Canadian Android Carrier Forcing Firmware Update 238
Wolfier writes "For wireless carrier Rogers in Canada, it seems that 'Customer Safety' only becomes a concern after months of neglect. Rogers is the only GSM carrier in Canada and so the only choice for Android users. Months ago, a customer called Rogers to report a firmware bug that was preventing users from making 911 calls under certain circumstances, and informed the carrier that Google had fixed the bug (recording of that call). But Rogers is only doing something about it now — namely, cutting data access of paying customers until they accept a mandatory firmware upgrade that not only fixes the 911 problem, but also contains 'extra' features that prevent users from ever gaining root access to their phones — even non-subsidized ones. And some phones are also getting bricked by this 'official' update. The moral: we really need to open up the competition here up North."
Uhm, I thought it was open? (Score:3, Insightful)
I thought the one of the battle cries that Android fanboys wave at the iPhone fanboys was that it was open and you weren't locked into running what the provider wanted, you had root on your own device and they can't take it away ... Turns out they can force remote updates and lockout root?
Gonna be lots of pissed off fanboys, this should be a nice calm discussion ...
Security Updates... now with push support! (Score:4, Insightful)
On a closed system, the company behind the system should be able to push updates, especially when there's a security or safety risk involved.
But Google is claiming this is an "open" smartphone... and under this scheme it's usual that the user control when to upgrade.
What a contradictory situation this brings up...
Re:GSM Providers (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course they still maintain their CDMA networks. It's not like they were going to pull the plug on all their existing clients in order to upgrade to GSM. A modern unlocked GSM phone will work just as well on Rogers/Tell/Bell now (assuming you could find such a thing). ie) The iPhone runs on Telus and Bell, let's not pretend Apple made a CDMA version just for Telus and Bell.
Your point stands that a CDMA based Telus or Bell Blackberry (as per your example) purchased prior to their new deployment will not work with Rogers but their legacy gear is irrelevant to this discussion, no?
Re:Rogers is terrible (Score:2, Insightful)
Call them and threaten them with lodging a CRTC complaint and small claims dispute if they don't comply. Tell the CRTC now.
Re:How ironic (Score:5, Insightful)
Is there anything Rogers gets right? Or are they currently the most abusive monopoly Canucks have to live with?
While I agree rogers sucks, they aren't a monopoly. Canada does have a problem with cell providers though. There has to be collusion between the cell companies, that's the only explanation for the ridiculous rates canadians have to put up with. I've had a cell phone since '98 and comparable plans have not gotten cheaper since then. I've been on all the major canadian carriers as well and while coverage is acceptable now it still sucks. Best coverage and cost I ever had was in Vancouver with Fido before they were bought out by Rogers.
"High speed" internet is the same thing. It costs the same as I was paying in the 90's and I had better bandwidth then (no upload speed caps, much more consistent DL speeds). If I want higher upload rates I now have to pay a premium for them to up the cap. Awesome.
Re:Uhm, I thought it was open? (Score:2, Insightful)
I thought the one of the battle cries that Android fanboys wave at the iPhone fanboys was that it was open and you weren't locked into running what the provider wanted, you had root on your own device and they can't take it away ... Turns out they can force remote updates and lockout root?
Gonna be lots of pissed off fanboys, this should be a nice calm discussion ...
No the battle cry was that you could install any userland app you wanted without asking anyone's permission like Apple's app store but that app would still need to conform to the android API for apps, which AFAIK is java like and doesn't give the app any low level access. The fact that it runs on Linux is near irrelevant to users (since they don't give you or apps native access) but I suppose it would make it easier to port the whole OS to new hardware platforms.
Re:Contract breaking? (Score:5, Insightful)
That's not very useful advice, considering that the cost of a lawyer will probably be more than the cost of EITHER just paying the remaining contract, OR breaking it and paying some sort of penalty. So consulting a lawyer is the worst possible option, worse than asking on Slashdot and taking the resulting advice, even if it turns out to be wrong.
I stand corrected (Score:5, Insightful)
Thanks for letting me know Rogers is no longer the GSM monopoly here. Here is some more background information and more of my opinions below.
The bug was, when GPS is turned on, calls to 911 can crash the phone. This bug was fixed in Android 1.6 and subsequent releases, which came out months ago. However, Rogers stated that there'd be no 1.6 updates to their customers (contrary to what Magic users in other countries can do).
Data for all Dream/Magic users went down on Sunday, and will remain down until the update is applied. The reason for data shut down is that, apart from shutting down GPS, which a carrier cannot do remotely, shutting down data is also a work-around for the 911 call issue - so, this way it's guaranteed that 911 calls will always succeed from the moment they activated the block, thus, covering their ass from potential lawsuits.
