Excerpts from
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/bu...ey/22digi.html


Wireless carriers in the US are spiritual descendants of Ma Bell -
they view total control over customers as their inherited birthright.
In most European and Asian countries, a customer can switch carriers
in a few seconds by removing a smart card and inserting one from a new
provider.

Timothy Wu, a law professor at Columbia University, published an
influential paper, Wireless Net Neutrality, which made a
well-supported case that the government should compel wireless
carriers to open their networks to equipment and software applications
that the carriers did not control.

Mr. Wu called his proposition a call for Cellular Carterfone,
referring to the 1968 Carterfone ruling by the FCC. Over the
objections of AT&T, the FCC ruled that consumers could plug any phone
or accessory into the network so long as doing so did no harm to the
network. The ruling set in motion the changes that provided consumers
with a cornucopia of equipment choices like answering machines, fax
machines, modems, and cordless phones.

The wireless carriers are fighting a cellular version of the
Carterfone decision. They contend that they must exert control over
all equipment used on their networks in order to protect the networks’
operations. AT&T says in an FCC filing that only the carrier has the
incentive to oversee “the integrity, security, and efficient and
economical use” of the network.

The landline telephone industry used identical arguments, predicting
dire consequences were its customers permitted to use equipment from
unknown sources. In 1955, AT&T argued, “It would be extremely
difficult to furnish good telephone service if telephone users were
free to attach to the equipment, or use with it, all of the numerous
kinds of foreign attachments, which are marketed by persons who have
no responsibility for the quality of telephone service.”

Companies like Google and Skype have called on the FCC to open up more
equipment and software options in the wireless industry. Google said
it would participate in the spectrum auction if the FCC put into
effect its open access proposals.

Verizon Wireless contended that Google’s proposals would open its
network to phones that Verizon had not approved and “that cannot
reliably communicate with law enforcement, a grave problem in an era
of heightened national security concerns.” In other words, stick with
Verizon-certified phones, or the terrorists win.

The wireless industry is being dragged into a scary new age that will
require adjustment to reduced control. The industry can never credibly
contend that its business practices foster competition and innovation
as long as its customers are prevented from moving easily from one
carrier to another.




--


When they discover the center of the universe,
a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it.

....Bernard Bailey



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