The point wasn't that they're not doing it, the point was that just because we think it makes sense, that they agree and will do it.
They for the most part don't give them away, believe me I've tried. I paid for both of the ones I have. The only other option they gave me was to leave Verizon. And when one had issues, a return replacement was still $150. As far as training, that's going away too. When I used to have issues, they'd do things like log into my NEs and try to find the problem. Now it's do a power cycle and if that doesn't solve it, replace the unit. If I'd followed that way of troubleshooting, I would replaced about 5 NEs that didn't need to be. But even though it costs them less to have people use WiFi or Network Extenders, they can still find more ways to make money off of it, like when they still charge minutes even though it runs on my ISP connection.
That's what their level 2 tech had said to me. While most level 1 CSRs don't know what's going on, the level 2s are usually pretty knowledgeable. Either way if they do need more than a standard WiFi chip, I'd imagine the hardware supports it, but it is blocked by the software as Verizon and other carriers have done many times before.