[EVO 4G General] rambo6:
The issues he raises are not as dumb as they seem

For those of us who have been on the forum a while, these issues seem dumb. They are not. We are being screwed by the manufacturers and the carriers but we don't see it that way. John's thoughts are not dumb. I just got done writing a letter to the chairman of the FCC asking that the FCC require carriers to make smartphones compatible with more than one 3G network in the US.

Let's start by discussing GSM phones. In the US, AT&T uses UMTS 850 & 1900 Mhz for 3G service, T-Mobile uses the AWS 1700 Mhz frequency for 3G data service. There is absolutely no reason that HTC smartphones cannot have radios that can handle 850, 1700, 1900, and 2100 Mhz. In this way the phones would be good for 3G data in the US on either T-Mobile or AT&T. Why does this matter?

Whether you know it or not, you are paying at least $500 for a smartphone. If you buy it out right without a contract you're going to pay that much. If you buy on a two year contract, you are getting about a $200 discount. This discount is covered by fees that you'll be paying for data over the next two years. If you terminate early, you'll pay around $200 to do so. At the end of your two year contract, you must stay with your current carrier if you want to continue to get 3G data.

It is abundantly clear that HTC is in collusion with the carriers to not provide unlocked phones that will work on AT&T or T-Mobiles network. A few years ago, you could buy an international unlocked phone (such as the HTC TyTn or TyTn II) which had the 850, 1900, and 2100 Mhz radios which could work in Europe and the US on AT&T's network. However, now HTC only makes unlocked international phones with 900 and 2100 Mhz radio. In other words, if you want the latest HTC phone to work on AT&T or T-Mobile, you have to wait till either AT&T or T-Mobile has it. Sometimes, these carriers don't get the phone you want at all. For example, the HTC HD2 which is one of the best phones HTC ever made has not been offered to AT&T. Fortunately, Telstra in Australia got the HD2 and Australia has the same 850 Mhz frequencies of AT&T. I bought one from Australia and am using on AT&T which is my favorite carrier at least for data. What a pain in the posterior.

The same problem exists with CDMA phones. The CDMA carriers have made it tough for one to switch from Verizon to Sprint or visa versa. There's no SIM card (Why not the technology exists?) You have to take you phone to someone that can hook you up on the different network. With the EVO 4G it would be stupid to go to Verizon because they don't have Wimax and the 4G component of the EVO 4G won't work.

Furthermore, I have the HD2 but I wish I could buy its cousin the Supersonic (aka EVO 4G) and run it on a GSM network (either AT&T or T-Mobile). I cannot do this because HTC has made an exclusive deal with Sprint.

These exclusive hardware deals and the 2 year contracts are inherently anticompetitive. We should be able to chose the phone we want and run it on the network we want. That would be competitive. I have asked the FCC to not give approval to GSM smart phones unless they have more than one 3G radio that works in the US. If this were the case, a buyer could decide to pay full price for the phone (i.e, no 2 year contract) and jump from carrier to carrier at will based on the price, quality, and features of the carrier's network. This is roughly the way Europe works.

In Europe most countries use 2100 Mhz for 3G (though I hear they are going to begin using 900 also). For years one has been able to buy unlocked phones and do month to month contracts. One can jump from Orange to O2 to Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) at will and the 3G data will work.

Europe has had video voice calling for years. The European prices aren't any cheaper than they are in the US but you get more speed, more features, and more choices. We're getting screwed here but everyone is asleep. They are too dumb to see what has happened. The front facing cameras you now see on the EVO 4G have been around for years in Europe on their robust networks.

Another thing that makes me upset about HTC phones is the lack of internal memory. Memory is cheap. Yet the EVO 4G has only 1GB? What the heck? Even Motorolla gets it. Their new Droid has 8G plus an SD card slot. I wish the Droid was GSM. I'd buy it in a heart beat.

HTC is probably the best smartphone manufacturer. However it took them years to get a decent sized screen on their devices. It took them years to get a 3.5mm jack on their devices. How long will it take to get 8, 16, or 32GB on their devices? Probably another 2 years. Oh wait, I almost forgot, they actually got 8G in the Verizon Incredible. They probably only did this because Verizon forced them to.

Unle