TECH WATCH

Next generation wireless
Get in Gear for 3G

Mobile broadband service offers a new way to get connected fast when you’re in the field.  

BY MIKE ANTONIAK

Imagine the convenience of being able to tap into a reliable high-speed Internet network from anywhere in the field. That’s been the promise for 3G, the third generation of cellular wireless networking technology, since it was first announced a few years ago.

And it’s something you’re sure to hear more about as wireless providers start realizing their own ambitions for 3G in the year ahead.

The new mobile broadband service gives users an always-on, high-speed data connection with dramatic improvements in Web access for viewing and sharing multimedia content. The services also allow new options such as mobile video conferencing.

Wireless service companies are ramping up plans to expand their mobile broadband offerings nationwide. Just last week Verizon Wireless, the company with the most aggressive 3G plans to date, expanded the availability of its 3G service, dubbed BroadbandAccess, to 14 major metropolitan areas. The company plans to have the service available throughout the U.S. by the end of 2005.

AT&T Wireless, meanwhile, recently announced the expansion of its 3G Technology in Dallas and San Diego, for a total of six major market areas. And Cingular Wireless is running 3G trials in Atlanta in preparation for its planned deployment of broadband wireless services in 2005.

More Mobility than Wi-Fi

A big benefit of 3G is its ability to connect users to its network from a much broader service area than Wi-Fi, or wireless fidelity, says Robert Hadley, vice president of sales and marketing for Novatel Wireless Inc. The San Diego-based company makes mobile hardware and software solutions, including the Merlin line of 3G wireless modem cards for use in notebooks.

To access a Wi-Fi network, users must be within limited range—typically a few hundred feet—of a Wi-Fi “hotspot.” With 3G service, however, the user is free to move about within a cellular service provider’s wider metropolitan coverage area.

Compared with other mobile communications solutions, 3G services also offer major improvement in the amount of data that wireless subscribers can send and receive. “The transition to 3G is like the transition from a dial-up to a broadband connection,” Hadley says.

3G connections move data at the speedy rate of 384 kilobytes per second or faster.

“Real estate professionals will have a way to show a lot of pictures, even video of comparable properties or available listings from the Internet on their notebooks, wherever they are,” Hadley says. The service is accessible from handsets, PDAs, and laptop computers.

If you’re interested in 3G wireless service, Hadley suggests taking these steps to find out if it’s right for you:

• Talk to your cellular provider. Find out when and if the company will have a 3G network in place in your area. A move to 3G may require you to switch carriers.
  
• Evaluate your hardware needs. If you’re a notebook user, you’ll need a PC card slot for the 3G modem card. Expect to pay around $150 for that card, with a service contract. If it’s time to trade up from your cell phone or PDA and can foresee the value of a 3G connection, look at handhelds which already offer that compatibility or an easy path to it.
  
• Keep an eye on the total cost. Mobile broadband access is a premium service, priced accordingly. Your best deal is probably going to be a flat-rate plan that grants unlimited access within the coverage area for a set fee. Both Verizon and AT&T Wireless offer their unlimited broadband access service plan for $79.99 per month, with an extended service contract. Add the cost of new hardware, $299.99 for a handset such as the Motorola A845 or Nokia 6651 from AT&T, or the $150 modem card, and the move to 3G may seem a pricey convenience. But it’s the kind of convenience you can expect will become a necessity within the next couple of years.

 Previously by Antoniak:
New Products Make Quality Prints from Digital Images
Much Potential in Mobile Access to MLS
One Call Does It All
Do More, Carry Less With Latest Mobile Phones

Suggest a Topic
Do you have technology you’d like to learn more about or a new user twist that you’d like to share with your peers? Let me know about it by e-mailing antoniak@dtccom.net, and I’ll do my best to give it the coverage it deserves.