[Hands0n]

A question for Vodafone.

Is it now possible to have Vodafone provide a release of the Nokia N95 firmware that re-enables the SIP client that they have had written out of their release of the N95?

Of course, there are [technical] ways to work around this that are well documented almost everywhere. It is almost trivial to return a Nokia N95 to its intended state of operation. But my specific question is to find out if Vodafone will do this upon request.

My reason for asking is that Vodafone may well, in due course, find itself in front of the UK and/or European Courts in a similar way that T-Mobile has. Truphone, for one, has bared its teeth at those established mobile network operators that are making it difficult/impossible for them to do business. Crippling the Nokia N95 - and thereby setting a policy - is likely to be seen as anti-competitive. Does Vodafone, then, want to be dragged through the courts like this or does it have the corporate sense to reverse its awful decision to cripple the N95?

So, would a call to Vodafone CS solicit a re-enablement of the crippled SIP feature of the N95?

[whatleydude]

I reckon there's probably only one way to find out dude...

[solo12002]

I bet it gets you no were!

No point in going to ofcom, they have no balls, to much in the pockets of the networks, now i wonder what happened about the rulling that they have to unlock phones for you etc? lol

[faza20]

Hi Handson

Vodafone are aware of the general opinion from customers regarding the removal of features on various phones, and also about performance issues that can be introduced by branding (I demonstrated this to a senior manager in the company with a couple of P990i's, and his response would be blanked out by *** if I posted it:D)

I don't know what is being done about it, or whether future firmware releases will include less branding though.

All staff can do at the moment though is put through an official request for you using our internal feedback website. I've done this for you, along with all the other people on various forums who've requested it, so hopefully something will be done.

[Hands0n]

@faza20 - Cor thank :D What a geezer :)

Really, it is tiresome having facilities crippled on top of the range handsets. Why bother? Why not just keep selling Nokia 3310's (okay, don't do that - I'm only joking!!) :D

But tiresome aside, it is positively anti-competitive crippling features on a handset that have the potential to take traffic away from the mobile network. At the end of the day, it is even senseless when considering that most folk stay within their monthly contract figure (when the tariff gets to the £30 - £35 mark). So the ARPU is assured. The punter is, in many ways, defeating the object of their mobile tariff by using SIP for the likes of TruPhone.

Okay, fair enough, the losses are likely to be much larger when the user travels abroad - but then the roaming tariffs are so scarily high that most don't use their handsets at all much when travelling. SIP comes into its own then - so yes, a loss of even the meagre roaming calls will occur. But then I've always maintained that if the roaming tariffs come down (a lot more than even now) it would positively encourage use when travelling. But thats another subject ...

Bottom line - we don't like our handsets being crippled. Many take the situation into their own hands and un-cripple using well published techniques :) My Nokia N95 handset is in plain Vodafone-crippled mode - and I hate the thought, even though I am likely to use Truphone more for novelty than any serious calling (maybe different if I'm abroad for two weeks in any year!). But Vodafone will not get my roaming calls because its too darned expensive to use!!!

So, Truphone/SIP or not - there is nothing in it for Vodafone 'cos the roaming rates are still punitively expensive (even after the EU-enforced reduction later in the month!).