I'd like the idea of P2P mobile phones, no service provider required. Phones connect directly if in range otherwise they hop via other phones to reach their target. Phones that are hopped through get paid a fee for acting as a relay. So you earn while acting as a relay and spend when making calls that need to go through other phones. I'm not sure if this could work with bitcoin, the main question is "can a phone acting as a relay be sure it will get paid?" It can't wait for confirmations, that'd not work. So can it work with bitcoin?
good in basic theory. but in practice, some have alrady tried this. here are some issues found
some people thought about sing bluetooth to connect to people locally. the issue is that with mobile phones. people walk around. meaning it will keep dropping every time people using the network move more then 100 metres apart.
another proposal was people setting up their own cell antennas. this issue is with the eventual solo-owners(thousands of people independent).. would start to become a pool. where only a few people own many masts.. much like the mobile network today
I see one of two scenarios that are "affordable". Most of the newer cell companies rent the towers and data stream from a pre-existing network. If you work that somehow then you are using the FIAT system to pay to make the whole thing possible and that is fine. Otherwise the system will have to be built from the ground up and that is very expensive. Not just equipment, like towers, but fees to the states and to the feds, you may even get to the point where you need a satellite or two. Then, you have to either integrate the system with the current system so that your users could call people off the P2P network or wait a very long time for it to gain speed and popularity. I have seen a lot of tech that I waited years for it to be used enough to be useful to me. I even remember the first cell phones in the early 80's. You could only call others that were on the same network. Thirty years later, mass use of cell phones.