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Verizon hooks up Wi-Fi alternative

Two years ago in this column, tech rapper Eddie B came up with an alternative to a verse in a Verizon Wireless marketing brochure. The Verizon promo, for a new wireless network that connected laptop users to the Internet and their corporate e-mail, went: "Constantly on the go? Don't settle for slow."
My alter-ego's revisionist rhyme: "Makes dial-up modem at times seem fast. Connections that sadly do not always last."

I am not resurrecting Eddie B's short-lived career. And I subsequently had a better experience with the Verizon "1xRTT" network, as it is known in telecom jargon.

Now, Verizon is spending $1 billion building out a zippier backward-compatible nationwide network based on the same Qualcomm CDMA technology that is the core of 1xRTT. The network promises data speeds roughly comparable to what you'd get with a cable modem or DSL.

It may turn out to be a viable broadband wireless alternative to Wi-Fi for business travelers and consumers.

It, too, has a geeky moniker, Evolution-Data Optimized, or EV-DO for short. But Verizon is wisely marketing it as BroadbandAccess. (Its slower 1xRTT cousin is now called NationalAccess.)

The company initially deployed the service in two markets last fall: Washington, D.C., with partner Lucent Technologies, and San Diego, with Nortel Networks. Though mum on specifics, Verizon says the service will start to become available in other major metropolitan areas this summer. About 75 million customers, or a third of Verizon's network, will be BroadbandAccess-ready by year's end. Verizon plans to phase in additional markets in 2005.

As with the pokier 1xRTT network, EV-DO is primarily targeted at business people who want to access e-mail and corporate intranets, download files and prowl the Web on laptops from practically anywhere, anytime. A speedier network ultimately also will be a boon for consumers who want to send or receive video or compete in multiplayer games.

I tried BroadbandAccess this week in downtown Atlanta. Verizon constructed a temporary network as part of promotional efforts during the CTIA Wireless 2004 industry conference, a showcase for the latest fancy phones and other mobile devices.

The EV-DO technology will be incorporated into cellular handsets and PDAs. LG Electronics showed off an EV-DO-capable phone called the LG8000 to be launched with an "unnamed" carrier later in the year. It's hardly a secret that Verizon will be that carrier. Samsung also has capable phones.

For now, however, Verizon is flaunting the EV-DO technology in laptops. Here's how it works. You install software, then insert a Sierra Wireless PC card into a slot on your computer. The credit-card-size thingamajig protruded about an inch outside the side of my computer; the card also has a foldable 11/2-inch tall antenna.

A small window then appears on the computer screen. You must click on a connect button inside that window and wait to complete the process, less than 20 seconds in my experience.

Verizon promises broadband-type download speeds of 300 to 500 kilobits per second, with peaks of up to 2.4 megabits per second. By contrast, 1xRTT downloads at about 40 to 60 kbps, putting it in the ballpark of a dial-up modem. Verizon says customers may get occasional bursts of up to 144 kbps.

EV-DO performed as advertised during my Atlanta tests with an IBM ThinkPad running Windows 2000. Granted, the makeshift network "footprint" was relatively small, and I can't imagine there were nearly enough users to stretch its limits.

I checked out BroadbandAccess at the convention center where CTIA was taking place, in my hotel room (and lobby), at another hotel blocks away and in a moving taxi. I never dropped the connection.

BroadbandAccess users who move out of coverage areas in San Diego and D.C. can continue surfing, albeit at slower 1xRTT speeds. The card I was using was not set up to do that.

When Verizon extends coverage, it will have to lower prices to entice consumers. Service costs $80 a month, the card $150 (following a $100 rebate with a two-year service agreement).

You may be wondering why you would go with EV-DO at all, when Wi-Fi, which potentially operates at faster broadband speeds, is making its mark in so many public locales? One answer: You won't have to search for "hot spots."

AT A GLANCE

Verizon Wireless BroadbandAccess
Pro: Seems to attract a playful and smart crowd.
Con: Expensive. Only deployed at the moment in metropolitan San Diego and Washington.
From Verizon, www.verizonwireless.com.
$80 / month, $150 (after rebate and two-year commitment) for PC card.





Verizon chief technical officer Dick Lynch, who admittedly has a vested interest in the success of EV-DO, says he sometimes refers to Wi-Fi hot spots as warm spots and cold spots. Indeed, because Wi-Fi relies on proximity to a base station, the technology may not be the most practical when you are out and about, especially in a moving vehicle. That said, Wi-Fi is starting to show up in pretty out-of-the-way places, including airplanes and trains, and efforts are underway to extend its range.

By contrast, EV-DO is billed as a ubiquitous wide area network that should eventually work most places where you have cell coverage. At one point in the convention center, I was able to connect to BroadbandAccess when I could not glom on to a Wi-Fi network.

EV-DO does have shortcomings, aside from the obvious immediate limitations in coverage. Though it's not a big deal using a laptop, this is a data-only network that cannot handle voice.

Rival Sprint is banking on a speedy network alternative called 1xEV-DV, which does allow voice and data to co-exist. But we're likely looking at a year or two before service becomes commercially available. (Other carriers are testing other wireless broadband solutions.) At CTIA, Samsung did demonstrate a live real-time video-conferencing application on phones using EV-DV.

I'll make a final judgment on Broadband-Access when Verizon finally makes it available in the New York metro area where I work and live.

In the meantime, my only bugaboo was relatively minor. You must follow a strict procedure when you log out of the network and pull out the card, lest you have to reboot to reconnect. It was about the only thing that felt slow.

Ed Baig's Personal Tech column appears every Thursday in USA TODAY and on USATODAY.com. E-mail: [e-mail]

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/edwardbaig/2004-03-24-baig_x.htm