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A Google Skype Buy Makes a True Data Phone Possible
- joezydeco 15y agoNice to think about. Let's get rid of those nasty "middlemen" carriers. Except those "middlemen" built the hundreds of thousands of radio towers and the massive infrastructure that carries the traffic. How does Google/Skype get around that, short of building their own radio network?
- corin_ 15y agoExactly, the author of the article apparently doesn't realise that if everyone switched to data-only usage, they would still be getting billed by the same carriers, who would alter pricing so that the data fees bring them the required levels of revenue. Obviously this can definitely change in the future, whether it's a new type of technology, or Google funding wide-ranging WiFi networks, or some other option. But frankly that's a far bigger barrier than "but Google's VOIP services aren't as good as they could be".
- joezydeco 15y agoThe whitespace initiative might be the best viable option going forward. Still, someone with a ton of cash would need to start building out the network.