AT&T - Can it spur GSM growth...

[Kris Kumar]

AT&T next week is launching a new offer that will eliminate roaming charges. And the best part is that now with AT&T service you can roam on Cingular networks (and also T-Mobile) and not get charged extra.

http://www.attwireless.com/press/rel...s/041404.jhtml
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...ingular24.html

This seems to me like a good deal. Except that the state of GSM networks - Part 1900Mhz and Part 850Mhz. And no real good phones, read Smartphones, that works on these two frequencies so that we can take advantage of the roaming.

The news release mentions -

"all new devices it introduces this year will be 850-compatible"

So does this means AT&T and Moto honeymoon is over? MPx series wont be available on AT&T?

AT&T, TMobile, Cingular's GSM network coverage in US has been overshadowed by Verizon. Does this new Roaming offer have the power to pull new people into AT&T's network, not to mention keep the exisiting ones.

And what does it mean for T-Mobile. How come AT&T can get access to T-Mobile networks thru Cingular and T-Mobile cannot offer the same for its customers. Why cant all the GSM operators combine forces. In some countries they do, why cant they do in US.

I hope this announcement is just a begining for all the GSM users out there and also who want to stay on GSM networks.

Kris

[Kris Kumar]

AT&T next week is launching a new offer that will eliminate roaming charges. And the best part is that now with AT&T service you can roam on Cingular networks (and also T-Mobile) and not get charged extra.

http://www.attwireless.com/press/rel...s/041404.jhtml
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...ingular24.html

This seems to me like a good deal. Except that the state of GSM networks - Part 1900Mhz and Part 850Mhz. And no real good phones, read Smartphones, that works on these two frequencies so that we can take advantage of the roaming.

The news release mentions -

"all new devices it introduces this year will be 850-compatible"

So does this means AT&T and Moto honeymoon is over? MPx series wont be available on AT&T?

AT&T, TMobile, Cingular's GSM network coverage in US has been overshadowed by Verizon. Does this new Roaming offer have the power to pull new people into AT&T's network, not to mention keep the exisiting ones.

And what does it mean for T-Mobile. How come AT&T can get access to T-Mobile networks thru Cingular and T-Mobile cannot offer the same for its customers. Why cant all the GSM operators combine forces. In some countries they do, why cant they do in US.

I hope this announcement is just a begining for all the GSM users out there and also who want to stay on GSM networks.

Kris

[Mike Temporale]

Originally Posted by kris_kumar

The news release mentions -

So does this means AT&T and Moto honeymoon is over? MPx series wont be available on AT&T?

Do we know for sure that the new Moto phones will not support 850? I thought they were quad-band phones. If so, that would include 850, right?

[Kris Kumar]

They are triband :-)

http://www.motorola.com/mediacenter/...244_23,00.html
http://www.motorola.com/mediacenter/...245_23,00.html

[Mike Temporale]

Interesting... Those press releases are dated late February, while I'm certian that the slides Moto presented at the MDC say Quad-band, and that was late March. Could something have changed in that short a time frame? Or one of these two sources is wrong.

[Kris Kumar]

Mike, you are right..this is what the "Connectivity Road map" slide says...

-GPRS Class 12, Quad Band TODAY in entire 04 portfolio
-WLAN and BT Coexistence enabled in PPCPE based products
-EDGE, CDMA EVDO, UMTS in development
-Uncompromised WAN performance – voice and data
-Deliver on user perceived quality and operator interoperability

Quad Band TODAY in entire 04 portfolio...this is AWESOME. I wanted to quit GSM for CDMA because of the frequency mess. But Motorola is calming me down.

I cant wait for MPx 220 !!

And I dont think any of the other sites have picked up this point. I mean MPx Series being Quad Band. They still talk about it being tri band.

This is solid news. Thanks Mike for pointing this out.

Kris