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The More Mobile, The Merrier

According to In-Stat, "The state of the current telecom market can be described by one word, disrupted. Alternative technologies are causing hyper-competition. Free voice calls are definitely being disruptive. Pundits predict that wireline voice revenues will drop to zero someday. The power of the Internet will prevail. Traditional wireline carriers are toast. If only it were true.

One way that the industry will save itself from anorexia is to have the mobile carriers set VoIP pricing policy. Every aspect of cellular pricing goes counter to consumer preferences. We don�t like contracts or metered rates. We hate being charged exorbitant rates when we go over our allotted minutes or waiting until the weekend to make calls. And yet we tolerate poor service, and gladly pay outrageously high- priced bills each month, all for the convenience of calling the wife from the grocery store to find out if we need a gallon of milk. To add insult to injury, mobile carriers want us to be elated that the more dropped calls we experience, the more minutes they will add back to our accounts. These guys are geniuses!

Imagine VoIP being a mobile service. Everyone has a cellular phone that is Wi-Fi enabled. At home we place a voice call over our DSL or cable broadband connection. We walk outside and the call automatically transfers to the cellular network without interruption. The call is billed based on minutes, just like a regular cellular call. One phone, one bill, two networks. All completely transparent to us. Who needs free voice calls when we love using our mobile phones so much?"

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