US Wireless Carriers Opposing Wi-Fi?

Cingular, Qwest blocking ‘Free’ Calls
http://gigaom.com/2007/03/15/cingular-qwest-blocking-free-calls/

That's just it...the phone companies don't WANT to save the network a lot of load, they want to charge you a lot to load the network.

You have it exactly backwards.

1. Customers complain
2. Customers wonder why they bothered going with a given service provider when their internet connection clearly is no good.
3. Customers don't buy Sprint TV or Vcast music or whatever other service they are selling for entertainment or surfing purposes.

The phone companies are well aware that they have limited bandwidth and keeping it speedy is a constant battle. Hence the long terms of service where they say they don't want you file serving, web conferencing etc etc.

Therefore, if a few users in a densely populated area get their bandwidth for web stuff from a different source, they can make a big improvement.

Would it stop people subscribing to unlimited data plans? Hardly. You can't compare EVDO or UMTS to Wifi. You can't have wifi rolling down the highway or while visiting a non-connected relative in the suburbs. Wifi works at your home, office and elsewhere it's hit or miss.

Now, if you don't mind snooping for a signal with a cantenna, that might be okay, but nobody buys a treo (which is just as much a phone as a handheld) for that sort of thing. I suppose you could try to restrict your non-wifi activities to only voice.

But considering that the unlimited data plans are pretty reasonable in price anyway, you'd be better off going with one.

Conclusion: people buy a Treo for continuously connected stuff. If you want to surf at Starbucks, get a T|X. If a few users can be offloaded to another connection method then the network performance improves. Customers buy more and have better loyalty.

Think next time before you talk. You are making no sense whatsoever!

Sure the T|X is great for surfing given the screen real estate, but then I still have to carry a phone as well. I think the point of carrying a Treo is to consolidate devices. I switched from a cell phone and Palm m515 that completely served my needs to a Kyocera QCP-7135 (the only Palm device my carrier has ever had) because I only wanted to carry one device. I still use the 7135 in hopes that the rumored Treo 755p will come to U.S. Cellular. I haven't switched carriers because I'm grandfathered into a great plan and keeping monthly costs down is a big deal for me. I now also own a T|X but I don't carry it because I only want one device (and nobody seems to make a belt clip case as simple and good as the one Palm had for the Vx series). In 2007 if I want to carry only one device and sacrifice screen size to do so, it should at least have all the features of a good handheld. That includes WiFi even if all I want to use it for is connecting to my home network.