The predominate discussions on the benefits of one wireless provider over another have been, to this point, mostly regarding network; it’s an argument that pitted technologies like CDMA, GSM and EVDO – more commonly an argument between Verizon, AT&T and Sprint Nextel.

This argument is about to be pointless.

At the end of January 2008, the FCC plans to begin auctioning off parts of the 700MHz spectrum – an auction that many wireless providers and (perhaps expectedly) Google, among others, will be bidding on for some time. And for good reason.

The 700 MHz spectrum, currently used to carry over-the-air television, provides massive improvements to both coverage and network speed – perhaps the two most important aspects of any wireless network. The coverage area has three or four times the range of current technologies and can offer speeds comparable to that of today’s cable or DSL standards; however, no major provider is expected to use the new network to give a major overhaul to their respected voice coverage area - only their data networks.

Instead, this auction seems to be shifting the focus of coverage into a different direction.

It was just a matter of time before cell phones became the tiny, portable computers we all thought they could be. Apple’s iPhone was a good start – but for everything it got right, it got just as much wrong (more on this latter). However, with the 700MHz comes the opportunity for change, and, luckily, most wireless providers are looking to do just that.

Closed networks, it seems, are a thing of the past. In a closed network, only phones from a single provider can work on that provider’s network. Obviously, an open network is the opposite: any phone, as long as it uses the same technology, can connect to that network. AT&T has always been open – provided a SIM card (it’s needed because it provides the phone’s information), you can connect any GSM phone to their network. But it was earlier this year, when Verizon announced they would open their network in 2008 to outside phones, that the change was shown eminent.

And CDMA phones, like Verizon, don’t require a SIM card so it would be a much more simple process to switch from network to network – to the point where it would be as flawless as switching from one radio tower to another.

And there is another element to this equation: Google. Yes, they’re bidding on the 700MHz frequency; yes, they’ve long been rumored to be in the wireless market; and yes, they are changing the wireless landscape without even, technically, being involved in it.

Google is a big proponent of, not only open networks, but open phones. Open source that is. As in the phones that are getting much closer to being true computers should be, simply, computers, computers that anyone can write a program for.

Now, a phone becoming comparable to a computer is still a far off reality; however, the current software on a phone is capable of running various applications – like Java – and Google’s idea is that this software should be fully customizable.

And what will happen when Verizon does the same thing with their phones? Currently, the same software is run on most of Verizon’s phones – sometimes the interface may look different, but it’s all just the same.

But, with winning the 700 MHz frequency, any wireless provider gives itself a big advantage: a large, powerful network that provides great data speeds. A with that network, the opportunity for more advanced programs will require the phones themselves to become more advanced – advancing from, say, Verizon’s software to that of the Iphone to, eventually, an more advanced OS, akin to a true OS.

However, this may all be a moot point or a fanciful dream. The 700 MHZ auction is broken into parts; or, rather, the frequency itself is broken up into different pieces, each of which will be auctioned off separately. A 62 MHz chunk is what will mostly sought after, and of that only 20 MHz will ever have to be open. The FCC is requiring that band to be made into a nationwide open-access emergency frequency – ideally (or not ideally) to be used to communicate in a catastrophic event.

What this means is that whatever company wins the auction only has to have a third of its network open; additionally, this third doesn’t have to be part of its service network, meaning the coverage you pay for wouldn’t be able to access this frequency, or use its channels. So, in the end, the auction might just continue the current trend: some wireless company gets a more powerful network and the game remains the same.

Then again, if Google wins the auctions – and they very well could – just the opposite could happen, and an open nationwide network could be born.

Short of that, it will be more of a middle ground. More than likely, the 700 MHz network will be in many ways open.

All of this is good though. Large networks will mean the final downfall of roaming. And all devices are communicating with each other easier. Everything, in opposite of the universe, is moving closer together.

Come together, right now. Over me.

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