Mobile Internet access next leap for wireless as technologies evolve

A desire for more freedom and flexibility seems a driving force behind many technologies that allow us to communicate. The telephone began its existence tied to short and coiled cords. It later evolved to cordless and then to wireless. Unbound and able to cover short and long distances, wireless technology has given us the freedom to roam and still stay connected.

Today, wireless is spreading its wings again, bringing high-speed Internet access to businesses and residential customers. For users on the go, there is mobile service, providing the freedom to connect to the Internet from just about anywhere at any time. For users looking for a high-speed alternative to Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or cable, there is fixed wireless service. Sprint, AT&T, Verizon and Qwest all provide mobile wireless service to customers in Boulder County. Sprint also provides a fixed service.

Mobile customers access the Internet via wireless modems, or personal computer cards. Wireless modems are similar in size to a credit card and have an antenna. Customers only have to insert them into their laptops or Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and they are connected. The service remains on until the user chooses to end the session.

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“AirCard was designed so that every time you turn your laptop on you are automatically connected to the Internet,´ said Jeff Morris, director of strategic marketing for Sierra Wireless, the Vancouver-based developer of AirCard wireless modems.

The wireless divisions of AT&T, Verizon and Sprint use AirCard modems to offer Internet service through their cellular phone services. Qwest offers a similar product through its cellular service called Browse Now.

Mobile wireless service has limited coverage to major metropolitan areas. Morris said speeds run as fast as 19.2 kilobytes per second (kbps), slower than a fixed service, which can reach 1.5 megahertz, yet fast enough to allow users to access e-mail or search a Web site.

Metricom, a San Jose, Calif.-based communications company that offers wireless Internet service through its Ricochet solution, is looking to build a mobile wireless network extending up and down the Front Range. Metricom currently is building a network in Westminster, and on Feb. 6, Lafayette enacted a contract allowing Metricom to install a network there.

Doug Short, public works director for the city of Lafayette, said Metricom will start installing the network sometime this month. He expects it to be up and running by early summer. As part the contract, Lafayette gets 5 percent of Metricom’s gross revenues and 10 free connections for city government use.

Broomfield also has enacted a contract with Metricom, along with 18 other cities in the Denver metro area, according to Tom Petrosky, site acquisitions manager for Liberty Wirestar, which was contracted by Metricom to handle contracting with area municipalities. Negotiations with Boulder, Longmont and Louisville are under way.

Petrosky said service is available in portions of areas that have contracted with Metricom, but he could not say when build-out of the network would be complete and the system completely live. Like the mobile services of other providers, Metricom’s Ricochet service won’t be as fast as a fixed service. Upstream speeds are around 64 kbps, while downstream speeds only reach 128 kbps.

“With mobility, you can never get high speed,´ said John Hansen, vice chairman of Avolent, a San Francisco-based provider of standards-based software solutions for Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP). “The demarcation point is video, 128 kbps is the line for video access or large data volumes to be moved.”

Hansen said fixed wireless is the only way to focus the wireless bandwidth to a home or business and receive high-speed service, which opens the door to on-demand news and movies, video conferencing and a host of other interactive applications.

For users after more speed, Sprint provides Sprint Broadband Direct, a fixed wireless service available to customers within 35 miles of its digital receiver tower on the top of Eldorado Mountain. The service is fixed because the digital transceiver, a small diamond-shaped device that is mounted to a customer’s home or office, is stationary, requiring that the user remain in one place while online.

About one foot long, the digital transceiver is directed toward the radio transmission tower, where it sends and receives signals. Downstream speeds can be as fast as 1.5 megahertz, about 50 times faster than dial-up modems, said Dave Beckman, general manager of Sprint’s Broadband Wireless Group. Upstream speeds are slower, about 256 kbps. Speed depends on how many users are on the system at one time. The more users accessing the system, the slower the service.

Sprint’s fixed wireless service is available to most Boulder residents and businesses with the exception of those west of Broadway. Beckman said the proximity of the foothills and the heights of trees in these neighborhoods prevent transmission and reception of the signal. Residents and businesses in Broomfield, Lafayette, Louisville and Westminster also can subscribe to Sprint’s wireless services. Sprint would not disclose subscriber numbers for Colorado or nationwide.

Sprint’s fixed wireless service shares the high-speed stage with cable and DSL. But according to Beckman, it doesn’t share the same role. “The difference between wireless and cable is that wireless can increase capacity as it grows, while cable is fixed in how many people it can service in a particular neighborhood,” he said. So while cable providers must use a system already in place, Sprint can add more channels to its wireless network as it grows.

The main difference between wireless and DSL is the time it takes to install the service. If a customer placed an order today, Beckman said Sprint would be able to install the service in less than a week. Availability of wireless Internet service also is broader than DSL, he added.

“The frustration many people have with DSL is that it’s only good for about the first three miles from a central office. The real breakthrough there is wireless technology,” Avolent’s Hansen said.

Whether or not wireless technology will surpass cable and DSL remains unclear. If cost is of concern, Hansen said, “Fiber-optics in high density areas will always be less expensive (than wireless).”

Beckman said Sprint Broadband Direct’s speed is faster than DSL, but there’s always going to be competition. And challenges.

“Mother nature is the enemy to wireless,” Hansen said. But according to Beckman, wireless signals are not affected by weather conditions. They are, however, affected by tall buildings and trees. “If there are impediments, we cannot offer service,” Beckman said.

Sprint will go to nine different points on a potential customer’s home or business to determine which spot has the clearest line if sight for sending and receiving the signal. Beckman said Sprint doesn’t have as much trouble installing the devices on businesses. Installation on homes, however, particularly in older neighborhoods with large, 30- and 40-foot trees, can be difficult.

Despite its limitations, Hansen said, “2001 is the junction point of cost and reliability of service. Wireless technology is getting ready to explode.”

Sprint’s fixed service targets small businesses, home offices and residential customers. Beckman said residential customers make up approximately 85 percent of Sprint’s wireless customer base. Businesses make up the remaining 15 percent.

Service costs for Sprint Broadband Direct for businesses range from $149.95 to $199.95 per month; residential service costs range from $44.95 to $49.95 per month. There is also a one-time equipment charge.

According to Hansen, high-speed services like Sprint Broadband Direct will propel telecommuting. The hope, he said, is for the Internet to become an extension of the office network, providing access to office files and allowing telecommuters to visually interact with coworkers. “Once that happens, telecommuting will explode,” he said.

Wireless technology also will play a role in breaching the digital divide, as demand for high-speed Internet access increases among users in rural areas. “There’s no way anyone can economically justify laying cable over the mountains of Colorado,” Hansen said. “Fiber-optics will be the backbone, and wireless will be the next step out to areas that cannot be reached by fiber.”

Sprint currently is testing the second generation of its wireless Internet service product. Called the G2, the product follows a cellular model. “It won’t have the line-of-sight issues there are now,” Beckman said. “It (G2) will open more doors for us.” Sprint plans to release the product at the end of 2001 or the beginning of 2002.

Morris said AT&T is developing the GPRS, a mobile wireless service capable of speeds as fast as 115 kbps. Verizon and Sprint are working on the 1XRTT, a mobile service that will run up to 144 kbps. Both products should be available in the next few years, possibly by mid-2002. Morris said wireless modems eventually will be standard with compact computers and hand-held devices.