Why Isn't Wireless Net Access Available Everywhere?

4G networks, which will use the 700-MHz spectrum that the government auctioned off last year, promise to blanket every medium to large city in Net-ready radio waves. It's about time. Cell phone companies have been asleep at the wheel for years, loath to upgrade to expensive new networks when their old ones "work just fine." The iPhone slapped them awake. Before Apple's smooth-talker, portable broadband didn't look juicy enough to chase—cellular data usage was slim. But the typical iPhone owner uses five times more data than the average cell user. "It took Apple and its ecosystem of apps and interactivity to prove the pent-up demand for ubiquitous broadband," says Ashvin Vellody, senior vice president for enabling technologies at communications research firm Yankee Group.