128k is coming, but it's not ready yet. The big question at MCOM is whether to roll out some more 28k or save their money and wait for 128k to be done.
Meanwhile, alliances with ISP's sound a decent step. It is the big problem with "alternate" ISP's like MCOM, ATHM, that when you leave the coverage area you have no access to your email except possibly through expensive dial-in.
Unless Paul Allen is going to give/find some $ for speedier rollout, this company is going to get steamrolled by digital cellular. You can carry it in your pocket as a phone, cable it to your notebook as an ISP, and roam to most metro areas. It isn't all-you-can-eat, but for anyone who doesn't need hours a day of wireless web browsing, it will be sufficient.
There is no reason MCOM couldn't become all of the above and more: cell phone, digital wireless modem, pager, roaming for free, all-you-can-eat, 128k. They just need to get rid of the bonehead management, find a few $100M, ally with Lucent to develop their technology, and ally with Worldcom or Sprint to sell it. Plus an alliance with WCOM would permit seamless integration of wired/wireless access for a flat rate. |
