March 3, 1997
The New Wireless World
By Bob O'Donnell
Getting fast, reliable connections to the Internet continues to be a challenge for many
business people, particularly those who rely on dial-up connections. The same old problems
-- frequent busy signals, poor quality phone wiring, slow performance -- remain critical
issues, and the sad truth is, there aren't many easy solutions in sight.
As a result, people have been eagerly awaiting new technologies that will free them
from the tyranny of their telephone line. Cable modems, satellite dishes, ISDN lines, xDSL
technologies, and more have been touted as the answer to the vexing problem of achieving
high-speed Internet connections without the expense of leased lines.
Wireless solutions never seemed to be primary options, but all that may change with
AT&T's new wireless service announced on Feb. 25 (see "AT&T gets
into wireless to sidestep local carriers"). Although the primary thrust of the
product is to provide local phone service, it will also include a dedicated 128-Kbps (and
possibly faster) connection to the Internet.
Most important, this new wireless service will bypass the local phone switch. AT&T
points to this clever trick as its means of providing local service without requiring
partnership from local carriers. But, for data line users, there are several significant
wins. First, it allows individual users or remote offices to avoid the clogged telephone
switches -- a more and more common occurrence. The AT&T wireless system uses a small
dish that communicates with local antenna-like towers that, in turn, are directly
connected to a fiber-optic AT&T backbone. Voice and data calls essentially jump over
the local switch.
Second, it opens up the possibility of achieving much faster performance without the
installation hassles associated with ISDN. By bypassing the local switch and jumping
straight to the airwaves, the system offers the potential for much higher throughput than
transmissions over copper wire. You still use the wiring inside your home to connect your
telephones and modems, so there could be some issues to overcome if you have older wiring,
but details about connections have yet to be released. Still, it will undoubtedly be
faster than traditional analog modem connections.
No pricing has been announced yet, so it remains to be seen how the service compares to
other alternatives, but I have hope that AT&T will use this new technology as an
opportunity to provide fast, reliable service at a reasonable cost.
One final benefit is that if the service is successful, it may absorb some of the
traffic of local phone switches and thereby improve overall reliability of data lines for
everyone else still using analog phone connections.
Questions about this technology and how quickly it can be implemented still remain, but
I believe we're seeing signs of hope for the millions of consumers, small businesses, and
remote office workers who connect to the 'net via analog lines every day. Fast, reliable
alternatives for connecting are bound to play an important role for all those involved
with the Internet and I'm surprised, but nonetheless pleased, to see a major telco come in
with an exciting new angle.
On an unrelated note, I'm happy to inform our readers that a kinder, gentler registration form is now available
for InfoWorld Electric. If you've wanted to check out our Forums or Week in Print sections, but
have been put off by the length of the registration form, now's a good time to sign up.
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Copyright 1997, by InfoWorld Publishing Corp., a
subsidiary of IDG Communications, Inc. Reprinted from InfoWorld,
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