My wife and I were just discussing this... it started out with the fact that we're part of the 20% of US households that don't have a land (phone) line; just cell phones.
After discussion, we concluded that we'd ditch our land internet connection once we could get an all-you-can-eat data connection, such as the one mentioned in the article, for $50/person, and not have our data connectivity costs go up.
Looks like this will become a reality once the price drops by 50% (and this becomes integrated into an iPhone/android-based phone).
Your last line got me thinking: aka Rabid speculation time.
What if the Apple 'Media Tablet' that is supposed to launch with Verizon service had this same feature? It's got an internal 3G connection but it can also broadcast a Wifi hotspot with Bonjour!
It's not so much a matter of capability as it is a matter of carrier restrictions. The carrier restrictions keep an app that does this for the T-Mobile G1 from being easily distributed (and I think it requires rooting your phone, last I checked). So the amazing gadget already exists, it's the contractual agreements that need to be made amazing.
I love wireless for the last few metres of a connection - the last mile though - I'm not too sure of. When you've got 2 desktops, 3 laptops, 2 smartphones, X360 and a Wii sharing the household connection - I'm not sure I want to run that over 3G.
Still - wireless "broadband" speeds are increasing faster than I can get in the home..
After discussion, we concluded that we'd ditch our land internet connection once we could get an all-you-can-eat data connection, such as the one mentioned in the article, for $50/person, and not have our data connectivity costs go up.
Looks like this will become a reality once the price drops by 50% (and this becomes integrated into an iPhone/android-based phone).