Going Wireless Outside the Office

WANs, LANs, and PANs--here's an introduction to what's out there and where it's headed.

Joanie Wexler, special to PCWorld.com

Pockets of wireless connectivity abound, some with overlapping applications and each in varying stages of standardization and deployment. It can be a challenge to craft an integrated wireless networking plan for traveling and telecommuting workers.

Nets Easier to Find

One particularly promising trend is that makers of wireless chips, handsets, and network interface cards (NICs) are bundling multinetwork access into their products. This prevents users from having to tote around a bunch of devices, cables, and cards to access different services.

For example, when using the Nokia GSM/GPRS 7260 multimode, multifrequency phone, "You leave the U.S., land in Europe, switch the phone on, and it works with your U.S. phone number," says Juha Lappalainen, vice president of sales and marketing in Nokia's IP Mobility Networks.

The Sony Ericsson T68i behaves the same way, while also integrating Bluetooth connectivity into the equation for short-range, wireless peer-to-peer communication.

Another boon is wireless-savvy client software. Microsoft Windows XP, for example, automatically detects and selects the best wireless network option within range. NetMotion Wireless makes a client application that transparently manages session handoffs as users roam among dissimilar networks--a capability likely to proliferate in wireless network management software from other companies.

Prime choices for out-of-office connectivity are:

* Mobile 2.5G WANs

* Wireless LANs (aka Wi-Fi networks)

* Satellite

* Broadband wireless last-mile Internet access

* Bluetooth personal-area networks (PANs) for low-speed, short-range peripheral-cable-replacement technology

* Paging and messaging services

In particular, mobile WANs and Wi-Fi are seeing the most significant progress for off-campus workers.

What's Up in the WAN?

This year, mobile carriers AT&T Wireless, Sprint PCS, and T-Mobile finished upgrading their network infrastructures to 2.5G packet-switched technology. Per-subscriber throughput on these networks is between 20Kilobits per second and 60 Kbps--a big boost from 14.4-Kbps 2G network speeds, but a far cry from the "broadband experience."

Highly mobile workers, though, require voice and data connectivity wherever they can get it. And the reach of mobile WANs--particularly that of GSM/GPRS services, which are deployed internationally--is rivaled only by satellite, which works virtually anywhere but costs a comparative arm and a leg.

The 2.5G pricing plans vary from the top five U.S. mobile WAN carriers but average about $50 per month per user for a respectable chunk of data usage. For unlimited usage, though, you pay closer to $100. Prices of 2.5G-capable handsets that bundle voice access with HTML browsers, Microsoft applications, digital cameras, and other functions are about $200.

By contrast, mobile satellite service from carriers such as Globalstar and Iridium target voice applications with their below-10-Kbps speeds. Service can cost up to $4 per minute when users roam, and basic satellite phones are $500 to $1500. So think "rental" for those infrequent trips to the hinterlands.

The Travelers Property Casualty actually combines 2.5G services from Sprint PCS with satellite to balance coverage and cost when processing claims from its Catastrophe Response Vehicles in the field.

"Where there are gaps in Sprint coverage, the vans switch over to satellite," explains Raul Matamoros, vice president of telecommunications. Matamoros reports that Travelers is experiencing 50-Kbps speeds fairly consistently with the new Sprint service.

Wi-Fi Fanfare

IEEE 802.11b, or Wi-Fi, technology dominates wireless LAN deployments. These networks provide 11-Mbps wireless connections in homes and public places.

In fact, says In-Stat/MDR senior analyst Gemma Paulo, "Wi-Fi, used within the home for sharing a broadband Internet access link, is the primary driver of Wi-Fi in businesses and hot spots."

Why? Because once home users get a taste of broadband access from anywhere around the house, they start pressuring their IT departments for the same flexibility in the office and on the road.

Paulo cites wireless routers, which combine a Wi-Fi radio access point, last-mile broadband connections, and IP routing, as "the hottest networking product for the home." She estimates that worldwide home wireless router shipments will reach 6 million this year and jump to 11 million in 2003.

For traveling users, commercial Wi-Fi services are emerging from many types of companies for a $30 to $75 monthly subscription fee or a per-day connection charge that's usually under $10. Companies focused specifically on Wi-Fi services are often called wireless ISPs, or WISPs. Wayport is perhaps the largest WISP, offering services in 475 hotels and 10 airports. Smaller WISPs include Airpath Wireless and Surf and Sip.

Wi-Fi "aggregator" Boingo Wireless doesn't build public wireless LANs itself, but offers subscriptions to services that span the aggregated footprint of many partner Wi-Fi networks. In this way, a single subscription buys users coverage in more places.

Imminent Boingo competitors are IPass and GRIC, which are just getting started in Wi-Fi to complement their international remote-access aggregation businesses.

Next Steps

T-Mobile is the first carrier to commit to widespread Wi-Fi services as a high-speed complement to its mobile WAN services, while others like Cingular Wireless and Nextel Communications are still agonizing over the Wi-Fi service business case.

"I must take into consideration my current investment and what I have to pay to Mr. [FCC Chairman Michael] Powell" for 3G wireless spectrum, stated Andrew Goddard, director of Cingular's Professional Services Group, at a recent meeting of the Silicon Valley Chinese Wireless Technology Association. "Hot spots will be built by someone, whether I build them or not."

His implication is that Cingular might eventually buy its way into the business, as T-Mobile did when it purchased hot-spot company MobileStar.

T-Mobile offers services in about 2000 sites, most of them Starbucks coffee shops, and recently announced it is expanding its airport coverage. And AT&T Wireless recently stuck its toe into Wi-Fi, now offering services in the Denver airport.

At the end of the day, the same themes apply to wireless networking decisions as those that have come before: Sometimes you have to trade off bandwidth for distance.

Though Wi-Fi service deployments are on the upswing, it will be a while before they are installed at every truck stop. In the meantime, look to wireless LANs, mobile WANs, and even Bluetooth PANs to solve different communications and cabling problems. As client hardware and software vendors continue with their multinetwork integration efforts, the technology-management and cost burdens will ease up for users and IT departments alike.