What's on the update:
1. The 911/GPS crash fix in the main firmware.
2. HTC's new Sense UI made for 1.5.
3. New radio firmware
4. New bootloader firmware
#1 is the only necessary part to fix the 911 issue. #2 is of dubious usefulness to users, especially if it requires a full backup, that Rogers claimed can be done with "3rd party software" - but the software that can fully back the phone up are all root-user-only. How ironic.
#3 and #4 are out of pure user control so customers can no longer unlock or root or run custom firmware. I have no complaint if it's for subsidised phones. However, unsubsidised phones (i.e. those we have paid a full price to buy) are also forced to update, even for people who run custom firmware that *already* has the 911 issue fixed.
So we're given 2 carrots (911 fix and Sense UI) and 2 big sticks (useless control freak firmware updates).
My opinion is, they could have rolled out a fix sooner - if a lone hacker can do it in his spare time, I'm sure a major wireless carrier can do it - the sooner the better, because there are people whose life might be at risk.
Instead, Rogers probably spent a lot of time testing the unnecessary parts of the fix (Radio firmware and Bootloader), and also testing their totally useless "add-ons" (branding, partner bookmarks, unremovable links to Rogers Shop, "Ringback", Ringtone purchases, etc.) - without wasting time testing these unnecessary parts that provide negative values to their customers, especially those using unsubsidised phones, I imagine they could have rolled out the fix sooner - even for only ONE day, and putting less of our lives in danger. In my opinion, it's putting profits higher than customer safety.
They say they cannot support rooted phones, but people are not asking for support. They're only asking to get the service they have paid for - "service" meaning usable bandwidth. Somehow these carriers or some backwards-thinking PHB inside still think they can provide something more than bandwidth, and forcing these extra "services" to unsubsidised phones somehow seem to have a priority even when customer safety is at stake.
Re:Rogers is terrible (Score:1, Insightful)
Pull the battery out!
Re:Uhm, I thought it was open? (Score:5, Insightful)
The people who aren't going to be capable of doing this are the exact same group of people that DON'T GIVE A SHIT that they don't have root or that they update their firmware.
Get some perspective
Re:Uhm, I thought it was open? (Score:2, Insightful)
I'll add a note that this approach isn't 100% proven. We don't know for a fact that the mods are sending the same information to Rogers contained in the build.prop files as the Rogers firmware is sending, or that the mods are even sending that information at all.
However, I do endorse this approach for lack of better ideas, and my phone is connected in spite of being on CyanogenMod.
I'm not sure if the network reset itself or the build.prop fix is responsible, but I'll take what I can get.
Re:Security Updates... now with push support! (Score:3, Insightful)
Not really,
You're assuming all phones are as locked down and restricted as a certain phone, Android devices are not. You see the telco only controls the service, not the handset. You can wait for the telco to get of their arse and publish an update or you can do it yourself as many Optus (Australia) and Rogers Dream owners have already done.
Now Rogers is being a bastard and threatening to cut off any user who does not upgrade to the latest Rogers ROM. Smart Canadians already have already devised a method of defeating this of course. Now only if Canada had some kind of orgnaisation mandated to protect consumer rights, business rights and monitor for abuses [wikipedia.org] that would tear a telco apart for this kind of douchbagery.
Wireless by the Cable Companies (Score:3, Insightful)
Well said!!
Let's hope that the various cable companies like Shaw here in the west and EastLink in the Atlantic are stepping into the cellphone market. Here in Calgary, ten years ago Shaw gave Telus a beating when it came to Fast Internet and currently they make pretty good inroads in the VoIP market.
On the other hand, also the pricing of cable companies seems to go up-and-up with no end in sight. So also they could use some more competition.
Re:GSM Providers (Score:2, Insightful)
Wow this is great news ! Oh but wait, the fees will probably go down now. Yeah now that Bell has entered the market, I will see a tremendous price drop.
Bell has been there with Fido for a long time now. They have similar price plan. They have no incentive to lower any price. Competition is non existent
when companies agree to keep fees high.
"The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development says Canadian cellphone rates are the third-highest amongst surveyed countries, behind the United States and Spain."
from here http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090811/090811_cell_fees/20090811/?hub=CP24Morning [cp24.com]
And there is competition coming here but if you look at what the CEO says : "Price is not the way to differentiate yourself in the marketplace," said president Dave Dobbin. "It's about value. It's about being simple."
from here http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/28122009/2/biz-finance-consumers-rogers-bell-telus-new-wireless-companies.html [yahoo.com]
As long as consumers are willing to giveaway 55 dollar a month for a phone they will have a price gadget that matches the market.
Re:Some phones are more open than Android (Score:3, Insightful)
Well well, needs these days...
As someone who upgraded from a very old Nokia phone (6020) to a N900 recently i can say that the phone is very easy to use and i get the added bonus of having a desktop like experience with it.
It does everything my older phone did and a whole lot more so I can't see how it's this bad...
It might not be full of apps like an iPhone yet but at least i can sleep well knowing what's running on it.