Truly Mobile Computing

Truly Mobile Computing
MicroE: redefining Wireless Business Access

by Anthony Roberts

How do you access the Internet?
Do you dial into AOL with the 56k modem, tying up your telephone line all night long? Or have you upgraded to a cable modem through your cable TV provider? Or it’s DSL that you’ve chosen from your phone company.

Believe it or not, most businesses still connect using the slowest method available. Why? Because the investment required for most hardwire high-speed networking and access solutions is plainly cost—prohibitive.

But as the major telecommunications providers have made high-speed hardwire access available to the consumer, one local company, MicroE Wireless, is bringing the Internet to Central Pennsylvania affordably and without cost—prohibitive hardwire networking installations.

“It’s hard for people to believe that wireless Internet is faster and more reliable than other available solutions,” says MicroE Wireless president Tod Shedlosky. But his company sports a 100% uptime record since their wireless launch, and access speeds as high as 1.5mbps are available within most companies’ budgets.

The Problem Is The Wire
The two major advantages of wireless access are the freedom from traditional hardwire installations, and the freedom from relying on a “customer service-less” phone company for critical access to the Internet.

A wireless office network presents businesses with the new-found freedom to move PCs, desks, and employees without costly network reconfigurations. A direct physical connection to a hub or switch is no longer required, and mobile PC users no longer need to fight with “logging on to the network” over and over.

The wireless network is a simple one, requiring a central wireless access point (transmitter/receiver) much like a hub or switch on a traditional network, and wireless access cards in each device that will connect to the network. Once configured, as long as the hardware is within range of the access point, a connection is guaranteed. And more advantageous is the fact that users with mobile devices can connect to any wireless network at work, at home, or at a satellite office with no hardware and minimal software setup.

In the same respect, MicroE’s wireless
Internet services free businesses from relying on a lethargic, uncaring, conglomerate phone company for high-speed Internet access.

As simple as it may sound, wireless access to the Internet requires the addition of only a router and a discreet two foot square rooftop antenna. A wire is run from your access point to the router, and then up to the antenna. The antenna is pointed to one of MicroE’s several relay stations throughout Central PA. Once connected, your wireless Internet access is unaffected by inclement weather, and if you use battery-backup technology you can stay connected while everyone else sits in the dark.

“Wireless networking is already here,” comments Shedlosky. “It’s commonplace, even in our homes.” And, as the Internet has become a staple term in our vocabulary, in the coming years you will see “Wireless ISPs” emerging as the dominant force in workplace computing.

But for now, MicroE Wireless is clearly the pioneer of wireless Internet and intranet access for the Central PA business community.

If you doubt wireless networking is the next step, check your cell phone, or is it a digital phone, with e-mail and, two-way paging.