Wireless access to the Internet is all the talk in Silicon Valley these days.
But it’s mostly just talk. No one is yet delivering wireless Net service that is fast, reliable and affordable.
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Now comes a tantalizing taste of what lies ahead: the Ricochet wireless modem from Metricom Inc. of San Jose, Calif.
Metricom is launching a long-delayed nationwide upgrade of its service to 128 kilobits per second, double the best speed of conventional dial-up phone modems.
That’s fast. After several days of field testing, however, I’m sorry to report Ricochet (www.ricochet.com) is neither reliable nor affordable.
It’s the latest disappointment from a company that has a hard time living up to its commitments.
Metricom launched the first version of Ricochet in 1995, serving three metropolitan regions–the Bay Area, Seattle and Washington, D.C.–at 28.8 kbps. That was enough five years ago, before the Web became popular and electronic mail grew fat with attached files. But the company soon realized customers would demand more speed.
So, in March 1997, Metricom announced a bold upgrade plan “scheduled to be ready for deployment in late 1998.”
Nope. In September 1998, Metricom said faster service would “begin deployment in mid-1999.”
Nope again. In March 1999, deployment was set for “select service areas through the second half of 1999.”
The delays didn’t end until July 21, when San Diego became the first metropolitan area to get 128 kbps Ricochet service.
Several other regions, including the Bay Area, have been added since, with 46 markets scheduled for 128 kbps service by the end of next year.
Metricom’s stalling would have been more acceptable if the city-by-city launches presented subscribers with a complete network.
But 128 kbps Ricochet remains a work in progress. The Bay Area coverage map on Ricochet’s Web site shows only about half the area served by the old 28 kbps service has been upgraded to 128 kbps, with the remainder marked as “available while under construction.” That means no more than 28 kbps until Metricom adds more of its shoebox-size radio transceivers to phone poles, street lights and other structures.
North San Jose, home to numerous high-tech office parks, is split down the middle, with the half closer to Highway 101 at 128 kbps and the half closer to Interstate 880 stuck at 28 kbps. The entire Pleasanton-Livermore area, another high-tech mecca, remains at 28 kbps.
A Metricom executive told me the company is working hard to offer what he called “robust” 128 kbps service in the Bay Area by the end of the year.
This hasn’t stopped Metricom from charging very robust rates. Subscribers need to shell out $300 for a wireless modem–a 9-ounce device that attaches to a laptop Windows computer with Velcro straps–then $75 to $80 a month for unlimited service. Still, that’s a much better deal than using a mobile phone as a wireless modem, where users pay for air time by the minute.
Meanwhile, Metricom has stopped offering the original 28 kbps service, priced at a far more reasonable $30 a month, to new customers.
The service, by the way, doesn’t come directly from Metricom. Several independent providers are reselling Ricochet, with slightly differing service plans. There are currently two resellers offering 128 kbps Ricochet in the Bay Area: Juno Express (www.junoexpress.com/ricochet/) and Wireless Web Connect (www.wwc.com).
The high cost and incomplete network might be excusable if Ricochet were unfailingly reliable. But that wasn’t my experience.
I borrowed a Ricochet modem, installed the accompanying CD-ROM software and plugged the modem in the USB port of my Compaq Presario 1800 laptop. The process took only a few minutes, although it would have been quicker and easier if Metricom supplied complete installation instructions rather than a skimpy “Quick Start” pamphlet.
Flipping out the modem’s stubby 4-inch antenna, I could reach the Ricochet network faster than a conventional modem would connect through a phone. The modem, not much bigger than a man’s wallet, didn’t add much weight to my briefcase and runs four to six hours on its rechargeable lithium-ion battery.
I did get intermittent fast access with Ricochet.
Using a “speed test” Web page provided by Microsoft Network (http://computingcentral.msn. com/topics/bandwidth/speedtest50.asp), I clocked 177 kbps–nearly 40 percent faster than the advertised speed of 128 kbps–sitting in the lobby of the Westin Hotel in Santa Clara. The only painful part of the experience was listening to the pianist in the nearby lounge plunking through “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?”–a song that should be banned throughout Santa Clara County.
I also got 114 kbps while sitting in my car at the Trader Joe’s parking lot on El Camino Real in Sunnyvale, where I stopped for bananas and chocolate-covered soy bars.
These fast connections made it possible to do real work on the road. At the Westin, for example, I downloaded a 4-megabyte file to upgrade the Real Player software on my laptop so I could watch a video report from Bloomberg Business News. At Trader Joe’s, I watched a few minutes of CNN Headline News.
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But those were the only two instances where Ricochet ran faster than 100 kbps. In my office at the San Jose Mercury News, near Interstate 880 and Highway 101, Ricochet ran at 50 kbps on one occasion and on several attempts was so slow that I couldn’t even complete the MSN speed test.
I got a half-decent 65 kbps at Gate 66 of San Francisco International Airport, where I dropped off my wife and daughter for a visit to the in-laws in Florida. But at the House of Bagels on University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto, the connection was once again too slow for the speed test.
I even tried at a Mexican restaurant near the Mercury News office, where my colleagues had gathered on a Friday evening for gossip and margaritas–prompting several to yell, “Geek! Geek!”
Ricochet failed to connect from inside the restaurant. I got through from the parking lot and was then able to walk inside without losing the connection.
In short, Ricochet’s performance was too erratic to make it a trustworthy source of Internet access.
Part of my problem was undoubtedly due to the imperfect nature of wireless networks, which are prone to “dead spots” that block reception. Sometimes moving just a few feet, as I did at the restaurant, is enough to get a strong signal, as any mobile phone user knows.
But another part of the problem is likely Metricom’s fault.
If the number of users exceeds the capacity of the network, everything slows down. Any mobile phone user who makes calls at rush hour knows what I’m talking about. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect Metricom still faces some challenges in getting the 128 kbps Ricochet network to run smoothly.
I’m hoping Metricom can soon deliver “robust” service, because fast, unlimited access to the Net without wires is very cool. The company has deep pockets, with financial backers including WorldCom Inc. and billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Metricom just needs to focus more on meeting deadlines without compromising quality.