Wed, Oct 17, 2001 page24

• Dish-to-dish route gaining popularity

  HIGH-SPEED ACCESS Recent advances in fixed-wireless technology, like software and hardware improvements that allow for a stronger signal, have increased its appeal

  • NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
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  Frustrated with the four and a half hours it took to download Microsoft Internet Explorer, Ronald Marshall of Parkville, Montana, decided last spring to investigate high-speed Internet options.

  Like most bandwidth-hungry consumers, Marshall, 65, thought that his only alternatives were a digital subscriber line, or DSL, and a cable modem. But he learned that his local phone company did not offer a DSL connection and that cable-modem service would cost US$50 a month.

  Then two representatives of AT&T Wireless knocked on his door offering him a different kind of Internet service, known as fixed wireless, which sends data from one fixed antenna to another.

  

  Fixed-wireless technology, which uses radio signals rather than copper wire, cable or fiber to send data, has been increasing in popularity. An antenna, sometimes called a dish or transmitter, is installed on top of Lisa, left, and Adrian Castro's house in San Jose, California, and enables high-speed access to the Internet.

  PHOTO: NY TIMES

  Marshall's knowledge of wireless technology, given his years as a ham radio operator, helped pique his curiosity. And in mid-July he signed up for the US$40-a-month service, joining a small but growing number of consumers pursuing a third path for high-speed Internet service.

  "It's really fast," said Marshall, who tried downloading Explorer again with his fixed-wireless connection and timed it at two minutes.

  The fixed-wireless technology, which uses radio signals rather than copper wire, cable or fiber to send data and sometimes voice, has been around for years. But recent technological advances like software and hardware improvements that allow for a stronger signal have increased its popularity.

  An antenna, sometimes called a dish or transmitter, that is about the size of a small pizza box is installed on the roof or under the eaves of a home. The antenna connects by radio waves to a fixed-wireless provider's antennas, which link to the company's main switching station.

  Fast stream of data

  The fixed-wireless provider's antennas are usually on a tall building, a mountain or a tower. The antenna on the customer's roof is connected through a wire to a modem connected to a home computer through a network card that can handle a fast stream of data.

  The fixed-wireless connection is always on, and speeds are comparable to those of DSL and cable modems, anywhere from 128,000 to 800,000 bits per second, and on occasion more than 1Mb -- a million bits of information -- compared with 28,800 or 56,000 bits on the typical dial-up modem. It costs US$40 to US$60 a month, depending on the provider. Installation and equipment can total around US$300 but some companies waive the fees.

  While businesses have been using fixed wireless systems for several years, the residential market is just starting to pick up steam with the entry of major telecommunications companies like AT&T and Sprint. Those companies, which also sell or resell DSL and cable-modem services in some markets, have found a way to get around the local telecommunications monopolies, which have been slow to roll out DSL service.

  Quicker and cheaper

  With fixed wireless, building a network and providing service to consumers can theoretically be quicker and less expensive.

  AT&T offers the service in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Anchorage, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles and Kansas City, Montana. Sprint does so in Chicago, Colorado Springs, Denver, Fresno, Houston, Melbourne, Florida, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, San Jose, California, Tucson and Wichita.

  Michael Keith, president and chief executive of the fixed wireless services division of AT&T Wireless, said he hoped to have the service available to three million homes across the country by the end of the year. Worldcom, now offering a fixed-wireless service for businesses, plans to begin testing a consumer offering next year. A handful of smaller regional companies are also beginning to offer the service.

  About 300,000 customers, including businesses, are using fixed wireless service nationally, according to Cahners In-Stat Group, a research firm in Scottsdale, Arizona, that tracks and analyzes developments in digital communications. It projects some 2 million subscribers by 2005.

  Fixed-wireless companies either purchase licenses from the Federal Communications Commission to operate over a specific radio frequency in a geographic area or offer service over unlicensed public-use radio frequencies.

  Trouble with obstructions

  The frequencies, measured in hertz, are typically between 2Gz and 3Gz for the residential market, while corporations sending huge amounts of data usually operate at or above 20Gz. The lower-frequency bands, around 2.5Gz, can send data as far as 56km and have fewer problems when it comes to sending the signal through foliage or storms.

  But even fixed-wireless providers using the lower frequencies can have trouble with obstructions that sometimes reduce the signal from a customer's antenna to the fixed wireless provider's antenna.

  While Roy Maze, a day trader who works from his home in Houston, is happy with his Sprint fixed-wireless service now, it took several months for Sprint to figure out why his connection kept going down, sometimes three or four times a day.

  "They'd say I had a bird on top of my antenna and said I should chase it off," he said. "But I never saw a bird anywhere near the antenna." Finally a Sprint supervisor informed Maze that the company was working on what turned out to be a networking problem.

  "The last two or three months, knock on wood, I'm happy as can be," he said.

  Cameron Rejali, Sprint's vice president for wireless products and operations, acknowledged that the service initially had its hiccups. But he said that Sprint planned to roll out an upgraded technology by the second half of next year that would reduce problems.

  For consumers with access to DSL or cable-modem service, broadband experts generally suggest that those two options are somewhat more reliable than fixed wireless at this point. Combined, DSL and cable-modem service have about 12 million customers, dwarfing fixed wireless and its 300,000 subscribers.

  Nor is fixed wireless as available nationally as cable modem and DSL service, said Lindsay Schroth, an analyst with the Yankee Group, a Boston-based research firm. But as technology improves, she said, fixed wireless will be able to reach 90 percent of subscribers in markets served by such providers.

  Of course, consumers will need to invest in an antenna outside their homes to get the service. Another drawback is that some fixed-wireless companies, including AT&T, make customers sign up for local phone service instead of selling the high-speed Internet access separately.

  Selling points

  And like cable modem service, fixed wireless relies on shared networks, which means that heavy use by customers on a network in any given neighborhood at one time can slow down the speeds.

  Several fixed-wireless companies, mainly those providing service to businesses, have filed for bankruptcy this year, and there are no guarantees that residential providers will be offering the service in the years ahead.

  So fixed-wireless companies are looking for other selling points. "These providers have made quite an effort to give consumers a better experience when it comes to customer service and support," said Michael Paxton, a senior analyst with Cahners In-Stat.

  Adrian Castro of San Jose is more than pleased with the level of service he has received from Sprint since he became a fixed-wireless customer in April. Though he had had DSL service in the past, it was not available in his new neighborhood, and he refused to do business with the cable company because of past experiences.

  Castro, 35, said he had not received the same quality of streaming video that he had with DSL. While he would return to DSL if he could, he added, he would dread dealing with its customer service, which sometimes included hours on hold.

  For now, he said, he will stick with fixed wireless, pronouncing himself "thoroughly impressed."
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