Metricom’s Ricochet modem was slated as the first device to offer a high-speed mobile internet connection. This modem worked with laptops and desktops to offer connection speeds of up to 128 KBs per second [!!], producing a connection that was 10 times faster than normal wireless speeds and twice as fast as a normal wired modem at the time it was manufactured. Released in 2000, the Ricochet used radio frequency technology, operating in the 902-928 MHZ range (allowing it to function like a small radio), hopping frequencies with spread-spectrum technology.

The Ricochet modem would transmit data to larger radios that parent-company Metricom had placed in strategic locations in certain cities around the U.S (think lampposts). At least one of the shoe-box sized radios in a 10-mile radius was associated with a T1 or T3 landline, which allowed for the high-speed connection through the device. The Ricochet searched for the nearest available radio, which would transmit the appropriate data to the nearest radio that was connected to a landline.

Why was it better than other wireless modems?

1. This technology would ensure that a user stayed connected no matter what if they were working from a covered service area.
2. The high speed of this technology was a great improvement. Comparable to dual channel ISDN speed in many of the covered cities, this modem provided fast downloading speed to most users.
3. The ‘hopping’ technology also allowed for increased security–it’s a little hard to hack into a system that is changing from frequency to frequency, radio to radio.
4. The cost of this unit (around $100) and the monthly service charge (about $75) was a great deal. The monthly charge covered unlimited usage, which saved users major dough.

Prior to the development of this technology, wireless data could cost up to $25 per MB for downloads at around 10 kbps. Metricom, however, was offering unlimited wireless access at $29.95 (for 28.8 kbps) monthly prior to their new service.

The modem’s power source was a 7.6 VDC, lithium-ion replaceable and rechargeable battery that had up to six hours of juice to keep it going, and it connected to a users PC or laptop through a USB or serial port.

The Ricochet was compatible with Windows 98/2000, Pentium II, MAC 9.0 and PowerPC G3 and G4 and was available in over 35 cities nationwide. Higher speeds were available in hubs like Atlanta, Dallas, Philadelphia and San Francisco, while slower speeds were available in Seattle and Manhattan.

About the size of a small notebook, the Ricochet has a small antenna to pick up the radio signals, weighing in at about 10 ounces.

After going out of business in 2001, the media weighed in on the demise of Ricochet. Some reporters argued that $80 a month for service was outlandish, while others explained that the customer service was poor and that the business model just didn’t work.

References:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/upgrade/1278231.html
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000025.html
http://www.linux.com/feature/15122

So, we’re spending a relaxing weekend at the beach. I’m working of course, using the hotel’s Wi-Fi connection (that’s how I relax) and my family is enjoying the sunset from the hotel balcony. My kids are listening to tunes from my iPod. Sheryl Crow’s Lifetimes comes on and my daughters both agree, Sheryl Crow is great. So I switch the iPod from playlist to artist mode, and they listen to a bunch of Sheryl Crow songs. All I Wanna Do comes on and they start to dance, telling me how much they love that song.

I love that song, too. I recall the album and the video very well and start trying to place it in time from memory. “It can’t be!” I exclaim to myself. So I Google it (free hotel Wi-Fi rocks!) and it can be. That song came out in 1994.

Whenever I encounter a moment like that, when something that feels like it should have happened just yesterday turns out happened more than a decade ago, I start to wax nostalgic about how the world has changed. This is one of those times.

Today I can get virtually any data I want delivered to my laptop virtually anyplace I am. If I’m sitting at a hotel, I can download and play almost any song ever recorded and pop it into a playlist on my iPod. I can tell my friends about the cool new song I just downloaded using email or instant messaging. And if I want to learn more about the artist, I just Google her. That’s today, in a world being blanketed by 3G and Wi-Fi high speed wireless Internet connections, municipal mesh networks and nearly ubiquitous commercial hotspots, like the one at my hotel. But that’s today.

In 1994 I was listening to music on CDs that I had to buy from a store. If I wanted to create my own playlist, I had to use cassette tapes. In 1994 I had an application called cc:Mail that allowed me to send text-based notes to colleagues (who worked for the same company I did and were inside the same building I was – it wasn’t exactly e-mail). If I wanted to look something up, I had to use something called an “encyclopedia” – a set of leather bound books which alphabetically presented you roughly 10 percent of the world’s important facts. Although my father used to sell these books door-to-door, the closest one to my home was at the public library. In short, I never looked anything up.

