Then a funny thing happened to my 3GS: the battery decided to take a nosedive. My efforts to get the battery replaced made things worse instead of better. The 3GS still works, but the battery won’t last more than a few hours at best now. I have therefore had no choice but to make the switch to Android, unless I wanted to buy a new phone, which I am thinking about, but the choice is no longer as clear cut as it once was.

So, of course, now I’m looking at new handsets, both an iPhone 4 and at various Android handsets. The main problem I have is that I have very exacting standards for a handset, which are:

• Handset must be GSM (this limits me to AT&T and possibly T-Mobile)
• Handset must be unlocked (I violated this rule with the 3GS, and given the issues I’ve had with unlocking, the only way I would entertain an iPhone again is if I could buy it factory unlocked)
• Handset must be free of operator crapware (This is easy on iPhone, I would prefer a handset that only has stock Android firmware, but I’ll settle for one without operator customizations)
• Handset must be have enough “new” compared to either my iPhone 3GS and/or Nexus One to warrant purchase (e.g. difference between Nexus One and Nexus S is minimal, same for iPhone 3GS and 4).

Unfortunately, finding a handset in the US that meets all these requirements (and has a US Warranty) is proving to be difficult. The Samsung Galaxy S II looks really nice, but it’s not available in the US yet and will most likely only be available in an operator crapware-infested version unless I buy an imported one.

Setting the handset issue aside for a moment, I’d like to take a holistic look at the differences between iPhone and Android in terms of the OS and the ecosystem. As I tell people that ask me about these things, you’re not just buying a handset any longer.

The Gingerbread OS Itself

First let’s talk about some of the refinements in the OS. They seem to have removed a lot of the lagginess that I experienced in Froyo. They’ve generally made the notification bar and other things look nicer. When you scroll too far, you get this weird glowing orange effect at the edge. That’s kinda cool.

But for me, the thing that they’ve fixed is the on-screen keyboard. It’s now on-par with the iOS on-screen keyboard, but a little better because you can hold down the letters in the top row to get numbers without having to switch to the number and symbol part of the keyboard. And if you don’t like their keyboard, you can always replace it with a third party one–also a bonus.

Syncing

Being a Mac person, I’m used to the whole iTunes experience and needing that to Sync. On Android, there isn’t really a “solution” for that–especially on the Mac. Actually there is, and it’s called Missing Sync. Unlike iTunes, you can sync wirelessly–either over WiFi or Bluetooth. I can’t get WiFi to work consistently (sure that’s related to my VPN software), so I just use Bluetooth. You can also sync media (e.g. pictures, audio, and video) over USB. You have to load Missing Sync specific apps for the Calendar, but I don’t find that a huge problem.

But also, unlike iTunes, Missing Sync is far from free–$40! I have to do this this way because I am not connecting my phone to our corporate Exchange server.

With the recent addition of Google Music, the need to sync music via a USB cable goes away almost entirely. I can now stream (and store locally) music from my iTunes collection that has already been uploaded into the Google cloud. Any time I buy new tracks in iTunes on my Mac, it automatically uploads to Google’s cloud a couple minutes later.

Email and PIM

Apple’s email program is ok. On Android, I am using the Gmail app. It obviously supports more of Gmail’s feature more directly, which results in a better experience for things like deleting emails (which of course I do a lot). It also supports “undo” if I delete something accidentally. Score one for Android

Contacts and Calendar are about the same. Unfortunately, Missing Sync requires a separate calendar app to view entries synced from my Mac. On the other hand, I don’t actually use Google’s calendar, so that’s not a big deal. Something I will need to do on my Android device: join a bunch of contacts. There are some duplicates being synced to the device from different locations. I suspect it’s because there are duplicates on the computer. I will need to sort this out someday.

Twitter

I’m personally have not been happy with just about any Twitter app, with the possible exception of Gravity on my Nokia E71. On iOS, I use an app called Tweetbot, which does just about everything I want it to. The closest thing I’ve found to perfection on Android is Tweetcaster, which I have also used on iOS as well.

Facebook

The Facebook apps are very different on iOS and Android. I can see groups on iOS, I cannot on Android. I do like the photo stream that shows up in Android now. They are both a wash as far as experience goes.

Photography Apps

iPhone wins here easily. There are so many different camera apps on iOS (as well as apps that do other useful photography apps) that if you’re into that kind of thing, iOS is the way to go. Android has a few different camera/photography apps, but they are nowhere near the quality, or the level of functionality, that is available on iOS.

Games

While I am not a huge game player, every once in a while, I like to play a game. iOS definitely has more, possibly better games at least in the categories I’ve looked at. Given that there is only a few models of iOS devices versus the endless possibilities on Android, it’s much easier to make compelling games that take full advantage of the hardware.

App Stores

With Apple, you only have the one app store–the one that Apple provides. On Android, if you don’t like Google’s app store, there is always Amazon and a number of other choices, including buying from the vendor directly. This makes it more complex to restore your purchased applications if you need to wipe your device for some reason, but there is something nice about the flexibility of being able to get applications from anyone–not just ones Apple approves of selling you. Amazon’s “Free app of the day” promotion is also fantastic. Can’t tell you how many cool apps I’ve picked up that way.

Cloud Offerings

Apple’s recent announcements about iCloud are, no doubt, compelling. Document sharing between Apple devices, the iTunes Match service, among other things, would be very nice to have on an Android-type device. Google Music for Android (as is Amazon’s Cloud offering on Android) is a nice start, but it’s only for music and doesn’t give you the ability to buy music.

It’s a Push

At least for my usage, there’s enough pros and cons on both sides that I could easily be happy with either the iPhone or Android, with the right hardware of course. These days I pretty much exclusively use my Nexus One and other than the occasional game, I rarely go for my iPhone 3GS. Would an unlocked iPhone 4 change that? I’m not 100% sure of that.

That said, Apple hardware is becoming less desirable to me. The fact they have switched to MicroSIMs on the iPhone 4 is problematic since I like to use my SIM card in other phones (yes, I am aware of adapters). The current rumors say that Apple either wants to do a Software SIM or a new SIM card format that is completely different from any other SIM cards in use.

