Daily Mobile is reporting that Verizon may outright cancel WP8

[rollo132]

What I find odd and why I don't believe it. It's almost release time. Surely they would have known about this for a while.

Exactly. Maybe 2 months ago this is probable. Maybe one month ago this is believable. But now? No way.

 

[ironsoulreaver]

Exactly. Maybe 2 months ago this is probable. Maybe one month ago this is believable. But now? No way.

It is also possible that it has been an ongoing problem and the leak just now sprung. With them sending employees to a training conference I don't believe it is true that they plan on dumping it.

 

[Heron_Kusanagi]

Considering the fact that CDMA phones are being made for the Chinese market, I will say that it's not realistic for this rumor to be true. Unless Verizon does something that other CDMA carriers don't do.

 

[fierywater]

I don't believe this rumor for a few reasons.

1) There's several reports of VZW WP8 training beginning shortly.
2) Joe Belfiore has a Verizon HTC 8X by his own admission. He likely wouldn't have mentioned that if there were actually such grave issues potentially holding up its launch.
3) Most importantly, if this were true, it would be *huge* news; big enough that The Verge or Engadget would likely know about and run with it.

We're a little over a week from the launch of something that has been in the works for months and months. There's no way something of this magnitude is just popping up now.

 

[palandri]

Considering the fact that CDMA phones are being made for the Chinese market, I will say that it's not realistic for this rumor to be true. Unless Verizon does something that other CDMA carriers don't do.

CDMA phones in Asia have a CDMA SIM type card for switching carriers, like GSM phones.

 

[fierywater]

CDMA phones in Asia have a CDMA SIM type card for switching carriers, like GSM phones.

For what it's worth, Verizon's LTE phones also have SIM cards.

 

[palandri]

For what it's worth, Verizon's LTE phones also have SIM cards.

That's interesting, someone else had mentioned that. Which generates a couple of other questions:

Can the phone be unlocked?

Can you use a SIM card from another carrier if you go overseas?

Is there GSM backup frequencies if you go overseas and LTE isn't available

 

[fierywater]

All of that depends on the phone. The Verizon iPhone 5 actually comes unlocked and can even be used on AT&T 3G. Most Verizon Android phones are at least able to use GSM frequencies overseas, even if they can't use the 850/1900mhz GSM here in the States. Some come locked, but Verizon will generally unlock them for overseas use if you ask nicely.

The fact that the Snapdragon S4 SoC supports GSM and CDMA means that there are virtually no hardware differences between GSM and CDMA versions of any given Android or, presumably, WP8 phone (e.g. the Galaxy S3).

This rumor makes absolutely zero sense to me.

 

[thed]

That's interesting, someone else had mentioned that. Which generates a couple of other questions:

Can the phone be unlocked?

Can you use a SIM card from another carrier if you go overseas?

Is there GSM backup frequencies if you go overseas and LTE isn't available

Well, the voice is still carried by CDMA2000 which doesn't use a SIM card. Maybe there's a way to unlock the LTE SIM, but then you would need to be in range of an LTE network that runs on the same frequency. And even then you wouldn't be able to use voice at all.

Maybe things will be different once everything switches to Voice over LTE, but that's a ways off yet.

 

[fierywater]

Well, the voice is still carried by CDMA2000 which doesn't use a SIM card. Maybe there's a way to unlock the LTE SIM, but then you would need to be in range of an LTE network that runs on the same frequency. And even then you wouldn't be able to use voice at all.

Maybe things will be different once everything switches to Voice over LTE, but that's a ways off yet.

It's not actually that complicated. The SIM card has nothing to do with the type of network being used; the fact that the two CDMA carriers in the U.S. chose not to use them until recently is coincidental. All it does is hold subscriber info (and, optionally, some address book entries) so the carriers can identify devices on a network.

Until the birth of their LTE networks, Verizon and Sprint (aside from their Nextel phones, which always had SIM cards) chose to have this information stored on the phone rather than a removable card. Now they use SIM cards like everyone else. You can swap Verizon SIM cards between Verizon 4G phones and it'll work just like swapping SIM cards between GSM devices does.

