
3G coverage?
What is this "near-ubiquitous 3G coverage" of which you speak? Try living in the vast area outside the cities and towns (or 'real Britain' as it's known, where 'real Brits' live) and see how good the 3G coverage is!
iPhone-touting Americans are now able to connect to AT&T's network of 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots for free - though since they'll have to manually connect and authenticate each time, they might prefer 3G. UK iPhone users already have free access to The Cloud and BT Openzone spots, 9,500 of them, but in the US punters have been asked …
Or indeed in cities - 3G in Edinburgh is patchy at best. And as with all of these technologies, they are most available precisely where you don't need them - i.e. home and work where better networks are more easily available - and least available where you do need them - out in the wilds, on a train journey or in a foreign country.
With the state of technology you would think AT&T would have a more convenient way of making a connection without such a process e.g. check the IP address range. The most valuable WiFi connections are at the airports, which AT&T has listed as "Premier Roaming Location" Curious, I asked them exactly what that means. The answer? "Not free." oh, duh.