Aehso’s Output

Yet another reason why dumb-pipe wireless networks are required to allow further internet service innovation - T-Mobile (U.S.) disabled access to Twitter via SMS - I wonder will they follow suit with their E.U. networks? Bob Mertz seems to have the most authorative response they have provided to date.

In your email, you express concerns, as you are not able to use your service for Twitter. As you have been advised, Twitter is not an authorized third-party service provider, and therefore you are not able to utilize service from this provide any longer. You indicate your feeling that this is a violation of the Net Neutrality.
…
T-Mobile would like to bring to your attention that the Terms and Conditions of service…We may impose credit, usage, or other limits to Service, cancel or suspend Service, or block certain types of calls, messages, or sessions (such as international, 900, or 976 calls) at our discretion.

So they are well within their rights to do this because their T&C effectively say ‘bite me’.

I actually think that more of these high profile incidents are required in order to highlight to the masses the control wireless network providers exercise over content that flows over their networks. Meanwhile it will be a rough ride for anyone who depends on mobile web services - slowly those with sense will learn to never dependent on their mobile network to continue to provide access to critical services.

Lots of headlines about Verizon opening up their mobile network to “any app, any device”. Yawn. In reality they are desperately trying to catchup to the US GSM networks. To give a quick example of where Verizon are coming from (warning: this might shock GSM network users) - there are no SIM cards in Verizon phones.

Sadly it continues to look likely that no mobile operator will ever willingly turn their network into a dumb pipe. After all, they openly regard it (the network/billing relationship) as a unique gift. From whom, is the question we should all be asking.

A while back I posted about Vodafone Ireland offering 500Mb for EUR9.99 per month. Some interesting comments on that post prompted me to followup with Vodafone to clarify a few things. Unfortunately I can’t print their response (it was ‘private’). However, I can clarify a few facts:

• The package can only be used to access Vodafone Live! content (i.e. data to/from the live.vodafone.ie gateway.)
• The package does not apply to use of your mobile phone as a modem (i.e. data to/from the isp.vodafone.ie gateway.)

With this package Vodafone charge an effective rate of €0.02 per Mb to download data from their Live service gateway up to 50Mb per day. If you go over 50Mb per day they start charging €5.00 per Mb.

With their “Modest” or “Medium” data service packages (see Vodafone pay monthly charges) they charge between €0.48 per Mb(€12/25) or €0.30 per Mb (€15/50) to transmit data via their ISP gateway (NOT the Live! gateway).

If you have not signed up for their “Modest” or “Medium” package then the data rate charge is €12.80 for the first Mb and €5.12 per subsequent Mb. (2c/KB up to 512 kbs and 0.5c/kb for any usage over 512kbs).

So Vodafone data rates vary from a minimum of €0.02/Mb (Live! data rate) to a maximum of €12.80 per Mb (general data rate) - incredible! If they had phone call charges like these the regulator would be all over them.

So mobile data via Vodafone remains potentially exhorbently expensive and confusing. The confusion is compounded by Vodafone’s use of the label “Mobile Internet” for this service. With this package a user can get access to reformatted versions of certain WWW sites. Calling that Mobile Internet is like calling a bicycle a supercar. The Internet, as in that series of interconnected tubes through which the worlds computers communicate over protocols based on Internet Protocol(IP), is completely out of bounds.

This service should be called the “Vodafone Network”. However there is nobody to regulate this type of thing, is there?

Vodafone do offer a 3G/GPRS broadband modem as an alternative but a) I need a service that allows me to use my existing 3G handset as a modem (so that my N800 can connect via bluetooth) and b) I don’t want to pay €30 per month for a service I’ll only use in bursts when on the road. They also offer a business email push service but this doesn’t cater for my ssh and http protocol access requirements.

So, we remain in the dark ages.

[Update: See comments on this post and my followup post before signing up for this service!]

Yesterday I was on the phone to Vodafone “Customer Care” to inquire about their mobile data rate plans. The response I got when I told the rep that I wanted to send/receive email by using my mobile phone as a bluetooth modem was priceless: “That would be very expensive. You really don’t want to do that”.

It is nice when service reps tell you what you do or don’t want isn’t it?

Of course with the pricing plans Vodafone had it would indeed have been prohibitively expensive so he was trying to help. But yet Vodafone were offering USB 3G modems for a flat rate (5Gb cap) a month. So why couldn’t I just use my existing handset instead? Could he explain the price difference? I’ll let you guess the answer.

Clearly I wasn’t the only person to ask this question - or maybe I was and I have far more clout than I thought Later that morning Vodafone announced a flat-rate plan for data access from mobile handsets - 500Mb for EUR9.99 per month for post-pay customers, EUR0.99 per day for pre-pay customers. [Update: see comments below and my followup post - this plan does not allow use of isp.vodafone.ie gateway]. You couldn’t replace your home broadband connection with it but if you are a bit of a road warrior (e.g. N770/N800 users or if you have a laptop and occasionally leave your house at weekends/evenings) then it might be of interest. Don’t even think of using it abroad though - those foreign bits are so different they cost way more to move around.

I suppose you can only strangle the market for so long with exorbitant pricing before the regulators start sniffing around. Of course this plan makes the current O2/3/Meteor data plan offerings pale in comparison so I suspect within a few weeks they will announce either an identical price plan or a plan that effectively costs the same amount per Mb per month - <cough>oligopoly</cough>. Watch this space.

BTW, for OS X users out there here are modem scripts and settings a variety of handsets as a bluetooth modems with OS X. I’ve used the SonyEricsson scripts and they work beautifully. If only the service was as free…

Nokia have released the slightly overdue GPS Navigation Kit for the N800 (Internet Tablet).

