Sprint PDA phone and wi-fi

[Upchurch]

Last night, my wife and I were mere moments from buying her a new PDA/cell phone combo when we had enough presence of mind to ask a question that brought out that there was a $40+ charge in order to use the phone's built in wi-fi antenna to use the internet at a wi-fi hotspot.

Let me say that again. There is a $40+ monthly charge to use the standard equipment in the phone to access a free signal.

Why? What on Ed's green earth would we have been paying for? Does this make any sense to anyone?

[JOKER]

Last night, my wife and I were mere moments from buying her a new PDA/cell phone combo when we had enough presence of mind to ask a question that brought out that there was a $40+ charge in order to use the phone's built in wi-fi antenna to use the internet at a wi-fi hotspot.

Let me say that again. There is a $40+ monthly charge to use the standard equipment in the phone to access a free signal.

Why? What on Ed's green earth would we have been paying for? Does this make any sense to anyone?
This is just a guess, but if you already have a Sprint PCS account and phones, they may be saying it's $40 for a Wi-Fi card itself to use on the Sprint Network, like this one for $39.99: http://www.sprint.com/business/products/products/pcsVisionPlan.jsp

I have the Treo 650 and use the Bluetooth for a wireless modem, although 115K sucks, it's better than nothing.