The prospect of a completely free mobile telephone network has become possible with the development of a peer to peer phone system, using mobile phones to route calls through other phones in the network - without the need for the usual base stations.

The adapted phones automatically connect to every other phone in the immediate (one kilometre) vicinity, forming a dispersed network that can carry voice calls independently, for as far as there are other phones in use - and since the network is entirely collaborative between the users themselves, the calls are completely free.