There is a fascinating series of essays from long-time PDA and smartphone expert Michael Mace over at Mobile Opportunity, looking at the increasingly thorny issue of who will pay for the ever-growing amount of mobile bandwidth that's being demanded of our phone networks. Here's part 1, part 2 and part 3 (in part quoted below), well worth a read over your morning cuppa.....

From part 3 of this essay series, here are Michael's proposed solutions to the imminent data 'crisis':

1. Ban covert traffic limits.  

2. Require a data gas gauge and speedometer in smartphones.

3. Decouple the phone purchase from the network.  

4. Enable toll-free apps and websites.

5. Do not allow the operators, or the web companies, to discriminate against one-another. 

6. Encourage open WiFi. 

Comments welcome. Personally, I'm fine with cellular bandwidth caps and throttling if it keeps monthly data tariffs low - if I've got huge files or streams to upload and download then that's a job for Wi-fi. I currently go through about 200MB a month for my smartphone needs (email, Web, maps, Twitter). What about you?

Steve (AAS)