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Newspaper Article - Richmond, Va., Partners Plan to Bring Broadband to Overlooked Locales |
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Written by Kory Mohr
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Tuesday, 20 February 2001 |
Author: McGregor McCance
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA); 02/20/2001
 Feb. 20--Frustrated because he couldn't get high-speed Internet service at home, Kory Mohr started his own broadband company.
Less than a year old, upstart Frontier Broadband LLC is ready to test a wireless broadband service in Richmond that Mohr and his partners expect to rival cable-modem and digital-subscriber-line service.
Fixed-wireless broadband, as the technology is called, uses antennas and access points to transmit data at high speeds within a certain radius. The receiving computer needs either a wireless receiving station or an antenna-equipped network card to receive signals.
The technology requires a relatively clear line of sight between the transmitter and receivers.
Mohr's company has its first antenna station on a former radio tower off Wilkinson Road in Henrico County. Frontier plans a small test drive, and estimates limited commercial availability this spring or summer.
Frontier partners -- Mohr, Mike Sowers and Mark Gottfried -- are anxious to see if projected Internet speeds hold up within a 5-mile radius of the central antenna.
Co-founders Mohr and Sowers currently work at Capital One Financial Corp., while Gottfried is a business consultant in Williamsburg.
They expect download and upload speeds between 256 kilobits per second and 2 megabits per second. Cable modems typically download data at up to 1.5 mbps, with slower uploads. Depending on several factors, DSL's speed is similar to or faster than those rates.
All high-speed technologies breeze past dial-up modems; they download at no more than 56 kbps.
"The big thing is being able to bypass the local telephone company and cable company for high-speed service," said Gottfried.
Frontier's strategy is to offer home and business service in areas that large companies overlook.
Companies such as Sprint offer fixed-wireless broadband to homes in major markets, including Phoenix and San Francisco. "We're going to stay away from the big markets," Gottfried said.
Frontier plans to sell no-frills 256 kbps residential connections for as little as $19.95 per month, al-though the costs for equipment might be as high as $900, initially. Faster, guaranteed business connections will cost more.
The company thinks it can move quickly and contain costs, in part, because Frontier will use an unlicensed wireless spectrum.
Federal Communications Commission auctions of wireless spectrum licenses are going for millions of dollars each for coveted bands used by mobile phones, for example.
But the unlicensed bands, set aside as a kind of testing area for innovative projects, cost nothing.
"You can set up your equipment and not have to worry about going through all the problems you have dealing with government agencies. It allows you to quickly deploy and test," said Tim Gallagher, a researcher at Virginia Tech's Center for Wireless Telecommunications.
That freedom carries some risks.
Gallagher said FCC rules take a hands-off approach on unlicensed spectrums.
"You can almost read it as, 'Don't complain to us if you're having trouble.' "
Frontier's early presence in the unlicensed frequency here could deter others, reducing interference problems. But there are no guarantees.
Deciding where to put service points and to whom to market services could be the biggest challenges, Gallagher said.
Frontier plans to offer high-speed connections to offices and apartment complexes, for example. Other firms, such as Winstar Wireless Inc., already offer fixed-wireless business services in licensed spectrums here.
A company like Frontier has an advantage in areas outside urban centers because it is easier to set up fixed-wireless than cable or DSL systems, which offer few connections in rural areas.
"It's a cheap, quick fix to get people broadband access in areas like that," Gallagher said.
The Virginia Tech wireless center has been studying whether fixed-wireless will make economic sense for bringing broadband to rural areas.
"If there are enterprising folks willing to take the chance, it remains to be seen whether it will be viable," he said. "But I think there's certainly a chance."
Gottfried described Frontier's target market as suburban and "semi-rural" areas.
"Smaller markets are not being served, and that's our business plan," he said.
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