VoIP on a Smartphone is the key. If you’re always in a WiFi environment, this is even easier for you to setup – if you still require a 3G connection, I’ll get to that later.

If you’re in the US, you can use services like Google Voice for calls. This isn’t available everywhere yet though (including the UK), so we have to look at other options. If you have a Skype number, you could use that – or you can use a SIP Provider like SIPGate. With most SIP providers you can select a telephone number from a selection of countries, and most area codes within those countries. You’re also not forced to stick with one inbound number – you could have several numbers directed to your mobile – one for your customers in the US, one for family in the UK and one for your friends in New Zealand?

Once you have a number, you’ll need to setup some VoIP software on your Smartphone. Skype, SipDroid, Fring, Truphone are a few examples. You can generally call Skype-to-Skype, GTalk-to-GTalk and SIP-to-SIP for free, so depending what services your friends are on, you may not even need to spend a penny. For traditional landline/mobile calls, you can use your SIP provider to make calls at cheaper rates that traditional telecoms can provide (including international), usually on either a pay-as-you-go or pay-monthly service – with no contracts. That’s calls taken care of.

Most of these services provide SMS messaging too (Skype, Google Voice). But with SmartPhones there’s not even a need to use traditional SMS messages. With more and more apps coming out like Ping! and WhatsApp – you can send free messages to your friends, directly from mobile to mobile.

If you do need a 3G connection, there are niche sub-providers like GiffGaff who offer free SMS/Calls inter-network, but more importantly free Data access. All you need to do is top-up £10 every 3 months. That’s £3.33 a month for unlimited data usage. If you pair this with VoIP calls, you could be running your mobile phone for significantly less than what you’re paying at the moment.

It seems to me that we’re right on the verge of a tipping point. We’ll soon have blanket coverage throughout the whole of the developed world. I think now, the most important question is which technology will become predominant. They can’t all survive, surely?

With 4G connections rivaling adsl and cable broadband speeds, and a lot of our devices being mobile – who needs a home Internet connection? It’s not only the mobile networks that are interested in this technology, in the United States private equity firms are planning to cover the whole country by 2015. The technology is certainly there.

On the other hand, with broadband connections becoming faster due to fiber optic roll-outs everywhere, mobile network speeds will soon be lagging far behind, again. Companies like Google are taking an interest in providing fiber to the home in entire cities. This is after they’ve already demonstrated their blanket wifi capabilities in San Fransisco. If there’s Free wifi everywhere, why would anyone need a mobile phone provider? We could all use VoIP technology straight from our Smartphones. Mobile apps like Skype and Truphone are already available, and most Smartphones also offer VoIP capabilities directly from the handset – not to mention VoIP codecs tend to be of better audio quality than regular GSM calls.

Of course, even Google doesn’t have the bankroll to provide entirely free wifi to the whole country, but with more and more wifi providers resulting to free access models – it’s only a matter of time until we’re totally covered.

So then again the question is raised, which technology will prevail?

Personally I don’t think the mobile network industry has a chance of surviving in the developed world for much longer than a decade, at least with the current business model. I think it’s quite obvious that once free Internet access is available everywhere, more and more people will discover that they don’t actually need to be paying extortionate monthly fees and be tied into 18+month contracts, simply to stay connected.