Reviews:
 ·Optimum Online
 ·Verizon FiOS
| walled garden handsets.. Once you put wifi into handsets... companies make them VERY expensive ($300-600) and/or put walled firmware gardens around what you can do with the wifi.. Not even the iphone really allows multi carrier voip service..
So, when will we get really OPEN devices? Probably never! Wwhat your left with is maybe a pda, netbook, pmp, or dedicated handset that does multi carrier wifi voip...
Popping over to a spot where you can make a flat-rate call for 1/4th the price of their $99 unlimited plans is not in the cell phone companies' best interest.
Broadcom might as well wipe their ass with the chips if that's all is going to be done with them.. I'd rather NOT have the cell phone service and use ONLY VOIP, or better yet, have a company such as cablevision blanket the area with wifi so that you are never far away from a wifi spot. Wifi access surpasses payphones in terms of the number of places you can access the internet... so why not have this as a viable option... Cell phone carriers don't want you to have it, that's why.. consumers may stop spending on lucrative cell phone plans and they'd get hit twice-- once by cable stealing POTS marketshare.. and second, with VOIP taking cell phone customers away..
A complete conversion to voip is somewhat premature.. but in reality it makes the 3g /CDMA fcc spectrum not as valueable as it once was.. if 2.4 / 5ghz spectrum is nearly as available (free) & able to allow customers to see a competitive alternative to a billing regime similar to or worse than POTS! |
