Did anyone catch this.
Friday February 7 10:01 AM EST
Away on Business: Slow speed
By Michael Conlon
CHICAGO - Some travelers trying to work on the road are finding out that a laptop computer with high-speed modem doesn't necessarily mean a faster way of doing business.
One West Coast reader with a 28.8 modem in his notebook computer reports the following experience using Franklin interNet's (FNet) 800 service, which offers unlimited Internet access starting at $25 a month.
"Last week I was in a hotel room. Their long-distance provider was AT&T. I dialed direct to FNet. I consistently got a 14.4 connection. I switched to calling via AT&T direct and got a 24.4 connection. I tried this many times with the same result," he said.
"I was in the San Francisco Airport (delayed by weather as usual) and tried calling FNet on an AT&T phone. Again I got a 14.4 connection."
He asks whether with all the new super-speed technology in the wings it would do any good to upgrade his notebook with an even faster modem since the connections he's getting on the road are so slow anyway.
Neil Wyenn, vice president for sales at Franklin in Westlake Village, Calif., says he's very familiar with the problem, and "it's not the (phone) lines, it's the switches the lines go through."
He said one major telephone company he talked to would not guarantee a connection any faster than 4800 and another would not guarantee any data rate.
Modems work on noise, he said, and if one end of that electronic conversation keeps saying "what did you say" it slows down the whole process. Switching technology at some central telephone offices may be decades old and not up to the huge increase in data transmission now going on.
As a result you may get a perfectly acceptable high-speed link-up from home or office but on the road its another matter.
Newer modems with even higher speeds are capable of "listening" better, Wyenn said, so that may offer some hope; but until the infrastructure on the ground is improved, slower connections will continue to be a problem.
Laura Littel, spokeswoman for GTE Airfone, said data transmissions over that system are limited to a relatively slow 9600 (or under) modems because of limits inherent in the band width allocated to that provider by the government.
An even larger problem, she said, is that faster modems won't communicate with airline seat-back handsets because of electrical current differences. The user gets a "no dial tone" or other response as a result, she said.
"There's no industry standard. We designed our system a couple of years ago for one speed and band width. The modem makers are going gangbusters. We can only keep up to a point. The same problem faces hotels and other systems," she said.
Information on Franklin's Internet service can be obtained at 1-800-372-6556 or at ftel.com
Speaking of laptops, a new product has hit the market that may make it easier to tackle the keyboard of such devices which, after all, don't really quite work in the lap despite the name.
Rach Inc. of Ferndale, Wash. is marketing a Velcro strapping system that allows the user to hold a laptop level on his or her leg and peck away without fear of tipping or dropping an expensive machine on the floor. It doubles as a carrying case.
The suggested retail price for the "Legtop Podeum" is $79.95. It is available at The Future Shop outlets in the United States and Canada or at 1-800-942-4902. Information on the product can also be found at podeum.com.
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Business travelers: Question, complaint or pet peeve? Send them to Away on Business, c/o Reuters, Room 1170, 311 S. Wacker Dr., Chicago 60606. Or via Internet E-mail Mike.Conlon@Reuters.com. We cannot promise personal replies but will try to address letters as space permits.
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