More and more mobile phones are making the jump to Wi-Fi. This has been demonstrated convincingly at trade shows recently, and the sky appears to be the limit for merging satellite phones and Internet phone calls.

The name of the technology is Unlicensed Mobile Access, and it turns any mobile phone into a VoIP-enabled conveyor belt of information. You can make phone calls, of course; but you can also download data files, including audio and video. You can conceivably watch streaming video live, provided that your Wi-Fi connection holds up.

Samsung and Motorola already have phones that are UMA-enabled. Other manufacturers will not be far behind. Can’t you just see T-Mobile users at Starbucks everywhere jumping onto the Wi-Fi signal pouring out of T-Mobile hotspots? No need to maintain that “view of the sky”: Your phone will switch automatically to the best signal it can get.