Apr 18 2005
Why do cell phones suck in the USA?
I can understand why it is hard to upgrade the actual telecommunication networks over here due to the size of the country and it’s population density but why do we get such sucky cell phones only to have them limited in functionality by the carriers?
All I want in a phone is quad (tri will do) band, bluetooth (with synching capabilities none of this headset only nonsense), EDGE (or better data access) and a good camera in the megapixel range. Out of all the carriers and phones they have available there is only a single phone that meets this feature set the Sony Ericsson s710a from Cingular but it is $399 on a 2 year contract but you go through Amazon then you can get it for $249 but you can’t transfer numbers through Amazon nor do I think you can add a line through family talk or whatever it is so I can’t add a line to my current contract to get the discounted phone.
I think what I might have to do is grab a phone while I’m in Australia in July but the problem there is that EDGE is an American hybrid so I’ll be stuck with GPRS or 3G, which isn’t supported here yet.
Oh if you’re wondering why this conflicts with my earlier posts about wanting just a basic cell phone, well I’ve given up on that endeavor and moved to a more realistic goal.
I’d like to go down under again. I was there when the Sydney opera house was openned.
Another answer to your cell phone question - regulation.
PS: Regarding the Permissioning? you wrote “squid/2.5.STABLE4″, you will need to either authenticate with the proxy or bypass it somehow in your voice gateway. I am a rookie. I’d appreciate if you could provide more details.