As cellular carriers attempt to roll out nationwide coverage with new mobile data services, Los Gatos, Calif.-based Metricom Inc. is focused on establishing its Ricochet data network in two major computer industry centers-Silicon Valley and Seattle.
The company just completed an agreement with the city of Palo Alto, Calif., to install and operate the network citywide by deploying it on streetlight poles. The deal follows similar agreements with the California cities of San Jose, Walnut Creek and Cupertino. Metricom said it intends to cover Silicon Valley by summer and the entire San Francisco Bay area by the end of the year.
“In 1995 we’re concentrating on two metropolitan statistical areas-the San Francisco Bay area, including Silicon Valley and Seattle, because of our partnership with Microsoft Corp.,” according to Metricom’s Corporate Communications Director Sandy Gordon.
Microsoft has invested $6.2 million in the company and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has invested another $35.4 million through his Vulcan Ventures affiliate.
Metricom claims its data-only Ricochet network will support laptop computers, personal digital assistants and desktop computers with performance comparable to dial-up telephone modems. The company recognizes two obstacles to the acceptance of wireless networking-high cost and low speed relative to wired networks.
The company is charging subscriber access to a regional network for a fixed monthly rate of $29.95 plus a $95 activation fee. The rate covers unlimited data transfer with no additional per packet or usage charge.
Ricochet wireless radio modems, about the size of a television remote control, cost $299 with a 12-month service commitment or $599 as a stand-alone peer-to-peer unit, the company said.
By using a patented radio-to-radio routing method over a mesh network topology, Metricom claims an over-the-air data rate of 100 kilobits per second and a net user rate of 10 to 40 kbps.
“This clearly puts Metricom ahead of all of its competition in wide area wireless data networks. For the first time, mobile computer users can communicate wirelessly at a price and performance comparable to traditional wired telephone modem alternatives,” according to company president Robert Dilworth.
Ricochet is marketed as a fixed-point communications tool allowing subscribers to send or receive electronic mail, retrieve information from sources like America Online and access the Internet from anywhere within the coverage area.
The network’s shoe-box-size poletop radios operate in the license-free radio frequency band from 902 MHz to 928 MHz set aside for Part 15 devices by the Federal Communications Commission.
The company believes its network is completely free from claims of interference from multilateration Location and Monitoring Services moving into that spectrum band. “Our radios output less (radio frequency radiation) than a baby monitor,” Gordon said.
Although Metricom doesn’t provide a tally of current subscribers, the company said it is pursuing what it calls “specialty vertical” markets.
“We’ve got the early adopters in some markets but we haven’t begun a public campaign yet. We’re going after some specific markets such as the university markets as well as corporate campuses,” Gordon said.
In contrast to the vocal desire by cellular carriers to build out nationwide coverage as soon as possible, Gordon said, “We will move where the need is.”
“From the deployment standpoint we have the speed advantage. It only takes about an hour to put a radio on a pole,” she noted.
