Kris Kumar
09-26-2004, 04:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=aa5747364bb1f67c' target='_blank'>http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=aa5747364bb1f67c</a><br /><br /></div>"China Unicom is hosting a two-day meeting of CDMA mobile operators in Beijing Thursday and Friday, aimed at setting global industry standards...The company hopes to form a global alliance purely for practical reasons, said Unicom's executive director, William Lo. Without common standards among different operators and vendors, CDMA mobile phone users cannot transmit data between different networks."<br /><br />Kudos to China Unicom for being the pioneer in implementing <i>Removable User Identity Module (R-UIM)</i> and for initiating the process of forming global alliance of CDMA operators. And once again Verizon has let us down by not participating in this important meeting. :-( <a href="http://www.cdmatech.com/solutions/products/r-uim.jsp">R-UIM</a> is a smart card, similar to the GSM SIM cards, that holds subscriber information necessary to receive wireless service. It enables the CDMA network subscriber to change handsets by merely switching the R-UIM card from the old handset to the new one and activate the new cell phone on the network, without calling the carrier's customer service for re-programming the device. It also enables international travelers to roam on GSM networks by using the R-UIM card in a GSM phone (instead of the regular SIM card). What I am not sure about is, whether or not the cell phone user can <i>switch CDMA carriers</i> and use their R-UIM enabled phone on the new carrier's network? Another reason why this meeting is important is because the Smartphone world will soon be getting its first R-UIM capable phone in the form of the <a href="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6163">HTC Vivida.</a> :)