1994 was the dark ages.

But I remember something else from 1994: it was the year Metricom activated its first municipal wireless data network in Cupertino, California.

I wasn’t an executive back then, just a mere worker bee. So I could only admire the big boys with their fancy toys and imagine “someday, that’s going to be me.” Toys like the IBM ThinkPad 750 (which came with a built in CD ROM! No, you couldn’t record music on it, but it made installing software SO much easier) and 120 megs of RAM (which was a lot back then, trust me). There was still no email, but if there were, you could now use your notebook computer to send and receive messages using Metricom’s Ricochet MicroCellular Data Network, the first-ever muni wireless network!

It wasn’t cheap. Today Wi-Fi modems are built into notebook computers as a standard feature off the assembly line and you can get free Wi-Fi access in lots of locations, like my hotel for instance. And Wi-Fi can be as fast as 54 Megabits per second (but it’s probably likely that behind the access point is only a 1.5 Mbps DSL line).

But in 1994, there weren’t even that many notebook computers. That was the first year Apple sold the Powerbook. And modems of any kind weren’t a standard feature. If you wanted to connect even over a dial-up connection, you had to insert a card.

But still, the notebook held out the promise of mobility, and in 1994, Metricom wanted to help deliver that promise with a cellular-based data network for portable computers. First, you needed a modem. Metricom sold theirs at a discount to subscribers for the low low price of $495. If you recall cell phones of twelve years ago, they weren’t exactly the tiny palm sized devices we have today. They were big and had thick antennas, and so did the Ricochet modem.

But the modem could attach to the laptop, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. What’s more, it was so obvious you were using a wireless data network, that having that big, clunky box with the thick antenna sticking up actually made you look cool! Remember, only executives and rich people had wireless Internet.

Once you plunked down five bills for a modem, and a sixth one for service activation you had to select a service level. In 1994, there were four:

“Economy” – 2.4 kbps for $2.95 per month; “Standard” – 9.6 kbps for $9.95 per month; “Executive” – 19.2 kbps for $19.95 per month; and “Premier” – Unrestricted bandwidth for $29.95 a month (wonder how fast unrestricted was?).

Okay, let’s stop for a moment for a quick math lesson. 2.4 kbps? Let’s say it’s 1994 and you want to download the MP3 of that hot hit song, All I Wanna Do by Sheryl Crow, over your Ricochet network. The file is about four megabytes. A byte is eight bits. Your Ricochet connection can download 2.4 kilobits per second. How long will it take you to download the MP3 of All I Wanna Do to your computer?

It’s a trick question. There were no MP3s in 1994. But if there were, it would have taken you approximately 3 hours and 42 minutes to download one song. By comparison, if you were staying at the same hotel I am on the Oregon coast, you can download that song in about 35 seconds.

Fortunately, there were no great bandwidth demands in 1994 as there are now in 2006. No one was downloading music. You probably didn’t have email as we know it today, and if you did, probably no one else to whom you wanted to send an email had an account anyway. There was no Yahoo!, no Google, no MySpace, no Amazon.com. There was no World Wide Web (although in 1994 a fellow by the name of Marc Andreesen of a little-known company called Netscape predicted the World Wide Web would become a commercial success). In fact, I’m not sure what you could use the 2.4 kbps connection for in 1994.

Even so, here is how Metricom described itself in that June 1994 press release announcing the Cupertino network:

“Founded in 1985, Metricom is a leader in digital, wireless data communications networking technology. The firm, headquartered in Los Gatos, Calif., has developed a license-free, high performance, low-cost regional data communications network system that can be used in a broad range of personal computer and industrial applications.”

Industrial applications?

Metricom promised 30 regional networks by the end of 1996.

In 1997, by the time I had reached a certain professional status whereby I was issued a notebook, we were light years ahead of where the world was in 1994. I had email accounts at work and at home and there was a commercial World Wide Web (still no Google yet). And it was in a meeting in 1997 where I learned the great value of wireless Internet.

