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To: waverider who wrote (77004)	7/18/2000 11:56:31 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

AT&T Takes Wireless to the EDGE Expect full-motion video, music downloads, and more on your cell phone (eventually). by Stuart J. Johnston, special to PC World July 18, 2000, 6:48 p.m. PT AT&T Wireless Services executives say they have an edge on the competition: The company is upgrading its networks to use Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) technology from European phone giant Ericsson. By the time it's all in place, you'll be able to send and receive data wirelessly at speeds you'd expect from a high-speed wired connection. The network will run up to 384 kbps--fast enough to send full-motion video from a speeding car, the companies say. In fact, Ericsson demonstrated on Tuesday a live video feed sent wirelessly from a special van driving around AT&T Wireless headquarters parking lot. But don't expect to do that soon. AT&T Wireless first must add some Ericsson equipment to its wireless networks, particularly at the base stations. EDGE technology will send three channels of packet radio data alongside the digital voice traffic the system already carries. Of course, if you want fast wireless Internet access through your cell phone or personal digital assistant, you'll need to get a new model. AT&T Wireless will keep its existing network, based on Time Division Multiple Access, but will gradually migrate voice traffic to EDGE. Three or four years from now, the system will migrate to support voice over IP as well as real-time services such as video transmission. In the meantime, phones that work with AT&T Wireless networks will support both EDGE and TDMA. AT&T Wireless expects the service will be broadly available on its networks by the second half of 2002. The first phase will let you do full Web browsing wirelessly and handle e-mail with attachments. The second phase, to be in place in 2004, will support streaming audio and video, video phone calls, online games, and music downloads. Designing the Next Networks EDGE is a technology that AT&T Wireless, Bell South, Southwestern Bell, and other wireless carriers wedded to TDMA are urging as an interim standard for the next generation of wireless networks. It is part of their vision for so-called third-generation wireless or 3G. One major benefit of EDGE is its lower cost to deploy than proposed broadband standards, such as Universal Mobil Telecommunications System, according to Roderick Nelson, chief technology officer at AT&T Wireless. That may translate into lower costs for consumers, though Nelson would not speculate on what AT&T Wireless will charge. Meanwhile, AT&T Wireless and Ericsson used the occasion to demonstrate upcoming technologies and expound on their vision of the wireless future. Ericsson showed off mobile phones that communicate with notebooks using Bluetooth technology, which provides wireless Internet access. AT&T showed mockups of several possible future personal communications devices, including a wristwatch cell phone and an electronic travel guide that uses GPS technology and looks like a makeup compact. The most over-the-top prototype, however, was a pair of ski goggles equipped with GPS (in case you're buried in an avalanche), a compass, heads-up display, video camera, microphone, stereo headphones, and a wireless system that can handle both voice and data so you can get ski area alerts and up-to-date maps. "Don't worry about OnStar anymore because you'll be OnStar," said Keith Shank, Ericsson's vice president of business management for North America. "I believe in personal area networking," where all the gadgets on your body will communicate using Bluetooth and reach the rest of the world using cellular technologies, he added. pcworld.com