Internet Connectivity - Wireless Connectivity

WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY

Wireless connectivity to the Internet was still in its infancy in the early 2000s, awaiting the development of new protocols, specifications, and next-generation technologies. While most personal computers could access virtually any Web site, wireless devices could not because wireless systems used a different method of encoding Web content. When several major online brokerage firms began offering wireless trading in 2000, the biggest barrier was that the brokers were not compatible with all types of devices and service providers. The preferred method of wireless access to online brokerages appeared to be through Web-enabled cell phones. In some cases brokers were able to negotiate with national cell phone providers such as Verizon Wireless, AT&T, or Sprint PCS to obtain a position on their Web-phone menus. Otherwise, customers would have to key in their broker's Web address on the phone's small keypad.

Mobile phones, pagers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs) all offer limited wireless access to the Internet. But most of these do not offer the complete set of features users have on their PCs. Typically, wireless devices are used to retrieve e-mail and obtain a range of news, sports, stocks, weather, and local information. Cell phones enabled for Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), for instance, are used to retrieve e-mail as well as information from selected Web sites. For the most part, however, mainstream devices' small screens make it difficult, if not impossible, to surf the Internet and fill out the forms necessary to shop online. Device manufacturers have responded with innovations designed to make the wireless Internet experience easier. For example, Palm, maker of popular PDAs and related devices, introduced the M105 PDA, which included pre-installed Internet connectivity software that enabled users to check e-mail and surf the wireless Web through a compatible mobile phone.

Wireless connectivity to the Internet represented a small fraction of home-based Internet users in the United States and other countries at the end of 2000. According to a study by the Nomura Research Institute and reported by eMarketer, 2 percent of users who accessed the Internet from home in the United States had a wireless connection, compared to 92.1 percent having a landline connection. According to another study by Connecticut-based research firm Robert Francis Group, data accounted for less than 2 percent of mobile wireless traffic in early 2001. With wireless access to the Internet still in the early adopter stage, projections of future growth varied widely. A February 2001 eWireless Report from eMarketer found that estimates of wireless Internet users by 2004 ranged from 17 million to 161 million. One reason for such discrepancies was that there was not a large enough base of users to project from.

Wireless high-speed Internet access in public places began expanding in 2001. Public wireless access, designed for locations such as airport terminals, sports arenas, shopping malls, coffee shops, and convention floors, requires a base station that include a small transceiver and a broadband connection. An article in the New York Times predicted that there would be wireless access points installed in 5,000 Starbucks stores sometime in 2002.

These access points are able to transmit and receive data wirelessly using a technology standard called 802.11 for Windows and AirPort for Apple computers. Computers with an AirPort or 802.11 card installed have a ready, high-speed wireless Internet connection without any additional plug-ins. Users need to be within a few hundred feet or so of an access point to tap into a wireless network. Users can then send e-mail or visit Web sites. Most access points are expected to be commercial in nature, charging a monthly or one-time fee.

Barriers to roaming wireless access from a laptop computer have included the lack of a single standard and competition among providers. Competing standards meant that users might need to have two or three wireless standards to stay connected while traveling. Until roaming agreements were in place among competing providers, users might find that one provider's service was available in some airports but not in others.