Uncrippling Verizon Bluetooth

[drscott]

About two years ago I got a new cellphone through Amazon, a Nokia 3650, one of the new generation of camera/media/Bluetooth GSM phones served by T-Mobile. One of the attractions was the availability of really cheap service plans; I took advantage of loopholes in their price structure to get by with an under-$30/month bill that included unlimited data service, and was able to set it up so that I could use the Internet connectivity via Bluetooth from my laptop. I also got a Bluetooth headset in the deal. Total cost: $200.

As earlier noted, I just switched to being an add-on under excessor's Verizon family plan, offered with a special discount through Paul's company connection. The advantages included a lower monthly plan cost (about $15) for access to a much larger pot of minutes, and *seemingly* the same functionality: Verizon markets their plan with phones that purport to offer multimedia, Bluetooth, synchronization with your PC, and other goodies I already had set up at T-Mobile. In practice, since Verizon has the best network coverage, some strategic thinkers there have tried to rent-seek their way to higher profits by disabling phone features, especially Bluetooth, to force customers into their provided web services selling games, ringtones, picture transfer, and address book synchronization.

When they came out with their first Bluetooth CDMA offering, customers were outraged to discover all of the Bluetooth "profiles" (communications modes) had been disabled except for the headset access. Class-action lawsuits later, Verizon now at least asterisks the marketing of Bluetooth with a cryptic comment about not supporting the OBEX (Object Exchange) profile, which only one geek in a thousand customers understands means you will not be able to transfer files back and forth easily. This is to prevent you from taking pictures and xferring them to your PC instead of using their per-shot service, or in reverse downloading your own games, music files, or ringtones. The marketing continues to use unmodified language from the phone manufacturer implying you can use the phone as an MP3 player or camera.

Now I'm all for capitalism, and as time passes competitive pressures will force companies to provide better and better services and more truthful marketing. The strategy they have would be defensible *if* they truly offered a complete solution, with seamless wireless synchronization to a web-based database of purchased songs, saved photos, and the Internet. But they don't. You can't even buy a song through Verizon; the "Get It Now" services they offer for purchasing games, ringtones, and the like don't offer much and there's no sign that you can recover them if your phone loses its memory. The contact and calendar web service can't be synced with typical office software (Mac or Outlook). And of course it all comes at poorly-disclosed additional costs. If your cellphone is your only access to the Infosphere, their solution is far from ready for prime-time, and if you're a sophisticated user, it breaks all of your existing solutions.

So when I got my Motorola e815 (a very nice piece of hardware, BTW), the first thing I did was hack the bits that cripple Bluetooth. I'm not going to describe how to do this (just Google "bluetooth e815 obex") -- it took about an hour to get all the tools and do the bit diddling. Then I got the Motorola Phone Tools working so I could sync Outlook with it, and ordered a 512M flash memory card so I could really use it as a music player. About 6 hours of twiddling later, I have the service I actually want. I can use the Bluetooth headset to voice-dial calls, I avoided having to update a separate phone address book by hand, I can shoot and xfer to my PC as many pictures as I want, I can create my own ringtones and download them (and other music) to the phone, and I can read and (clumsily) send email. The phone's software is not as good as the Symbian-based Nokia software, but it's usable.

Was it worth the time? No. Will enough customers be able to do this to modify Verizon's laughable plans for world domination? No.

Comments

[orange-groves.livejournal.com]

Verizon is owned by biggie SBC AT&T, no?

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

No. Verizon is the combo of old Bells from the Northeast (NYNEX, Bell Atlantic, etc) with Verizon wireless. They and "new AT&T" (new name for SBC) and Comcast are the big three contenders for the communications crown.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Cool! Kent & I each got e815 models via Verizon Wireless back in early September but I haven't really played with it a lot because of other priorities. I'll have to try playing with the beast over the weekend.

[sfbearhoney.livejournal.com]

I agree the Motorola e815 is a nice piece of hardware and that they don't seem to offer much with their get-it-now. My old phone with Verizon I could download more get-it-now stuff. When I asked them they said it was because this newer phone doesn't support some of the old stuff. I'll have to play with the bluetooth obex, thanks.

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

Here's a nice summary of the Verizon situation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verizon_Wireless. Anyone who doesn't have a compelling reason to use their wireless would do better at T-Mobile or even Cingular (SBC's wireless.) T-Mobile in particular has the least-misleading marketing, uncrippled phones, decent coverage, and very low rates for people who don't do a lot of calling. Their unlimited Internet access for $5 is a great deal.

[orange-groves.livejournal.com]

I haven't had a cell phone since 2002, but I was curious. Thanks :)

[excessor.livejournal.com]

T-Mobile has a pretty nice service. The reason I stuck with Verizon is that the network covers the cities I travel to, there's a no-roaming option (which we have), and the signal quality is mostly good. The other companies don't have that. However, Verizon's phone selection is often very vanilla compared to everyone else's.

[sunsmogseahorse.livejournal.com]

I was a Verizon customer for about six months in SF and it was a nightmare. I spent no less than three hours making phone calls each month to get the billing right. Never again. I don't know whether any other company is run any better but since I'm not a phone-gabber I have a simple prepaid plan and make everyone email me.

[owenthomas.livejournal.com]

Actually, Verizon is the combination of Bell Atlantic, which merged with Nynex, and GTE. Verizon Wireless is the result of a merger of Bell Atlantic Mobile (including Nynex's wireless properties), GTE Wireless, and Vodafone's Airtouch subsidiary (I work in what was, until recently, the Airtouch building in San Francisco). Verizon owns 55% and Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon Wireless.

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

I think that's way more detail than he was seeking. :-) No wonder the companies are such messes, after all that merging and such!

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

I went with Verizon 2 years ago and just a couple of months ago got the Moto e815 and agree it's fabulous as phones go. Yes, I have the t-flash memory for it and I don't use their services such as get it now.

I was aware of the crippling of many of the bluetooth obex features and when I was searching for an upgrade phone, I was going between this phone and the LG 8100, problem was the LG was even more crippled and there were less hacks for it, despite it's better build quality and the phone in general was poorly thought out in comparison to the 8000 it replaced.

I love this phone and it takes pretty good pics for a camera phone which is nice.

I'll try googling your suggestion and uncripple some of the obex features.

[owenthomas.livejournal.com]

Wow! That Wikipedia entry was so crappily written that I felt compelled to go edit it.

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

That's how they get their writers! Annoying, huh? :-)