AT&T Munchkins?!

Rohit Khare (khare@mci.net)
Sun, 8 Jun 1997 14:44:00 -0400


Brad Templeton, founder of clari.net, is a pretty smart guy. So when he
declared in UPSIDE that:

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AT&T 6650 Cell Phone
AT&T Wireless Services Inc., Kirkland, Wash.

Not that cell phones are new--it's using them as portable radios
that's cool. (A good cell phone should notice if the phone you want to
call is local, and talk to it directly without airtime charges.)

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I believed him. But I got nowhere searching for it on the Net. Even
AT&T only has a solitary page on it, from its announcement in *1994*.

http://www.att.com/press/0794/940719.cpa.html

If Brad's right, there's a lot to worry about... on the the other
hand, still, no one has the gumption to put *routing* in there.

Motorola, for example, already has digital personal 2-way radios:

--> http://www.mot.com/LMPS/RPG/NA/portables/talkabout/index3.html
TalkAbout Radios use the special, license-free frequency band newly
created by the FCC for Family Radio Service (FRS). Two-way
conversations come in loud and clear, even up to two miles away.

Frequency462.5625 - 467.7125Channels14Privacy Codes38Power Supply3
AA Alkaline BatteriesSize4.5 inches tall (without antenna)Weight7
oz.Battery Life30 hours*Power Output0.5 WattsChannel Spacing12.5
kilohertzRangeUp to 2 miles* When used for 5% transmit, 5% receive, 90%
standby.

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Just think: if we could just add multihop routing, 2 mile range
could allow a cluster of high school kids to have 'free' coverage
across an entire downtown/mall/school/subdivision range.
---
Rohit Khare // MCI Data Architecture (BOS) // khare@mci.net
Voice: (617) 960-5131 VNet: 370-5131 Fax: (617) 960-1009