The concept is pretty clear: If you had high-speed internet in your pocket, chances are you would dump your home service provider, rethink your wireless plan and even hang out at Starbucks less often.
That kind of massively disruptive scenario defined the trajectory for the telephone. Landlines are on a death spiral, because phone calls went into your pocket. And then maybe, just maybe, you realized that your mobile phone worked just as well in your living room as it did in your travels.
The ‘Bring Your Own Internet’ business isn't new. USB sticks and brick-like portable hotspots have been available for a long time. And, with an Android or WebOS handset (or a jailbroken iPhone) you already have yourself a personal hotspot you can share with other devices.
The trouble is that you probably don't have an unlimited mobile-data plan (grandfathered iPhone owners notwithstanding). And you almost certainly don't have 4G — the very new broadband standard which as a practical matter is every bit as good as the Wi-Fi to which you are accustomed.
So imagine how empowering it would be to have limitless 4G in your pocket. You could tell your cable or satellite company that all you need is TV, thank you very much. You wouldn’t have to depend on the kindness of Wi-Fi strangers on the road. You wouldn’t have to buy a separate data plan for your portable device. Heck – you may not even need a smartphone at all.
Keep imagining. We aren't there yet, but we are slouching in that direction. And leading a very credible charge is Clear, a venture between Sprint and Clearwire that is expanding into three major tech-heavy cities: New York this month, Los Angeles and San Francisco in December.
It will take a while for 4G to become ubiquitous enough for lots of people to break old habits. But if you are lucky enough to live, work and or play in a Clear 4G coverage area you might begin to start questioning your faith for all the right reasons.
Coverage is the rub, of course. There are strangely located “not-yet-serviced” pockets on the Clear map, though the service automatically toggles to more-widely available 3G. Deep within an office building, like here at 4 Times Square, signal erodes. If you are near a window, though, it’s very clear sailing. And for those of us who commute out of the city, well, don’t make me laugh.