I don’t think it is yet. From a technology point of view. Sure, Skype, Gizmo and Yahoo Voice are good ways to reach out to friends across the globe and have a conversation for free. Including video. Assuming both sides are using the same service. But, most of us are out and about and our common communications medium is the mobile phone. In our cars, in trains, in our homes, at the ball field.
Unfortunately, the rates charged by mobile phone companies for calling internationally are still very high and so, we don’t call each other. Sure, you can subscribe to Vonage at home and get free calls to land lines in Europe. But, we are a mobile society. I want mobile to mobile anywhere in the world at a good price. Well, it just isn’t here. And the US is cheaper in this regard than most other places.
Recently, I received a mobile phone bill with $1000 in additional charges. Mind you that I have an unlimited US minutes plan, with unlimited US SMS, unlimited Blackberry email all for $130. The $1000 was for calls made around the globe as I launch my new company Salestrakr (http://www.salestrakr.com). This is in sane. If I had stopped at a wifi hotspot, I could have used Skype Out minutes and paid substantially less. But, I’m usually in my car or somewhere away from my computer. So my mobile phone is my lifeline. And I guess the mobile phone companies know this is the case. And even if there were everywhere wifi (wimax), the mobile and telephony companies would be the owners and would still find a way to make communications expensive and thus limited.
Of course, the 747 still rules the sky. It entered commercial service in 1970 and still carries the bulk of the world’s passengers on long haul flights. It still flies at a cruising speed of 567 mph. So, I guess if we can’t fly any faster in almost 40 years, why should we be able to communicate any easier. Moore’s law may be at work for some time, but humans have found a way around it and charge money for nothing.
