In Brief ...

* Britian's Digital Bridges has launched a games portal for WAP-enabled phones. Games initially available in a live beta at wirelessgames.com include Quizcall, HangMan, Higher-Lower, Codebreaker and Follow Me. Later, the portal will include such games as Poker, Black Jack and Monster Mash, which it says is a 2-player, Pokemon-style game, as well as news, weather and other information.

* Sprint PCS wants to pay a group of Dominican nuns $18,000 a year to let it place 11 antennas atop their convent in the Watertown, MA. But the idea has drawn fire from neighbors who fear that the towers pose health risks to a nearby senior-citizens complex and day-care center.

* America Online (AOL) has acquired Tegic Communications, maker of the T9 guess-the-right-word software, in what's seen as the portal's entry into wireless advanced messaging. Tegic recently announced that it's developing software that will enable chat-like applications over WAP. That fits AOL's desire to bring its "buddy lists" to wireless users.

* Nextel Communications has announced its intention to add Kyocera as a handset vendor. According to the announcement, the Japanese manufacturer will have a small, high-end handset ready for Nextel to market by late 2000. Until now, Motorola, which invented the iDEN technology, was the sole manufacturer of Nextel's handsets.

* Motorola announced an agreement to supply a iDEN network for Pacific Wireless to serve California's Central Valley region. Following Nextel and SouthernLINC, Pacific Wireless will be the third iDEN network deployed in the United States.

Expect exponential growth in the demand in the United States for wireless Internet services over the next four years as Americans grow more accustomed to the idea of Web access anytime, anywhere. A recent Yankee Group study commissioned by Nortel Networks forecasts that the number of wireless Internet subscribers will grow from three million today to about 50 million by the end of 2004. Revenues generated from those subscribers also should skyrocket to nearly $7 billion, according to the study.

* Ericsson unveiled its first Bluetooth product, the Bluetooth Headset, at Comdex in November. The 0.75-ounce headset links to a Bluetooth-ready Ericsson phone. Answering a call merely requires pressing a key on the headset. Press the key again, and the caller can use its voice-recognition functionality to place a call.

* Visa and Ericsson announced that they'll develop a payment solution for wireless e-commerce using Ericsson's Bluetooth-ready electronic "wallet." The wireless wallet contains multiple smart cards, one of which cantalk to a mobile terminal to allow consumers to shop the Internet in a secure mobile environment.

* Relative Bluetooth SIG newcomers Lucent, Microsoft, 3Com and Motorola joined Bluetooth founders Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Nokia and Toshiba, to form a new "promoter" group. The subcommittee ostensibly will handle any squabbles within the consortium, weigh specification enhancements and support interoperability testing.

* At the fifth Bluetooth Developers Conference, Intel unveiled its "Amber" module, which includes a software driver for Windows 98 and Windows 2000. The drivers will be integrated in future Microsoft operating systems and available for PC OEMs in 2Q00.

* At the same conference, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Socket Communications announced that they're collaborating to develop Bluetooth technology for Windows CE. Socket's Bluetooth-enabled CompactFlash CF+ plug-in cards will be compatible with HP's Jordana family of portable PCs.

Some key dates for complying with the E-911 mandate:

* Feb. 13, 2000 -- All new analog phones must be able to complete a 911 call using either carrier.

* Oct. 1, 2000 -- Tell FCC whether choosing handset- or network-based Phase II solution. If network-based, must deploy for at least half of subscribers within six months of a PSAP request.

* March 1, 2001 -- If handset-based, begin selling phones with ALI capability.

* December 31, 2004 -- If handset-based, all subscribers' handsets must be ALI-capable.

Web phones are on their way to becoming the hottest consumer product. Although the demand is on the rise, some carriers have yet to offer these devices to their customers. When will this happen? Apparently no one has told these CSRs.

CELLULAR ONE-BOSTON Total Hold Time: 0 minutes

Transfers/IVR Layers: 1

WR: I was wondering if I could get onto the Internet on your phones?

CSR: Have Internet access on a phone?

WR: Yes.

CSR: Do you have a phone with us right now, ma'am?

WR: No, I am looking to buy one.

CSR: No problem. Let me transfer you down to the sales department because they know more about this than I do. OK?

Sales Rep (SR): Cellular One sales. This is (name).

WR: I was wondering if it is possible to access the Internet through any of your phones?

SR: You would have to actually purchase a modem cable to hook into your computer. It is possible, yeah.

WR: But you can't do it on the handset?

SR: No, not like, you mean like Sprint?

WR: Right.

SR: No.

WR: Do you think you will be getting that?

SR: I am sure eventually, but I am not sure when.

WR: So I would have to get a modem in order to hook it up to my laptop?

SR: Exactly.

CELLULAR ONE-PHILADELPHIA Total Hold Time: 0 minutes

Transfers/IVR Layers: 1

WR: I was wondering if I could get onto the Internet on your phones?

CSR: Access the Internet? No.

WR: I have seen on some phones you can do that now.

CSR: Yeah, but we won't be able to do that.

WR: Is that something in a little while you might be doing?

CSR: Yeah, probably so.

WR: Do you think it will be soon, and I should just wait to get a phone?

CSR: I am not sure. I am really not sure.

POWERTEL Total Hold Time: 0 minutes

Transfers/IVR Layers: 0

WR: I was wondering if I could get onto the Internet on your phones?

SR: Certain Nokia phones have built-in modems, but you have to buy the software to go along with it. And the data cables.

WR: How much is the phone?

SR: It is on sale for $79.99.

WR: How much would the other equipment be?

SR: About $120.

WR: Extra or total?

SR: Extra.

WR: Would I be able to read my e-mail right on the phone?

SR: You can. You can have it download stuff, use your phone as a modem and pull things up on your laptop.

WR: So I would read the stuff on the laptop but not on the phone?

SR: Um hmm. Are you looking for an Internet service provider?

WR: Yes.

SR: You might want to call BellSouth.

WR: Actually what I am looking for is, Sprint has those handsets that you can read your e-mail and get onto the Internet. You don't need a laptop or anything.

SR: OK. No, we don't have anything like that.

WR: Is it something you might be getting?

SR: It's a possibility for the future, but as of right now we don't carry it, and I don't know what we might get in the future.

Mystery Caller is Wireless Review's ongoing series of random calls to carriers to determine how a customer might be treated and the accuracy of distributed information.