Motorola Moves to 64K Wireless Access in Japan

Motorola says it expects commercial launch in Japan in early January of 64Kbps wireless Internet access.

Currently, the fastest widely-available speeds for wireless Internet access by phones is 19.2Kbps.

The technology, which was demonstrated for the first time in October, will be available via the company’s cdmaOne networks. Two Japanese wireless operators, DDI Corp. and IDO Corp., will deploy the
technology. It will be used
in conjunction with Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)-enabled smart
phones.

Motorola claims that the technology’s "dormant mode"
preserves bandwidth and ensures that the user is billed only for actual
transmission of data packets. It
also saves on smart phone batteries, the company claims. That mode automatically releases wireless channel resources when
not in use.

Motorola claims its technology is an effective migration path to
third-generation (3G) services that will provide data speeds of as high as
384Kbps. Another interim technology, GPRS, is in trials and is
scheduled for roll-out in Asia and Europe in 2000.

GPRS delivers speeds as high as 128Kbps. 3G technology isn’t expected to be available to end users for
at least two years.

from internet.com’s allNetDevices.