Wireless

Wireless technology is just starting to become popular. We have had wireless 
printer connections for a few years now and also infra red keyboards, mice, and 
printer connections. Wireless printer connections allow sharing as well as 
connections between floors or long wire runs without the cost of the wire or 
running it.

Wireless networking is starting to become popular. There are devices that plug 
into the Notebook computers with little antennas that allow you to move around 
an office. There is even a standard for this technology called "BlueTooth".
Aside from allowing you to move quickly around an office with a notebook 
computer, this can also provide a network connection in an airport.

Palm devices are becoming popular with wireless modems. You can receive email 
and special web pages. Communications is relatively slow though. Cost runs 
about $40-$50 per month.

Included with wireless is also paging, including Internet EMAIL. This is just 
starting to get popular, although it has been available for awhile now.
Cellular phones are now web enabled, allowing a user to get special edition web 
pages. Use is somewhat complicated though, and a visit to your provider will 
show you they don't even know how to use it.

A new service called Ricochet allows a notebook user/subscriber to go 
anywhere in the service area and never loose the Internet connection. Ricochet 
operates at 128K which is the speed of ISDN. Ricochet is available now in most 
major metropolitan areas. It operates in the 900 mhz band and must have near 
line of site to the transmitter. Occassionally, it gets slower than 128K, but 
generally it is quite good. For those who can not get DSL or Cable service, 
Ricochet offers an alternative. Business cable or ISDN, or even business DSL 
costs $125 or more per month. Ricochet costs about $75 per month. For a home 
user, it may not be worth it, but for a business user, it definately is 
considering some alternatives. We use Ricochet here and are very happy with it.

Satellite service is available through DirecPC and Starband. There is a one way 
service from DirecPC still using your landline connection giving fast 
downloads. The 2 way service frees up your phone line conpletely. We used 
DirecPC for over a year with one way service. Although downloads were very 
fast, the software left alot to be desired. It wanted to connect to its 
connection (E T Phone Home) while we were burning a CD or in the middle of 
something else. According to Starbands web site, the cost is $400 plus $200 
installation. There is no provision for self installers. We installed the 
DirecPC system ourselves.

Microsoft is reportedly working on a special version of Windows for cell phones 
which could prove interesting. You still will not be able to see much of a 
screen and I see it as a toy. I supose it will be like a Palm device. Palms do 
not take the place of a good notebook with a 15 inch screen for the Internet. I 
use a Toshiba Libretto notebook with a 5 inch screen for travel. It is perfect 
for me with full Windows 95. I can ever believe the Palm or web enabled cell 
phone will be popular for surfing.

Web page content is a sore subject with me. Big companies have to have big 
beautiful graphics and extremely complicated pages to find something. If they 
weren't so hell bent on their "image" and looks of their web page, they might 
be able to create something more functional. This might make portable devices 
more functional too.

I see Ricochet becoming more popular as they expand and I see another 
generation in the future that will be even faster than 128K.