BY MIKE VON WAHLDE
Associate Editor, INTERNET TELEPHONY

Ain't Nothin' But A 3G Thing

Everyone is up in arms about the delayed onset of 3G, the third generation of wireless technology. With all the press 3G is getting, one might think it was a vaccine for a deadly illness -- not just a new set of communications features.

Honestly, did you really think that 3G was just around the corner? Should we cry ourselves to sleep, mad that the Easter Bunny didn't bring 2.5G and that Santa's Elves won't have completed 3G (and wondering if any of them exist at all)? No, that would be as absurd as spending hundreds of billions of dollars on spectrum rights and thinking that the ROI would be a mere 12 months.

The services that are part of the 3G wonderland are supposed to revolutionize communications, or at least offer the ability to do so. Really, though, both sides of the fence need to mature: the technology and its users alike. I'm afraid to even bring service providers into the equation, because they're still figuring out how to effectively bill for what they offer now, let alone future 3G services.

So will the slow roll of 3G kill wireless growth this year in the United States? No way. Ma and Pa don't even know what 3G is, and unless they suddenly start reading the tech section of the paper, they won't know it even when it hits them. The average mobile user in the U.S. is too used to fixed Internet service to really give a darn about 3G. Only teenagers really want streaming video over their handhelds, and with the popular music being what it is these days, I'm not sure they deserve it. Who will be truly affected by the slow 3G rollout in the consumer space? The high-end consumer. They'll buy into 3G whenever the devices become available, be that two months from now or a year.

3G spectrum purchases, even in the light of the slow rollout, should be looked at as long-term investments. In a slowing economy these bills have got to be hard pills to swallow. Nevertheless, the investment will pan out once U.S. consumers get beyond prepaid, disposable mobile phones.

All this being said, I've decided to stick with Sprint; hoping that they will come through with their promises of faster wireless data speed within the year.

I still believe that 3G is coming -- it has just decided to take the scenic route. No one should fret about the future of wireless. Just like any teenager, 3G needs time to mature into adulthood. Meanwhile, we can use the time spent waiting for 3G learning how to program our current phones.

Mike von Wahlde welcomes your comments at mvonwahlde@tmcnet.com.