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To: Tarken Winn who wrote (20417)	12/21/2000 9:01:33 PM
From: Tahoetech	Respond to of 29987

the last I checked, which hasn't been in a while, Ricochet by Metricom was rapidly expanding their service (US only, however)...it is not satellite based, and is, so far, only in certain urban areas..

To: Tarken Winn who wrote (20417)	12/21/2000 9:15:35 PM
From: pcstel	Respond to of 29987

Tarkin, Wireless Web by Sprint PCS is mostly a "yawner" here in the states.. The problem is that the fine folks here in the U.S. grew accustomed to the concept that data was/is somehow a lower life form than that of voice. And the telco operators will remind you of that fact. Where does the largest slice of their Profit Pie come from.. Why voice of course.. People are used to paying for voice by the second/minute.. It is accepted. Where Sprint (who is my Long Distance carrier here in the states charges a whopping .41 cents a minute to call Argentina, (over $3.50 a minute if you are not on the Intl. Plan).. I can send 2 MB of data to Argentina in that same minute using Sprint (Earthlink DSL).. So I pay .41 cents to send a low data rate stream to Argentina, and almost nothing to send all of the data in The Library of Congress to Argentina in a "less time critical data format! It goes forward to the whole 3G Wireless Bug-a-boo... Why did we need 3G? High Speed Mobile Data in excess of 300kbs.. Yet, over two years has passed since the WCDMA specter rose it's head.. And still, everyone is left scratching their heads wondering what applications are really going to require these data rates? EVEN if someone announced today that APPLICATON XYZ was the killer application and required 350kbs data transfer. By the time 3G networks were launched.. Compression techniques would have evolved in order to allow this High Speed Killer Application to run over 56kbs.. In addition, the price that operators. (VOD and others) have paid for the spectrum will lead to the realization one day that they can NEVER actually charge anyone to take advantage of this High Speed Wireless Network at a rate where they ever hope to recoup their Captial Investment and present a ROI.. (Infrastructure and All). 3G IS DEAD.. WDMA (We Don't have Money Anymore) technology will prevail) or maybe WDAA (We Don't have Applications Anymore). Sure operators will deploy it in some form for those poor unfortunate souls that have actually bid for spectrum.. People understand the concept of being charged for voice communications.. They are engaged in it. One person speaks, then the other replies! They can hear what they are getting charged for.. With data by the minute.. They send a request, and then sit there staring at their Mobil screen. They know they are getting charged for all the time that it takes to get a response, and the Data ultimately displayed, but for all that time in between. They are secretly thinking... I am getting ripped off here... This does not cost me a dime at home! Where is my information so I can hit the "End Button".. That's why SMS is so widely accepted. They get charged by the "byte", when I send this. It will cost this much. Fine.. Sounds Fair.. So when they get their billing they don't go.. Holy Cow, It took 2 minutes and I was charged 60 cents to send that.. Screw that.. I'll make a phone call next time!! PCSTEL