On one end of the table was the CTO of the company I worked for, on the other end his director of network architecture – the only two people at this company to have the Ricochet wireless Internet service. In between were two industry analysts who sat opposite me. Every so often during this meeting either the CTO or his director would tap on the keyboard and the other one would smirk. You see, by 1997, we also had instant messaging. But that will be the subject of another post.

Reposted with permission © 2006 Mobility Public Relations

“Okay, you guys… [ cell phone rings; he pulls out a tiny cell phone ] Hold on. Hello? Yes. Really. Splendid. [ hangs up ] We’re going to the Dolce & Gabbana show. How fast can you have your bags packed for Milan?”

As the boss at Jeffrey’s, Will Ferrell (making his third MoPR blog appearance) demonstrated for America the marriage of fashion and mobility technology. In February 2001, with his super-mini cell phone, Ferrell helped us understand that the glitterati wanted technology compact and gilded; a sort of functional jewelry.

By Fall of that year, the boss at Jeffrey’s was placing a call on a phone not unlike the 1973 model held up in this picture of Martin Cooper, the inventor of the cell phone. “Big is the new small,” Ferrell’s character informs us, after he hangs up from his call with Cami Diaz.

Mobile phones, (aka cell phones and portable phones), began to flourish in the 1980s. But research and development into mobile phones dates back to the 1920s.

Built long before the transistor, imagine the size of the wooden box filled with vacuum tubes used to house the first mobile “phone” (like the one shown in this 1924 picture). Likewise, imagine the size of the batteries used to power it. Walking around with such a phone was not only impractical, it was impossible. So the first mobile communications devices were built into vehicles, primarily for military and public safety use. They also worked on radio frequencies (VHF) and were never part of any phone system.

The technology concepts for true cellular networks were not conceived until the 1940s (see MoPR Mobility Minute: US Patent 2,292,387). With transistors replacing vacuum tubes and better networks becoming available, cellular car phones were introduced – once again battery size keeping true mobile communicators out of the pockets of the glitterati.

By the 1970s mobile phones were portable enough to be carried around like a briefcase. By the mid 1970s, at last a phone that can fit in the palm of one’s hand. Martin Cooper, a former general manager for Motorola, is widely considered to be inventor of the cell phone. Placing the first call over a portable phone — to his rival Joel Engel, head of research at Bell Laboratories, where he began his conversation by saying “Hello Joel, guess where I’m calling from?” — Cooper not only invented the mobile phone, but also the phrase most widely used by people with new mobile phones.

With the cost of cell phones and cell phone calls making adoption prohibitive for most people, many calls were made for only two reasons: first, the person being called had to guess where the caller was calling from; second, the caller had to inform the person being called that a second call would be placed once the caller got to a landline.

By the 1990s the cost of phones and calls were making mobile phones attractive to the general population. Today many cell phones, now able to fit easily into the palm of the hand, a small purse or even the pocket of tight-fitting jeans, come free with an annual service plan, and lower per minute rates and prepaid plans make it possible for a much wider swath of the world’s population to enjoy getting their friends to guess where they are calling from.

Now state legislatures are taking up anti-cell phone regulation to keep people from talking while driving and cell phone etiquette guides would become widely available, and widely ignored.

Text messaging allows people from all over the world to send short instant messages from phone to phone and helps people learn to type with their thumbs using only 10 keys. Amazing.

As adoption increases so do features. Sharp Electronics of Japan put a camera into phones in the early 2000s, and now camera phones are included on a very wide variety of cell phones, including those given for free with annual subscription plans. Suddenly people all over the earth were taking pictures of themselves with camera phones to send people visual clues to help guess where they were calling from.

Ringtones helped personalize phones by allowing a ring to sound like your favorite song or to have different rings for different people. For example, when my wife calls my phone plays “Don’t You Love Her Madly,” by the Doors. When I call, the “Darth Vader Theme” rings over hers.

By 2006, with low-cost phones and plans making it possible for Americas teenagers to have their own camera-equipped cell phones, text messaging became a disruptive nuisance in the classroom. Fortunately, the mosquito ringtone was invented, which produced an obnoxious sound like the buzz of mosquitos that adults cannot hear but are audible to obnoxious teenagers. Now these teenagers can text one another in class without disrupting the lecture with rings or buzzes from vibrating handsets.

