Apple has an exclusive deal with AT&T in the U.S., stirring up rumors that AT&T was the one behind Apple rejecting Google Voice. How could AT&T not object? AT&T clings to the old business of charging for voice calls in minutes. It takes not much more than 10 kilobits per second of data to handle voice. In a world of megabit per-second connections, that’s nothing—hence Google’s proposal to offer voice calls for no cost and heap on features galore.
What this episode really uncovers is that AT&T is dying. AT&T is dragging down the rest of us by overcharging us for voice calls and stifling innovation in a mobile data market critical to the U.S. economy.
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Some might say it is time to rethink our national communications policy. But even that’s obsolete. I’d start with a simple idea. There is no such thing as voice or text or music or TV shows or video. They are all just data.
The Palm Pre is a Verizon exclusive? News to me.
Oh, come on people. Read the article. AT&T is only the example used. It is every telecomm, cable and related company that is holding us back. Wipe it all away and make it all a single, seamless network where you have one access number to get ultra-high speed phone, video, Internet, etc.
Then see what advancements this country can make and what money can be made off of utilizing a system like that. I bet whole new industries develop and we can stop being the backwater we are becoming (or already are in Internet speed and phone interoperability) in telecomm.
The new Palm Pre, another exclusive deal, this time by Verizon Wireless
I think you mean Sprint not Verizon. Even if your statement was true no one would care because the Pre sucks.
This is just another example of the Democratniks mismanaging communication regulation and taxation via their own stupidity. From FDR through the Kennedys past the Carter years and during the stained dress administration of Clinton they have done nothing but exercise poor judgment and morals.
Our failing telcom infrastructure is the direct result of these policys since the 1930s. Combined with a lack of civil responsibility Demo-Dolts continue to spew diarrhea out of their rectum all over the American dream.
Ha ha
#23, when tech writers and their editors make mistakes like that, it makes me question their knowledge about the industry. The Palm Pre was hyped for months and everyone in the biz knew Sprint was getting it.
@gquaglia
I agree. It took me 5 seconds to look that up on Google and 3 seconds of that was opening another browser window and waiting for the page to come up.
Contact RIAA… they know how to speed up the death of your obsolete business model. Sue your customers…
#24:
For the 8 years starting in 2001, the Repubs could have modernized our telecom infrastructure. They did nothing except collect campaign money from AT&T, Sprint, and the other phone companies. No modernization went on.
I’m sure that if Dubya had the opportunity to stain a blue dress in that era, he would have gone for it. As it was, he made sure that the Iraq War was very profitable for Halliburton and the other defense subcontractors.
Eventually, the American voters figured out what was going on in Iraq, and The Republicans were replaced.
What I don’t know is if the Demos are doing the right thing now about our communication/data infrastructure. It’s needed.
#24:
For the 8 years starting in 1993, the Democratniks could have modernized our telecom infrastructure. They did nothing except collect campaign money from AT&T, Sprint, and the other phone companies. No modernization went on. They did pass a huge law that allows corporations to steal American culture called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
I’m sure that Cinton had the opportunity to stain a blue dress in that era, and he did so.
As it was, Capturing Osama bin Laden has been an objective of the United States government since the presidency of Bill Clinton. On three separate occasions in 1996, 1998, and 2000, while the Clinton Administration had begun pursuit of the policy, the Sudanese government offered to arrest and extradite Bin Laden as well as to provide the United States detailed intelligence information about growing militant organizations in the region, including Hezbollah and Hamas. Though U.S. authorities knew of bin Laden’s involvement in bombings on American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, they rejected each offer.
Eventually, the American voters figured out what was going on in the White House, and The Democrats were replaced.
What I don’t know is if the Democratniks are doing the right thing now about our communication/data infrastructure. It’s needed.
Understand something.
THEY WONT…FIX ANYTHING.
Look outside and find the nearest POWER POLE..
ALL the extra lines, cable and Phone are EXTRA. THEY PAY RENT to be on those poles.
Who built MOST of the power stations in the USA?
The GOV.
WE PAY, for the delivery of the power, to our homes..to the power company. THEY DONT OWN THE POWER facility(most of them).
Those poles and wires out there, have probably been standing(unless rotted or BROKEN by a car crash) for 40+ years. And you are still PAYING FOR THEM.
Heres the problem. FIBER optics would need to be BURIED..(controlled heat and cold conditions so they dont BREAK) WHICH is something that was started BACK in the 70′s to bury ALL power lines. and NEVER FINISHED.
They would have to tear the WHOLE system apart and FIX IT ALL. NOPE. the POWER company DONT make the power, they only SELL IT.
This is very much like CABLE TV..in rural areas, they only hit CITIES/towns..and NEVER outside that area. and they WONT do it.
First of all, in fairness, Apple has not rejected the Google Voice app. They simply have not yet approved it. They have concerns. It seems that (who knew?) just like Google Voice, you can use the iPhone to make voice calls! That’s a clear duplication of functions. And Apple is concerned for the safety of our data as Google Voice requires our contacts to be uploaded to Google servers. We all know how careless Google is with such data. BTW: AT&T has no say in this impending decision. Although Apple MAY have signed an agreement o not allow this type of app. But that’s not evil. That’s just letting AT&T recover the subsidized cost of your phone. Lord knows they’ll never cover the costs with text messages running only 25 cents to send. And receive. Yes, they know that means it actually costs 50 cents to send a text message but they are easing the pain by spreading it around. AT&T loves us. Apple loves us. The wireless world is a wuuunderful place, indeed.
#22: “… It is every telecomm, cable and related company that is holding us back. Wipe it all away and make it all a single, seamless network where you have one access number to get ultra-high speed phone, video, Internet, etc.”
They are “holding us back” because they are trying to make a profit off of the infrastructure they have built/continue to build/continue to upgrade.
They are acting like the good little capitalists the flag-waving, vocal majority wants everyone to be… the same people who shout-down anything less as “Socialist!”
If Google wants to give everyone cheap data service, why don’t they build-out their own network – instead of piggy-backing on the existing, for-profit, broadband and wireless networks?
Oh, thats right, you can only offer cheap data plans if you blow-off supporting the infrastructure you move your data on.
While I would love having everyone connected at Internet2 speeds, for a reasonable price… who is going to pay for that?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet2
Actually, I meant to say “vocal MINORITY”, not “vocal majority”.
My bad.
@MikieV
Do you have any idea how much fiber Google owns? Search on Google and Dark Fiber. The problem with AT&T is it isn’t regulated enough. I blame that on “our” duly elected officials.
To use Google Voice to send SMS you need a browser. The iphone has a browser.
The minimum equipment to make a Google Voice phone call is a phone. The iphone has a phone.
Google Voice works with any phone including the iphone. OK! It doesn’t work with rotary dial types.
Google Voice is NOT VOIP.
AT&T has no reason to care about the app. APPle does.
http://tinyurl.com/mt8l7s
In my area, we have had two weather-related near-catastrophes in the last year: straight-line winds gusting to 70mph (110kph) (remnants of Hurricane Ike) and a disastrous ice storm, both of which brought down tens of thousands of tree branches and whole trees and power and phone lines. Some neighborhoods were without power for over a week at a time. Our phone line-powered phone worked throughout, even when the cell towers and cable and DSL data stations lost power. How do cell and cable signals compare to the uptime of POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service)? Not well, I’d bet.
AT&T and the other wired phone companies have spent trillions installing and keeping up all that infrastructure; I’d think long and hard before sweeping that all away. Although I agree 100% with the author’s third and fourth points:
3)”End municipal exclusivity deals for cable companies.”
4)”Encourage faster and faster data connections to our homes and phones.”