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AnchorDesk

Patrick Houston
How to get a broadband Net connection...to go

Patrick Houston
Editorial Director, AnchorDesk
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
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Editor's note: David Coursey is on vacation.

As though Maui needed another reason to recommend it as a place to live, now there's this: The Hawaiian island has become something of an online paradise, offering widespread wireless Internet access at speeds that rival those of DSL or cable modems--think of it as broadband to go.

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You could use the system to replace the hardwired connection at your Kaanapali condo, and then roam with it whether you're golfing at Kapalua Country Club, snorkeling off Wailea Beach, or waiting at the Kahului Airport. And, oh yes, did I mention that you can do all this for a basic monthly fee of as low as $29.95 a month?

OK, maybe Maui's too tony for your tastes. Then how about Missoula, Mont.? Jacksonville, Fla., perhaps? Or Malaysia? The same kind of network is being offered in those locales, too.

THE TECHNOLOGY comes from a company called IPWireless, a five-year-old business based in San Bruno, Calif. I want to bring its products to your attention not because you're likely to move to one of these locales anytime soon. Rather, I want to put the company's fourth-generation, or 4G, wireless networking technology on your radar because it represents one of several similar emerging options. IPWireless and a company called Flarion are the leaders in this space right now (at least in terms of mind share), but upstarts Navini and ArrayCom, as well as established companies like Qualcomm and Broadcom, are also involved.

I don't know which, if any, of these companies will prevail in the marketplace. But I do know that high-speed wireless data networks aren't just pie-in-the-sky promises anymore. They're real. They're becoming commercially available. As a result, you should start including them in your connectivity considerations, especially as cable and DSL broadband providers try to lock you into long-term commitments and cell phone carriers ballyhoo their own next-generation networks.

IPWireless has a demonstration network that extends up and down a stretch of Highway 101 just south of San Francisco and blankets the San Francisco Airport. I'll spare you the eye-glazing acronyms that describe this particular wireless technology. (OK, just one: It's based on--sigh--TD-CDMA technology.)

What you need to know is that the IPWireless network is capable of shuttling data at blazingly fast speeds. Its peak capacity is rated at 15.7Mbps, compared to 11Mbps for Wi-Fi's 802.11b, 3Mbps for a cable modem, 1.5Mbps for DSL, and 144kbps for the fastest new cell phone networks in deployment from Sprint and Verizon.

OF COURSE, no one gets peak speeds on any of these networks. IPWireless puts the average for its networks at closer to 5Mbps. But even that throughput--about a third of its peak--is very, very fast. Fast enough, in fact, to make it a viable rival to all of the connectivity options I just mentioned. And that's the real point: Presuming widespread coverage, you could potentially use one account for all your connection needs--at home, at the office, and en route anywhere and everywhere in between.

Throw in the possibility of using that same network for voice-over-IP (VoIP) and you could conceivably dump your cell phone, too.

IPWireless CEO Chris Gilbert likes to look at it this way: "It's a way of providing 802.11 access all over the place." During my briefing with him, we connected to the network and comfortably watched streaming video from a conference room desktop at IPWireless headquarters. Then we jumped into a van and drove around. Using the same palm-sized desktop modem, we watched streaming video just as effortlessly while on the move.

IPWireless doesn't provide this access service itself. It produces base stations and modems and sells these systems to network carriers and providers. CEO Gilbert paints a scenario where his systems could really roil the competitive landscape. It gives upstarts like Maui Sky Fiber, Maylasia's AtlasONE, and Jacksonville's Clearwire Technologies a chance to disrupt the established order. Unlike the big, traditional broadband providers, these smaller companies can offer wireless broadband without worrying about cannibalizing their existing lines of business.

But wireless broadband also gives those traditional providers a chance to do some disrupting, too. It could allow a Sprint, say, to compete with hardwired cable TV broadband providers like Comcast. At the same time, it could allow Comcast--thanks to VoIP--to provide roaming voice coverage and thus compete with Sprint. A diabolical laugh is perfectly in order at this point, since what this situation portends--bwa ha ha--is a competitive free-for-all and the falling prices that inevitably ensue.

THEN AGAIN, let's not laugh too soon. As I said earlier, this all presumes widespread coverage. And widespread coverage isn't a sure thing. No one knows whether someone will adopt IPWireless' technology to provide coverage beyond the boundaries of a small tropical island or a little Montana city.

Craig Mathias, an analyst for the Farpoint Group, expects big carriers, which have pockets deep enough to fund widespread deployment, to move slowly with this technology, if at all. Why the hesitation? They'll see fast data networks as stealing resources and licensed spectrum away from voice services, a proven moneymaker that hasn't reached its market peak yet.

But just the same, you'd do well to keep an eye on these emerging 4G nets. Like so many other promising and emerging technologies, they won't arrive as quickly as their purveyors might wish. But they're sure to get here faster than you might expect.

What do you think? Would you consider using wireless broadband instead of your existing DSL or cable service? Why or why not? TalkBack to me! 

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