3G? What about CDMA?

[michael at crosscode.org]

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008, Kevin Dean wrote:

> On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 4:52 PM, Ben Burdette <bburdette at comcast.net> wrote:
>> Steven ** wrote:
>>
>
>> This means I can't use my old CDMA sprint phone on my new
>> verizon account.
>
> I'm assuming that it's POSSIBLE (how often it happens is irrelevant)
> to make a device that COULD work on both Sprint or Verizon if their
> policies permitted it using CDMA technology. If CDMA isn't compatible
> with itself, it's not a single standard.
>

 	Quick technical note - it's certainly possible and probably happens fairly
often. CDMA phones are locked much the same way GSM phones are, with a "master
code". If you frustrate tech. support enough at Sprint or Verizon they'll
eventually give you that code and then you can move it between carriers (this
happened quite a bit when the treo 700p was released as a sprint-only device,
for instance).

>>> 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.

 	I believe I read just a few days ago "You can have any color you want, as
long as it's black." Personally I'm a CDMA user (Sprint) because their data is
faster and a *lot* cheaper. I don't hold out any hope of a CDMA Neo, though,
for the reasons Kevin keeps mentioning - with all its flaws (personal opinion,
of course) GSM has a strong political push behind it and CDMA does not, so
you can use GSM almost anywhere in the world making it the perfect target
market. The switch to 4G (by which I mean WiMax, WiBro and LTE) may change 
that but I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime I have a prepaid SIM
from AT&T and I'm counting the days until the neo's advantages make me switch
permanently.

- Michael