This article is more than 1 year old
Novatel punts out wireless CDPD Palm modem
US packet data price war looms
Europeans may take great glee at the fragmented US mobile phone coverage, but the marvelous always-on CDPD packet data service is an exception.
Even though it's based on analog technology that Europe turned off ages ago, CDPD has been a measured success, thanks to shrewd all-you-can eat pricing. And CDPD's 19.6kbps speed works out comparable to the first 2.5G GPRS services in practice
Best known for its GPS gear, Novatel pitched in today with a $369 wireless CDPD modem for the new Palm m500 series. Business partner Omnisky is currently discounting its Palm modem heavily: you can pick one up for $69 provided you sign up to the $39.95 service for a year.
It's going to get very interesting once AT&T Wireless starts to roll out GPRS network in earnest: it launched into Seattle a couple of weeks ago. However, AT&TW is pursuing the same suicidal pricing model that the European networks have adopted, and CDPD is going to stick around for some time yet. ®
Related Story
Stateside GPRS launched, all dressed up, anywhere to go?