A company named Taproot has developed new "Walkiing Hotspot" software that can turn some Wi-Fi enabled smart phones into a 3G Wi-Fi router. At the moment, the software only supports Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 operating systems, but the company says they're working on expanding the platform. PC World notes that only HSDPA/UMTS phones will be able to support Wi-Fi & voice connectivity simultaneously (EVDO users would lose Internet connectivity when a call came in). Taproot's press release seems to think mobile carriers will like the idea:Carriers traditionally aren't huge fans of users sharing 3G connectivity via Wi-Fi, and have gone so far as to suggest such networking options constitute a theft of service. In other words, don't look for this to be an officially sanctioned software any time soon. Taproot should have demo of the software for download on their website before long, but the demo will only allow one Wi-Fi connection at a time.

For those who absolutely must check YouTube videos while camping, or have dreams of turning their Chevy Impala into a mobile broadband god, you do have other options: 3G Wi-Fi mobile routers are consistently getting smaller and cheaper. Users alert us to the fact that Windows Mobile 6 enables this functionality by default, making this software potentially even less relevant.