In the next few weeks, Manhattan Web surfers frustrated by their 28.8-Kbps connections may have an unprecedented opportunity for Net access 20 times faster by using the tiny waves at the height of newly licensed radio spectrum.
Wireless telecom company CellularVision, joined Monday by Pathfinder émigré Bruce Judson, is about to roll out its new Digital Network, which promises commercial high-speed Net access at 500 Kbps - four times faster than ISDN lines - by transmitting the signal at 28 GHz, far above television frequency of 1 GHz.
Although many commercial services are significantly faster - with T1 lines that move data at 1.5 Mbps or cable modems clocked at 2.5 Mbps and up - the real development here isn't speed, but location and price.
The advent of the Digital Network could bring bandwidth-starved New Yorkers high-speed capacity at an affordable price. With monthly T1 maintenance fees hovering in the thousands and cable modem development stalled due to time-consuming cable plant upgrades, CellularVision and its offer of a wireless Net connection could open up a new market. And it's easier to install.
"While [cable and telephone companies] have to go and dig up streets [to install their systems]," says CellularVision CEO Shant Hovnanian, "we just have to put up transmitters on windows."
The service mounts a receiving dish outside the apartment wired to a high-speed modem inside the computer. For now, the service will beam data downstream to the subscriber but using regular phone lines for user requests. Though no prices have been set yet, Judson said the service will be comparable in price to TCI's @Home and Time Warner's Road Runner cable modem services at US$45 monthly, with a sliding installation fee of $45 to $150.
The Digital Network breaks in a new part of the spectrum band, a narrow slice of the frequency now used to transmit digital television called local multipoint distribution service (LMDS). This slice had been exclusive domain of the military, for the International Telecommunications Union, 15 years ago. Commercial exploration of LMDS has been hampered by a technical issue, says Hovnanian - namely, at the height of the frequency band, the LMDS signal has a low range and is at low power, leaving it vulnerable to signal inconsistencies such as "rain fade" from storms. CellularVision works around this problem by setting up many transmitters inside one compact area.
CellularVision's foray into the upper stratosphere of the spectrum came as a huge gift from the US government. When the company applied for its first FCC license to broadcast at 28 GHz for Manhattan, the agency granted 1,300 MHz of spectrum for free. With that much spectrum, CellularVision has an "outrageous" capacity, said Hovnanian. "If you took all the TV and radio stations and all the cellular operators in New York, they would total 325 MHz," he said.
CellularVision is already using 1,000 MHz of its spectrum to transmit wireless video to 12,500 subscribers in Brooklyn. The remaining 300 MHz will be used for Internet purposes.
But all this frequency could have an adverse effect on the local ISP picture in the Big Apple. "If you're with an ISP and if they have signed an agreement with us, you'll be able to get the high-speed access," says Hovnanian.
And the ones who don�t? "[With CellularVision], ISPs will have to be resourceful," says Ross Rubin at Jupiter Group. "@Home, Road Runner, and most of the major cable companies are spoken for. If ISPs don't have an in with one of those companies, they'll be a thing of the past."
The remaining 492 national markets for LMDS will be licensed this summer by the FCC.
From the Wired News New York Bureau at FEED magazine.