As much as I enjoy the Apple hardware, I really don’t want my phone service to be permanently tied to an iPhone, which a unique SIM card will do for better or worse. That alone may be the tipping point for me to go with Android instead.

Comments

• 13 June 2011, Ricky Cadden writes: I would highly recommend you check out an Android device with the HTC Sense UI overlay. I realize you want a vanilla experience, but this adds a few of the features that you counted as a loss with Android above. Camera - the new HTC Sense camera application completely replaces the stock Android one with a bevy of customization settings, both real (ISO and the like) and....'fake' (the stylized filters that iPhone users seem to adore). It's also endlessly more enjoyable to use, whereas I despise the stock Android camera app. HTC Sync - the newer HTC Sense devices, such as the HTC Inspire 4G, Sensation, and such all support HTC Sync, which is a desktop syncing application that will handle media, as well as contacts/calendar/etc. You can also use HTCsense.com to access certain features of the phone remotely, include a 'Find my phone' feature and one that lets you activate the ringer on loud, even if you left your phone on silent (useful for finding your phone in the couch cushions). The HTC Sense email app (for Exchange support) is also vastly improved over stock. Feel free to hit me up with any questions - I had the Nexus One and now carry a T-Mobile G2 with the Desire Z (HTC Sense) ROM on it and I absolutely LOVE it.
• 13 June 2011, PhoneBoy writes: The stock Camera app on Android is crap. I settled on Camera360, which has its own issues. Where iOS still beats Android is on panorama apps... HTC Sync doesn't do anything for my Mac, unfortunately, though I'm sure Missing Sync also works on these phones. :) I'm willing to entertain HTC devices--the Nexus One is, after all, an HTC device--but which one can I get unlocked and untouched by operator crapware? :)
• 13 June 2011, Ricky Cadden writes: Forgot you're on a Mac. Most of the latest HTC devices can be easily unlocked/rooted with minimal effort. Even if you don't slap a custom ROM on it, that gives you the option of unlocking it and removing any crapware with just a few clicks. This actually frees you up to pick more phones based on hardware. I LOVE my T-Mobile G2 - it comes with vanilla Android, but the Desire Z is the exact same hardware with Sense, so I just swapped the ROM - everything is fully supported, nothing fancy. The Virtuous ROMs strive to be as close to a shipping Sense ROM as possible.
• 13 June 2011, PhoneBoy writes: I've been debating throwing Cyanogenmod on my Nexus One, but I'm also trying to avoid playing the custom ROM game too. I don't mind rooting my device, but even that potentially presents its own issues. I also want to buy at the top end of the hardware curve to maximize the value of my investment. Especially since this stuff changes so rapidly... :)
• 14 June 2011, Ed Isaacs writes: Very interesting Daemon, I know that I too have been interested by the Android offering, and being in the USA at the moment and popped into a Verizon store - you wouldn't even know they sell iPhone - it's Droid everywhere. I am a Mac user as well, and am concerned as everything works well that I want right now. My breaking point is the Nokia factor. If you really look at the model that Droid has right now, it's Nokia all over but with a software license model as opposed to a device/HW model like Nokia - instead they have a bunch a vendors making the devices. The user experience is slightly different on each device from each vendor, and some have great battery life, some dont, some have upgrade-ability to new OS's - some dont, some crash - some dont. That reason alone is scaring me from looking at Droid as it reminds me of Nokia again. A saturated market of devices, and they are releasing them faster than Apple is, but if you talk with non-Apple people they state that they are pushing you to a new model every year. There is something to be said for HW control, and SW control - it is more stable, and more restricted. Having said that - I never feel restricted on my iPhone. My middle ground on this will be an Android tablet- It will get me into the droid world, no contract and a decent price. Until I see something massive that would make me want to switch, I'm looking at iPhone 5 from my 3GS.
• 14 June 2011, PhoneBoy writes: Valid point about Android, Ed. Other than the Nexus line of handsets done for Google, there really isn't a "standard" Android handset. The different manufacturers have their own standards on top of Android, and act differently. Like you say, it's Nokia-style fragmentation. It certainly is scary, but then again, it's selling like hotcakes--kinda like Nokias used to :) There's another area where the device fragmentation creates issues: with accessories. Apple's "one device" strategy means there's a ton of both Apple and third-party accessories that work with the iPhone. The other Android handsets don't have as many unless it happens to be a huge-selling phone. iOS has gotten good enough for most things, quite honestly. I'm sure iOS 5 will also be a huge bonus (especially in the notification department). Now that Apple sells unlocked iPhones in the US, my main problem with the iPhone is the non-standard SIM card--both now and going forward. I travel out of the country a lot. The ability to swap SIM cards matters to me quite a bit.
• 15 June 2011, Jason Costomiris writes: I spent a bit over a year with a Nexus One (on AT&T). Loved the phone, worked well, but it was little silly things over time that eventually drove me to an iPhone 4. Yes, I was rooted, and was running Cyanogenmod 7, so I did also enjoy some of the Gingerbread whizbang stuff, but in the end, the iPhone won me over. My wife got one a few months ago, and that, along with having spent a few months using my iPad pushed me over the edge. A big factor was phone speed vs battery life. I could enjoy a fast phone, or one that would last me a full day of business use (using SetCPU to manage that). Does your perspective change, now that you can buy an unlocked iPhone 4 direct from Apple? I'm hoping they'll carry that policy forward with the iPhone 4S, 5 or whatever they decide to call it. I really don't think that the unlocked SKUs will sell like wildfire, as people in the US generally don't recognize the value of an unlocked handset, but the option is great to have, IMHO.
• 15 June 2011, PhoneBoy writes: In terms of overall usability, the iPhone is going to be better, though Android is getting "close enough" for me. The fact you can now buy unlocked iPhones in the US (like you can in most every other civilized country) is a plus, but I'd rather buy at the top end of the washtub curve to maximize my financial investment. We know Apple's doing another iPhone, it's just a matter of when they will announce it. I'm also curious to see what changes they are going to make to the SIM card. Being able to easily switch SIM cards in and out is a plus, and even the current MicroSIMs in the iPhone 4 create some issues with that. This is the equation from hell. It really is.
• 15 June 2011, I’m Getting Two New Nokia Handsets « The PhoneBoy Blog writes: [...] | Recent Posts | Pages « | My Tipping Point Between iOS and Android [...]

