Now I know that car manufacturers have been doing this for a long time.

The rulebook for Cyberpunk 2020 has cell phones, but they're super hi-tech and expensive.

This role-playing game is based on the works of William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, and other authors of the "mirrorshades group". The game includes a number of elements now associated with the 1980s, such as the idea of "style over substance" and glam rock. The fictional timeline, trying to depict an early 21st century from a 1980s perspective contains some anachronisms such as not foreseeing the adoption of cell phones as the preferred mode of communication.

As some of you may know, I work for a VOIP provider, a telephony system that works via the Internet. It is a technology that is rapidly replacing the hard-lines that Bellsouth offers. As cellphones become more robust and feature faster data connections, their place in this arena is becoming more apparent.

This occurred to me when I read up on how to make an iPod Touch dial a number. The iTunes App Store has several variations of SIP software for the iPod Touch (and iPhone) which allow you to make calls via the iPod's wifi connection using a dialpad that looks just like the iPhone's dialpad, it just runs through a SIP service instead. This idea had me really excited; I was about to run out the door and buy myself an iPod Touch and install the SIP software, as since I work for a VOIP company I can give myself a phone number to send and receive calls from for free. The caveat to this is that the iPod Touch only does wifi, I would be limited to connectivity based on location. As much fun as it would be to make people turn heads when I make a phone call from an iPod Touch (which wouldn't be that significant either, since they look identical), I'd rather invest in a more complete solution. I have looked up and down for a satellite wifi connection for the iPod Touch. This would be my trump card. If I had any mechanism of providing satellite wifi to an iPod Touch, I would be in like Flinn. There are, of course, plug in cards for laptops that access satellite wifi networks and also 3G wireless (redundant but that's what they're called) routers but neither of those solutions make sense unless I plan on having said device in my car and hoping I can make a phone call so-long as I'm within signal distance of my car. That's pushing the nerd spectrum a little too far.

The other alternative is having another phone that has 3G access, and using software that shares the 3G speed via Wifi. Some people do this just so they can have wifi access on their iPod Touch everywhere they go, but obviously not for the purposes of making phone calls from it, because you're already carrying another phone anyway so, what the fuck. Thus, until the advent of a pocket sized battery powered 3G repeater or the availability of satellite wifi on an iPod Touch, this is not a plausible solution. The upsetting part is that some cities have city-wide wifi for a small fee. I'm pretty sure Miami isn't one of them. If that were the case, I'd get the iPod Touch, get the city-wide wifi, and I'd have exactly what I wanted. An iPod Touch that can make phone calls at no charge (since I provide myself with the SIP service), from any location in the city (thanks to the city-wide wifi).

So for now, the iPod Phone is a pipe dream, unless I want to only make phone calls from places that have wifi hot-spots. Despite the plausibility of this being a viable solution in most cases, it won't work from a car, so I'm hoping to find a better solution.

So, I return to the iPhone. It has 3G, right? Yeah, well, AT&T is suddenly made very aware of the presence of SIP services on the App store, and have detracted previous claims that they would offer a Data-only plan. I tried calling AT&T and getting a Data-only plan for an iPhone but they told me I -have- to have a voice plan. This includes consumer level Blackberrys as well: -must- get voice with your data, probably because Blackberrys also have SIP apps available to them. I got lucky though, I called the business level sales department and asked them if they would supply me with data-only sim chips for my companies existing Blackberrys and the guy agreed. It's a little expensive though, 40 bucks a month, but hell, if I'm getting free SIP service and along with that it suddenly becomes very cheap. So sure, I could sign up for this and do SIP via a Blackberry, but what about my iPhone fetish, damn it?

Well, here's the other nice detail. Unlocked iPhones will take sim cards from other providers, if they're compatible. They're not always. Hence why I called AT&T themselves for the data-only chip for my supposed "Blackberry." I figure I can get a data-only plan for an "existing Blackberry" and just stick it in an unlocked iPhone. It should work fine, as it's the same provider, probably same chip, and I was assured that if the device the sim card is put into supports 3G, that it'll run at 3G speeds. Do they really think business customers are less savvy than regular consumers? They probably just assume business customers can afford to shell out the ridiculous amount for their full voice and data plan.

So that's the plan, data-only "Blackberry" level 3G sim card from AT&T, plugged into an unlocked iPhone, using a SIP app to connected to my VOIP service, paying $40, getting unlimited data and unlimited voice (as well as wholesale prices -- ie: what my company pays -- for international calls).