[Stu]

Where I think Knowroaming's technology would be helpful would be in a cross-border situation where you cross the border regularly. For example, the US/Canadian border. There are places around the border where you really have to cut through the other country to get where you want to go. For example, imagine if you lived in Windsor, Ontario and worked in Sarnia, Ontario. Cutting through the US, your commute time is a little over an hour. Staying in Canada, your commute time is like 2.5 hours. I can give you tons of examples both ways.

I was in a border community in upstate Washington where we wound up crossing the border five times in one day and it was so common that Customs was used to it. Because of a really screwy border arrangement, even the US mail went through Canada to get delivered.

I have a Jewish friend in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan who sends her son to religious school in Sault Canada and drops him off/picks him up three times a week in another country. SIM swapping probably isn't a great option for a soccer mom with a minivan full of kids. I helped her with a dual SIM phone, but TMobile's new plan would be perfect for her (if TMobile had native coverage in her area).

When I lived in the UAE we had an open border with Oman (which has been somewhat closed in the intervening years). There were a number of routes that we took where we cut through the other country to get to our destination. If you went from Dubai to Hatta on Emirates 44 you drove for thirty miles through Oman to get to your destination. We had Omani enclaves with UAE exclaves in their enclaves. Having a seamless solution would make perfect sense in both cases where the roaming deals aren't very good.

In both situations, it is not where you can easily swap sims, reprogram call forwarding back and forth, as you do it. Canadian/US roaming is somewhat better than the UAE/Omani deals, but Canadians get hosed by their carriers. On the US side, we can get Canadian packages with Verizon and ATT, but voice, data, and text packages are all separate and you'll wind up spending $50 extra per phone (per month) if you go that way.