SHIFT: Why the U.S. cellphone system is un-American  Any TV you
buy will work with any cable or satellite TV service you have.
Any PC you buy, even a Mac, will work with any Internet service
provider you use. Any landline phone, wired or cordless, will
work any phone company's landline service.  Duh, duh and duh,
right? So can you buy any cellphone you want regardless of who
your carrier is? Of course. Unless you live in the United States
of America. Why? Because the FCC is a wuss and a monopoly
enabler and can't even follow its own rules.  More on this after
the Continue jump.  Earlier this month in Las Vegas, FCC
chairwuss Kevin Martin announced his intention to dismiss a
year-old Skype petition, which called upon cellphone carriers to
completely open their networks and allow us to buy and use any
handset we want, approved by the carriers or not.  The carriers
have announced their intention to open up their networks, thanks
in large part to pressure from Google's Linux-based open
operating system, Android,