uscitizen
Villified User
Verizon Wireless To Let You Use Any Phone On Its Network
Posted Nov 28th 2007 11:23AM by Terrence O'Brien
Filed under: Cell Phones, Google
Verizon has announced, to the amazement of many of us cynics, that it will be opening up its wireless network to any device that meets a minimum set of technical standards, the specifics of which will be announced in early 2008. Those standards are likely to be something simple along the lines of connecting to the CDMA network that Verizon runs, and that don't interfere with wireless traffic.
In fact Verizon Wireless Chief Marketing Officer, John Stratton, told a Dow Jones reporter that the devices in question need not be phones. He is quoted as saying the types of devices a customer could connect are "subject to the imagination of the marketplace." Hello, Kindle, Zune, and other wireless devices that are not phones.
This means that, if you so desired, you could build your own phone, or mobile Internet device, or even portable video game system with high-speed EV-DO capabilities in your basement on a breadboard, take it or send it to the Verizon labs, and, if it passes muster, connect it to the Verizon network. But that's for geeks like us (or maybe you) -- what's more likely is that people will buy themselves an unlocked phone, or perhaps a phone from a small name builder, or maybe just carry over their Sprint or Alltel handsets. (Phones from T-Mobile and AT&T will not work because those operators use GSM, a different technology than Verizon.)
Verizon also said it would allow users to surf the Web openly and download any independent, third-party applications. This kind of functionality has been available around the world for a while now, but it's a first for the United States. The long and short of it is you'll be able to pick and choose what you want to download to your phone, rather than rely on whatever Verizon offers you "on deck." It also means, most likely, that users will be able to download porn for the first time onto their phones
http://www.switched.com/2007/11/28/verizon-wireless-to-let-you-use-any-phone-on-its-network/?ncid=NWS00010000000001
Posted Nov 28th 2007 11:23AM by Terrence O'Brien
Filed under: Cell Phones, Google
Verizon has announced, to the amazement of many of us cynics, that it will be opening up its wireless network to any device that meets a minimum set of technical standards, the specifics of which will be announced in early 2008. Those standards are likely to be something simple along the lines of connecting to the CDMA network that Verizon runs, and that don't interfere with wireless traffic.
In fact Verizon Wireless Chief Marketing Officer, John Stratton, told a Dow Jones reporter that the devices in question need not be phones. He is quoted as saying the types of devices a customer could connect are "subject to the imagination of the marketplace." Hello, Kindle, Zune, and other wireless devices that are not phones.
This means that, if you so desired, you could build your own phone, or mobile Internet device, or even portable video game system with high-speed EV-DO capabilities in your basement on a breadboard, take it or send it to the Verizon labs, and, if it passes muster, connect it to the Verizon network. But that's for geeks like us (or maybe you) -- what's more likely is that people will buy themselves an unlocked phone, or perhaps a phone from a small name builder, or maybe just carry over their Sprint or Alltel handsets. (Phones from T-Mobile and AT&T will not work because those operators use GSM, a different technology than Verizon.)
Verizon also said it would allow users to surf the Web openly and download any independent, third-party applications. This kind of functionality has been available around the world for a while now, but it's a first for the United States. The long and short of it is you'll be able to pick and choose what you want to download to your phone, rather than rely on whatever Verizon offers you "on deck." It also means, most likely, that users will be able to download porn for the first time onto their phones
http://www.switched.com/2007/11/28/verizon-wireless-to-let-you-use-any-phone-on-its-network/?ncid=NWS00010000000001