Okay fine, you kids go and play with your phones and send text messages about how lame the grown-ups are. But in the end, we’ll have the last laugh. Grown-ups are taking over MySpace (subject of a future post).

By the way, our much-beloved Will Ferrell wasn’t the first comic genius to teach us about the marriage of fashion and mobility technology. 35 years before Jeffrey’s opened its SNL doors, Agent Maxwell Smart was placing calls from a shoe.

Reposted with permission © 2006 Mobility Public Relations

The patent for “Secret Communications System” was granted August 11, 1942 to H.K. Markey, et al. The patent is often referred to as the “Markey-Antheil” patent for the two principal inventors.The primary purpose of the invention was for the remote control of torpedoes from aircraft. The problem it solved was the jamming of radio frequencies that could disrupt communication between an aircraft and the dirigible craft (torpedo) it was guiding.

The technology applied to overcome radio jamming is called signal hopping. Both the remote craft and the guiding craft had radios that were synchronized using a paper roll, not dissimilar from the paper rolls used in player pianos such as the Pianola. Eight different frequencies were coded onto the paper roll, and as it turned it caused the radio signal to switch frequencies simultaneously at both ends of the transmission.

This particular patent was never built into a product, and the patent eventually expired in 1959. However, the technological concepts of the patent continued to inspire engineers. In 1957, engineers in Sylvania’s laboratories replaced the paper roll with electronics and created a more advanced means of transmitting signals over multiple radio frequencies. This time, the technology was used for secret communications, utilized on US Navy ships during the Cuban Missile Crisis as just one example.

Today, more than 1200 patents refer to this original patent, all based on “signal hopping” or, as it is better known today, “spread spectrum.” The technology originally meant for military application to send a single data stream over multiple radio frequencies is now used to break data up into small packets that can travel on multiple frequencies or even multiple networks. US Patent 2,292,387 contains the basic technology for such everyday modern mobility technologies as digital cellular phone systems like CDMA (code division multiple access) and Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) wireless Internet.

Who was H.K. Markey? Markey was her married name (one of her six married names). The inventor of spread spectrum technology was actress Hedy Lamarr (1913 – 2000). Co-inventor George Antheil (1900 – 1959) was a concert pianist and composer; hence the paper roll resembling one in a Pianola and eight different frequencies like the eight notes in an octave.

Reposted with permission © 2006 Mobility Public Relations

Three names are associated with Walkie Talkies. Alfred J. Gross (1918 – 2000), Donald Hings (1907 – 2004) and Paul Galvin (1895 – 1959). But it appears that Canadian-born/American-raised inventor Alfred Gross built the first portable radio device in 1938 (Canadian Hings built his portable radio for the Canadian military in 1942). Gross, who has a number of US patents for mobile radio technology, once demonstrated his invention to a secret classified meeting of the FCC in 1944. The demonstration inspired FCC Commissioner E. K. Jett to write an article, “Phone Me By Air,” published in the Saturday Evening Post in July, 1945:

“Now, for good or evil, comes the Walkie-Talkie for civilians. Just radio, ‘Bring home an extra lamb chop,’ or, ‘I want to report a strange man’ – You can keep quiet, if you wish – but you probably won’t.”

The era of mass mobile communications predicted by Jett was still decades away, however.Paul Galvin’s company, The Galvin Manufacturing Company (later renamed Motorola), mass produced the Walkie Talkie for the US Military in the lead up to and during World War II.

The journeyman Walkie Talkie was the SCR-300 made by Galvin’s company, which delivered nearly 50,000 for Allied Forces in both the European and Pacific war theaters. When we think about Walkie Talkies today, we think about small handheld devices. But in the late 1930s and early 1940s, Walkie Talkie equipment was fitted into backpacks and weighed approximately 35 pounds.

By 1942 the first handheld radios — or Handy-Talkies — were deployed.

Communications devices were becoming more portable. But these devices used radio frequencies in the same way radio stations do. A broadcast of signals from the transmitting device to any receiver within range. Not exactly private or secure. And not without other problems, too. For example, military radios were often jammed by the enemy to disrupt communications. Network-based communications was still to come.

More information on Walkie-Talkies and Handy-Talkies can be found on the US Army Signal Center online museum of Fort Gordon, GA.

Reposted with permission © 2006 Mobility Public Relations