A new toy for my new-ish toy, or high tech wireless Lego bricks as I like to think of them. Soon I’ll be blindly driving into rivers with the best of them…

The Nokia N800 rocks. I picked one up two weeks ago and I’m more than happy with it.

The pluses:

• Great design, great form factor. The build is Nokia quality.
• Vivid 800×480 display.
• Great WiFi network connectivity and easy bluetooth phone pairing.
• Both Opera and Minimo browsers.
• Several email clients.
• Canola media player.
• Cisco VPN client.
• VNC client (and server!).
• ssh client (and server!).
• Remote Desktop Client.
• UPnP streaming client.
• Mplayer client.
• Gizmo Project (VOIP) client.

Try that on your iPhone!  One other positive comment has to be around the user community - both maemo.org and Internet Tablet Talk seem to be busy which bodes well for future development for the platform.

There are minuses but importantly most are software issues (and are hence addressable)

• No obvious contact/calendar/task list sync app.
• RSS feed reader usability sucks - no OPML import.
• Flash video framerate still isn’t quite there, even after installing the latest IT OS 2007.
• GAIM doesn’t seem to want to install.
• The virtual bluetooth keyboard (XKbd-BTHID) doesn’t seem to want to run.

The lack of a decent flat rate data plan from my mobile provider (O2) continues to restrict my usage but perhaps that will change in the near future.

Now I’m just waiting for the GPS Navigation Kit to be released…

Lots of folks playing with new Nokia N800 and it is getting surprisingly good (and some bad) reviews.  Things to definitely like are the screen, Opera browser, Skype and Gizmo Project (SIP) support, Canola, and GPS receiver integration.  Things not to like are choppy Flash playback but hopefully they can fix that with revised software.  Most important of all though is Maemo, the N800’s development platform.  This really seems to be the antithesis of the iPhones walled garden.

I am very, very tempted though I think A would kill me if I bought one this week given I only bought the Wii last week.  I will probably buy only if I can pair it with a 3G modem via bluetooth (k800i) and if my mobile operator introduces cheaper flat rate 3G data plans than the ones they showed me last week. Municipal Wi-Fi in Ireland is too patchy/non-existent to be the only way to get a device like this online when out and about (though maybe FON might eventually fix that).

So I was invited to a focus group hosted by one of the Irish mobile network operators last night - I’m not sure if it’s cool to name the host company so I’ll err on the side of caution for the mo. It turned out they are preparing some new products (hint - might explain why I was invited) and they wanted some feedback on some proposed new price plans to con(vince) users to sign up. Hi again if you were one of the folks behind the one way mirror!

Interesting things, focus groups, I guess they are a reflection of how profitable and mature an industry is. I can see there is a lot to be said for getting face-to-face with your customer as long as the sample rate is high enough to get reasonably balanced feedback.

The software industry, in general, just does not do enough of this type of thing, even though we all know that accurately gauging requirements on an ongoing basis is so crucial to the success of processes like Scrum…

Recently I switched to O2 (Ireland) in order to be able to replace my aging Sony Ericsson t610 (workhorse!) with a k800i (über-phone!). Vodafone will probably release the same handset at some undefined date in the distant future but their customer service was completely incompetent in dealing with my queries.

Anyway, the k800i is a full on 3G phone - video calling, mobile email, blog-this-photo - lots of features I have no immediate plans to use (and it turns out lots of features that the O2 configuration & network do not support ‘out-of-the-box’). It does support RSS feeds though and that will be useful to me for a number of reasons. Plus it can run Opera Mini so I use it occasionally to get my PVR (EyeTV+Mac) at home to record tv programs via TVTV mobile.

I’d use it a lot more for data were it not for the incredibly expensive data pricing plans that O2 have in place. 1c per kB (O2 refer to them as ‘kb’s - I hope to God they don’t mean kilobits!) is the default rate. So, that 21kb BBC News RSS feed that SonyEricsson pre-install (actually a wrapper feed URL that is not accessible from full internet browsers?) costs 21c for every update. It gets better though - downloading a single MP3 (say a conservative 3000kB) would cost you, wait for it, 3000c = €30 for the data alone. Hahah, you’re having a laugh O2, no wonder nobody uses these services.

Meanwhile, over in the land of the rising sun, they have massive adaption of their 3G services primarily because of flat rate data plans. A relevent quote from an article today on Read/Write Web:

A lot of people in Japan buy not only digital (music, games, videos) but “real” or “offline” goods on their mobile. They use auction services, blogs and use assisted-GPS powered navigation services to walk the city. And they have been doing so for already 2-3 years, at least. Market maturity is not only about getting a device in people’s hand, it is also about the service offering and the actual usage rate.

But you don’t even need to go to the orient to find examples. T-Mobile UK offer flat rate unlimited internet access (with fair use policies) for around an additional £7.50 a month.

In Ireland, it’s like the switch from dial-up to broadband internet access all over again. Except in this case there are no excuses like decades of underinvestment in infrastructure or a low density population. Nope, we just have a duopoly that just like to charge extortionate prices for services that are way behind those offered in rival information societies.

Ireland an Information Society? My ass.

Nice, Skype 2.5beta users can now send SMS messages to anywhere in the world for 9c a pop.

By default the Skype userid is sent as the sender’s ‘phone number’ but options allow you to set it up to send your mobile number instead (there is a verification check to make sure you’re not spoofing someone elses).

Now if only the recipient could reply to back to the senders Skype client…