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Mobility: what do you want exactly?

And how do you want to pay for it?

Reader survey We're all familiar with the imagery used to punt the mobile technology vision: a lone executive atop a hill, gazing contentedly at the limitless horizon to the sound of the skylark and the gentle rustling of trees as he communicates effortlessly with the furthest corners of the globe.

For many, however, "mobility" actually means stomping up and down the high street of a strange town looking for a wireless hotspot, or sitting on a train watching a 3G signal switch to GPRS right in the middle of that 10-meg download.

And while the reality rarely matches the ambitions of the vision, neither is there a true one-size-fits-all mobile solution. While one person may believe email to be the ultimate liberating expression of mobile applications, another might see the remote connection as nothing more than an occasionally handy conduit back to the office.

Then there's the cost. Cue heated debates about the economics of bundling and sharing minutes; the price of downloading a megabyte of data versus flat rate or so-called "fair use" deals; and, more recently, the merits or otherwise of service packages that supposedly deal with all of your communication needs in a single contract.

Well, what do you think? What would your perfect mobile service include – and how would you like to pay for it? If you fancy giving us a few minutes of your time to answer this and other questions, you can participate in our Reg reader survey right here.

You never know - your input could one day see you in a flower-filled Alpine meadow downloading a five-meg PowerPoint presentation in a state of Zen-like calm induced by the knowledge that your wallet hasn't been sucked dry for the privilege. ®

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