Community update: The 850 MHz issue

[Mike Hodson]

On 11/6/07, AVee <openmoko-comunity at avee.org> wrote:
> On Tuesday 06 November 2007 17:06, hank williams wrote:
> > Yeah, I am pretty amazed at this one.
> >
> > Its really hard to imagine a company building a phone that didnt think
> > through what frequencies were needed.
>
> Frankly, i'm not that suprised, 850 really is a US thing. You are missing out
> on lot of phones because of the different frequency and the amount of control
> the operators have over phones.

I am rather surprised actually at your rebuttal saying "its a US"
thing.  Yes, our country is backwards with telecom laws, backwards
with telecom monopolies, and backwards because they never innovate.
We've -always- been 3 years behind Japan, about 1.5-2 behind europe,
when the japanese networks are CDMA/3g-UMTS.  Sadly the japanese have
locked their handsets down to all get out, the frequencies dont match
up, and we are deprived of wonderful handsets.  I literally go to
www.au.kddi.com and cry.

While this is sadly a fact of the American mobile market it is not the
cause for the Neo to be missing 850.   When a phone comes out saying
that its chipset is quad band, never 100% verifies this ability, and
then apparently some oversight caused this to not be fully enabled,
thats a major issue.

I am extremely sad that this has happened, as now I will probably have
to wait for the third total design revision to buy now.  While Denver
(where I reside) has great 850 and 1900 coverage, if I am unable to
travel with my phone to certain areas where its 850 only, I will be at
a loss.

(My personal plea to FIC: go CDMA 1xEVDO-rev0/revA if at all possible
for an american handset variation; And I am almost certain somewhere a
chipset exists that could support both America and Japanese
frequencies, as there are dual-mode phones available from AU.

I hear Sprint is starting to activate non-sprint handsets as part of a
settlement in California; they've taken said settlement for Cali and
made it policy nationwide.  This would allow the phone to be activated
even without being 'sanctioned' by the network with their money-making
phone customizations and such. )

This would be wonderful for data coverage too, and you would get the
benefit of having an unlimited highspeed dataplan to kill with all the
linuxy goodness that will be the Neo/whatever follows the Neo. I
already plan to buy a small, battery powered portable EVDO dongle to
WIFi adapter whenever an 850-able phone is released.  I'd hide that in
my backpack and have highspeed data on my neo on the go. :)

Mike