DISQUS

Andrew · 2 years ago

This is a bittersweet victory, and great for the end user - but I can't help feeling a bit disappointed in RIM for not demanding this from the start. Hopefully this empowers them a bit and in the future and they won't be so quick to bend to the whims of the carriers when they request features crippled or removed. Like for example a VoIP stack on the wifi berries

Aaron · 2 years ago

Wow, you guys should change your tagline from "the voice of the BlackBerry Community" to "RIM's PR".

Good news for AT&T subscribers, though.

BlackBerry Cool Douglas · 2 years ago

Aaron,

I'm not sure if that's a diss or not, but I like the sound of it.

BlackBerry Cool: "RIM's Internet PR"

We should really be scoring it as a win for Slashdot, however. Damn those guys carry some weight.

jibi · 2 years ago

So if there's a deal that went through, what did they accomplish? The removal of the AT&T and 102 references following from the LBS.alx:

<!-- For 8800 series, hide the icon for AT&T (102), Vodafone Germany (124), Vodafone Austria (137) and all Orange properties, including Amena (Orange Spain - 175). -->
<!-- For non-8800 series, show the icon for all carriers except AT&T (102), Vodafone Germany (124), Vodafone Austria (137) and all Orange properties, including Amena (Orange Spain - 175). -->


In all honesty, I think more was made of this than it should have been. Starting with the 8800 series devices, RIM and AT&T have done this. It's a simple software lock that can easily be fixed by anyone. It had nothing to do with the release of the 8820 but rather the release of the 8800 and it's GPS features. The only people this affected, which may actually be a large number, were those who thought TeleNav was their only option (due to a service book-enabled icon) or didn't know how to download BlackBerry Maps or Google Maps from the web.

If the 8820 is relesed with the same 'locked down' LBS.alx, then AT&T nor RIM 'neutered' the device from GPS but rather did nothing at all. They would still live up to any misunderstandings that may have resulted from the original article concerning the neutering of GPS, which made it sound as if they were literally disabling it at the hardware/firmware level (like Verizon does)... that was simply NOT the case.

jibi · 2 years ago

Sorry, tidbits of ALX were not parsed correctly due to brackets:

!-- For 8800 series, hide the icon for AT&T (102), Vodafone Germany (124), Vodafone Austria (137) and all Orange properties, including Amena (Orange Spain - 175). --

!-- For non-8800 series, show the icon for all carriers except AT&T (102), Vodafone Germany (124), Vodafone Austria (137) and all Orange properties, including Amena (Orange Spain - 175). --

fileset SystemSize="normal" Colour="True" Java="1.0" _vendorID="~102|124|137|119|162|142|183|147|217|175" series="~8800"

Triumph · 2 years ago

AT&T you suck! For me to poop on!!

MichaelBB · 2 years ago

There is a lesson to be learned here, power to the people through the internet and writing email's and so on, voicing our opinion's . With that said I still say this was all rumor and it was NEVER going to happen anyways. Also as of last night, AT&T sales still has NOT rec'd word on when these are coming in to the stores or through the supply channel.

Can you imagine if Verizon woke up and listened to its customer base, instead of being greedy.

In the end if AT&T continues to go the way its going and cleaning up things, such as firing the people with tude's and improving there network and data network they would really give Verizon a serious run for there there money

Dimplemonkey · 2 years ago

POWER TO THE PEOPLE! I hope AT&T doesn't see our influence as "pressure" from the fanboys but more like our $Presidents$ spoke on our behalf.

CPO · 2 years ago

BlackBerry Cool: Can you confirm with your insider whether the "neutering" was done in the same way Jibi mentioned? The workaround was mentioned a couple of months ago in the pinstack forums I believe.

If its the case of a simple alx modification then i feel like a douche for getting angry over it when the story was first posted. I don't really feel sorry for RIM if they were only pressured to change a text file. I'm sure RIM's thoughts were as casual as "Yeah, yeah. We'll change the freaking text file. You still going to give us our money? We're cool then."

BlackBerry Cool Douglas · 2 years ago

CPO,

This is what we've "heard through the grape vine" (wink) in response to your question and Jibi's post:

"It wasn't a text file change. Thus was a software lock down. New device software was required."

As a side point, no matter how involved the lock-down was (be it software, text-file, or physical clamp on the device), I think the heart of the story lay in the fact that RIM really didn't want to do it, but they were forced to because of their relationship with AT&T and the carrier's interest in protecting its investment in the iPhone and possibly also just in shaving a few more dollars off their customers.

Also, even if there was a work around, that leaves members of the Forums and BlackBerry Cool readers who would have the insight and technical capacity to get it done. What about the average BlackBerry user who has no idea what's going on in the tech world, and is put in a position to pay his carrier more money because he isn't aware of an alternative?

shlammed · 2 years ago

http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2007/08/30/att-t...

Bill W · 2 years ago

This is great news - I can't wait to get one.

My brother and I have an ongoing debate over which is better - iPhone or blackberry. I know the visitors here will support my side - blackberry, no question.

Well yesterday my brother may have started swaying to the blackberry side, he received a bill from ATT for 3,000! These were obscene iPhone data roaming charges, for a week he spent in Canada, basically $20/MB - ouch.

With the 8820 and GPS - blackberry all the way. I just hope ATT doesn't screw with the bb data plans.

Karlos · 2 years ago

I just got my 8820 from ATT and it *is* crippled to only work with TeleNav...