Cingular to Test 3G Technology
ATLANTA – Cingular Wireless, a joint venture between SBC Communications and BellSouth, will evaluate a third-generation UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) network this summer. The company’s employees will be the guinea pigs during the initial stages of the mobile voice, high-speed data and multimedia services system.
The UMTS network will operate in Cingular Wireless' 1900 MHz spectrum and will include testing of High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSPDA), a technology that will ultimately support data speeds of up to 14.4 megabits per second. The network also will be designed to support voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services in the future.
With this network, Cingular Wireless will be able to provide services such as high-speed downloads of film trailers and video clips of sporting and entertainment events; mobile access to e-mail (including large attachments); and the ability to locate nearby services such as ATMs, restaurants and movie theaters.
Additionally, the trial network deployment will allow Cingular to demonstrate technology that ultimately will enable businesses to provide their employees – such as field service and sales personnel – with high-speed mobile access to their corporate networks and all the business applications they normally use in the office
Lucent Technologies will supply Cingular Wireless with an end-to-end mobile network based on 3G UMTS technology, including the Merlin U520 UMTS Wireless PC Modem Cards – jointly developed by Lucent and Novatel Wireless – which support high-speed data connections on laptops, PDAs, and other mobile devices at speeds of up to 384 kilobits per second.
Wireless on the Road
WESTLAKE, Ohio– Just in time for the peak summer driving season, TravelCenters of America (TA) has introduced TA SpeedZone, a new high-speed wireless Internet service that allows travelers to stay in touch with those they leave behind.
Deployed in conjunction with V-Link Solutions and AT&T, the TA SpeedZone network of Wi-Fi hotspots will provide high-speed wireless Internet access for vacationers, RVers, professional drivers and business travelers. V-Link will build, manage, and support the Wi-Fi hot spots for TA while AT&T will provide its Integrated Network Connection Service. TA SpeedZone is currently available at more than 40 TA locations and is expected to be 100 percent operational at 125 company-owned TA travel centers, as well as several TA franchise locations, by July 3.
The TA SpeedZone Wi-Fi network incorporates state-of-the-art technology including a web-based monitoring and management system to ensure robust performance around the clock. TA customers will be able to gain high-speed wireless access to the Internet from a variety of locations on each travel center's property, including the restaurant, fast food court, and most areas of the truck and car parking lots.
Limited-time promotional rates, effective through August, are $1.49 for 60 minutes of access, $4.49 for 24 hours, $22.49 for 62 days, and $169.99 for 365 days. Subscription times are continuous from the time of the first log-in.
CPUC, CTIA at Odds Over New Rules
SACRAMENTO – The California Public Utility Commission approved a hotly debated set of restrictive new rules for wireless and other telecommunications carriers this week. Immediately, CTIA, the international association for wireless communications, voiced its displeasure and threatened challenges.
The new rules, set to take effect in 180 days after four years of wrangling, will punish carriers for making false and misleading statements in advertising and require them to disclose fully to consumers all terms and conditions of service contracts within seven days of signing. They also will allow customers 30 days in which to opt out of contracts signed in haste. On the positive side for carriers, they will be allowed to incorporate supplemental information, such as brochures, as contractual riders. Unlike previous proposals, the new rules do not impose a ban on the use of private customer information.
CTIA president and CEO Steve Largent nonetheless called the new rules “unnecessary and sweeping” and vowed his organization would seek to have them overturned.
"The CPUC threw together at the 11th hour three competing proposals with more than 500 pages of rules and related paperwork," he said in a statement. "Then it passed a set of rules without any idea what kind of negative impact it might have on consumers ' bills."
Wireless carriers have lobbied heavily against the effort to create a consumer "bill of rights" at the CPUC, saying the effort would have significant, unintended consequences, such as vastly more expensive advertising, slower response to consumers' requests, and reduction in competition.
Wayport to Supersize McDonald’s Wireless
AUSTIN – Wayport, a leading provider of Wi-Fi and wired high-speed Internet access in more than 1,500 locations including nearly 800 hotels, 12 airports and hundreds of retail locations nationwide, will offer its “Wi-Fi WorldTM” mobile broadband services at McDonald’s restaurants in select cities. The company believes the accessibility, quality, uniformity, and simplicity of its services, combined with the ubiquity of the fast food chain and roaming partners, will provide compelling economics for consumers.
"Wayport's Wi-Fi WorldTM strategy and teaming approach with strategic partners will give customers the widest variety of connectivity options that will enable them to get a convenient and cost-effective wireless high-speed Internet experience at Wi-Fi enabled McDonald's," said Jim Sappington, McDonald's Vice President of U.S. IT. "And Wi-Fi World simultaneously delivers all of the key broadband applications our McDonald's restaurants need to gain a competitive edge in the market by offering a differentiated service and to make their operations more productive."
Wi-Fi WorldTM helps McDonald's differentiate from other quick service restaurants and attract and serve a wider customer base through Wayport's comprehensive solution that includes support for Wi-Fi, cashless purchasing, content, e-training for employees, and additional applications. Strategic roaming partners can offer their customers unlimited access to the Wi-Fi WorldTM network and set service bundling options all at a fraction of the cost if they were to deploy a similar Wi-Fi network on their own. For Wayport, Wi-Fi WorldTM offers the potential for Wayport to deploy the largest number of hot spots in the world in a single brand and receive an up front and fixed monthly fee per store from McDonald's for the comprehensive services provided as well as a fixed monthly fee per store from strategic roaming partners to gain unlimited access to Wayport's Wi-Fi WorldTM network.
"Wayport's Wi-Fi WorldTM strategy and teaming approach will bring increased customer opportunity and loyalty to all parties involved," said Dave Vucina, CEO of Wayport. "And for the first time, a large scale deployment of Wi-Fi service in one of the most well recognized brands in the world will have complete buy-in and financial support to be successful for all parties long-term."
Wayport will extend roaming access to strategic partners including wireline and wireless carriers, ISPs, cable, enterprise connectivity providers, satellite, mobile product manufacturers, and many others who provide service to a large number of customers. Partnerships will be announced in the coming months, and Wayport plans to apply its Wi-Fi WorldTM strategy to additional venues in the future.
Cell Phone GPS Set to Take Off
CYBERSPACE – Four years ago, when cellular phones were just beginning to become the ubiquitous tethers they are now, geolocation of users was a hot topic. It’s only now that handsets themselves have become sophisticated enough and software dynamic enough that the promise of that speculative technology is coming into its own.
Today, mobile phones can be used to pinpoint a caller’s exact location, and maps and other directional services can be downloaded quickly to full-color screens that are large enough to matter.
Although the geolocation sector of the wireless industry brings in only 0.2 percent of total operator revenues currently, companies like Britain’s Vodafone, France’s Orange, Sweden’s TeliaSonera, and China Mobile are betting on the service taking off in a big way – and soon.
In cases where customers can specify where they are – instead of relying on triangulation of a handset that can be off by hundreds of feet – users currently report excellent experiences with the services. However, because the sector is still relatively new and experiencing growing pains that carriers are working diligently to correct, some 60 percent report at least occasional dissatisfaction, according to TruePosition, a U.S. wireless location service provider.
