Wireless Net access wares making waves
By Stephanie LaPolla, Mark Moore and Scott Berinato

New York -- A series of new wireless communications products will help cellular networks stake a claim as a high-speed Internet on-ramp.

AlphaCom, an Akron, Ohio, startup, demonstrated at PC Expo here an external wireless adapter that connects notebook users to the Internet at up to 128K bps, a speed that enables full-motion video and Internet phone applications.

Also at last week's show, Compaq Computer Corp., LG Electronics U.S.A. Inc., Novatel Wireless Inc. and U.S. Robotics Corp. outlined plans to deliver Internet access over IP-based CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data) networks.

These advances could help convince mobile users, stung by overhyped promises of cellular networks such as CDPD, that the technology is finally as reliable--and accessible--as wired networks.

CDPD, offered by a handful of carriers, including GTE Corp., AT&T; Corp., Ameritech Corp. and Bell Atlantic/Nynex Mobile, currently covers only about 50 percent of the United States. "Wireless hasn't caught on because it has never really worked the way users expected it to work," said Tracy Lussier, vice president of development for Mugar Enterprises Inc., in Boston.

AlphaCom's InSat (Internet Satellite Card), due this summer, uses a proprietary transceiver and antenna to connect to CDPD. The $399 device plugs into a notebook parallel port. The 6-inch antenna and transceiver allow access speeds between 80K and 128K bps.

Rivaling ISDN speeds, InSat's data rates would make it possible to transmit full-motion video at about 25 frames per second, said officials. It also could be paired with Internet telephony software to let users make phone calls from their notebooks.

But AlphaCom's ability to deliver 128K bps on a 9,600-bps CDPD network is being met by a great deal of skepticism. GTE and AT&T; offer user throughput for their CDPD networks at only 44K bps.

"That's a long way from 128K," said Andrew Seybold, editor of Outlook on Mobile Computing, in Boulder Creek, Colo. "When you hear about data speeds that are too good to be true, generally they are."

Faster speeds can be achieved through a compression technique or by combining channels to increase bandwidth, said Alan Reiter, editor of Wireless Internet & Mobile Computing, in Chevy Chase, Md.

AlphaCom will act as the service provider for users of the device, charging a flat fee of $19.95 - $24.95 per month for unlimited access time.

By next year, AlphaCom plans to integrate InSat into a satellite network to provide global coverage, using a global positioning system transceiver, said officials.

In the meantime, a handful of vendors are getting ready to roll out wireless modems:

• Compaq will ship in August a $200 PC Card wireless modem for its Speedpaq family of portable devices. A separate $500 PC Card transceiver will be required for connection to AT&T;'s CDPD network services, said officials of the Houston-based company.
• LG Electronics will ship in November an LG Phenom handheld PC running Windows CE 2.0 with an embedded wireless CDPD modem, said sources.
• San Diego-based Novatel plans to ship in September a CDPD modem for USR's PalmPilot Connected Organizer. The $399 Minstrel modem, due in beta early next month, comes with a POP3 E-mail client and Novatel's text-based Web browser.