T-Mobile Releases New Card, Outlaws VoIP and IM

An anonymous reader writes "T-Mobile has launched a new 3G data card in the UK, and banned users from using it for VoIP or instant messaging applications." From the article: "Lock cast doubt on the sustainable viability of a mobile operator banning VoIP from its network. 'I think that eventually, if there's customer demand for this, it will happen," Lock said. "Other organizations will come along allowing VoIP. Who do you think is going to win?'"

Comments

... where's all that bandwidth going again?

[DrEldarion]

Such high speeds would seem to make the new data card ideal for applications such as Internet telephony and instant messaging.

I have a feeling that 7mbps is a tad overkill for instant messanging.

Re:... where's all that bandwidth going again?

[muonzoo]

Well, you need quite a bit of bandwidth for transfering the worm and virus payloads.

Re:... where's all that bandwidth going again?

[Mindwarp]

I have a feeling that 7mbps is a tad overkill for instant messanging.

It all depends on how much Caffeine you've consumed, my friend.

Re:... where's all that bandwidth going again?

[fabs64]

That's right, REAL men type at (7*10^3)/8 characters per second! ;-)

T-Mobile

[Erik_the_Awful]

Get Less. :)

Re:Too early to tell

[Serapth]

Dont say that!!!! This is slashdot... dont you know? Phone carriers are a right bunch of bastards... you see, they want to make money off their infrastructure investments. DAMN THEM! DAMN THEM TO HELL!

From the horse's mouth to ya:

[Anonymous Coward]

[...]while the Japanese are unable to duplicate the American films by a flank assault, they can destroy it by this video cassette recorder.
I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.

Jack Valenti, at a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee 04-12-1982

So, one must be mad thinking that the cellphone companies will roll over for VOIP and lose their voice cashcow. Have you actually looked at how much they charge? $0.75/min for an international phonecall that costs $0.05 (PC-to-Phone, from Deltathree in my case). Considering it costs cell companies maybe all of $0.02, if that, to actually carry my call (which they ALSO do over the internet fiber, with a lossy compression, and not over the analog wire like the phone companies)

The companies are not going to adopt new technology when they are already making good proffits, they never have and never will.
Plenty of examples:
1) Europeans sticking to horses & wind sailing (until a whole new country, America, invented the steam-boat, the steam-engine/railroads, the radio, the light-buld, and the airplane
2) T. Edison, a DC power tycoon, squashing N. Tesla's AC until he got bitchslaped by competition
3) film industry decrying VCR in the 1980's
4) Apple getting cozy with their market share in the early 90's and cutting R&D,
5) oil companies in the 2000's squashing alternative fuel research