More Wireless Will Expand Broadband Access

"We get advertisements for $20 a month DSL, but when I call AT&T, they say it's not available. This has been going on for two years. It's exasperating," said Graves, who doesn't want cable television-based Internet.

An AT&T spokesman said network upgrades will bring DSL to Graves sometime in the future, but he wouldn't say when.

For people frustrated by their inability to get broadband Internet connections at the price they want, there may soon be relief in the form of fast wireless Internet connections that will compete with wired connections supplied by phone and cable TV providers.

In January, the Federal Communications Commission will hold an auction of prime radio spectrum currently used for some broadcast television channels. That spectrum will become available in early 2009, when the nation's analog TV broadcasts will end as stations switch to digital transmission.

Internet giant Google plans to bid for some of the spectrum, competing against AT&T, Verizon Communications Inc., and a host of smaller players who plan to use the newly available channels for high-speed Internet.

Sometime next spring, Xohm, a unit of Sprint Nextel, will launch a new wireless broadband service in Chicago. That service, using technology called WiMax, will compete directly with Internet connections offered here by AT&T and Comcast, although Xohm executives haven't revealed what they will charge.

The new year will not only bring new wireless high-speed services but also new ways that people will use the Internet to get content. The traditional model in which consumers access content through a personal computer is fading. Kindle, a portable device introduced by Amazon.com is an example of where things are headed, industry insiders believe. Kindles enable customers to download books wirelessly.

"We see 2008 as the year where you start to forget about telecom infrastructure and begin to focus on applications," said John Roese, chief technology officer at Nortel Networks, a network equipment supplier.

Roese noted that Amazon's customers need not arrange for wireless service to use a Kindle because Amazon has a contract to use Sprint's cell phone network to send downloads.

"Simplicity means you get a Kindle for Christmas, pick the books you want to read, and just order them," Roese said. "We see that happening with other applications. You'll download songs directly to your iPod without going through a PC. You'll have a portable TV that gets streaming video directly from the Internet."

One limitation has been that high-speed data services offered by cell phone carriers have mostly been limited to "walled garden" features rather than the full, open Internet.

But that is changing. In the coming year, a coalition led by Google that includes Sprint and T-Mobile intends to roll out an open-source platform, called Android, to make wireless connections more like the wired Internet. Verizon Wireless plans to open its network to outsiders, including Android.

Mobile Access is Key
People will turn to mobile devices more and to personal computers less to access the Internet, said Martin Dunsby, chief executive of Volee, a Silicon Valley-based wireless games company.

"Someone away from his computer is used to checking e-mail using a BlackBerry or other hand-held," said Dunsby, "but if they're away from their computer, they can't check in with 3D communities such as Second Life or World of Warcraft. Operators are working on services to make 3D communities go mobile.