Current certification processes cost up to $1 million per device, according to Brian Dorcey, general manager at testing lab SGS Wireless US. At the conference, Verizon VP of open development Tony Lewis promised to make the process "cheaper," but neither he nor company president Lowell McAdam could settle on a precise number.

David Hind from the CDMA Development Organization, an industry trade group, said "you should be able today ... to verify a device on Verizon's network for $50,000." That's a lot more small-developer friendly, if still a bit steep.

But it turns out the $50,000 doesn't include "interoperability testing," which involves testing your device on multiple tower manufacturers' network equipment. That can be the longest, costliest part of the process, Dorcey said.

Earlier in the day, Verizon Wireless executive director Rosemary Garavaglia said that interoperability testing was "best practices" for new devices and not mandatory. Dorcey couldn't believe it.

"That's very expensive and time-consuming testing. If you didn't have to do it, nobody would ever do it," he said.

So: $1 million or $50,000? Whatever it is, it looks like you aren't going to be able to build the next great wireless device in your basement - for Verizon, at least.