Nothing frustrates me more than comments such as the one below, written by an editor of PCMag.com, where fear of change has seemingly overtaken the desire for fresh thinking:

The company seems least prepared to work in the mobile service space. Verizon, AT&T, and even Google’s new partner, Sprint, are not exactly industry darlings or customer favorites, but they know this business and, even if motivated purely by greed, are bound to build a better network than Google. Perhaps they would use it to enhance the mobile devices we already have. I don’t see Google doing any of that. In fact, Google’s history of throwing out a free, beta product isn’t yielding the same kind of results it did a few years ago, and I’d hesitate to let the company take a similar approach to wireless.

Breaking this down, Ulanoff appears to be saying that Google doesn’t know what they are doing and are unlikely to push forward or create new products and services; in other words, they wouldn’t make the best use of the 700 MHz. Moreover, he would rather see the “beach front” property go to Verizon, AT&T or Sprint simply because they’re stalwarts in the industry and despite the fact that they are “motivated purely by greed” — and yes, by the way, they are “bound” to build a better network than Google. My bullshit meter is flying off the scale; let me try to explain why. First of all, let me say this again, what Google doesn’t know now, they’ll buy out whole companies or recruit the best minds in the business to figure out. And secondly, should the 700 MHz spectrum go to Verizon or AT&T, they’ll squat on it for years to come to protect their existing infrastructure. Finally, unless Ulanoff knows something that we all don’t regarding Google’s “master plan”, or he can predict the future, his overall stance seems pretty sweeping when the little Google has revealed about its intentions is mightily inconclusive.

Given what we have now with only three primary carriers, I as a consumer want something new. I yearn for something new. I would rather get an unknown than to continue moving forward with the same old crap that’s being dished out by the existing carriers. We’ve seen what innovation can bring to the sector even within the bounds of the current telcos - Helio’s swift rise catering for the data-hungry, tech-happy 18-30 demographic shows there’s plenty of room for fresh thinking and the sort of niche marketing the big three are too lumbering to tackle.

I do however agree with other valid points concerning the risk of extending the deadline to 2011, the type of devices that will work with the 700 MHz as well as his suggestion that the FCC should prevent any company from bidding on - or winning more than - two licenses (to own a single region).

Yet, motivated by billions of dollars burning holes in Sergie Brin’s and Larry Page’s pockets, Google will prevail. And we’ll have to live with the consequences.

What consequences might that be? Better devices, cheaper fees to be on the internet and reaching more folks without access to it right now? It sounds like the these are consequences that the current wireless providers will face — not consumers.