.  I thought one of the aims of Openmoko was to
show people the benefits of opensource, mobile computing.  It seems
odd to give people choices over everything but the service provider.

-Steven

On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 1:14 PM, Kevin Dean [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 GSM is essentially an international standard. With some exceptions,
  CDMA isn't used much.

  Furthermore, even in the USA, Verizon will be deploying a GSM network
  soon (next few years). So a Freerunner WILL work on Verizon in the
  near future.

  Don't count on a CDMA device, using a relatively closed network
  doesn't meet the aims of the Openmoko project.



  On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 2:02 PM, Steven **
  [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
   I talk with friends and co-workers about OpenMoko and the Neo
Freerunner all the time.  Inevitably, they say something like That's
cool.  Will it work with Verizon? or That's cool.  Will it work with
Sprint?.  And of course, the answer is no...  I don't think any of my
friends are with att (even though they're supposedly the largest
wireless carrier in the US) or any other GSM provider.  They're all on
Sprint or Verizon.  I myself was originally on Verizon and switched to
att solely for the Neo.  But most people aren't willing to do that
(and most are locked into contracts with a $250+ early termination
fee).
  
So, have you considered making a CDMA version of the Neo?  I think
that'd about double your sales in the US.
  
-Steven
  
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Re: 3G? What about CDMA?

2008-04-16 Thread Kevin Dean
On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 2:50 PM, Steven **
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 I don't see how GSM is much less closed of a network protocol than
  CDMA (the interchangeable SIM cards being the big difference).

Stop thinking in terms of the technology itself and think in terms of
a userbase. In the majority of the world, a CDMA phone would be a
restriction on the number of carriers you can use and where. In the
US, it's Sprint and Verizon (and even that is only true short term).
There are some Japanese carriers that are also CDMA. Everywhere else
uses GSM. GSM is in every European market, and there are a LOT of
potential customers in Europe.

Openmoko is about openness, not just about open source. Even the
model being used to sell the devices tries to break away from the Go
to your carrier's store and buy the device to use on their network
paradigm. Buy your phone, powered by Free Software, and pick any of
the carriers who use the most common cellular technology on the
planet.


  The
  GSM chip is the most locked down hardware on the Neo.  A CDMA chip
  would be no different.

Even if that doesn't work for you, it's a dumb investment to NOT aim
for the largest market possible. By making a CDMA-based phone,
Openmoko only captures a small percentage of the total number of
worldwide cellular users. As a fledgling brand it isn't feasible to
make BOTH a CDMA and a GSM based product in a debut offering - the
expense is too high with the unknown to big a variable.


  As far as the aims of the Openmoko project, I don't see how CDMA
  conflicts with that.  I thought one of the aims of Openmoko was to
  show people the benefits of opensource, mobile computing.  It seems
  odd to give people choices over everything but the service provider.

Lack of choice is the #1 complaint Verizon got from their customers.
Verizon Exclusive phones that they couldn't use off the Verizon
network. Phones they owned from their other carrier that couldn't be
used on Verizon.

Because of this market pressure, Verizon is switching their networks
to GSM so that they can seamlessly compete with GSM providers (which
is the majority of the market). It's in the interest of Verizon AND
the customers to standardize on a single set of technology and GSM is
that standard. It is possible that by the time Verizon's GSM network
is up (2009, from what I heard) the Freerunner will be mass market.
In that case, the only network that it won't work on is Sprint's. You
can debate over who is exactly at fault in that situation; all the
handset makers worldwide or Sprint.


  -Steven



  On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 1:14 PM, Kevin Dean [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
   GSM is essentially an international standard. With some exceptions,
CDMA isn't used much.
  
Furthermore, even in the USA, Verizon will be deploying a GSM network
soon (next few years). So a Freerunner WILL work on Verizon in the
near future.
  
Don't count on a CDMA device, using a relatively closed network
doesn't meet the aims of the Openmoko project.
  
  
  
On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 2:02 PM, Steven **
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 I talk with friends and co-workers about OpenMoko and the Neo
  Freerunner all the time.  Inevitably, they say something like That's
  cool.  Will it work with Verizon? or That's cool.  Will it work with
  Sprint?.  And of course, the answer is no...  I don't think any of my
  friends are with att (even though they're supposedly the largest
  wireless carrier in the US) or any other GSM provider.  They're all on
  Sprint or Verizon.  I myself was originally on Verizon and switched to
  att solely for the Neo.  But most people aren't willing to do that
  (and most are locked into contracts with a $250+ early termination
  fee).

  So, have you considered making a CDMA version of the Neo?  I think
  that'd about double your sales in the US.

  -Steven

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Re: 3G? What about CDMA?

2008-04-16 Thread Ben Burdette

Steven ** wrote:

I don't see how GSM is much less closed of a network protocol than
CDMA (the interchangeable SIM cards being the big difference).  The
GSM chip is the most locked down hardware on the Neo.  A CDMA chip
would be no different.
  
Actually the situation here IS very different, because of that 
interchangability.  With a GSM phone, its the SIM that allows you on the 
network.  You can (theoretically at least), go down to the T-Mobile 
store and get their bottom-of-the-line 20$ phone, then take it home and 
put the SIM into your neo, with T-Mobile being none the wiser. 

With CDMA, you will not be able to use your phone on their network 
unless they say ok.  This means I can't use my old CDMA sprint phone on 
my new verizon account.  If I switch back to sprint, my verizon phone 
won't work anymore.  If openmoko was CDMA but sprint and verizon decide 
they don't like the openness of the openmoko phones, you're SOL.  GSM 
gives the users choice as to what phone they want to run, and takes that 
choice away from the carrier.



As far as the aims of the Openmoko project, I don't see how CDMA
conflicts with that.  I thought one of the aims of Openmoko was to
show people the benefits of opensource, mobile computing.  It seems
odd to give people choices over everything but the service provider.
  
You can choose any service provider you want - as long as they are on 
GSM.  


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