PocketNet? Not Yet.
by: Kenneth Ward | September 13, 2000
A few years ago, AT&T decided to leverage its position in wireless (having just purchased most of Craig McCaw’s Cellular One, it had an extensive analog network), its long-distance connections, and its conglomeration of 800mHz and 1900 mHz TDMA digital properties. AT&T contracted with Nokia and Ericsson to build the first dual-mode, dual-frequency handsets, and launched the Digital OneRate program – the first nationwide calling plan with no roaming charges and no long-distance charges. The program has been wildly popular, especially with business-travelling power users, and has since subdivided into many different calling plans like cells in a Petri dish.
Will lightning strike twice in the same place? Now billboards everywhere are touting
AT&T Digital PocketNet service – a combination of OneRate’s no-roaming no long-distance plan, and unlimited wireless Internet access (at no additional charge). Ericsson has provided a sexy new handset. With the current buzz about wireless Internet, has AT&T tapped the national zeitgeist again? Judging by my experience with PocketNet, not by a long shot.
First of all, the AT&T digital voice network does not carry data – a fact which confuses many consumers. In order to handle data, AT&T is using Cellular Digital Packet Data technology. While it has digital in the name, it does not work over their digital network, but the analog network. It does have a 19.2kBps data rate, which is attractive for many applications. However, CDPD advocates never successfully made a business case for network expansion – and most carriers (Verizon now owns the GTE and Bell Atlantic CDPD properties) stopped building it out when they decided to go with digital voice/data networks. The bottom line here is that there are plenty of places an AT&T phone will provide voice connectivity but no data connectivity at all.
Also, since the CDPD technology operates over analog, the telephone is working in analog mode when accessing the Internet. I had some situations where my digital coverage was good, but my analog coverage was too weak for proper operation. Analog mode is also not friendly to batteries designed to support the much more efficient digital mode – my battery life was atrocious while surfing the Web! I suspect this short battery life will be an unwelcome surprise to many consumers.
When looking at "unlimited Internet access", things are less simple than they seem. Unlike the original Digital OneRate package, the PocketNet program has more twists in it than a box of Red Vines. Regarding the basic free service plan, the AT&T web site states:
"Ability to bookmark favorite wireless Web sites, including InfoSpace.com, Travelocity.com, Hollywood.com, Barnes and Noble.com, and Abcnews.com".
In fact, only sites on a certain list can be accessed when on the basic, no-charge plan – and not one of them is an e-mail site! Ameritrade, ebay, E-trade, Expedia, and FTD.com are all included – apparently spending money is supported, but not reading e-mail. Sites such as Hotmail are specifically excluded, according to my service rep. Also, all the accessed sites have to be PocketNet-ready (that’s the significance of "wireless web sites" in the text, I guess…) Not a bad deal, but not free, and not unlimited. In order to access any flavor of e-mail, you need to pop for $6.99 a month more. That gets you your own e-mail account, as well as access to many other POP3 e-mail accounts.
The $14.99/month Premium plan (the one I just signed up for after I figured out the real deal), also adds personal information manager features and a filter to allow viewing of text from non-wireless-ready sites. I really don’t know how the PIM features work yet, as AT&T could not send me any information on the services - they recommended that I play around with it and that it would be fairly self-explanatory. Hmm…
Finally, the biggest train wreck was regarding a service I thought would be a no-brainer – connecting the phone to my PC. I was told the needed data cable kit was available when I ordered the phone. It is also described in detail in the Ericsson owner’s manual. I called back to order the cable and was told that I needed to contact Ericsson. I contacted Ericsson via their web site and was told they no longer make any cables, and I was referred to some other accessory web sites, none of which carried the right part (one did have an analog-mode data cable, but downloading at 2600 baud just ain’t my dance).
At this point the data cable is a white whale, and I am Captain Ahab. Another call to AT&T got me in touch with a very knowledgeable rep who said that the cable would not be carried by AT&T, and informed me for the first time that I get charged by the kilobyte when using the phone as a modem. The unlimited Internet access applies only to using the handset as the interface device, not when using the phone as a modem for a PC. He also tells me that consumers are apparently unsupported in tethering attempts, according to company policy. I now find this sentence on the AT&T FAQ page:
"At this time, AT&T Wireless Services does not endorse or support using the tethering kit to utilize your phone as a wireless modem. Should you choose to configure this on your own, your usage will be billed on a per Kilobyte basis (5¢ / Kb)."
Now I call Ericsson, get transferred to several departments, and am finally told that there is no internal release date for the data cable. My assumption is that there is no outstanding order for 10,000 of these cables from AT&T, or else there would be a release date. Obviously AT&T has a plan here – to support handset browsing and not laptop tethering, and to discourage laptop tethering by charging extra and by discouraging the suppliers from supporting it.
The original OneRate had lots of digital coverage holes, but it had analog as a backup that was always there. Itwas so popular that in some areas, most notably New York State, that AT&T’s digital infrastructure had teething problems which were well-publicized. However, most customers stuck with them because the service did a decent job of providing affordable voice coverage almost anywhere in the country. By contrast, PocketNet definitely does not cover most of the country (and never will using CDPD technology), and uses a very constrained use model compared to the Sprint PCS and Verizon services I’ve used. "Unlimited access" sounds like a hard term to misunderstand, but it ends up being limited in many ways. If you’re a power voice user, OneRate is a definite contender for your voice business. As far as PocketNet is concerned, if you’re looking for a real-life data solution that works in plenty of cities and doesn’t ignore that fact that you own a laptop, keep on looking.
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