Wireless Service Expanded At&T Upgrade Enables Wireless Internet Access

Just last week, AT&T finally made available in Spokane a technology that many other parts of the country - including Western Washington - have had access to since 1994.

With the right equipment, you can now access the Internet here with the same wireless technology that makes cellular telephones possible.

“When you look at how people today have come to rely on e-mail so much,” AT&T’s Brendan Moore explained Thursday, “and when you look at how voice mail has increased productivity, you get an idea of the potential here.”

The technology allows users to access e-mail and the Internet through special wireless modems built into cellular phones, electronic notebooks, palm-sized computer devices or even laptops computers.

“We turned the system on last week,” said Dan Youmans, AT&T cellular division’s media relations manager for the state of Washington. “It’s now installed into all our current cellular sites.”

Youmans said wireless data is the third, and potentially most important, piece of AT&T’s delivery system here, along with analog and digital services.

“There will always be a high demand for voice,” he said, “but data is going to become a very big issue.”

The technology is called Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), and it piggybacks on the cellular voice network that AT&T and its cellular competitors have been building worldwide during the past 15 years.

In 1993, Moore said, AT&T and its competitors agreed on standards by which wireless data transmission would operate. They did this to avoid the pitfalls of proprietary technology. They wanted software and hardware manufacturers to have a uniform set of standards upon which to base the CDPD devices so they would work on any cellular company’s system.

They began installing the systems in 1994 in major metropolitan areas, including Seattle. The Western Washington system now extends from Chehalis to Canada’s border.

The ability to access the Internet wirelessly has been available in Spokane for some time on other technologies that are proprietary, Moore said, but they come with the limitations of proprietary systems.

At this point of its development, the CDPD system can still be cumbersome, and equipment pricey.

Managing e-mail without having to plug into a land line is CDPD’s principal current application, the AT&T representatives said. With that in mind, hardware manufacturers have developed a cell phone with a CDPD modem that sells for $99. It offers limited Internet access and allows users to view and respond to e-mail and respond with “yes or no”-type answers.

The next step up is a U.S. Robotics PalmPilot - an electronic address and calendar book device - with a CDPD modem. This device accesses a text-only Web browser that allows users full access to the Internet. It still is limited to very simple e-mail responses, though. The PalmPilot costs about $350, and the CDPD modem is an additional $400.

Novatel Wireless manufactures the Contact wireless handheld computer. The device is made to run many of the Windows applications commonly seen on a PC or laptop. Its tiny keyboard and display screen provide another step up in wireless Internet access. It also allows the same ability to respond to e-mail as a PC or laptop. The device costs about $1,000.

The most sophisticated option is a CDPD modem that plugs into a laptop. The modem, depending on capabilities, costs from $900 to $1,500.

Monthly fees for access to the system, depending on the device, range from $25 to $65.

Moore warns that the bandwidth serving the system is narrow, so the user will find it slow compared to Internet access via land line. And service in Eastern Washington currently consists of “islands.” Venture outside the service area, and CDPD devices will not respond.

New technology, though, will nibble away at these limitations, the AT&T officials predicted, until - like voice cellular - CDPD becomes an indispensable part of our lives.

“We think,” said Youmans, “that this is where the whole industry is going.”

Michael Murphey can be reached at (509) 459-5442, or by e-mail at mikem@spokesman.com.