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I had tweeted this problem earlier on Twitter and found out that Comcast seems to have given up on its effective social media program, as Comcast Bonnie was no longer working there. She relied to me that “they got rid of me.” She was great at what she did, but I’ve seen this sort of thing before. A company has person doing great and important work, and it fires her because some bonehead at the company couldn’t monetize it. Apparently, it values bad PR instead like this. Accountants will eventually ruin all American business.

This is the tricky thing about “social media.”We know it’s good, but it’s hard to quantify exactly how good. When times get rough, it gets paired back or, in the cast of Comcast Bonnie, “eliminated.”

Unfortunately, human beings remember these bad experiences and use them as a basis to make decisions about which services to use in the future. Unfortunately, cable is the only real choice for most people so Comcast can pretty much take on the whole “we don’t care, we don’t have to” mentality on these things.

So I scheduled the service guy to come on Tuesday and just figure I’d limp along at analog modem speeds. In the process, I checked by email and saw a note from one of the editors of my blog, Sergio Gasparrini, who apparently listened to the podcast—from Europe—and suggested that Mother’s Day Skype calls may have been the culprit. I thought this was laughable until mid afternoon when my speeds began to increase by the hour.

By 9 p.m. on Sunday, the speed had ratcheted back up from 1 Mbps around 5 p.m. to 3 Mbps and then increased to 4 Mbps to 9 Mbps to 11 Mbps. It was like clockwork. As I write this, the system has been restored to full speed by itself.

This seems plausible, but only barely. Skype and other Voice over IP tools do not require a lot of bandwidth. It does require low latency, though. The only possible explanation here would be if there were a significant number of video calls–which require both high bandwidth and low latency.

In any case, this is definitely something I remember growing up on the Bell System. Mothers Day was always a big calling day. “All circuits are busy” messages were pretty common. What scares me is how quickly we all forget…

Comments

• 10 May 2011, ComcastBill writes: I think if you’re going to write a blog post about a Comcast issue and apparently Comcast not responding via Twitter you may want to get all the facts right. Sunday was Mother's Day and as a social media team we support this day as a normal Sunday and have staffing. We reach out as fast as we can and usually within minutes. This Tweet was no different on response time. After the @THErealDVORAK tweeted he was having a Comcast issue he was replied to with an offer to help. All of Sunday and still to this day there has been no response to the offer. We are a social media team not just one person and most of this team have been around since day 1, and we will continue to support our customers on the platform there comfortable in. Below are the Tweet responses to @THErealDVORAK so you can see the time stamps. @THErealDVORAK what can i help with? 1:15 PM May 8th via TweetDeck @THErealDVORAK send me account phone number and ill take a look for you 1:20 PM May 8th via TweetDeck
• 10 May 2011, PhoneBoy writes: Thanks for providing the other side of the story ComcastBill.

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Over the weekend the Telecom Law Monitor, a blog from the telecom practice group of Washington D.C. based Kelly Drye caught my eye when I spied that MagicJack’s sister/parent company, YMAX and AT&T were embroiled in a battle over, you guessed it. MONEY. For a long time many observers were trying to figure out just how MagicJack made money. Well, this FCC decision really helps make things clearer.

Something always felt kinda scammy about the whole MagicJack thing, which offers a $40 product that lets you make unlimited calls for a year (costs $20/year to renew). I never really bothered to look into their product to find out why, but Andy breaks it down.

I’ve seen a number of these schemes come down over the years. Once the large telecom companies get wise to the arbitrage tricks these smaller companies are trying to play, the game is up. MagicJack had a good run as far as these schemes go.

Meanwhile, I feel sorry for all the people who bought the MagicJack devices hoping they’d save them money. I suspect the device is about to become nothing more than a cheap paperweight.

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To be clear, I use both AT&T and T-Mobile today. My work phone is an iPhone 3GS, which is obviously AT&T. For my family, I have a series of T-Mobile prepaid SIM cards. Both serve their intended purpose nicely. There are some areas where either T-Mobile or AT&T don’t work so well. Having access to both sets of towers would be really nice.

Looking at the bigger potential anti-competitive concerns, I’m actually not convinced that it’s a bad thing. Yes, there merger, if it goes through as currently proposed, would result in 80% of the mobile phone subscribers in the US would be in the hands of two rather large companies that descended from Ma Bell: AT&T and Verizon.

From watching past acquisitions, what will likely happen is the following:

• In individual markets where the combination of T-Mobile + AT&T would constitute a substantial majority of customers, T-Mobile’s network in that market will be spun off and sold to someone else. This will likely add to the market share numbers for Sprint and smaller, regional carriers.
• People who have existing T-Mobile rate plans after the merger will be grandfathered in–assuming they make no changes to their service. I expect the very affordable T-Mobile rateplans to disappear post-merger.
• The various government agencies will likely use this opportunity to extract certain concessions out of AT&T (e.g. on net neutrality or something else) in exchange for approval on this merger.

One thing that AT&T will get out of this deal: the vast majority of roaming revenue from people traveling from overseas. This is because T-Mobile and AT&T are the only major GSM carriers in the US, and the rest of the world uses GSM.

This same dynamic played itself out in Canada recently. Rogers was the only GSM carrier up until a few years ago when Bell and Telus (both CDMA carriers) jointly built a GSM network to provide an alternative (not to mention, allow them to sell the iPhone).

Assuming this goes through, I would expect both Verizon and Sprint to accelerate their LTE plans and converge on the same global standard as AT&T, providing a variety of roaming options for foreign visitors, and to spread around the roaming revenue.

Another reason they might accelerate these plans: for people who travel outside the US often. If you do, the only rational choice is a GSM-based provider, else you will need to maintain two or more phones, or choose from a very limited selection of “global” phones from one of the other providers. When this merger goes through, the only major GSM-based provider will be AT&T (the other is T-Mobile).

