I’ve suspected, at the barely conscious level that when we all grab our ‘driods and tap into “all you can eat” web surfing, the networks will begin to wheeze.

What next?  Well, as consumers, we shall begin to talk bad about the services that served us well, until we could chop on large heaps of bytes with essentially miniaturized computers in our hands.

At the ARS Technica site, they say this:  How SmartPhones are bogging down some carriers:

Even though AT&T has made improvements to its network over the last couple of years—including moving towers to an 850MHz spectrum that can more easily penetrate building walls, as well as upgrading to faster 7.2Mbps HSPA+ protocols—those improvements have done little to stem the tide of complaints from consumers in larger urban areas. Those users experience frequent dropped calls and an inability to make data connections, and in general they feel that service is spotty.

Just think, the iPad is going to be coming in large numbers…and the Slate, to join the many new phones which are the all in one digital tether to the net we seek like crack.

The pure technical facts are, the “bandwidth” (think of how many lanes in the road) can be used faster than more of the capability can be added. It’s not like we all haven’t experienced this with road construction sometimes in our lives.