Tech News - April 2006

Internet Anywhere

By Jeremy Robertson

In today’s busy world of business, and travel, we have needed an internet solution that can move around with us. The hassles of finding a hotspot and paying high prices there to check your email are all but in the past. In the Past if you wanted to get online while traveling you could use your cell phone to dial an ISP, or you can get the mobile web right on your browser capable phone. The down falls of this technology is mainly that the cell phone is just to slow of a connection, where you usually get a connection speed less then 56k, and the Internet browsing on the small LCD screen of your cell phone is quite a challenge. In This busy, fast paced, high tech world these options are mediocre at best.

Sprint started a revolution of Wi-Fi access that was a leap over the competition, when they launched its Mobile connection for your laptop. Sprint’s new system would allow you to put a cellular PCMCIA card in your laptop and browse the internet anywhere that you could receive service from one of Sprint’s towers. This system worked great but the Sprint network has been pretty well limited to the urban areas. Now other cellular companies are starting to jump in, finding out that covering the information super highway is as important as covering the real highways.

Alltel has now stepped up to the plate, with Alltel Mobile Axcess, offering unlimited access to the mobile web, right from your laptop. Using Sprints basic idea and expanding the service area to cover virtually anywhere, Alltel offers 40-70 Kbps with burst up to 144 Kbps from coast to coast and 400-700 Kbps with burst up to 2.4 Mbps in select markets. You can sign up on a rate plan that suites your mobile needs. Unlimited access starts at just 69.99 with roaming charges where they apply, and just 79.99 with nation wide coverage with no roaming fees. Now I usually don’t like to make predictions, however I believe that one day in the near future this technology will soon be as popular as cellular phones.

Companies are constantly trying to fulfill our need for a seamless network that works as hard as you do. More and more companies are banding together in the hopes that they will be able to control the most area with their networks. Companies are constantly buying and merging with other companies, swallowing and reusing the small networks. This is a good thing in most cases as it gives us greater coverage at cheaper prices for rate plans. This is because now the company owns the network and they no longer have to pay exurbanite amounts to allow you to use the other company’s network. However at the current rate of consumption soon we could be down to only one or two choices in the mobile communication world. If this happens, then due to a lack of healthy competion we could see a decrease in new technology and the prices of the now reasonable network, may become less affordable for the average user. Uncle Ben from Spider Man said it best “With great power comes great responsibility.”

So I hope this article helps!!

Jeremy M. Robertson
Senior Technician
The Computer Generation Inc.