Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] selecting a cell phone...

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Sat, 1 Sep 2007, Nimrod Levy wrote:

> On 8/31/07, Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
>
> > One thing I dont immediate get about this:  How do they deal with 
> > carriers?  Don't carriers want to limit use of that kind of freeing 
> > technology?  In other words, can't Sprint "just say no" to OpenMoko?
>
> Sprint might be able to, since they aren't a GSM carrier.  But with 
> other providers (like at&t and t-mobile), you can just pop in your sim 
> card and away you go.

I never really studied this stuff about unlocking and SIM cards.  The 
Neo 1973 that runs OpenMoko is an unlocked GSM phone.  Here is info about 
it from their Wiki:

http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Explaining_carriers_versus_phones

So the SIM card is essentially the key to access the service and the 
carrier has no other sort of control over the device, which looks like 
great news.  The missing bit of information here is how much the phone 
company charges for an open plan (or whatever they call it) where they 
give you the SIM card and let you decide which phone to use.  Usually the 
SIM card comes to you with a phone and a (2-year?) plan.

It would still be possible for the OpenMoko folks to work a deal on a plan 
with a carrier for everyone who buys a Neo 1973, but are they doing that? 
The package deal should save the user some money.  You might have to pay a 
premium for your freedom, but I expect it is worth it.

So the Neo 1973 will be an unlocked cell phone.  Is it even possible to 
lock a phone that runs open-source software?  Info on SIM locking:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_lock

OpenMoko and the Neo 1973 are very appealing to me because I sometimes 
travel in other countries and I think this means that with OpenMoko I 
could buy a GSM card in that country and I'd be able to use my phone 
there.  I also like the idea of having a user community working on 
software development.  That seems to have brought us a lot of good things 
in computing.

I'll start another thread on the members list about the Neo 1973 and 
OpenMoko.  This is a very interesting development.

Mike

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