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Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates

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To: tinkershaw who wrote (37432)	1/3/2001 10:07:44 AM
From: saukriver	Read Replies (1) of 54805

Metricom I could not agree more with tinkershaw that Metricom will never cross the chasm. Its Ricochet service is localized in the Bay Area, parts of the Puget Sound, DC, and maybe 10+ airports. It promised to rollout to LA in 1997 or 1998 (I forget which). Never did. It is now struggling to get its 128K Ricochet2 modem service up and running. The price point on that new service will be $60-75 per month. This is too slow and too pricey when compared to cable modem and DSL offerings in the areas Metricom has targeted. I am an existing Ricochet1 customer, have grown accustomed to the service, and have no intention at all to upgrade to Ricochet2. So, I would not put much value in Ricochet's installed base. The basic problem is that with Metricom is that it has to attach wireless access points (WAPs) on telephone poles etc. all over a jurisdiction. Big hassle to get permission from the local municipalities and utilities to hang the WAP. Possibly a BTE to others, but the experience is that the hassle is more a BTE for Metricom itself. The process becomes so excruciatingly slow that Metricom's announced and planned rollouts are just pressreleaseware. Ricochet sends me letters about once a month saying "Ricochet2 service is coming to your area." I just recycle them because I know that Ricochet has no solid track record in meeting such commitments. LA area rollout in 1997 or 1998 ( I forget which). Then, when Metricom needs to service a WAP (because of a service outage for example), does it send a tech to go repair it? No, in many jurisdictions it must send a work order to a public or private utility to send one of their technical guys out (probably with a Metricom person) to do the repair. I waited for almost 3 weeks with no service once several years ago because the WAP nearest my house was out. When I called into Metricom each day, I was politely told that the work order had been sent to the not so prompt City. Around Christmas, the problem in the Seattle area was that its Ricochet2 WAPs (does it have to hang a whole new set?) for the planned pricey service were screwing up the connections of its Ricochet1 customers for a week or so. The older modems just looked for a WAP and could not differentiate which WAP was Ricochet1 (through which it might work) and which WAP was Ricochet2 (through which it would not work). At least that is what the technicians at Ricochet told me. I don't see a business case for Metricom at all and absolutely no king or gorilla potential. It is a localized wireless ISP. saukriver

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