The comments are surprisingly inspired and insightful, much better than many of the newsmag drivel comments.
FWIW, I tire of trying to explain to people why they can't take an AT&T SIM/GSM device and use it on a Verizon or Sprint network. When I traveled to Europe for work heavily in the mid-90's, most of the European countries had agreed on using SIM/GSM technology so that the phone account would be portable to any device. At the time the big subsidies weren't in place so while the mobile devices cost more, you could plug your SIM card into any device and have your number be truly portable. 15 years later in the US and two of the biggest national players are still using hardware that's proprietary. I have mixed feelings on government intervention here but maybe if the government said, "Hey, the rest of the world uses GSM and the flexibility is undeniable, that is our recommended standard." After that, let the games begin.
I'd also like to see the hardware manufacturers do a better job of explaining the virtues of unlocked albeit more expensive devices and making them more readily available. I have a couple of friends who travel extensively and when they get to, say England, they pick up a temporary pre-paid SIM card at one of the dozens of cellular shops in the airport, plug it into their unlocked GSM phone and away they go with a local number and no international roaming fees. That's the way this stuff *should* work, not just for the technically savvy people. I'd say the onus of this falls on the manufacturers of the devices and I think they'd sell more than they realize.
Why AT&T Killed Google Voice (Andy Kessler/Wall Street Journal): "
Andy Kessler / Wall Street Journal:
Why AT&T Killed Google Voice — Telecom operators are yesterdays business. Its time for a national data policy that encourages innovation. — Printer — Friendly — Earlier this month, Apple rejected an application for the iPhone called Google Voice.
(Via Techmeme.)
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