Holy Crap. Verizon Wireless Says ?Bring Your Own? Device

[Zee]

NY Times.com

November 27, 2007, 11:24 am
Verizon Wireless Says ?Bring Your Own? Device

By Saul Hansell

Tags: AT&T, Verizon Wireless, wireless
Verizon BlackBerry

Verizon Wireless has stunned the wireless world by announcing that by sometime next year it will open its network to ?any apps, any device.?

There is a lot of fine print, but the essence appears to be that Verizon will offer two flavors of service: its traditional bundle, which typically includes a subsidy for phone purchase and various other features, and ?bring your own? device service, which will be open to any device that meets ?minimum technical standards.? The company went on to say:

While most Verizon Wireless customers prefer the convenience of full service, the company is listening through today?s announcement to a small but growing number of customers who want another choice without full service.

Verizon Wireless had several reasons to get ahead on unbundled access. If it didn?t do so, T-Mobile or Sprint would surely have taken the lead. And the move helps attract devices that could compete against the Apple iPhone.


The timing most certainly relates to the coming 700-megahertz spectrum auction. The government is selling off frequencies that had been used by UHF television ? soon to be freed by the switch to digital broadcasting ? that are seen as especially useful for mobile voice and data service. Google, which has said it will bid in this auction, has called for rules that would force carriers using the spectrum to open their networks to any device. Verizon?s move today is a way to head off that sort of mandate and open up on its own terms.

Most of all, it helps tweak the spreadsheet models of future revenue so Verizon can be confident in bidding for spectrum. Simply put, the more customers it can count on?either traditional or ?bring your own? device?the more comfortable it can feel paying for bandwidth.

Interestingly, Ralph de la Vega, the chief executive of AT&T Mobility, spoke about the need for spectrum in a long interview with Engadget published yesterday.

I think the auction is very key because 700MHz is premium spectrum and our wireless company runs on spectrum. That?s the lifeblood of any wireless company. ? We have seen the growth of the use of data, in particular with devices like the iPhone. My take is that as more and more companies try to step up to that bar that Apple has established, they will produce maybe not exactly but very close to an Apple-compelling device that is going to drive more and more usage. And so, we have looked ahead and we probably don?t need that spectrum for several years, but we are bullish on the future of this business and what customers are going to do with these applications.

Mr. de la Vega also tried to portray AT&T as the network that gives customers the most options. ?I?ve never called it open access,? he said. ?I?d like to think of it as giving customers more choices about the devices and the applications that they want to run.?

With Verizon?s announcement today, AT&T and the other wireless carriers will have a lot more choices to consider.

From a business standpoint, the first person with enough money or a company like LG or motorola, etc etc, that creates and sells a small, generally pretty, fully functional and unlocked cdma phone, will be super rich in a day once the public all rushes to buy that phone.

 

[KLin]

Very interesting. :thumbsup:

 

[Anubis]

yea i just read this on google, and all i have to say is ITS ABOUT GOD DAMN TIME

 

[SmoochyTX]

Finally!

 

[Deeko]

I'm kinda confused...probably cuz I've always bought unlocked phones and popped in a t-mobile sim card. I was under the impression that you could always sign up for a contract as long as you had a phone that worked.

 

[Zee]

Originally posted by: Deeko
I'm kinda confused...probably cuz I've always bought unlocked phones and popped in a t-mobile sim card. I was under the impression that you could always sign up for a contract as long as you had a phone that worked.

For GSM yes. Now CDMA has a possibility of becoming a viable "open" market as well. It depends on the specifics as Verizon pushes this through next year and more details are available about the conditions for this "BYO" service

 

[Deeko]

Interesting, I thought if you called them and gave them the ESN they'd still activate service. Good for them for doing the smart thing.

 

[oogabooga]

it seems (at least from what verizon is saying) their standards aren't going to be super strict eliminating most phones and their leaning towards "CDMA and won't crash our network? Welcome to verizon!"

.. i'm actually semi happy to be a verizon customer right now.

 

[ElFenix]

how many cdma devices are there that run on US spectrum that aren't available here?

i guess this coupled with sprint's decision to sell unlocked phones means that you don't have to use verizon's shitty interface, at least.

 

[OutHouse]

if i could get verizon at my house i would be interested....

 

[waggy]

yeah i was reading about this early this afternoon.

going to have to look into it. we have verizion now and it always ticks me off that the phones suck.

 

[Ika]

Awesome. Verizon has amazing service, but their crappy phones makes them not so attractive. Not to mention how they money-grub by disabling phone features and making you pay for them...

 

[boomhower]

Anybody think this has anything to do with google's recent doings?

 

[Thump553]

Great news. My Verizon contract ran out a couple of months ago & I've been thinking of switching, but maybe now I'll hold off to see what happens. Their limited choices and crippled hardward always bugged me, but the service and reception have been excellent.

 

[Kaido]

If Verizon offered GSM service, I'd switch my iPhone over so fast AT&T wouldn't even know I was gone. I know they have GSM service since they offer that worldwide phone. I hate AT&T's service

 

[abaez]

Yea this is an interesting move, but with CDMA I don't know. I mean most CDMA phones are made with the U.S. marketing in mind since we're the only ones who use it heavily so, they'd make a CDMA phone to.. use on Verizon? Which they would have done anyway.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: abaez
Yea this is an interesting move, but with CDMA I don't know. I mean most CDMA phones are made with the U.S. marketing in mind since we're the only ones who use it heavily so, they'd make a CDMA phone to.. use on Verizon? Which they would have done anyway.

well there is still Alltel and Sprint PCS phones. however, how many phones those companies get that Verizon does not is something I do not know. Hopefully this brings some awesome phones though, specifically with the manufacturer's UI on it, and not Verizon's. However, Verizon's UI doesn't exactly bother me, it's just boring. I can access and find everything I need to on my phone, and it's rather intuitive. It's just ugly.

 

[videogames101]

WOOT!

 

[foghorn67]

Ugh, Verizon's UI is un-intuitive. I am wondering if I can make a sentence with more U's and I's.
Anyway, I went to the Verizon store today to pick up a decent holster or case for my new Q, and and they had a mini meeting about this in plain view.
It seemed like the manager or supervisor was pissed. Why, I don't know.

But I really wished for an Alltel Razor, because the UI was untouched by Alltel. I could have done the flash, but I didn't want to risk bricking my phone.
I am glad the Q is WM5, it's not the slickest interface, but it's oodles better then the Verizon UI.

Really, for me it's a love/hate thing with Verizon. All calls I made for customer service, tech support and billing have been handled competently and with sincerity. I never got that with AT&T (Cingular). They have great reception in my area and any other area I frequent.
However, the crippled phones really piss me off.
I can't wait for Android and other projects to come about. The next couple of years are going to be really nice for mobile phones and pda's, and I think Verizon needs to get their heads out of their asses before they get ran over.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: Kaido
If Verizon offered GSM service, I'd switch my iPhone over so fast AT&T wouldn't even know I was gone. I know they have GSM service since they offer that worldwide phone. I hate AT&T's service

The GSM part only works overseas with Vodafone partners. It won't roam on GSM in the states.