Where I expect to lose out, aside from a lack of choice in GSM providers, is T-Mobile’s great prepaid service. It is by far the best deal of the major operators. I like that after $100 in renewals, all future minute purchases expire in a year! This works great for my kids mobile phones, which do not get that much usage in a month, much less a year! Also, I expect T-Mobile’s “Pay As You Go data Web DayPass”–a very affordable $1.49 per 24 hours–to be discontinued.

Will this merger be ultimately good? It has good and bad points, so for me, the jury is still out. Will it go through? No question that it will, as much as people–and the competition–may not want it to. It will be another year or so before it does, though. Meanwhile, all I can do is sit back and watch the rhetoric fly back and forth.

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There are some obvious limitations with this: namely T-Mobile’s coverage, lack of compatible 3G on frequencies that my AT&T iPhone can use, and, well, being jailbroken. Considering how little in practice I actually need data outside of the range of WiFi, the pricing–$1.49 per 24 hour period–makes it a limitation I can deal with.

Jailbreaking and Unlocking your iPhone is a bit outside of the scope of what I’m writing, but you can look at a somewhat dated (but still relevant) guide from The iPhone Blog Forums.

After unlocking, you’re going to want to turn off 3G since the iPhone is not compatible with T-Mobile’s 3G. This can be done in Settings > General > Network. Also here is the Cellular Data Network settings, which you will need to set as follows (note if I don’t list the field here, assume it is blank):

Cellular Data:

• APN: wap.voicestream.com

MMS:

• APN: wap.voicestream.com
• MMSC: http://mms.msg.eng.t-mobile.com/mms/wapenc
• MMS Proxy: 216.155.165.50:8080
• MMS Max Message Size: 1048576
• MMS UA Prof URL: http://www.apple.com/mms/uaprof.rdf

There’s one other thing you are going to want to download in Cydia in order for MMS to work correctly. Type Manage > Sources > Edit, then Add. The APT URL you want to add is http://cydia.pushfix.info. Then click on Search and look for T-Mobile US MMS Fix. Download and install this, which will reboot your phone.

After this, MMS sending and receiving should work. To use EDGE data service, you will need to fire up a web browser and ensure you are not on WiFi. Any web site should redirect you to a page telling you do not have data. You should be able to click through and order a daypass, which gives you 24 hours of data access.

I tried a number of applications: maps, email, Twitter, Boxcar, and of course a web browser. They all worked well, albeit slowly on EDGE. I confirmed I could send and receive MMS between an AT&T and T-Mobile SIM also.

There’s some verbiage in the terms and conditions about being throttled if you use more than 30MB of data in a 24 hour period. The reality in this case is, it’s EDGE. It’s already pretty slow.

Comments

• 29 March 2011, tom writes: at least in my experience EDGE never gets throttled. using a daypass on a phone such as the HSPA+ mytouch 4G will result in a major slowdown after 30MB of data, but turning off 3G/4G and using EDGE instead brings a significant speed boost. users of daypass in USB data dongles have also noticed this.
• 29 March 2011, PhoneBoy writes: Since none of my phones use T-Mobile's 4G network, I will always be using EDGE. I figured they can't throttle EDGE too much since the top speed is already pretty low anyway.
• 11 April 2011, Internet móvel pré-paga por apenas USD 1.49/ dia nos EUA writes: [...] através do site. Infelizmente, assim como acontece na AT&T, se você usar iPhone terá que alterar as configurações do APN, caso contrário, não irá funcionar. Outra coisa chata é que só vai rolar EDGE (nada de 3G), [...]

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• iPhone In The House

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To be honest, I haven’t used it in quite some time as GTalk in Gmail and Skype fill my calling needs quite nicely. I only found out about the closure of Gizmo5 because someone asked me for a recommendation for an alternative that supported open SIP hardware (my recommendation: Voicepulse).

In any case, I still had somewhat of a balance in my Gizmo5 account. You are given the option to get a refund for the unused balance or transfer it to your Google Voice account. I opted for the latter, as I actually use GTalk to make calls occasionally. The balance transfer is “in progress.” We’ll see how smoothly it actually goes.

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A much bigger story is that the FCC issued a public notice in the special access docket which requests data from incumbent local exchange carriers and commercial mobile radio service providers.

How’s that for telecom gobbledygook?

In English, what it means is the FCC is asking landline and wireless phone companies to provide confidential data about the prices charged and paid for special access connections. This request for data is a necessary step to take before the FCC can do anything to rein in Verizon, AT&T and other landline phone companies who dominate the special access market which our broadband economy depends upon.

Special access connections are what make a lot of what we take for granted on the Internet and with your mobile devices. They are what connects the mobile phone towers or your landline ISP to the larger Internet. They also provide the kinds of connections needed by large call centers (e.g. for hotel chains, airlines, outsource your call center).

The problem is that in any given location, there is usually only one dominant provider of these kinds of circuits: namely the local telephone company, who in a lot of cases, is a direct descendant of the Bell System where “universal service” was the mandate. The largest of these two companies is AT&T and Verizon, who are also the largest two mobile phone service providers.

Verizon and AT&T are big enough in different areas of the country where even if, say, Verizon where to increase the costs of a special access circuit to AT&T, AT&T could retaliate by increasing the cost of a different special access circuit to Verizon and it would even out.

For the other national mobile phone service providers like Sprint (who had less of a landline business historically) or T-Mobile (who was historically only a wireless provider), they are almost entirely at the mercy of companies like AT&T and Verizon for the kind of connectivity necessary to make their towers work. Because they don’t really have a choice as to which provider to use for these special access circuits, and they lack the kind of pricing leverage that AT&T and Verizon have, they basically have to pay whatever that provider wants to charge.

Meanwhile, pure play landline telcos like CenturyLink make money on special access circuits where they are the provider. When the acquisition of Qwest completes, they’ll make an even larger share of that $18 billion market.

Even if the landline market more or less goes away, you’re still going to need those special access circuits. CenturyLink (with Qwest) will be in a great position to capture a significant chunk of that very profitable market. In this light, their merger makes tons of sense.

Will the FCC be able to reform this market so that providers can’t overcharge each other for special access circuits? It remains to be seen. One can hope, but the government does not have a great track record in successfully regulating the business practices of dominant telcos.

