Hi David,
I have Sprint (Canadian version) and have been following Sprint's ION development since it was announced. It is a high speed, increased bandwidth development and not the sort of thing IIA's ICM was meant to serve. ICM serves the majority of internet users who are quite content with their low speed, low bandwidth version of service on the POTS ( Plain Old Telephone System), available for about $20/month for internet service, and $5/month for ICM. From your article it looks like ION will cost US$100/month (Can$150), depending on the version! You pay for what you get!!
And I don't think IIA has any involvement in this technology, or any patents covering these developments. You see, when you have this kind of ION, or cable based service you don't miss any phone calls while surfing the net. That's because phone calls come through anyway while you are on the net; the bandwidth of those high priced services is so wide it permits SIMULTANEOUS phone service and internet service.
What I want for my service, someday, I hope, is a fiber optic feed. That will be the ultimate! And I notice that Lucent, I think, recently started to introduce such a system in the Atlanta area. Good news!!
Cheers,
Don |
