AT&T Wireless Offers High Speed, With Limitations

Company's GPRS service may be a first, but speed and roaming aren't quite there yet.

AT&T Wireless Group, spun off from AT&T as an independent company earlier this month, got off to a roaring start by announcing this week that it is the first wireless network provider to deploy 2.5-generation high-speed service.

However, while the initial deployment gives the company bragging rights, the actual implementation does have a number of severe limitations. Launched in the Seattle area this week, the voice and data service has no roaming capability.

"We are in the process of signing roaming agreements," says an AT&T Wireless spokesperson.

Without roaming agreements the phone will not work beyond the Seattle area, the spokesperson says.

Wireless Broadband, Sort Of

Performance is also less than some users may expect. The General Packet Radio Service at peak has a performance of 144 kbps. However, users can expect about 100 kbps in a stationary environment if the cellular phone deploying the technology is capable of that speed. The Motorola Timeport, Model 7382i, will be able to access data at only 30 kbps to 40 kbps, an AT&T spokesperson says.

Nevertheless, one industry analyst believes being first will have an impact on the competitive landscape.

"Given the fact that it is AT&T, it puts them in a power position to have a dominant place as services roll out, especially as NTT DoComo, an AT&T Wireless partner, starts to deploy in the states. Once these infrastructures are more available, their relationship with NTT will allow them to offer applications to consumers first, then on the enterprise side," says Tim Scannell, senior analyst at Mobile Insights.

High Speed Beyond a Phone

During the next two months, AT&T Wireless will launch in Las Vegas and Portland, Oregon, and expects to have its service available on more handsets and some PDAs as well.

Pricing for data access is based on $50 for 1MB of data plus 400 voice minutes. In mid- to late 2002, the wireless network provider plans to increase performance using its EDGE (Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution) technology, which requires only a software upgrade to the current technology, and will have about 388 kbps performance at peak, the spokesperson says.

In 2003, the company expects to roll out its even higher-performance WCDMA technology.

The Motorola Timeport phone is priced at $200.