Wireless broadband passes test
Technology attractive in areas without cable or DSL connections
By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, Associated Press
courier-journal.com
NEW YORK — When organizers of the Daytona 500 wanted to provide turbocharged Internet access for the press box, race officials made a traditional choice — they called the local phone company, BellSouth Corp.
But instead of hauling in its usual, expensive connection gear, BellSouth pulled off the equivalent of a fast pit stop, giving the Florida speedway wireless modems that could communicate with antennas being tested in the area.
"It was definitely well received," said Glenn Robinson, a technology manager for International Speedway Corp. "If I were looking at this as a private homeowner, it's even easier than installing a cable modem."
About 1,800 Internet providers use such "fixed wireless" technology to beam broadband access directly to homes and businesses, according to In-Stat/MDR.
The technology has been most successful in rural areas, where DSL and cable aren't available. With an estimated 818,000 subscribers, fixed wireless is a quiet presence in the broadband wars, trailing the main players, cable and DSL.
Independent Internet companies might find fixed wireless a more appealing option now that federal regulators are making it much more expensive for upstart data carriers to piggyback on wires owned by Bell phone companies. However, many independents will find that the phone giants are kicking fixed-wireless projects into higher gear.
"In the presence of a duopoly — in some cases a monopoly — a third player is required to create competition," said Alastair Westgarth, head of Navini Networks Inc., in Richardson, Texas, which makes the fixed-wireless equipment being tested by BellSouth. "We've been looking into this angle, of being the third leg of the stool, for two years."
While cable, DSL, fiber optics and other technologies carry data directly to a home or business, fixed wireless gets around that "last mile" of wires by firing data from an antenna on a hilltop or tower. The antenna has its own wired or wireless connection to the Internet.
Most wireless broadband providers save money by transmitting over unlicensed parts of the airwave spectrum, sometimes cooperating with other providers to avoid interference. Other companies, especially large phone companies that can afford spectrum licenses, consider regulated frequencies more reliable.
Unlike Wi-Fi, the increasingly popular wireless technology that links computers within short distances like coffee houses, hotels and airports, one fixed-wireless antenna can serve subscribers within a radius of several miles.
WCM Investment Management, a financial company in Lake Forest, Calif., switched to wireless broadband from NextWeb Inc. after it received poor service on landline networks. NextWeb boasts it can offer broadband that is faster than standard high-end business services but at half the price.
WCM's operations director, Tom Rydzeski, said his company gets a blazing fast Internet connection of 3 megabits per second (roughly 60 times faster than dial-up) that is more reliable and has better security than what Pacific Bell and other wired broadband providers had offered.
"This is probably the best move I ever made," he said.
Fixed-wireless broadband is far from flawless, however. The antennas generally have to be on a line of sight with subscribers, and service can be knocked out by bad weather or dense foliage.
The technology has plenty of cautionary tales, notably the bankruptcies of such former go-getters as Teligent, Ricochet and Winstar.
Also, excess capacity in the telecommunications industry has made prices for wired data services plunge, slashing the cost advantages that fixed wireless boasts.
"Fixed wireless is going to be a niche technology for the foreseeable future," said Yankee Group analyst Nicholas Maynard. "I don't see anything that's giving it a huge jolt over the next 12 to 24 months."
Still, wireless broadband has high-level backing. Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and George Allen, R-Va., have called for the government to free up more unlicensed spectrum for wireless Internet services.
Recent technological breakthroughs in wireless broadband are getting attention at phone companies, which trail cable in the broadband race and would love to have more subscribers. DSL generally is available only within 3 miles of a phone network hub known as a central office.
In addition to BellSouth's fixed-wireless experiment in Daytona, Verizon Communications Inc. has been conducting tests in Maryland and Virginia and is looking for an equipment vendor to launch service in limited areas soon, spokeswoman Bobbi Henson said. |
