CATHERINE TSAI AP Business Writer

Novenber 30, 2002

DENVER (AP) - The 400 laptops in Denver's police cruisers can't download pictures of missing children, mug shots of suspects or databases back at headquarters.

The 9,600-baud download speeds are painfully slow - crawling compared with even an old dial-up modem.

Within a year, though, officers should be able to send information seven times as fast thanks to wireless Internet access available throughout Denver.

It's being provided for free in an odd twist of the telecommunications industry's bust.

Denver-based Ricochet Networks Inc. offered Internet access to 51,000 subscribers in 21 cities until its owner, Metricom Inc., went bankrupt last year.

Aerie Networks Inc. has resurrected Ricochet, spending $8.25 million for technology and equipment that Metricom spent $1.3 billion developing.

Now, Ricochet is offering cities free service and giving their public employees modems to use on the job. In return, Ricochet gets to use transmitters that fell into cities' control after Metricom went bankrupt.

When service was revived in Denver in August, city agencies got wireless access and 1,000 modems free.

San Diego got service Nov. 18 after the city negotiated to get 5 percent of Ricochet's citywide gross revenue, 500 modems and up to 3,000 subscriptions for city workers.

``I literally was sold on it the day I turned the thing on,'' San Diego Councilman Jim Madaffer said. ``If you're talking about a major disaster, whether it's an earthquake or another unexpected catastrophe, having high technology in the field ultimately benefits the rescue efforts.''

Madaffer expects improved productivity - for instance, building inspectors can complete reports without driving back.

Ricochet is also targeting residents who can't get high-speed access otherwise. Its signals are sent from radios on poles and rooftops, allowing users with laptops and other mobile devices to stay connected while they roam around.

The monthly fee is $44.95, down from $79.95 when Metricom ran the service, and Ricochet has been offering free modems. By comparison, digital subscriber lines, or DSL, average $50 a month and cable Internet $45, according to research firm ARS Inc.

``High-speed access is kind of like a drug,'' said Steve Moyski, who switched to Ricochet after moving to a Denver neighborhood without DSL. ``Once you've had it, it's painful to take it away.''

Police might not make the same analogy, but they find wireless access compelling. Recovery workers in New York used the service to coordinate efforts after last year's terrorist attacks. Negotiations for permanent service there are ongoing.

One of the first times Denver police used it, officers were staging a mock disaster. In a van three blocks away, officers transmitted digital photos and retrieved information from e-mails in minutes, tasks that once took up to an hour.

``I'm not scared to download attachments with Ricochet,'' said Lt. John Pettinger, the police force's computer director.

Ricochet advertises typical speeds of 176 kilobits per second - about three times faster than a standard dial-up modem, though generally slower than cable or DSL.

Pettinger said service sometimes drops for a few seconds as he travels. He envisions Ricochet as a secondary service rather than a complete substitute.

Although wireless broadband still has a long way to go to compete with cable and DSL, companies like the midwestern provider Monet Mobile Networks and AspenWorks in Colorado are helping customers in small or mountain communities with fewer options for high-speed access.

Other startups, like Wispertel in Colorado, are offering fixed wireless service, which customers use at one spot instead of moving around. Wispertel is trying to court customers in places like Evergreen, a Denver suburb where many affluent residents can't get DSL or cable because of its remoteness.

Wispertel's sales and marketing director, Michael Brinks, said he might spend $50 million to $70 million setting up a DSL network before ever signing a customer. Instead, Wispertel has spent $750,000 and has about 20 customers, plus 400 waiting to be connected.

Ricochet keeps costs low by using unlicensed portions of the airwaves, unlike cellular carriers that have spent billions on government licenses.

Ricochet's radio transceivers, placed about a quarter- to half-mile apart, use the 900 megahertz band - the frequency used by some cordless phones - to send signals to customers. It uses the 2.4 gigahertz band - used by microwaves and the increasingly popular WiFi wireless devices - to transmit from the radios to wired access points that connect to the Internet.

``They've got a number of things going for them,'' said Paul Kellett, senior director at Pioneer Consulting. ``They've got a competitive price and a strategy that says, `Let's go where nobody else is and get there before anybody else gets there, so even if there is competition, we'll be established.'''

Ricochet won't disclose customer counts. To try to recruit more, it has been hanging fliers on doors and plans to send offers home with schoolchildren (subscribe, and Ricochet will make a donation to schools).

``This is not a beauty contest against DSL or cable,'' Ricochet chief executive Mort Aaronson said. ``We're focused on those who want DSL or cable and can't get it. We know who they are. It's pretty easy to sell to them.''

On the Net:

http://www.ricochet.com

Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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