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• Google Becoming The Next AT&T

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The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it has reached a record $25 million settlement with Verizon Wireless for wrongly charging subscribers “mystery” Internet fees over the past several years.

The payment will go to the U.S. Treasury and is the largest settlement in FCC history. The settlement also ends the FCC’s ten-month investigation into overcharges at Verizon Wireless, the agency said in a press release.

With the action, Verizon Wireless’s total costs associated with false data fees reached $77.8 million, one of the largest payouts for false business practices in the communications services industry. Verizon said earlier this month it would refund about 15 million subscribers $52.8 million for those unwanted data charges. Verizon partly attributed the problem to a software glitch in phones.

Of course, if they were doing this right, the customers would get refunded for all overcharges–with interest. Instead, 15 million customers are getting somewhere between $2 and $6 each. The only people who win: the government and the lawyers involved with this settlement.

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• Verizon Following AT&T Yet Again, This Time on “Illegal” Tethering

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Marilyn Castro decided she did not need her landline phone any longer.  The Virginia Beach resident learned her provider would be happy to oblige her request to disconnect service, but she is still required to pay her phone bill, even without the service, for at least the next 25 years.

Woodland Park, Virginia resident Allan Pineda got a similar story when he wanted out of Cox Cable’s landline service.  Yes, Cox will schedule a visit to disconnect service at his convenience, but he’ll still have to pay his cable bill, including landline charges, every month.

Forcing consumers to pay for service they don’t want or can’t use. The FCC sides with the cable companies. Surprised? I’m not.

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One of the things the CTIA likes to remind us regularly is how competitive our market is compared to the rest of the world. They tout the fact that among the 26 OECD countries, our market is the only one not classified as “highly concentrated.” It may be true that most of the country has a choice from at least 4 facilities-based providers–over 70% have access to 5 or more–but I don’t see how that paints an entirely accurate picture given the other facts.

Another thing the CTIA likes to bring up is how many choices we have as consumers. Choices in handsets (More than 630 different handsets and devices are manufactured by more than 32 companies for the U.S. market), Choices in operators (both facilities and non-facilities based), choices in rate plans (providers offer lots of rate plans and options, both pre and post paid).

The number of choices–when taken in aggregate–are overwhelming. No question. I can’t even keep track of all the choices there are so many. Unfortunately, when you start actually making choices in one area (say, a handset), that reduces the number of remaining choices substantially–to the point where it looks like you have no choice at all.

Let’s say I want an iPhone. Because the iPhone is only offered on AT&T, it may not be a feasible choice for you (e.g. because of coverage). It also locks you into a rateplan of at least $55 (before taxes and surcharges) and a two year contract. Even after you’re paid up, you can’t even unlock the handset and take it to T-Mobile.

Another example: let’s say I want Verizon because their network is the best. That means I can’t get the iPhone, though I could just as easily get a Droid X or similar device. It’s not an iPhone. This requires a rateplan of at least $70 before taxes and surcharges.

What if I want one of these high-end phones on any carrier and not have a dataplan? Not possible as I have to pay for a data plan of some sort (pricing varies depending on the phone), even if I have no intention of using the data plan. What if I want to use these high-end phones on prepaid? Sure, voice minutes are downright reasonable, but try and find reasonable prepaid data pricing that is tied to a mobile phone. And let’s not even talk about the fact it’s impossible to get any smartphone without a voice plan of some sort.

So yes, there are choices, but your choices can be summed up this way:

1. The phone you want on the network you want and a rateplan you can live with
2. The phone you want on the network you don’t and/or a too-expensive rateplan
3. A phone you don’t want on the network and/or rateplan you do want

How many people can honestly say they have the phone they want on the network they want and a rateplan they can live with? I’d be willing to bet: not many, though I’d be happy to be proven wrong. And yes, I know that CTIA says “92% of cell phone users are very or somewhat satisfied with their cell phone service overall,” but I doubt they asked about the combination of phone, network, and rate plan.

Honestly, when the vast majority of customers can get the handset they want on the network they want with a rateplan they can live with, only then will I believe there are choices. Until then, all we’ve got are compromises.

Comments

• 2 September 2010, tom writes: and it is not getting better anytime soon. the carriers are busy building next generation networks instead of hardening there existing ones. that means that no time in the near future will all the networks be 'good enough' which would force more competition on price instead touting of the benefits of one network over another. this is a major difference between the US and most of europe where typically all the networks are 'good enough' to the point that network quality is not an issue at all and you can shop based on price. i would rather see the US carriers go 100% 3G with comprehensive nationwide coverage before building out 4G to make the marketing dept. happy. the other thing we do not have to near the extent of most countries are identical phones being offered by different carriers. this is a key to fostering competition.

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The anti-net neutrality types–mobile network operators–say “their network is different.” In order to provide the best quality of service for everyone, they say, they need to have the freedom to manage a scarce resource. Net neutrality rules would prevent that. Again, there are plenty of anti net-neutrality rhetoric out there, including a piece in USA Today written by Steve Largent, President of the CTIA (otherwise known as the lobbying firm for the US mobile network operators).

I agree with both sides. Unlike what the staunch pro-net neutrality advocates say, wireless is actually different. It’s not just a lack of speeds-and-feeds argument, either. The typical mobile phone network offers three very distinct services:

• Voice (including 911)
• SMS (short text messages)
• Data (also includes MMS or Picture messaging)

While you can have calls over the Internet with Skype or what have you, generally speaking people use their landline Internet for other purposes. There’s also a lot more bandwidth to work with, and the calls are all IP-based, so there is, quite frankly, less need to manage it.

In the wireless world, all three uses are effectively vying for use of the same spectrum and backhaul. In addition, you are combining both packet-based and circuit-switched communications, both of which operate fundamentally differently. Data connections can generally tolerate some temporary congestion issues. SMS, which was designed to operate on idle call control signaling paths, can be delayed. In-progress circuit-switched phone calls cannot.

When there is bandwidth contention in a cell site (i.e. more bandwidth is needed than is available), what happens? Does everyone on that cell site suffer? Who’s phone call or data connection will get dropped when a 911 call comes in, which are generally prioritized over other traffic for obvious reasons? Also, how do you handle when a cell site goes from needing lots of voice traffic to needing lots of data traffic and vice versa?

There’s really no easy answer to this question. Perhaps what is needed is a standard set of network management principles for mobile network operators that would be clearly described as part of the service provider’s terms of service. This way, everyone understands what is prioritized in what circumstances.

Regardless of how things are prioritized, though, at any given point, some amount of bandwidth at a cell site will be available for mobile data use. This bandwidth–however much there is–must be treated in a net neutral way. Without question. Wireless operators should not be granted a complete pass on net neutrality, therefore, but the regulations do need to take into account the multi-use nature of wireless networks.

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• Net Neutrality, Banned Business Models & Price Controls (pff.org)
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Comments

• 20 August 2010, 15 Facts About Net Neutrality | Tech the Plunge writes: [...] A Third Way on the Net Neutrality Debate (phoneboy.com) [...]

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Paying for Incoming Calls

One of the reasons we pay for incoming calls to our mobile phones in the US is because of how our landline service evolved in the US. In most other countries, local calls are metered (i.e. charged per minute). The rate is relatively low, but it’s there. In the US, most everyone has flat rate local service. This means they can call anyone within approximately 12-15 miles as part of their line rental charge.

Because of this, when mobile phones came out in the US, the operators implemented a “mobile party pays” system. This means the person who was the mobile phone would pay to receive the call. For better or worse, this system has persisted ever since, though the FCC did investigate implementing a calling party pays system in the US at least for mobile phones, but ultimately decided against it for a variety of reasons.

Due to that reality, the US mobile operators added more minutes to their pricing plans, and even included some “free” minutes, such as night/weekend minutes and mobile-to-mobile. The end result? Yes, it costs money to receive a call on your mobile in the US, but people generally don’t worry about it.

Mobile Phones and Service Providers

Tomi and Steve are comparing apples to oranges when it comes to the number of handsets available. Tomi lists the number of phones actually in operator stores–43. I know from talking with people at CTIA that their “over 630 handsets” number includes handsets you can purchase outside of the operator channel. They are both right, in a sense, but what matters to consumers is what they can purchase in stores–not what they can order online.

Again, we have a different dynamic in the US. Whereas in most other places, there is the one true GSM standard with a common set of frequencies, we have at least 3 standards (GSM, CDMA, and iDEN) with “unique” frequencies not in use elsewhere in the world. Only one manufacturer makes iDEN phones (Motorola) and the CDMA carriers are generally not open to allowing non-operator devices on their network.

GSM operates more or less like it does elsewhere in the world, but it’s a much smaller market (the last number I heard when I was at Nokia was 45% of the US market), and you have the difficulty of both T-Mobile and AT&T using different frequencies for 3G. Until the chipsets used by mobile phones can support both sets of US 3G frequencies, even if you can unlock a phone, you can’t fully use it on the other network, so what’s the point?

Long term, all the major US operators are moving to LTE–and yes, I believe Sprint will ultimately change their WiMax stuff over to LTE. The chipset manufacturers should be able to support all the different US frequencies (including the 700mhz spectrum not being used yet). Whether or not we’ll see unlocked handsets being openly sold like in other countries remains an open question, of course.

In short: the market appears to be–on it’s own–evolving towards a point where we can buy our handsets separate from service and actually be able to move between service plans without a mandatory handset upgrade as is the case today. That’s my prediction and, quite honestly, it can’t happen soon enough.

Roaming

Sorry, Tomi, I’m not sure where you got your info, but most Americans don’t pay roaming inside the US. I haven’t since I had my AT&T Digital One Rate plan back in 1999 (and yes, back then it was a revolutionary plan). You have to work pretty hard these days to find a plan where you are charged for roaming inside the US. Outside the US, of course, it’s a different story.

Text Messaging

This is one area where I agree wholeheartedly with Tomi on. There is absolutely no reason anyone should have to pay to receive an inbound SMS message. EVER. At least with a phone call, I can see who is calling and I can make the choice not to answer. With a text message, I have absolutely no control over who can send me a text message–and affect my bill.

Granted, US operators have provided buckets of text messages, and even provide unlimited text messaging as an option. However, the usurious per-message rates of $0.20–which I’ll point out once one operator decided to do, they all did–simply encourage customers to buy a bundle they may not want. It definitely drives up the bottom line of the operators.

And yes, given the obscene revenues on SMS, I should never EVER have an SMS outage.

Universal Coverage

While Steve did say that 92% of customers are satisfied with their wireless service, most everyone can name a deadspot (or two) in their daily travels–that one spot where no matter what time of day it is, you drop a call. I certainly had my share of those on Interstate 5 when I was driving to and from Northern California to see my dad.

The challenge with fixing that problem is not so simple. I don’t know what the regulations are in other countries, but in the US, every tower that goes up requires (almost) an act of congress to get put up. Local communities can and often do get in the way of bettering the wireless networks because they don’t want to look at ugly towers. Applications for new towers with city or county governments would often take months or even years to get approved.

The FCC, to their credit. finally put in a “shot clock” on these applications at the end of 2009. Even with the shot clock, we’re look at either 90 or 150 days to get a ruling on whether or not an operator is allowed to put a tower up. That doesn’t include actually getting the tower up and online. And no, that’s not the operators “incompetence,” Tomi, that’s just the government bureaucracy for you.

Phone Subsidies

Steve doesn’t even attempt to address this issue in his response to Tomi’s posting, which is that people who take a free/cheaper phone in exchange for a two year service agreement pay the same monthly rate as those who don’t. This is ridiculous.

T-Mobile actually gives you a discount for not taking a phone subsidy: up to $20/mo depending on the plan! They also allow you to finance your phone purchase separately over the course of 4 or 20 months. This way, you know exactly what you’re paying for your phone and you stop paying extra once your phone is paid off in full.

Largest Mobile Data Market

Steve mentions in his posting that “the U.S. also has the largest mobile data market and according to Nielsen Mobile, we have more mobile Internet users than any other country.” We certainly have a lot of users, but the reason for that is the prevalence of Unlimited Data plans–something AT&T has discontinued. Given their history with SMS, I expect the other operators will fall in lockstep within 6 months. Unlimited data will be a thing of the past and consumers will simply be paying more for less, or opting not to use it because now they need to watch and see how much data they use.

