Windows Phone Thoughts: Carriers Take Consumers on a Bumpy Wi-Fi Ride

"Cingular Wireless, which has been selling Siemens' Wi-Fi-enabled PDA since January, says it sees strong demand for data services using the wireless broadband capability. However, the carrier does not currently have a plan for rolling out Wi-Fi voice services. Sprint spokesman Bill Elliott said the company is "heavily in the process of evaluating" the feasibility of phones that work on both Wi-Fi and its mobile voice network. However, the company is not engaged today in any trials of dual-mode Wi-Fi phones. Verizon Wireless, meanwhile, has shied away from Wi-Fi phones, opting to focus instead on a proprietary service, BroadbandAccess, that lets users maintain a mobile, high-speed internet connection across an urban area. "The mobility factor brings a lot more value to the end user than what Wi-Fi has to offer right now," said Ken Muche, a spokesman for Verizon. "You're not going to be tied down to a coffee shop or the lobby of a hotel." Lack of enthusiasm from carriers hasn't stopped proponents of Wi-Fi phones from issuing optimistic projections."

Wired News has a great article titled "Carriers Dally on Wi-Fi Phones", and in it, some interesting points are raised about why American carriers are so reluctant on incorporating Wi-Fi in their phones. If you've been keeping up with the news, you would have noticed rumours of Verizon Wireless omitting Wi-Fi from the Samsung i730. It's a stupid move from a consumer's point of view, but a smart one from a business point of view. With free calls over VoIP becoming increasingly popular, Wi-Fi presents as a serious threat to potential revenue gained from standard wireless airtime. At the end of the day, it's the consumers that get slapped with half-decent devices. :roll: