The Death of the "Cell Phone"

PreacherTom writes "Once upon a time, the now-eponymous portable derived its name from the small sections (deemed "cells") into which a city was divided in order to keep voice calls smooth and uninterrupted. Today, it almost seems that voice calls are the least-used function of most phones, while Wi-Fi and WiMax use ever-growing amounts of network bandwidth. Both make the "cellular" moniker obsolete. Is it time for a new name, or is a rose by any other name still as sweet?"

Comments

Re:We already have one

[drinkypoo]

Until we are all communicating to each other via satellite, the world will be divided into small cells for mobile phones to utiliize

1. Satellite communication introduces latency and adds expense. It's unlikely to ever become the dominant means of terrestrial communications.
2. Ultimately we will likely end up with mesh-networked devices communicating on an IP network.

Assuming that's how it works out, maybe we'll all move from cellphones to meshphones.