It's time for somebody to do it right. Dump the phone part of the cel phone and just make it an always on, 1.5 mbit data connection with a fixed IP address. Use an open-source operating system and then allow 3rd party vendors to create add-ons to connect through bluetooth including a VOIP solution, PDA, GPS, or anything else. Just imagine the possibilities that could be opened up. They already have most of the pieces that they need with Android. If they can get Block C and provide the bandwidth they'd have it made. Imagine being able to exchange files on the fly with Google Documents, instant Email with Gmail, on demand maps and directions, all seemlessly integrated. They'd put the other guys out of business. Hell you'd be able to get rid of your home phone and even your home internet if you wanted. It would be your own personal mbit internet connection that you take with you anywhere you go.

Just a thought.

why can't I upload my own software to my phone?

The windows mobile platform is extremely open to development, with the SDK you can create your own applications and run them on your phone and any other Windows Mobile device.

As propriety as Microsoft used to be, they're opening up lots of development opportunities.

Google's been trying to influence the next round of spectrum auctions, so this is pretty much just formally declaring what anyone watching would have known already.

Ironic that the most open platform for phones right now is windows based, isn't it?

When you think about it, for all the grief MS has taken the last few years (and its probably deserved for the most part), does it really compare to what we put up with from the telcos? They charge you 3-5 times for a ringtone over what iTunes charges you for the whole song! And that's just the start. The choice in the telco spectrum is a mirage.

Any one that visits this site knew it was coming.

I'm glad you mentioned Itunes, because apple needs to be lumped in there along with the telcos. Their Iphone is locked down just as much as any other phone from the telcos. Their ipods are locked down, their OS is locked down to only run on apple machines.

The only thing Jobs has ever advocated unlocking, is IP or Copyrighted material, that did not belong to apple.

Typically most of the complaints against microsoft could go double for apple, but most the media think jobs is a genious, and everything apple makes they invented.

The other funny thing about itunes and ring tones, yes you can get them from apple, but it costs an extra 99cents on top of the song price. Sure you can pick any segment you want, but it costs just as much as the tones from the phone companies.

Yes, that would all be nice, but it's not possible on such a small slice of spectrum, unless you are fine with it only being available to a few dozen people in each broadcast area.

Wireless technologies are far from unlimited because they are a shared medium. It's the same issue as with connecting multiple computers to your WiFi network. Creative means of multiplexing can only get you so far before you simply run into the limit of how much data you can actually cram into a signal.

We're not talking about merely a technological problem, here - we're talking about a physical limit. Wireless technologies are ridiculously difficult to create, especially when you are forced to use small or discontiguous portions of the spectrum.

Try this, to see the problem becoming insurmountable even on a small scale:
Get all the people in your neighborhood who have wireless access points (at least 8 or so) to pick a unique channel and then operate them all within a 100 foot radius of each other (use mimo, g, or n devices for the greatest effect).
Then, take a laptop and try to connect to one of them - any of them. If you do manage to connect to one of them, see how long it lasts and how fast it is.
Then, try to connect another computer to your little network (doesn't have to be the same AP).
You will very very quickly see the problem. If you think that's unique to wifi, you're badly mistaken. There is a reason the FCC exists, and it's to prevent situations like this little experiment from occurring on a large, commercial scale, making the airwaves unusable by anyone.

If just one company owns this new spectrum and doesn't allow others to use it, it will not be nice for a few, but make absolutely no difference for everyone else, and we'll be right back to where we started.
What needs to happen is this spectrum needs to be opened up to all of the wireless carriers to use, so that existing services can be greatly improved, thanks to the addition of a new chunk of bandwidth.

Also, as an afterthought here, if any of you have ever experienced a dropped call, you have experienced the limited nature of the wireless spectrum first-hand.

It's absurd that it's so difficult to use custom made ringtones. I understand that they found a near 100% profit market there, but I won't even touch a phone that doesn't allow me to use my own ringtones for free.

[Would that the world had more like you, then none of us would have to be roped into paying for ringtones. -Rick]

I agree with "John". Phones should no longer be phones, but mobile personal pocket computers with wireless internet access. The phone companies will hang on for dear life, though, rather than change their product strategies, so you'll have to wait for someone like Google (whether you like them or not) to punch through the market.

Innovation through competition, or competition through innovation? Either way, we the consumer win. Google is at the forefront, many times and it's one of the reasons they've become such a success in such a small time. I hope they succeed and open yet another pathway to customization for phones. Until then, a windows based phone is probably the easiest way to do what you want.

Just to prove a point...
I use a cingular 8125 that sim and cid unlock. I currently have and use it with T-Mobile. It came with WM5. I took that off and put on a "hacked version" of WM6 that has way more features than a new phone now. The processor is overclocked 50% and I can watch divx, xvid, h.264, the list goes on and on. Can't do that with an iphone. Or if you could they'd release an update and just brick the phone. Hopefully once google will make these phone company's open their eyes and see that giving customers more freedom with the products and services they buy will keep them rather than push them away

I remember a day when we had the analog networks, you could get a contract for free nights and weekends for 20 bucks a month. I have that type of service now with a home wired voip system(but free local all the time). It will be nice when we can port those systems over to a wireless data service.

I agree with the fact that they DO need to drop the "phone" portion of them, and make it into a more computer based device, then allow the addon of VOIP, or other things over the internet connection that it could provide. This would rock!

I know you say it is impossible with such a limited slice of spectrum but I have to wonder how much of our current spectrum is actually being used and how effectively. You look at markets like asia or japan in particular. The amount of traffic they are carrying on their cellular spectrums is enormous compared to us. I don't beleive for a minute that the limitation is the capacity of the spectrum but of the refusal of our current providers to adopt next generation technologies to make the most of what they have.

European and Asian markets are way ahead of the US in these areas. Google can step up and instantly be at the front of these technologies. They won't have to use the excuse of being saddled with the constraints of the existing infrastructure and the cost of upgrading their systems. They can jump right out and do it right the first time.

So I'm not buying the excuse of limited capacity of the spectrum. I have numerous wireless networks running concurrently at 54 mbits per seconds. No problems (as long as I don't turn on my microwave lol). The packet nature of the network makes it possible. I think the Google engineers are much smarter than me and can figure this all out. Its going to happen some day regardless. Cell phones are dead. Wireless network access devices are the way of the future.