Conclusions

Things are not quite as bad at Tomi makes them out, but they certainly aren’t as rosy as the CTIA points out either. There is plenty of room for improvement. More towers, more quickly, and better prepaid data plans. That’s what I want to see different in the US mobile operator market. What about you?

Comments

• 28 June 2010, MSearchGroove Expands Mobile Groove Podcast Series With Mobile Authority & Author Tomi Ahonen | Insight writes: [...] Tomi Ahonen versus Steve Largent: Who's Right? [...]

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Truph0ne News: Having made use of Truphone Local Anywhere on my last trip abroad, I’m certainly interested in seeing it expand to other markets. They recently announced planned expansions of their “local markets” to The Netherlands and Spain (i.e. markets where you can get “local” numbers and pay “local” rates). Unfortunately, it’s not immediately, it’s “months.” On a more positive note, their iPhone app now supports iPhone OS 4.0 multitasking, so you can receive Truphone calls on your iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 while running other apps.

iOS4 (or rather iPhone OS 4): I’ve actually been playing with iPhone OS 4.0 for the past few months. I had the “golden master” release on my phone for nearly two weeks now and I’ve been fairly happy with it. Unfortunately, to take advantage of the multitasking feature, your apps need to be updated to support it. Why Skype did not launch their updated app the day iOS 4 became generally available, I’ll never know. My prediction: we won’t see it until after my kids get back into school in September.

Tomi Ahonen Takes on the US Wireless Industry: I am reminded of what my tour guide in Jerusalem told us: never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Former Nokia executive Tomi Ahonen gets a couple of facts wrong in this epic rant about the state of the US mobile phone industry, but most of what he has to say is spot on.

Unlimited Mobile Data in 25 Countries: I’ve gotten a couple of press releases from XCom Global about their offering where they will rent you either a wireless USB modem or a MiFi like device on a per-day basis. The pricing is pretty good, given what I paid for WiFi in Europe. Unfortunately, it only works if you’re traveling to one country. Wonder how they’d handle that situation?

MAXroam Goes Global: I had a press release in my inbox about MAXroam’s special plan for people going to the World Cup. I figured it might be a bit dated by now, so I went to see if it was still being offered. To my surprise, their website had changed and they have launched their “Global SIM” cards. This was the “Holy Grail” SIM card I used on my last International trip . You can buy reasonably-priced bundles of minutes and/or megabytes of data to use in 41 European countries. These SIMs “just work” without the usual trickery involved with global SIMs.

Positioning Without GPS or WLAN: I like the idea of not having to fire up the GPS or WLAN to get location. The mobile phone is already talking to multiple cell phone towers and it is possible to use the information from those towers to triangulate your location. It may not get as pinpoint as a GPS can, but it can certainly get close enough (does 7-12 meters work–indoors no less?) where a regular GPS can’t easily. I really hope GloPos and the technology they are building around this gets some traction because it sounds like the right idea for a lot of reasons.

Comments

• 24 June 2010, Jake writes: MAXroam Global SIM the Holy Grail? You must be kidding. The price per minute is 3 to 4 times higher and there are fewer roaming partners than before. I may be trying to get one of their old classic SIMs, but this new service is completely useless for me.

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For the purposes of full disclosure, I was supplied the SIM by the company gratis with some amount of credit. The free credit on my MAXRoam SIM expired (as they sent me the SIM a while ago), so I paid 25 EUR to put some credit on it.

This post will compare the following features: Making and Receiving Calls, Text Messaging, Data, and Voicemail.

Receiving Calls

With all the global SIM cards out there, receiving calls works more or less as you expect. MAXroam provides a Belgium inbound DID, but also provides inbound numbers in other countries for a nominal monthly fee. Roam Mobility provides both a US and a UK DID number. Truphone will provide a either a US or UK number, but you can have both at extra cost. Truphone and MAXroam charge a per-minute fee for inbound calls with MaxRoam having the better rate in the EU and Israel.

Roam Mobility is unique in that it provides inbound calls for free in 65 countries (including Israel, but not Belgium for some reason). However, it requires an annual free of $25 a year to maintain your number. In countries where they do not offer free inbound calls, their inbound call rates are higher than either MAXroam or Truphone. If callers call your US number, the inbound call rate increases by $0.25/min, even in the “Free” countries.

Making Calls

Truphone offers the most natural of calling experiences, allowing you (in many countries) to dial as normal (provided your normal dialing patterns includes full international dialing, starting with + country code). In some countries, they have an “economy callback” rate which allows you to place a call and have it call you back instead, making the call somewhat cheaper. If this is an option, you will get an SMS when you land in that country letting you know.

Roam Mobility always requires a unique dialing method (starting the number with a * and ending with a #). You then receive a callback from the system. This makes Roam Mobility the least user-friendly of the services I tried.

MAXroam has the best compromise: you dial normally (again full international number with + sign). The system does not complete the call, but you immediately get a call back.

The rates for making calls vary by provider, but in all cases, it is somewhere between roaming rates on AT&T and a local SIM. Not the cheapest call you can make for sure, but if you absolutely have to make a call, it won’t completely break the bank.

Text Messaging

Thankfully, all of these providers offer SMS that functions the normal way (i.e. you text normally). Where these services differ are rates. Thankfully, in the EU and Israel, all the services offer free inbound SMS. The difference is in outbound rates. Roam Mobility charges a $0.75 a message, which is even more usurious than AT&T’s roaming rate of $0.50. In the EU, Truphone’s rate of $0.16 wins hands down, though their rate jumps to $0.56 a message in Israel. MAXroam charges 0.32 EUR per message in both the EU and Israel, which is still better than AT&T’s roaming rates.

One advantage that MAXroam has over the others is they offer the ability to send texts for 0.05 EUR over their website. The texts originate from your MAXroam SMS number and is handy in places where you have WiFi access to the Internet. This is an extremely handy feature! I only wish that feature had a more mobile-friendly web interface!

