Wireless Internet Provider, Ricochet, Making a Comeback in the Bay Area

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11693912/' target='_blank'>http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11693912/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Ricochet, the early wireless Internet provider once the darling of Silicon Valley geeks, is making a bid to return to the Bay Area. Denver-based Ricochet Inc. is one of the bidders on San Jose's extended outdoor Internet system and is putting together a business plan to offer wireless Internet service to security firms, delivery services and even existing Wi-Fi companies in the 16 cities where it once operated."</i><br /><br />Many years ago, when WiFi was just a pipe-dream, Ricochet was the ONLY way to access the internet outdoors while up in the Bay Area of California. The infrastructure they put in place consisted of radio antennas placed in light poles throughout the area to bounce signals from the data center to your laptop. Ricochet disappeared from the scene after its parent company at the time, Metricom, went bankrupt. Now they're making another appearance in the Bay Area looking to leverage the same infrastructure that they helped build many years ago.

[WorksForTurkeys]

I had their service in NYC: when Ricochet advertised 112kb/s, they averaged 109kb/s. If only T-Mobile's GPRS/EDGE performance averaged a 3% variance...

[ppc_dion]

I worked for Metricom for 5 years. It was the best thing since sliced bread. It was ahead of it's time. Now maybe it can get the funding it needs to redeploy. I still see the radios on light poles. Some are still live too, but without a network to back them. Everyday I hear about WI-FI mesh networks and deploying on light poles and it's hard to believe the basic design hasn't changed, just some technology.

[Phillip Dyson]

I had Ricochet in Baltimore, MD for the last year of its existence. I was using it with a PC card in my iPaq 3600. And the sleeve of course.

Matter of fact it was the loss of this network that drove me to get Comcast's broadband. I couldn't go back to dial-up.

It was great. There hasn't been anything like it since. Not that I've tried EDGE or EVDO.

[jimfee]

I have always thought that it was a waste to have these devices hanging around the Philadelphia area on poles owned by PECO energy.

I thought They had an opportunity for a new life when the Philadelphia mayor bucked industry and State legislature to provide a Government -funded Wifi Network across the city, Why re invent the wheel? just light up the existing Network, but no go.

I deployed a similar network in Philly so PECO could read gas and electric meters wirelessly, and in fact the two systems would often interfere with each other in the unlicensed 900MHZ spectrum.

I think the only viable option to market this service again is to piggy back onto the wifi bandwagon. If a manufacturer can make an A/B/G card with Speed Boost this and Max Speed that, then somebody in China could add on 900Mhz capability and a stack for Ricochet. Then I could walk out of Starbucks (I don't really ever go there) and swap over to the Ricochet net and then back onto Wifi at Borders.

And if Ricoccet ever goes belly up again, I still have an ABG card I can use for something besides a paperweight.

:mrgreen:

[Perry Reed]

I was a Ricochet user back in the day, and a big fan. I had one of the "brick" modems originally and later one of the slimmer models.

Even if this isn't really the same Los Gatos company, I'm glad to see them making a comeback and I hope it works out for them.

[Stik]

I deployed a similar network in Philly so PECO could read gas and electric meters wirelessly, and in fact the two systems would often interfere with each other in the unlicensed 900MHZ spectrum.

Metricom licensed its Utilinet wireless utility data network to Schlumberger. If I remember correctly, this is was how it all started, as a means to read meters wirelessly, and then, :idea:, hey, why can't we build a wireless network w/ this technology?

Metricom made some very bad business decisions IMO. If they would have concentrated on ' lighting up ' up just 4 or 5 large cities, got a good user base by keeping the suscription rate under $50.00 a month, and then gradually built out other cities as revenues allowed, they may have made a viable business out it.

But nooo! They tried to build the network out too fast, and burnt thru cash like their was no tomorrow.

WorldCom as a partner didn't help, as they didn't do their part to promote the network. Of course WorldCom at the time had their own financial ' difficulties ', and may not have had the funds available to accomplish this, who knows?

To this day I believe the telco's wanted Ricochet dead anyway, as this was a company getting into a turf they wanted control of.

I was a Ricochet user back in the day, and a big fan. I had one of the "brick" modems originally and later one of the slimmer models.

The bankruptcy of Metricom put all of their modem makers in financial jeopardy. It took several years for Novatel and Sierra Wireless to overcome their losses. I think Sanmina, the original modem maker, never did recover.

I worked for Metricom for 5 years. It was the best thing since sliced bread. It was ahead of it's time.

Totally agree w/ your comment. I gotta say that another boondoggle was the move and expense from Los Gato's to that rather huge complex in San Jose. Of course money was no object to the management of Metricom, who maybe thought they deserved to live in a castle.

You may also recall the very inept marketing of Ricochet. James Bond like commercials that people didn't get. A guy parachuting out of a helicopter that almost got himself killed in a Ricochet publicity stunt.

Ah, the fond memories this piece brought back to me! 8O

Here's a article from May 2001 that gives a pretty decent account of the history of this failed project.

All Eyes on a Dying Metricom

http://www.shorecliffcommunications.com/magazine/volume.asp?Vol=12&amp;story=142