ok. if this article is true, I do not like it. I do not feel that 1) these companies need a bailout, and 2) that there should be any whining about strings attached.

So I wrote Steve Largent at CTIA. I just received a reply from him:

"I agree with you 100%! We are not asking for any money. However, we were asked under what conditions would we accelerate our broadband deployment and these were the modest changes we advocated. Again, let me say, we were asked, we did not ask, what it would take to spur this deployment. We have not been lobbying for this package and most of our companies are in pretty good shape. As a taxpayer, I am very skeptical of this whole $835 billion proposal. Steve."

Take that for what it's worth. Sounds like they aren't against Open Access, they just wanted to drop that to speed up deployment, which I still don't agree with. I feel Open Access needs to happen.

Wow - for the first time I love the French. Wish they would rule that in the US

It's not firmware that unlocked it, it's their network that unlocked it; since they are aGPS chips they depend on the "a", or assist server, to be able to do anything. It even works with the Alltel version 4.5.0.89

Are people trying to force businesses to close down? With all the wireless mergers out there, losing Sprint would be a big mistake. With them bleeding customers quarter after quarter, they cannot afford a $1.2 billion "fine" and really could push them closer to bankruptcy.

Besides, they just had this same lawsuit (and lost) earlier this year. Wouldn't this be "double jeopardy" to sue them again for the same thing?