KEY POINTS:
My favourite sci-fi writer, Arthur C. Clarke, was right when he said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
But what about when technology doesn't work - like when you turn up with your mobile phone in a foreign country and can't make a call because the phone and the mobile network are built using incompatible technologies? There's nothing magical about that.
At the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona last week, the major event on the calendar for the global mobile phone industry, the message being preached was one of compatibility.
The companies assembled all support a base technology standard called GSM (global system for mobile communications). Around 2.2 billion mobile subscribers, including those of Vodafone, use this technology every time they make a phone call and can roam on GSM networks in virtually every country.
But in parts of the world, mobile network operators use the rival CDMA (code division multiple access) standard to connect their customers. The CDMA tribe is much smaller and happens to include Telecom New Zealand's subscribers.
That makes little difference to the lives of many mobile users but it puts them at a disadvantage if they want to travel overseas as CDMA roaming is patchy, particularly in Europe. There's also less variety in mobile phone handsets compared to what's offered in the GSM world and, as phones become increasingly sophisticated, the gap is widening.
A chorus of voices at 3GSM used those two main reasons to suggest CDMA operators like Telecom will eventually have to bite the bullet and invest in new networks and join the GSM world.
Telecom, instead, is trying to resolve the roaming issue with new phones that work on GSM and CDMA.
As I passed through airport lounges on the long trip to and from 3GSM in Barcelona, I used the first of these Worldmode phones to be offered to Telecom subscribers.
In Australia, the Samsung connected straight away to Telstra's CDMA network. In Singapore, I switched into GSM mode because there is no CDMA network there. Within seconds, I was roaming on the network of MobileOne. In London's Heathrow Airport and again at Barcelona Airport, I manually switched to GSM on landing and quickly found the networks of mobile operator O2, which is owned by Spanish telecoms firm Telefonica.
At the moment, the Worldmode phone hosts two numbers - a Telecom post-paid subscriber's 027 number and a United Kingdom SIM card and mobile number assigned by O2, Telecom's roaming partner.
That means you can get reasonable roaming rates in Europe and pay local rates in the UK, which is a key destination for Kiwis travelling overseas. But you need to maintain two voice mailboxes which is a hassle and callers have to guess which country you're in before choosing which number to call you on - an even bigger hassle. Telecom hopes to have fixed this by mid-year when it will offer one number and one voice mailbox per Worldmode phone.
There's no data roaming on the Worldmode phone, so you can't pick up email or surf the web on your handset as Vodafone subscribers can do in many European countries.
The Worldmode phone worked well for me but it's a band-aid on a gaping wound. It seems inevitable that Telecom will have to join the GSM world if it is to stop customers flocking to Vodafone when mobile number portability is introduced in April, allowing you to freely take your mobile number with you when you change network provider.
In January, Australian operator Telstra, choosing to pursue the next-generation evolution of GSM, will shut down its CDMA network. That means Telecom customers won't be able to roam there unless they buy Worldmode phones.
Business travellers, in particular, will be stung as their data cards, Palm Treos and Harrier smartphones will be rendered useless on those trips across the Tasman.
The dual-mode phones that have appeared so far are fairly simple handsets, none of the more sophisticated devices so far incorporate the dual chipsets. Some of them never will, as manufacturers decide it's simply not cost effective to build Worldmode phones for the limited CDMA subscriber base.
Telstra is one of several operators that has decided to ditch CDMA or are considering doing so. Hopes of the two mobile technologies converging to remove incompatibility issues are slim, at least in the next few years.
If and when stylish handsets like Apple's iPhone make it to New Zealand, they'll likely be available to a GSM mobile operator only. At the moment that gives Vodafone the edge. Sony Ericsson has already stopped making CDMA phones and Nokia produces only a limited number of CDMA handsets.
Telecom has gained ground on Vodafone in the mobile market over recent years by offering compelling deals and handset subsidies. It's also in the process of upgrading nationally to a high-speed data version of CDMA for mobile broadband. This is a good technology in its own right but the issues listed above outweigh its usefulness and mean that, when Telecom's new chief executive takes the reins, one of the first agenda items will be to go shopping for a new mobile voice and data network.
