Pedal to the 3G metal

QUESTION: What do Memphis, Tenn.; Missoula, Mont.; Maui, Hawaii; Montreal; and Auckland, New Zealand, have in common?

Answer: While the rest of us are accessing data via wireless links at anemic 2.5G and 3G performance rates, some citizens in those cities are or will soon be accessing data at true 3G speeds of 3Mbps down and 1Mbps up using a technology from San Bruno, Calif.-based IPWireless.

The technology is so promising that Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., was instrumental in getting it deployed in Missoula. Sprint has rolled out a trial of the technology in Montreal, and WorldCom will follow suit in Memphis next month.

Truth is, the International Telecommunications Union designated that, for a carrier of a service to be IMT (International Mobile Telephone)-2000-compliant for 3G, it had to have a minimum performance of 11Kbps for mobile devices and 384Kbps for portable devices. So, carriers deployed 3G services at those minimum speeds.

Now IPWireless has gone the extra yard and has created a version of 3G that achieves a much higher throughput. The company’s technology is focused only on data, and it gets higher data rates because of a number of factors, according to Roger Quayle, IPWireless CTO and co-founder.

Quayle explains that IPWireless is focused only on packet data and is not carrying traditional circuit-switched voice, so the company does not have to trade inherent system capacity for voice.

On the pure technology side, the key technique is called “joint detection,” a signal-processing capability implemented in both the wireless modem and the base station. The modem, by the way, is about the size of a PDA and connects via USB or an Ethernet port.

Joint detection cancels interference so that the data rates can push closer to theoretical radio-signal support limits, Quayle tells me.

IPWireless also combines multipath signals. When you are talking on a cell phone, you might be receiving six or seven multipath signals, which could cause distortion. IPWireless aligns the different signals and makes them all usable, thus the overall signal is stronger.

I also had a conversation with Joe Brooks, vice president of sales and market development at WorldCom in Clinton, Miss. Brooks said the technology holds so much promise that it’s well-worth setting up a pilot to get an operational understanding of the system.

Interestingly enough, WorldCom has an MMDS (Multipoint Microwave Distribution System) license, which allows transmission in the band between 2.5GHz and 2.7GHz, in about 160 markets, and if its IPWireless trial in Memphis works out, wireless carriers may have some new competition for 3G data services, I suspect.

In a fixed broadband environment priced for commercial business-class use, WorldCom will charge between $200 per month and $500 per month, according to Brooks.