Originally Posted by
Digital_Cataclysm Verizon themselves know full well the advantages of having WIFI with a communications device - the problem is, they want to charge everybody for everything.
Consumers having access to a free WIFI connection?! That goes against every capitalist-pig "screw'em for every buck" business instinct that big VZ stands for.
There are a lot of very good reasons why WIFI is great to have - as other posters have mentioned.
Indeed, having a "world phone" without WIFI would be like trying to hammer nails, if all your hammer had was half a wobbly handle.
Yes, you could probably manage - but it would take a lot longer to do, and really annoy the **** out of you.
The other points such as having access within the confines of buildings (lousy cell phone reception but a nearby local WIFI spot is something you see all the time in office buildings), or use on a home network are likely something most consumers would appreciate as well.
Using WIFI can drain your battery pretty quickly though - as anyone who's spent an extended amount of time on a mobile device using WIFI can attest to, so I would assume most people jump on and off of WIFI for things they need to do- the Verizon network remaining the primary means for communication and data sharing.
Thusly, I don't think if VZ "allowed" WIFI on a majority of their branded devices, it would cause the sudden collapse of their company, cause the skys to darken and open the portal to the gates of Armageddon.
...But they'd like you to THINK that - or at very least all the reasons why they think YOU don't need WIFI - and continue to bully both consumers and device manufacturers with B.S. such as getting rid of built-in GPS capabilities (to push their own "Navigator" services) and castrating WIFI (to ensure everything you do with your device, is on their paid network plan).
But it's been going on for years, and their hoping for the status quo, which is that everybody do nothing and sit there and take it like good little bi**hes.
Better question (and one Congress in my humble opinion) should be asking, among other things carriers have to answer for) is why NOT WIFI?