I read an interesting post on Slashdot yesterday about an experiment to use a WiMAX-connected netbook as a phone. Given that a) I personally find current 3G data plans a little too close to highway robbery, and b) mobile hardware and OS providers are marginalizing VoIP applications (as discussed here), I find notions of this sort intriguing.

With Clear rolling out WiMAX connections in US cities, the idea is technically feasible. Predictably however, as mentioned in the story’s responses, there are some problems. Battery life, spotty coverage and having to carry around an enormous excuse for a mobile phone are a few of the more significant examples (though if you regularly carry a laptop anyway, this last point can be largely overlooked). There are also some more pedestrian hardware issues like getting your OS to stay active when you close the netbook’s lid.

One reader even suggests that Clear in Seattle is blocking Skype traffic to support their own VoIP service? [unsubstantiated]

Looks like free-as-in-speech VoIP nirvana may not yet be upon us.

Tags: mobile VoIP

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