Ramesh

I'm not sure how to move them myself.  I'm not sure how this morphed so far off the topic FTP topic even though I'm at least partially the culprit.

Locutus said:

You might want to start a thread

I've got to agree with Locutus. This thread has morphed into a conversation that has nothing to do with FTP programs.

People that have good, quality info or opinions about cell phones won't have any idea that you're talking about them now unless they stumble upon it when they're looking for FTP info.

Don't get me wrong, it's a kick seeing a thread I started so long ago keep going, but really, you could be missing out on some good stuff other people could add. If they knew that you were talking about cell phones.

Just my opinion, do it or not it's up to you. Personally I quit checking this thread back when it wandered off track and started talking about different types of tv signals.

Have a good one.  :-)

But sometimes I like to complain anyway. 

And, if you don't live in the US, iPhones are "world phones".  For example, if you buy one in Europe, you can switch SIM cards out all you want to takes advantage of different rates with different carriers.

In the US, though, AT&T is the only one that supports the "correct" flavor of GSM.  The two other big carriers (Spring and Verizon) both use CDMA.  T-Mobile uses GSM but apparently it is not compatible with the iPhone.

So even though my phone is no longer under warranty, so I could jailbreak it, as long as I'm in the US, it doesn't really do me any good.  I do have some friends that travel alot and bought and iPhone in the US and they did jail-break their phones so that when they traveled they could just get local SIM cards and not pay ridiculous roaming rates.

Samsung World Phone. That's very very smart move chief. I guess if any mobile phone company tried to act oversmart with you - he can't - because you'd always have the option to hop onto another brand! Wow! Wow! Wow!

Ramesh

The tragic angle is user aka you who cannot upgrade her sim to upgrade to a more advanced iPhone model. The gravy train dippers are obviously AT&T sole the service provider & Apple the iPod owner. Obviously they have walled an exit barrier in front of you because of:-

1. high foreclosure cost
2. low or no hardware subsidy if you choose to upgrade to a more modern iPod model
3. a "sim card" which is not iPod "model independent" aka it fits only into your specific model - a "closed architecture thing".

Phew!

At the back of my mind I always knew that thuggery never totally disappeared even though times changed from medieaval to modern. What surprises me is that never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that the suitable example to prove my point, would of all things - be in the realm of cell phones.

Apart from feeling bad for you as a very dear friend I also feel that iPhone is not behaving in a commercially street smart manner. Here's why:-

1) Karen I intuit you are an "early adopter" rather than "late laggard" at least in relation to technology

2) I intuit (without invading privacy on internet or getting curious - since curiosity kills cats & I never aspired to become a cat anyway) that "early adopters" of new technology are -

• economically of upper strata since new technology like "hard cover" editions in books are always "high priced"
• aspire to being "feature rich" or at least "feature up-to-date"

I think both AT&T & Apple are being short sighted in "irritating your franchise". They may save some cost in the short term but could lose a customer (& mkt share) in the long term.

Apple could actually consider subventing a portion of cost so that it is viable for you to upgrade to a higher iPod version without having to void your guarantee by way of a "jailbreak".  Fear of voiding guarantee via "jailbreak" also tells me that iPod is not the cat's whiskers in terms of "quality" due to which the cost of a second hand iPod (your existing model) is not very high. Actually Karen you might not even have to wait for your "usage period with AT&T to expire". Windows Mobile is already hovering nearby anyway.

Oops, I was about to say since Windows is hovering nearby Apple would accomodate by either helping you directly or by raising stick on AT&T. It came as a surprise to me that Microsoft is not very many times bigger than Apple. Microsoft is $58.437 billion in sales (2009) while Apple is already $42.91  in (2009) - despite being one year younger & several times smaller in terms of market share in computers!

That's tough luck. I feel bad Karen

Your best bet is AT&T. While 7 years younger than Apple it is 2.75 times bigger than Apple - sales in 2008 $ 119.3 billion. That makes AT&T even bigger than Microsoft.

AT&T couldn't get big if they did not service well. I intuit At&T would get at least a dealership (if not sole dealership) for Windows Mobile as well & get you to switch from iPod to Windows Mobile - failing which they'd (AT&T) at least soften terms so that you could upgrade from your current iPod model to the latest one

I hope for the very very best for you Karen

Ramesh

Also, only certain phones work outside the US-so called "World Phones".  My Samsung Impression is one of them :D

The security aspect vis a vis cell phones would be technically superior because of the  3 things you mentioned - "lockin arrangement", "partial hardware subsidization" & "high foreclosure costs". Its a combo which is very good for the country too!

As a patriot of my country (just as you are for yours) I'll recommend this thought to our government in some newspaper.

Teledensity is improving vastly in India & telephone growth rates in India is said to be amongst the top 3 or 5 in the world now. Besides mobile phones have overtaken landphones in terms of numbers. If "lockin" is provided with "hardware cost subsidization" & "high foreclosure cost" it is good for my country. For the cellphone operators it safeguards their market share & given high growth rates they can capitalize their "subsidy cost" either in the very first year or capitalize the expense across 2 years!

Drat I guess this is not thread relevant post; but then your answers set me thinking & were inspiring too! Thanks!

LOL

Ramesh

Ramesh

Ramesh Kumar said:

Hi Karen!

Karen said "The only real reason that we are not using satellite TV now is that the bundled price of getting TV and internet access over fiber is cheaper than internet on fiber and TV from satellite"

I've heard it said (so correct me if I am wrong) that USA is one country (may even be the only one!) where hardware is cheaper than software. There have been instances where if you "buy" (I mean licence) software you could even get a certain configuration of hardware free. This is in contrast to most countries acroos the world where if you "buy" hardware you get some software bundled with it free!

Is it so?

Ramesh

I think it really just depends.  The one area that I know the US is different from most other countries is that the cellular carriers often subsidize the cost of the phone provided you sign up for a 2 year contract.  So instead of paying $599 for an iPhone, you pay $199.  But then you are locked into a contract with AT&T (the only US iPhone provider) for 2 years (so they can make up the subsidized price) unless you want to pay a hefty early termination fee.  This is true of almost all cell phones in the US and is one reason that it is not easy to switch networks and you cannot just swap out your SIM card to move to a different carrier.

So service providers can afford the marginal cost of providing it in some countries & not in others. The economics of it could run in those kinds of markets but not elsewhere.

Also barring states like Texas or regions like Grand Canyon etc perhaps population density is for the most part equally distributed in USA. India, Australia & maybe Mongolia are known to have vast tracts of land where population is very thin & even houses very far away from each other. That also affects the viability of technology wouldn't it?

Ramesh

Karen said "The only real reason that we are not using satellite TV now is that the bundled price of getting TV and internet access over fiber is cheaper than internet on fiber and TV from satellite"

I've heard it said (so correct me if I am wrong) that USA is one country (may even be the only one!) where hardware is cheaper than software. There have been instances where if you "buy" (I mean licence) software you could even get a certain configuration of hardware free. This is in contrast to most countries acroos the world where if you "buy" hardware you get some software bundled with it free!

Is it so?

Ramesh

And all OTA (over the air) TV transmission is in digital as of early 2009.