I'm sure someone out there can hack it and get an internet connection for less than the going rate. It's all the same connection, but gogo has different pricing for smart phones than for other devices. It's not a cost or connection speed or technical thing - it's a business thing. Lots of criteria going into pricing strategy decisions for every product, and you are seeing the output of a lot of work from the gogo marketing team. They have determined that they can make more money by charging less for smart phones and more for laptops/tablets. Demand curve, price discrimination, economic rents, and a bunch of other terms from micro-Econ apply