HTC Does What Google Wouldn't: Sell an LTE Phone That Sidesteps AT&T

schwit1 writes "You won't see it advertised on billboards or television, you won't hear it mentioned in a carrier store, and your less technologically-savvy friends most certainly won't know about it — but quietly, HTC's done something extraordinarily important this month: it's broken AT&T's stranglehold on its nationwide LTE network. It's a move that even Google, for all its money, power, and influence, didn't make with the Nexus 4. HTC is shipping both 32GB and 64GB versions of the One — an early contender for the best phone of 2013 — in a carrier- and bootloader-unlocked version that supports both T-Mobile and AT&T LTE. No strings attached."

Re:News at elleven

[captainpanic]

I was just gonna write something similar. It is very common to be able to buy a phone without contract in the Netherlands, and then buy a separate sim-card somewhere. What's all the fuss about? But then I guess we do occasionally blow news items from the USA out of proportion, so maybe I should just take it with a grain of salt and grab another cup of coffee.

Looks great! Except, it needs a hole in its head.

[VortexCortex]

Looks great except for One thing: No SD card slot, so screw it. I'm not buying into the "stream everything" BS. "Always online" is a disease. Lack of this basic feature is a huge "Fuck You" to me and anyone else who shuffles a lot of data -- The power users -- The people who would by the thing -- The target demographic...

I mean, even my cunting Sansa Clip+ has a fucking SD card reader -- Loaded with a 64 gig micro SD... Which is more than this damn thing can store (the full 64GB of the 64GB version isn't fully usable for data) -- And I have a 8 of these cards (in a CD jewel case holder). It takes me 10 seconds to swap cards -- That's 384 GB/sec... For the price they're changing for this thing, it should be as feature complete as a $30 music player.

What is it going to take? Wait until software defined radio gets cheap enough before I can have a damn SD card slot back? Ugh.

Re:Nice Phone

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does every dumbass with an opinion on these features have to pop up and repeat it at every opportunity? Yes, we get it. The point has been made a thousand times. Some people like an SD slot and a removable battery, and some people don't give a shit. Stop repeating it. This article isn't even a review of the phone, it's about LTE not being locked out.

Re:Looks great! Except, it needs a hole in its hea

[nametaken]

Believe it or not, people care about different things.

I use the hell out of my smartphones, but I've yet to need more than a few gig of local storage. I just don't use my phones to hold my entire music and movie collections, even if I have the option.

And given how many smartphones do not have card slots, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it isn't necessarily a make-or-break feature.

Anciant business model

[ze_jua]

Subsidizes phones is a business model from the past.

It's so heavily broken that I can't even understant :
- Why (we) the people accepted this ? (Okay, GSM phones were VERY expensive in 1996...)
- Why did the banksters allowed the carriers to steal their favourite business (small consumer credits with huge interests) !?

Since past year, here in France, one carrier (and then... every other) bagan to sell "low cost" subscription. It's in fact the same service, without the cost of the "subsidized" phone. Minus 30€ a month (or more).

24 months later, you have 24*30=720€ to buy the unlocked phone of your choice.

For people who prefer to pay 25-30€ a month to pay their handset, banks are back in the dance, with credit offers to buy your unkocked phone on a 24 months credit.

Re:Looks great! Except, it needs a hole in its hea

[Lumpy]

1999 called and they want their pissing and moaning back, You also forgot your rant about not being able to easily remove the battery. (Another red herring that has been a non issue for over 5 years now.)

You are in a very small minority, because the large majority of smartphone users do not care at all about a microSD card slot in the age of 32gig phones.

Re:News at elleven

[Anonymous Coward]

No, you idiot. You pay 49.95 now, and the rest as downpayment through your 2 year contract. The cost isn't subsidised, it's hidden.

Re:Looks great! Except, it needs a hole in its hea

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

VortexCortex, please sit down, as it might come as a shock to you. No matter what your GPS display shows, you are not the center of the world, and the world does not pivot around you when you make that right turn from Lincoln Ave to Water St. Your use case is so extreme, supporting your needs produces so little marginal revenue for so much of pain, they will happily ignore you. If your needs are met, it would be purely an unintended side benefit happening because of supporting some more mainstream use case.

Re:News at elleven

[nightgeometry]

Pity you are at 0, because this is exactly it. Whenever I wish to change phone I look at the same phone on contract 'subsidised' and paying outright. Every time so far it has worked out cheaper to buy the phone, then equivalent service. Also every time my monthly cost has dropped after some time, so it works out even cheaper than the original calculation makes out. Further - if i wish to change phone, I sell the old one, and get to choose a new one (I never come out ahead, but it is nice to reduce the burden).

Re:News at elleven

[jawtheshark]

Yes, that is true... However, it's not the whole story. Especially not where I live, considering iPhones. A mid-range iPhone contract costs 45€/month for everything flat-rate, except roaming. When you subscribe to that contract you get an iPhone 4S for 49€ or an iPhone 5 for 149€. The thing is: there is no contract that is cheaper which would provide the same functionality.

I don't have an iPhone. My wife does. She got it two years ago, with that plan. The phone is still perfectly fine. Still holds charge, still functions as expected. It is entirely sufficient for her needs. We could chose not to renew the contract and get a new phone, but we'd continue paying those 49€/month any way. So, I went to my telco, gave then 149€ and renewed the contract. My wife has a new iPhone 5, I have a new toy to play around with (her old iPhone 4) and all that just because I renewed a contract and spent a bit of money (basically, 149€/24 = 6.21€/month for the next two years).

The alternative would have been to let my telco get away with a fat margin for all the months that iPhone 4 would have continued working exceeding the contract time. I don't know about you, but I'd rather spoil my wife a bit than give them extra money.

Re:News at elleven

[fuzznutz]

Your apathy is the reason Verizon and AT&T can continue to screw their customers. I left AT&T last year and went with an AT&T MVNO and never looked back. My cost may be about the same, but it's at a much higher level of service. I got tired of watching my minutes and paying an extra $6 or $7 ala carte charges each month caused by friends who love to text. I bought a Nexus 4 and paid a whole $150 more than I did for my last "subsidized" phone.

I am no longer forced to choose between contract churn every two years or continue to pay "subsidized phone" rates after finishing the contract. I am much happier and I always know exactly how much my bill will be each month. I will never step back on the contract treadmill.

Re:Just so you know what you're in for...

[fahrbot-bot]

"Can't talk on phone while driving on interstate" is a pretty big negative for me.

But probably safer for the rest of us, and the practice of phoning while driving will probably be unlawful most places soon anyway.