<html><body><span style="font-family:Verdana; color:#000000; font-size:10pt;"><blockquote webmail="1" style="border-left: 2px solid blue; margin-left: 8px; padding-left: 8px; font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: verdana;"><div ><br>
> Hello, I've started to do some research into the new 4G wireless<br>
> standard, and there's one part of the standard that intrigues me.<br>
> Apparently all data is packet based, including the phone calls. Every<br>
> phone will have its own IPv6 address. This seems to pave the way for<br>
> a call to go directly from a cell phone to a soft PBX like Asterisk.<br>
<br>
Gosh. Telcos allowing their nice data network to let you connect your <br>shiny new phone to a voice network that they don't control (or bill <br>
for)... Somehow I don't think that'll happen, but I'm happy to be proven <br>
wrong!<br>
<br></div></blockquote><br>I don't think the carriers care if you carrying voice or data. Think of it.. You can't offer wireless service without paying for the wireless licenses (which means their deep pocket monopolies are still left intact and the government still gets their cut). If all they must do is move packet data from your phone to the internet (whatever connection happens to be cheapest and closest) without having to get involved with mundane tasks like call setup and per-minute billing then why not? <br><br>My capitalistic mind sees a future where carriers charge for two classes of data with two QOS levels. They will make the same amount of money by lowering costs and charging more for the priority data. <br><br><br></span></body></html>