Fast data phones give you always on wireless connections

By Andy Walker, Cyberwalker Media Syndicate

Data access on cellular phones is undergoing an evolution this fall.

In the last two years cellular phones have been able to display text from the Internet on their small screens. They can also be used as wireless modems to give a computer Internet access on the go. But wireless data access is painfully slow.
Connection speeds run between 9.6 kilobits per second and 19.2 kbps. That's about half to a quarter of the speed you can get using a dialup wired modem, or perhaps one to two per cent of the speed you can get with a so-called high speed service through the cable or phone company.

Cellular phone companies are rolling out what the wireless industry is calling 2.5 G. It's halfway between second generation digital cellular phones (also know as PCS) and third generation high-speed wireless data access, at up to two megabits per second.

All four national cellular phone companies have plans to roll out 2.5G services this fall or sometime before the first half of 2002.

The first to market is Microcell's Fido GPRS service. GPRS is an acronym that means General Packet Radio Service. The Montreal-based company introduced the service in September. Using a Motorola GPRS cell phone, the service offers a potential connection speed of up to 144 Kbps, though real world experience is more like 56 Kbps.

Unlike older PCS phones, GPRS is an always-on data service. You don't need to dial up the Internet. It is simply on all the time.

This changes how the wireless service is billed. Monthly packages still include both voice call minutes. However, data usage is logged by the amount of data received - in megabits.

Fido's introductory voice and data pricing bundle costs $100 per month and includes unlimited GPRS network access and wireless content services until Dec. 31. It also includes 1,000 weekday voice minutes and unlimited evening and weekend calls.

Starting Oct. 15, Fido will also offer four data-only monthly packages for access to GPRS services: from $25 for 2 megabits ($10 per additional Mb) to $150 for 100 Mb ($1.50 per additional Mb). GPRS phone users will also have access to a pay-per-use plan at $0.05 per Kb.

To take advantage of GPRS, a new cellular phone is needed. Fido is initially offering the Motorola P280 handset. It priced at a breathtaking $500. Expect other fast data phone handsets to become much cheaper as the competition rolls their services out. Within 18 months to two years it's expected that most handsets on the market will be fast-data enabled.

Hot on Fido's furry heels is Rogers AT&T. The company will be rolling out a similar fast data phone service this fall to the top 25 markets in Canada including Edmonton and Calgary. By the year-end the service will be offered in the same areas as PCS service is today.

Mansell Nelson, vice president and general manager, at Rogers AT&T interactive mobile services, sees the new service as a way for heavy user of wireless data users to reduce their spending.

"For anyone who is a fairly serious wireless data user, there is an opportunity to reduce their usage charges. Since the data is always on and you are only charged for data you use there is you're going to pay less because you're not charge by the minute for waiting for the data," he said.

Rogers AT&T pricing will be competitive with Fido's fees, he added.
Wireless warriors are going to find three key uses for the new 2.5 G service on Rogers AT&T.

Voice activated dialling will now be network-based. So the technology needed to recognize a voice will exist on the Rogers AT&T network. It will be more powerful as there's more processing power on the network side than inside a phone.
This feature will allow mobile customers to dictate and send e-mail with their voices. The system will also read back received e-mail.

The new phones will also be able to send and receive e-mail using a person's existing e-mail address. You won't need a separate address for your phone. However, users with msn.com addresses and those that have company e-mail addresses protected with a corporate firewall won't be able to use this feature.
Personalized wireless Web sites access through the new phones can also be customized to the user.

Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility are also planning fast data phone rollouts, but their timelines are behind Rogers AT&T and Fido.

Since both run a cellular phone technology called CDMA or Code Division Multiple Access, their wireless data access uses a data technology called 1XRTT.
Similar to GPRS, this technology has a maximum wireless data speed of around 150 Kbps, but again, real world experience will be around the speed of a 56 Kbps dial-up modem.

Telus Mobility expects to have its data network commercially available sometime into 2002.

"Not January though," cautioned Robert Blumenthal, VP products and services at Telus Mobility.

Realistically Telus Mobility will have 1XRTT services available as early as the end of March 2002 and perhaps even as late as June 2002.

Bell Mobility expects its national roll out to occur by the end of March 2002.
Like Fido and Rogers AT&T, Bell Mobility will offer charges by the bit as opposed to by time, with monthly packages for light medium and heavy data users.
Where fast data phones will really take off is in wireless applications.

Charlotte Burke, VP market development at Bell Mobility, believes that business people will like the ability to track their colleagues' availability.
If you're on your wireless data phone you'll be able to broadcast that fact and receive data in real time from your colleagues.
Wireless games have also become a hit, even before fast data phones are available.

"Games by far are skyrocketing on phone browsers as the number one category. It's become 35 per cent of our usage," said Burke.
Telus Mobility continues to be the renegade in the wireless business by offering flat-rate data usage.

The company will continue that practice with its fast data phone service. It charges for access to content and services on a tiered basis in much the same way cable or satellite companies charge content package fees for speciality channels.
Telus Mobility will also employ pay per use pricing for some content. For example, subscribers are not charged for time or data usage on popular games. They do however pay five, 10 and 25 cents per play. A 411 directory-listing look up costs 25 cents.

"It makes it simple for people," said Blumenthal.

"It's the reason we've had great success with our wireless data usage which is bigger than our competitors and in some cases larger than networks in the U.S. that are 10 times as large as us."

If this column still doesn't fully help you with questions about fast data phones or if you need personalized help with a problem, please see: Emergency Help.