Let me ask you this....

Have you ever wished you could be at park with rest of your family on a nice Saturday afternoon if only you didn't have to wait in office for that important email to arrive? I have, and I didn’t enjoy it one bit.

Have you put off going on a day trip or even a full vacation because you can't leave your computer and your self-obligated contact with your clients that long? I have, and I didn’t like that, either.

Have you ever tried logging on to Net while you were deep in woods? I have, and now I’m not quite so chained to my home-office computer, thanks to my Sprint PCS Wireless Web Phone & Connectivity Kit :-)

This is a VERY neat piece of technology, people, and somehow Sprint has made it really easy to use. In fact, I'd label it as almost "dummy proof." (And I can almost hear my newsletter’s proofreader squealing with delight, almost 2,000 miles away.) I had myself set up and surfing within 10 minutes of opening box. And most of that time was spent installing software on my laptop. The actual process of getting online is as simple as connecting a cable from your laptop to your phone and logging on as usual.

Honestly, that's all there is to it! I didn't even have to mess with my dialup settings because PCS Dialer software that came with it made "mirror" connection settings for me. All I had to do was select from a drop-down box on computer screen which modem I wanted to use. So now, instead of choosing MSN as I normally would have done, I chose MSN (Wireless). Within seconds I was connected and surfing.

The ability to be almost anywhere--beach, mountain, forest or street cafe, and ALSO be "on Net" brings about a new feeling of personal freedom (even with your laptop in your backpack). You don't have to be chained to your PC in order to provide first-class, immediate service to your customers. After years of conscientiously putting clients’ needs first, a burnout is almost to be expected, isn't it? Perhaps you're feeling same thing--burnt out.

Just think how you are going to feel in a few more months when summer is in full swing and everyone else is having fun and you're still sitting there staring at your computer screen, working, or--more depressing--waiting needlessly for an email to arrive through those land-loving phone lines.

While alarming to many, this consolidation serves as a fundamental benchmark to change. Or a wake-up call for your company. The scope of countryside is changing, not only in focus but in infrastructure and applications. So how are companies who find themselves pinched in saturated landscape suppose to survive, much less thrive? A look at future of Internet should provide some insight.

VoIP - Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a simple idea: utilize inexpensive infrastructure of Internet to create a convergence of voice and data. Already, you can make free long distance phone calls on web via freephone.com or visitalk.com. Soon, you'll actually be able to call Internet from any telephone and ask for website information, stocks, weather, make reservations, etc. The system searches Net for information you seek and reads it back to you in a calm, friendly voice. While both fast emerging industries, VoIP will not achieve critical mass until a few kinks are worked out.

For long distance, unreliability of Internet and instability of browsers and applications are concerns. Consumers will likely still be willing to pay 5 cents a minute for something they KNOW always works way they need it to. We've used telephones all our lives and that will be difficult to change especially if it sacrifices reliability. For voice portals, question is not only who wants to surf net on a phone but of security issues involved. V-commerce or Voice commerce will likely replace e-commerce but, again, bugs are in need of innovation but implications are tremendous. Imagine asking your database a question while conferencing with a partner on your mobile phone. Or visitng a website and asking product questions or ordering.