On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 9:29 PM, Bob Jonkman <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bjonkman@sobac.com">bjonkman@sobac.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I expect that the other carriers will eventually offer more advanced phones that also cover the AWS spectrum. It may even reach the point where other carriers will eventually make use of those frequencies themselves. </blockquote>
<div><br>I am not sure that would happen. Adding extra frequencies in a phone costs money, so the cost of handsets will go up if they are five-band or more.<br><br>Plus, the way it is done in North America is that spectrum is auctioned off. I assume that whoever buys a portion of the spectrum has exclusive use for it. So why would carriers operating at the "normal " frequencies bother to add support for their competitors while the whole North American way of doing business is lock the handset to us, and make it a 3 year contract!<br>
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Does anyone know if the AWS frequencies will be rolled out in Europe and Asia, or are those frequencies already assigned to some other purpose there?<br>
</blockquote><div><br>I don't know for sure, but don't think there is a need at all. The "handset works only with one carrier" mentality is exclusively North American. In the rest of the world, handsets confirm to a standard (GSM) and all carriers support that standard. So in other words all carriers operate on the same frequencies. There is no need to operate on different frequencies.<br>
<br>There is no such thing as a locked/unlocked phone in most of the world. They are all unlocked by default. Only here do we face this whole artificial barriers.<br><br>There are 2 frequencies that GSM uses worldwide (900 and 1800 MHz). In the USA and Canada, there are 2 more frequencies (850 and 1900 MHz) and hence the need for quad band phones if one wants their phone to work abroad.<br>
<br><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM#GSM_frequencies">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM#GSM_frequencies</a><br><br>For AWS, just imagine a parallel internet that you have to connect to if you want to (say) access Google and Youtube. This is how it is appalling here with cell phones!<br>
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
As phones continue to become more sophisticated they'll contain radios capable of transmitting at AWS frequencies. AWS is a lower frequency than WiFi, so I don't see a technical limitation. <br></blockquote><div>
<br>Again, I think that AWS is a North American thing only. Therefore, there is no need outside of that region to have support for it. And handsets that have it will cost more. <br><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
The biggest problem will be carriers like Bell and Rogers that won't accept open phones, and cripple their own phones to disable the use of AWS. </blockquote><div><br>If a phone supports the 2 above North American frequencies, then it will work with Rogers. If a phone adds AWS, then it should work with that too. Rogers will not add AWS in their phones because it allows customers to switch to a competitor. For cripe's sake: they don't even allow a handset to work with their own Fido subsidiary!<br>
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Hopefully Wind Mobile will allow open phones or unlocked phones from other vendors on their network. </blockquote>
<div><br>They said regular unlocked GSM phones will NOT work, at least for now.<br><br><a href="http://www.windmobile.ca/support/faq/#question-7">http://www.windmobile.ca/support/faq/#question-7</a><br><br><a href="http://www.windmobile.ca/support/faq/phones-wind/#question-1">http://www.windmobile.ca/support/faq/phones-wind/#question-1</a><br>
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Wind Mobile has already said they'll be locking their phones initially, until they have enough market penetration that they no longer need to depend on phone sales. </blockquote>
<div><br>I think it is because their towers use AWS, and the handsets have to support that too. So regular unlocked phones will not work because of the
frequency mismatch. I am not expert though, so I could be wrong.<br>
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Even though Wind Mobile will be offering contractless service, I think the up-front phone price is still below sustainability unless they sell some air time too. The fear is that customers will buy the phones, and then the other carriers will undercut prices to lure those customers away (so, no air-time sales). That should be diminished if the phones are locked. There was also talk of the other carriers buying up all the phone stock so there wouldn't be any left for legitimate Wind customers (and so, no air-time sales). <br>
</blockquote><div><br>If they had support for normal GSM via unlocked phones, I would switch to them<br>given their cheaper prices. But that is not an option so far.<br> <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
--Bob.<br>
<br>
<br>
Bob Jonkman <<a href="mailto:bjonkman@sobac.com" target="_blank">bjonkman@sobac.com</a>> <a href="http://sobac.com/sobac/" target="_blank">http://sobac.com/sobac/</a><br>
SOBAC Microcomputer Services Voice: +1-519-669-0388<br>
6 James Street, Elmira ON Canada N3B 1L5 Cel: +1-519-635-9413<br>
Software --- Office & Business Automation --- Consulting<br>
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Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div></div><div class="h5">
If you ever travel, specially outside of Canada/USA, then GSM is the<br>
standard to have. If you have a handset that can do GSM (tri-band or<br>
quad-band) then you are good for most of the world.<br>
<br>
What this means is that you can buy a local SIM card and pop it<br>
into your handset and you are good to go.<br>
<br>
Prices are far cheaper in other parts of the world than here, for example<br>
I am told that a SIM card (effectively a phone number and a prepaid plan)<br>
is 10 LE in Egypt (that is CAD $1.92), and you can load it with 25 LE (that<br>
is CAD $4.81!) for 100 minutes.<br>
<br>
This beats roaming charges which can rack up in the 100s.<br>
<br>
Only Rogers and Fido have world standard GSM in Canada.<br>
<br>
A new player that opened for business yesterday is WIND Mobile. I was<br>
initially happy to hear that a new entrant is coming the the market. They<br>
are backed by an Egyptian magnate who made lots of money putting cell<br>
phone networks in many parts of the world.<br>
<br>
My enthusiasm was dampened after I found out that they operate in the<br>
AWS spectrum which is non-standard in the rest of the world (i.e. not<br>
GSM compatible). What this means is that unlocked phones will not<br>
work with them, meaning they have less handset choices and you have<br>
to buy it from them (something that is totally alien elsewhere).<br>
<br>
It is good ot have competition though. Perhaps Rogers will lower their<br>
prices eventually.<br>
<br>
For handsets, there is a new Android "Droid" phone that is getting good<br>
reviews. There is also the Nokia N900 which is Debian Linux.<br></div></div>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Khalid M. Baheyeldin<br><a href="http://2bits.com">2bits.com</a>, Inc.<br><a href="http://2bits.com">http://2bits.com</a><br>Drupal optimization, development, customization and consulting.<br>
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. -- Edsger W.Dijkstra<br>Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. -- Leonardo da Vinci<br>