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Verizon Plans Faster Wireless Data Network

Posted on: Saturday, 24 January 2004, 06:00 CST

Users say improved throughput could speed synchronization, support e-mail

PLANS by Verizon Wireless to install a beefed-up cellular data network throughout the U.S. captured the attention of several corporate IT managers, who said the promised throughput levels could support applications such as sales force automation and streaming video.

Verizon Wireless last week said it will begin a phased rollout of its BroadbandAccess third-generation wireless network this year and start offering services nationwide next year. The Bedminster, N.J.- based company added that the network will cost about $1 billion and support data rates of 300K to 500Kbit/sec., three to four times faster than the rival technologies that are available now.

Some users in San Diego and Washington have been testing BroadbandAccess since October. Scott Cranford, a vice president at San Diego-based Continental Lab Products Inc., said the nationwide rollout will let sales workers at the laboratory equipment distributor quickly synchronize their laptop PCs with corporate databases from anywhere in the U.S.

Service Boost

Sales reps in San Diego and Washington can synchronize data with Continental's back-end systems in "about a minute," Cranford said. Workers in other parts of the country have to use Verizon Wireless' older data network, which provides data rates of up to 70Kbit/sec. Data synchronization over that network can take 20 minutes, Cranford said.

Charlie Orndorff, vice president of infrastructure services at Crossmark, a Piano, Texas-based company that offers sales and marketing services to makers of consumer packaged goods, said he plans to evaluate BroadbandAccess as a means of providing remote e- mail access to 2,000 end users equipped with Hewlett-Packard Co.'s iPaq handheld computers.

Orndorff said Crossmark uses the existing Verizon Wireless network to support access to back-end sales force automation applications. But the network doesn't have enough bandwidth for e- mail, he noted.

Verizon Wireless plans to charge a monthly fee of $79.99 per user for unlimited data services on the BroadbandAccess network. Orndorff said he views the price as reasonable, considering that Crossmark previously was spending about $50 per month for each sales worker so they can do dial-up synchronization.

BroadbandAccess is based on the Code Division Multiple Access Evolution-Data Only (EV-DO) standard. In November, AT&T Wireless Services Inc. launched an upgrade of its GSM/GPRS network that supports data rates of up to 130Kbit/sec. [QuickLink 43036]. AT&T Wireless spokesman Ritch Blasi said the Redmond, Wash.-based company will offer faster rates when it starts deploying services based on the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System standard later this year.

Sprint Corp. said it views EV-DO as inefficient because the technology requires dedicated spectrum. Instead of upgrading its network now, Sprint plans to wait until 2006 and offer high-speed services based on the CDMA Evolution-Data Voice standard, which is due to support data rates of 400Kbit/sec. as well as voice calls.

But Hank Mounkhall, a manager in the global network systems group at United Parcel Service Inc. in Atlanta, said he thinks Verizon Wireless" new network will put "competitive pressure" on rival carriers like Sprint and AT&T Wireless. 43952

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CELLULAR SERVICES

AT&T Wireless

TECHNOLOGY: GSM EDGE

AVERAGE SPEED: 100K-130Kbit/sec.

AVAILABLE: Nationwide

PRICE: $79.99 per month for unlimited use

Sprint PCS

TECHNOLOOY: CDMA 1xRTT

AVERAGE SPEED: 50K-70Kbit/sec.

AVAILABLE: Nationwide

PRICE: $100 for transmitting 300MB of data per month

Verizon Wireless

TECHNOLOGY: CDMA EV-DO

AVERAGE SPEED 300K-500Kbit/sec.

AVAILABLE: In a "significant portion" of the U.S. by summer

PRICE: $79.99 per month for unlimited use

Copyright Computerworld Inc. Jan 12, 2004

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