Carriers in Europe are mandated to accept any phone compatible with their network protocol. It makes selecting your wireless service and phone much more intuitive. Phone XYZ is the coolest with the features you want? Awesome… get it. And the wireless provider ABC has the mix of features you want in a wireless plan without extra “features” you wouldn’t want to pay for? Great! There you go!
Obviously I’m simplifying things, but it just makes more sense. Because when the wireless providers have a lock on the devices they allow on their network, they subsidize them. And they lock features out. And then they add those same features back in a new and improved clunky, proprietary format for the low, low monthly price of…!
Prime example: lately I’ve been looking at getting a new phone. It’s about that time, and now that I’m no longer in school, my schedule is far less than routine. Essentially, I just need a phone with a calendar. But I already keep my entire schedule in iCal on my Macbook Pro. So I want my phone to sync the calendar and address book (it doesn’t have to sync anything else as far as I’m concerned). Ask a Verizon wireless sales associate this, and they’ll readily reply that yes, their phones can do that. But not all. Check out this list of phones on Apple’s website to see which ones are denoted with (5) to indicate…
Why just Verizon’s version? Could that be because they lock their phones down beyond what any other carrier attempts?
So instead of working towards letting us use the awesome technological features that Motorola and LG have heavily advertised (Bluetooth isn’t only for hands-free headsets, Verizon), the U.S. wireless providers treat customers with contempt, acting like watching television on a 1.5-inch by 1.5-inch screen is what really gets my wireless heart a-thumpin’.
Hopefully this news on the Congressional debate will turn into much better news later on.
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