DALLAS ISP TO DEBUT CHEAP WIRELESS BROADBAND

After five years of stealth-mode development, Dallas-based IBC Wireless finally will shed light on a proprietary new delivery method for high-speed Internet access next month, and the company already is letting slip some remarkable claims. The new service — named Allumera, the French term for light speed — purports to deliver 1.5 Mb/s to users for $40 per month.

The company also claims “zero latency” on the signal, overcoming a major limitation of wireless broadband and, some say, defying the laws of physics.

Allumera broadcasts in unlicensed spectrum over a 25-mile radius, a giant stretch over the three- to five-mile limit typical of many fixed wireless systems. With a repeater, that reach can be extended to 50 miles, the company said. The only live hub to date has been quietly serving 250 Dallas customers for a year, said Bill Robinette, IBC Wireless CEO. Three Canadian ISPs already have agreed to deploy the service this fall, and they stand by the company's claims, sort of.

“They say ‘zero’ latency; I'd say ‘extremely low.’ Under one millisecond,” said Tom Eldridge, president of Kingston, Ontario-based Internet Horizons.

There are drawbacks, though. Allumera uses broadcast technology, not spread spectrum, and because broadcast is a one-way technology, users must rely on dial-up access for their upstream traffic. IBC Wireless executives claim this is a welcome tradeoff because most users don't send much upstream data.

Not everyone concurs. “Gamers won't want to do it,” said Jeff Johnson, director of operations for Dallas-based ISP Sprocket Data.

Another drawback is the high price for customer premises equipment (CPE). Robinette admits the high upfront cost may impede Allumera's growth, but he argued that service providers could clear that hurdle by using contracts to secure customers, adding $3 to $5 to the monthly fee and giving the CPE away.

Even if Allumera can't steal customers away from DSL and cable, its economics give it an inexpensive way to reach broadband-starved areas. For $500,000, ISP resellers can set up an Allumera hub and serve a 7500 square-mile area. If they sign up just 5000 customers inside that circle, they can turn a profit, said Robinette, “We can cover the state of Indiana for $10 million.”

Robinette said he's in talks with ISPs and telcos to deliver service, but Eldridge said Allumera may be a tough sell to Bell companies because IBC Wireless wants to run the network.

Sprocket Data's Johnson was intrigued enough by Allumera's promises that he visited its headquarters last week to inspect the technology, after telling his colleagues in an e-mail, “I want to believe, but I am ever watchful for the wizard behind the curtain.”

Though a non-disclosure agreement prevented him from discussing the details of what he saw, Johnson said the visit left him less skeptical. “It's not going to set the world on fire, but it will be popular.”