Data Service

Roam Mobility currently does not provide data service (even though they told me months ago it was coming). Truphone and MAXroam both provide data service, though the service needs to be manually configured into the device. Both services charge in 100k increments, with Truphone appearing to have an edge pricing-wise.

Both services data offerings are generally much cheaper than roaming service provided by AT&T. I tested the service in a Nokia N95-1 and got 3G service on both Truphone and MAXroam (depending on area). I used the mobile Twitter website to send out a brief tweet, as well as some more extended usage on Gravity and the built-in web browser. It worked exactly as expected.

Local Service

One unique feature that Truphone has that the others do not is “local” rates for the US and UK markets (they are adding other markets soon). This means, while you are in the US or UK (depending on the SIM type you chose) you get similar rates to what you’d get if you had a prepaid GSM plan with a local provider (in my case, AT&T or T-Mobile). The idea is that this could be your only SIM card you use everywhere. At least in the US market, The rates are “in the same ballpark” but I can get cheaper per-minute (and per-text) rates with either provider. You do get less usurious per-MB data costs, though.

Voicemail

All of the services provide voicemail, but you are required to dial from your phone in order to retrieve the voicemail, which can be expensive. Roam Mobility does not offer personalized voicemail (which is a huge fail, IMHO), but both Truphone and MAXroam offer the ability to customize your voicemail greeting.

Conclusions

Honestly, there is no clear winner here. All of the services do what they say on the tin, but none of them have the right mix of usability, features, and pricing for my needs. I ended up using both Truphone and MAXroam for different functions. Look at the services carefully to ensure you understand the pricing for your particular situation and usage patterns.

Meanwhile, the Holy Grail is coming. While I was in Europe, I used a different roaming SIM card that provided a completely natural usage experience (normal dialing, no callbacks) with SMS and full 3G support. The product is still undergoing testing and pricing is not available yet, but I have no doubt that it will be as good or better than current offerings out there.

Comments

• 23 June 2010, Ben writes: I would have to agree with your conclusions. You sum it up best saying there is no good mixture of usability, pricing, and features. I would like to try out that Holy Grail SIM card you used in Europe. When I recently was in China I had to only resort to Skype video catting, which was free and simple yet not everyone using it. Good post. Keep us updated on your future experiences.

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Facts are funny because, while facts are facts (or as Ayn Rand wrote in Atlas Shrugged, A is A), how those facts are portrayed are debatable. And while I don’t have any unique facts to contribute to this discussion, I can certainly look at the facts differently:

Heavy Users Pay Less In The US: With the adoption of unlimited voice minute plans by all the major carriers as well as unlimited texting plans, I think it’s safe to say this segment of user is much better served by US carrier plans.

Total Cost of “Ownership”: The various reports that look at what everyone pays for wireless service do not take into account one very important fact: what the phone needed to use that service costs. Unlike a lot of other places, the US operators subsidize phones. A two year contract is part of the deal. What are the upfront costs for establishing service? What are the ongoing costs, and how much does the subsidy factor into those costs?

Cost Of Changing Providers: Related to the above: what happens when you’re unhappy with your current provider? What will it cost you to change? In other countries, the cost is effectively zero. They all use the same technology and getting your existing handset unlocked is generally a trivial exercise. In the US, even if you can unlock your phone, because of the different wireless frequencies and standards, changing providers often means buying a new phone–and agreeing to a new contract.

Voice-Only Customers Well Served: If all you care about is making voice calls, the current providers and plans do a reasonable job, whether you want to go prepaid or on a monthly plan. I’d like to see some monthly plans lower than $40 (which seems to be the floor for these plans), but I spend roughly $100 a year for my wife’s mobile phone usage thanks to prepaid T-Mobile. She is not a heavy talker.

Data-Only Customers Not Well Served: If you are a talker and on a monthly plan, you can typically add a $30 (or less) a month data plan to your service. One could argue with those prices, but at least it’s fairly consistent industry-wide. Data-only is a different story. On a monthly plan, at least $50/mo (if not more). Prepaid? Depending on the operator, it either doesn’t exist or is just as expensive as a monthly plan, and it’s tied to a specific device (e.g. a USB broadband device). In Europe? Prepaid data for short periods of time is easy to get and isn’t terribly expensive.

Texting: Like with voice, higher volume users are better served by US plans, which provide a relatively low cost per-text or are flat-rate unlimited. Low-volume text users in the US are charged an ever-increasing amount per message–sent or received. I remember when it used to be $0.10 to send a text and free to receive. Now its $0.20 a message–sent or received. Picture messages are much more. Europeans have much better pay-per-text rates than Americans do (and don’t have to pay to receive texts to boot).

Conclusion: Voice customers are better served by US operators. However, that is by no means the entire picture. Texting and data prices, as well as device acquisition costs also play a role in the overall total cost of our wireless service. These are facts the CTIA conveniently leaves out of their analysis.

Comments

• 29 April 2010, Ophir Kra-Oz writes: Highly accurate description. BTW, the Verizon MiFI is a cute little device 3G->WifI gadget which offers data services to any phone with WiFI. You can actually use it with 4 devices at the same time. If you put some pressure on Verizon employees, you can even get a prepaid plan ("Wow, we didn't that was allowed, but if you say so"). In Israel it is quite the opposite. 5GB data per month is $20, no string attached. Voice is much more expensive and there are no unlimited plans.
• 29 April 2010, PhoneBoy writes: See, I'd be happy with 5GB of data for $20/mo. That's very reasonable. Can you get a prepaid SIM with that rate? Maybe I'll look into that when I visit Israel next.
• 30 April 2010, Marc writes: Along the lines of the MiFI, is Sprint's Overdrive 3G/4G device. Price: $100 (with $60/month 2-year unlimited 4G data plan) Hopefully, to remain competitive with the AT&T's $30.00/month iPad unlimited 3G plan, we'll see Sprint lower their Overdrive monthly 'unlimited' rate...of course, I'd expect Sprint to have the customer pay more for the Overdrive unit upfront in order to offer this. http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/pr_sprint_overdrive
• 30 April 2010, PhoneBoy writes: $30/mo is still "too much" IMHO, it should be more like $20. Just saying.

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• More on Wireless Data Ubiquity

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