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Technology Stocks : The New Qualcomm - a S&P500 company -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: engineer who wrote (3825)	12/1/1999 11:29:00 AM
From: slacker711	Respond to of 13582

Airtouch may be getting it...just a little slowly. This would also be a pretty good application for HDR. wirelessweek.com From the November 29, 1999, issue of Wireless Week AirTouch Data: Rolling Out Slowly By Brad Smith When a Boeing jetliner must be grounded for repairs, the world's largest airline manufacturing company sends out a team of troubleshooters to find out what's wrong and how to fix it. Armed with laptop computers, the team frequently needs to communicate back to the Everett, Wash., headquarters. Usually that communication is done using a wireline network, but that's not always possible or even desirable. So the Boeing Co. has started looking at ways of connecting its field personnel using wireless networks. Ron Mannhalter, the information systems manager for Boeing's Aircraft on Ground division, most recently has been using the Net Access wireless Internet service being phased in nationally by AirTouch Cellular, part of Vodafone AirTouch plc. Using the Qualcomm 860 Thin Phone, Net Access allows users to connect their laptops to corporate intranets or to the Internet. AirTouch has launched Net Access gradually across its footprint, starting last July with Seattle, Salt Lake City and Michigan. Several cities have been added-most recently, in the Portland, Ore., area and AirTouch plans make the service available throughout its network in the first quarter of 2000 as well as nationally through roaming agreements. Mannhalter found Net Access simple to set up and use and says he's had no trouble using the service even deep within the bowels of Boeing's concrete-and-steel plant north of Seattle. As part of its phased rollout, AirTouch is offering Net Access at the same airtime rates as voice calling so the only additional cost to the user is the Thin Phone (about $129) and a cable to connect the handset to the laptop computer ($24.99). After the introductory period, the service will run $4.99 a month. At the moment, the Thin Phone is the only available handset for the service, but AirTouch plans to offer the NeoPoint 1600 and other models in the future. Net Access is the first wireless data service from AirTouch, but isn't the last. Carrier spokeswoman Patti Finley says AirTouch will offer many wireless portal services for use with smart phones and personal digital assistants. Analyst Andrew Seybold says AirTouch's phased-in launch ensures that users get what they pay for. Meanwhile, Mannhalter says he's found the perfect way to mount the handset to a laptop. Stick Velcro on both so that the phone sits on the laptop's lid. "Open the lid, pull up the antenna and you're ready to go," he says. "It's perfect."