Walled Garder : What are the phone company problems.

municipal WiFi" -- the effort by cities such as San Francisco and Philadelphia to offer citywide wireless services that AT&T and Verizon fought (a struggle Verizon has largely abandoned but AT&T is still pursuing). It's evident in battles that are just starting on Capitol Hill over emerging technologies, such as a proposal to open the empty space between TV channels to powerful WiFi-like services that would pose a serious threat to the telcos' $60- to $80-a-month wireless broadband businesses. And you can see it in less technologically sexy areas as well: Verizon crippling freatures on its phones that would let users send photos or games to and from their computers without paying Verizon, or AT&T's yearlong foot-dragging in giving Internet phone competitor Vonage (VG ) access to its 911 switches.

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