Interestingly enough, CDMA-based networks in Asia commonly used SIM cards even before the advent of 4G. The avoidance of SIM cards on CDMA networks was mostly prevalent in North America. The GSM standard enforced the use of SIM cards, which is why they became associated with one another.

 

[fierywater]

Oh good, now someone has gone and posted the rumor on reddit with a horribly misleading title. And it's #9 on the front page.

Maybe this will force someone who knows what the eff they're talking about to step forward and confirm/deny this rumor.

If Daily Mobile was looking for clickbait, they got it.

 

[dkp23]

I can see Verizon having a fit for MS to not allow bloatware on the phone.

Hopefully it is not true verizon would cancel cuz of no bloatware on the phone, but who knows, verizon sucks!

 

[independentvolume]

My buddy had his hands on training next weekend postponed. He wasn't told why, but it happened. Not looking good.

 

[Scout_313]

My buddy had his hands on training next weekend postponed. He wasn't told why, but it happened. Not looking good.

That's not good news at all. I'm really aching to buy a smartphone soon (sold my Galaxy Nexus 2 months ago in anticipation of WP8) and am finding it harder to resist immediate gratification. While I can see myself waiting until after Microsoft's WP8 event on the 29th, if there aren't any details regarding a Verizon release, I may have to go with something else, especially if there is a compelling Nexus device. I'd definitely prefer to go with WP8 but I can't wait forever.

 

[fierywater]

Honestly, if this rumor does end up being true, I'm not sure who to be more angry at. Leaning towards Microsoft because of their general ineptitude handling this whole thing from the start. After all, Verizon hasn't announced anything; what more could they do to not get my hopes up?

 

[independentvolume]

That's not good news at all. I'm really aching to buy a smartphone soon (sold my Galaxy Nexus 2 months ago in anticipation of WP8) and am finding it harder to resist immediate gratification. While I can see myself waiting until after Microsoft's WP8 event on the 29th, if there aren't any details regarding a Verizon release, I may have to go with something else, especially if there is a compelling Nexus device. I'd definitely prefer to go with WP8 but I can't wait forever.

I'm kinda in the same boat. My contract is up in may so I have a bit more time. However, if there are no windows phones by then I'm going to sprint. I refuse to pay an off contract price for a non windows phone, which I would have to do to keep my unlimited data.

 

[thed]

It's not actually that complicated. The SIM card has nothing to do with the type of network being used; the fact that the two CDMA carriers in the U.S. chose not to use them until recently is coincidental. All it does is hold subscriber info (and, optionally, some address book entries) so the carriers can identify devices on a network.

Until the birth of their LTE networks, Verizon and Sprint (aside from their Nextel phones, which always had SIM cards) chose to have this information stored on the phone rather than a removable card. Now they use SIM cards like everyone else. You can swap Verizon SIM cards between Verizon 4G phones and it'll work just like swapping SIM cards between GSM devices does.

Interestingly enough, CDMA-based networks in Asia commonly used SIM cards even before the advent of 4G. The avoidance of SIM cards on CDMA networks was mostly prevalent in North America. The GSM standard enforced the use of SIM cards, which is why they became associated with one another.

Interesting, I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.

Sent from my HTC Trophy using Board Express

 

[brmiller1976]

It is the scourge of Verizon's proprietary CDMA network. Decent coverage but lousy device selection and availability.

 

[Mandos]

I just posted this in another thread, but thought it should be here too.

I was just at a Microsoft Store for my lunch break, and a Verizon Wireless Premium Reseller rep came in and was talking to one of the Microsoft employees. I joined their conversation about WP8. I asked him what he knew about devices they were getting. He said he thought they were getting the 8x in both Black and Red, along with one color of the 8s. He also said they were going to get the Ativ S, and a Nokia model. He wasn't sure about which Nokia model it would be. He was expecting an announcement before the end of the month, with availability possibly starting 11/4 for some models, and hoping more would be in place by Black Friday.

 

[jonathan sink]

Here's the article. It is only a rumor, but since Verizon has not announced any devices yet, it makes sense.

Daily Mobile Exclusive! WP8 Phones Could be Delayed or Even Canceled On Verizon | Daily Mobile

Not that this is saying much of nothing but I was in Verizon store today and there 1 and only wp was not on the floor anymore. When i asked about it the guy said if I really wanted it he could still order it for me.