In an effort to not be complete douchebags, T-Mobile has Hotspot@Home. If you have a Hotspot@Home-enabled phone, when you're at home, your phone will make calls over WiFi - thereby saving you minutes. Back when I was with T-Mobile and had the Blackberry Curve, I saw this feature and the smoothness and ease with which it actually worked, and thought it a killer app. Unfortunately for T-Mobile, no one in their advertising department thought that maybe this kind of feature should be advertised. (Maybe they were afraid of success)

Why would a company do something so seemingly consumer-friendly? Because T-Mobile is in third and is looking to keep the customers it has and win over new customers. A decade ago, the wireless companies decried number-portability, complaining loudly about how customers would willy-nilly switch providers if they could actually keep their number. To a large extent, Chicken Little was right. As a result, companies had to offer features that people actually like.

I presently have an iPhone 3G. I'm in NYC, which means that usually, my 3G speeds are roughly the same as EDGE. WiFi enables me to get +3G speeds on my phone when I'm out of the office but working (like at a deposition or in court). If I need my paralegal to send me a PDF, I can get it that much faster. I don't necessarily want to bring my 5 lb. laptop everywhere.

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