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YOU CAN TAKE IT WITH YOU: WIRELESS INTERNET
Would you like to pull up interactive maps and driving directions on your laptop while traveling? Check stock quotes on your cellular phone from the golf course? Send e-mail from your Palm Pilot while you’re waiting at the airport?

It’s all within your reach—it’s called wireless Internet. Here’s a breakdown of how it works.

The hardware. Palmtop and notebook computers; personal digital assistants, or PDAs; cellular telephones; and pagers all can be used to connect wirelessly to various Internet services.

With full keyboards and reasonably sized screens, compact computers offer one of the best options for wireless access to the Web. Most conventional modems used in laptops can plug into a cellular phone to dial up your Internet service provider, or ISP. Alternatively, wireless PC card modems equipped with built-in antennas will let you dial up with one dedicated piece of equipment and can achieve higher throughput rates than can cellular phones.

PDAs such as the popular Palm Pilot offer features somewhere between those of a notebook computer and those of a cellular phone. PDAs generally have a small monochrome screen and a combination of a hand-held stylus and limited set of keys for entering data. Newer models often come ready out of the box with wireless access via a number of special networks, while older models usually require a separate modem for Internet access.

Cellular phones and pagers are the latest trend in the wireless Internet arena. Two-way pagers let you send and receive e-mail. Many also come equipped with "microbrowsers" that can grab a limited amount of information off the Web such as stock quotes, headlines and other information that can be easily formatted for the pagers’ tiny display screens. Similar capabilities can be found in numerous new digital cellular phones.

The connection. Palmtop and notebook computer users connecting to the Internet via a conventional modem and digital cellular phone can simply dial up a standard ISP and start surfing. Wireless modems for computers and PDAs, however, require a special data account that uses the Cellular Digital Packet Data, or CDPD, protocol. Check the Wireless Data Forum Web site ("www.wirelessdata.com") for maps of CDPD network coverage areas and Point.com ("www.point.com") for a list of local CDPD service providers.

Connection speeds with wireless devices pale in comparison to typical wired speeds. Cellular phones dialing into ISPs typically connect in the range of 14.4 kilobits per second, or kbps, while CDPD wireless data networks offer access at speeds up to 28.8 kbps. Faster access should be available in the near future.

The content. Connecting to the Internet with a compact computer via a wireless modem gives you access to all the same Web sites and services you can reach with your usual wired system, albeit at a slower throughput rate. Content for PDAs, cellular phones and pagers is limited by the size of the display screen. Content providers such as the Microsoft Network, Yahoo! and AT&T currently offer specialized wireless services that provide news, headlines, sports scores, stock quotes and e-mail for these devices. Palm.net also offers specialized content for palm PDA users.

Joe Hoyle, electronic media editor, ADA, Publishing, a division of ADA Business Enterprises, Inc., "hoylej{at}ada.org".

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