You can pick your phone and you can pick your carrier, but you can’t pick them independently of each other — at least for now.

And that annoys the heck out of most cell phone users — which, increasingly, is all of us.

With the rise in demand for the smartphone, this frustration has become even more, well, frustrating.

That frustration has led to an extraordinary event. The U.S. Congress noticed. Not only did it notice, but elected representatives really went out on a limb in the face of a consumer uprising: They decided to look like they care.

How does Congress look like it cares? Why, they hold hearings of course.

What remains to be seen is if those hearings will lead to a change in the status quo.

The issue of carrier restrictions came to a head with the hyper popularity of Apple’s iPhone, introduced two years ago to overwhelming demand and approval. The one thing the iPhone’s owners routinely lamented, however, was the phone’s tie-in to AT&T.

The problem isn’t peculiar to the iPhone. The nation’s Big Four cellphone companies — the others are Verizon  Wireless, Sprint  Nextel Corp., and T-Mobile USA — all offer sophisticated smartphones available from no other carrier. And their policies limit what consumers can do with them.

Smaller carriers say these exclusive deals and service limits cut them out of the competition. They’re claiming these arrangements amount to an unfair trade practice that should be eliminated.

As you might imagine, the major carriers see it differently. They insist that the exclusivity deals have promoted phone innovation and are similar in nature to the deals signed by brands like Martha Stewart or Michael Kors to sell their designs only through selected retail outlets.

While Congress ponders the question and takes the temperature of consumers — who may turn up the heat for more choice — there’s also word that the Justice Department may enter the fray.

The Wall Street Journal reported the department has launched a review to determine whether The Big Four prevent smaller companies from offering advanced phones to their customers.

If they find that current practices violate federal trade laws, their decision could upend the hot mobile phone market for years to come.

The problems involved in making all phones available to all carriers would include overcoming the hurdle of making phone sets that operate on both the GSM and CDMA technology standards.

As things are now, AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM, which is used by all European carriers. Sprint/Nextel and Verizon Wireless use CDMA.

If the feds step in, either phone makers may have to produce two versions of their units, or all carriers may have to agree to operate on the same platform.

Then again, phone developers might decide to create a hybrid that operates on both systems.

What do you think would be best for these businesses and the consumers they serve? Is it possible to satisfy everyone involved?