Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Trans-Atlantic Mobile Phone (PTT)'Walkie-Talkie' Test Successful

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 19:59:51 -0500

All In The (Moto) Family-

Once again Nextel is behind the curve. Bumbling Barry and Timmy predicted that a
transatlantic iDEN dispatch call is years away. FastMobile has done this on a GSM network,
with only a few million dollars, a standard Nokia handset and years ahead of Timmy and BB.
The only question remains the latency using their system. The LAB Rats at Moto are
predicting 3-5 seconds for an international multi-network (iDEN-to-Gateway-To-CDMA) call.

Nextel has been noticeably quiet since announcing the $100 million Nextel/Moto/Q-com deal.
Last time I checked Q-Com and Moto LAB Rats were involved in a power struggle and there
were several nasty-grams being sent back and forth.

For those who don't know FastMobile co-founders Kang Lee and Harry Eschel both are former
Motorola Inc. They both use to work for another start-up, Auvo Technologies, that folded a
year ago. They started FastMobile with Chicago entrepreneur Randy Rissman.

==============================================================
Trans-Atlantic Mobile Phone 'Walkie-Talkie' Test Successful

SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Jan. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- FastMobile, an Illinois based
mobile phone services company, announced that it successfully completed a
voice walkie-talkie (push-to-talk) test between Chicago and London using two
standard mobile phones.

Group voice and text instant messages were sent simultaneously among the
participants.  The test used a compact FastMobile application running on off-
the-shelf Nokia 7650 and 3650 handsets with Symbian operating systems.  A
FastMobile server, located in suburban Chicago and untethered to any operator,
routed the digitized voice and text conversations across the GSM mobile
Internet data networks (or General Packet Radio Service, GPRS) of US operator,
T-Mobile, and UK operators, Orange and Vodafone.  The successful test was
completed without requiring any special hardware to be added to the either the
mobile handset or the operators' networks.

In the US, the mobile phone operator Nextel has popularized cellular
phone-based walkie-talkie services, particularly within the business segment.
To date such services are limited to Nextel customers and have a limited
range -- usually within the customer's home metropolitan area -- although
Nextel has recently announced that they have started rollout of a nationwide
service, expected to be completed by the end of this year.
By the second quarter of 2003, FastMobile plans to commercialize the
walkie-talkie feature into its fastxt(TM) mobile instant messaging service
which is now available in the UK.  FastMobile is also planning to bring
fastxt(TM) and its whole suite of instant communications service to the US
later this year.  fastxt(TM) is an enhanced mobile messaging service based on
what is arguably one of the killer applications of the PC world today, instant
messaging.  fastxt(TM), allows subscribers to see when their friends are
online and then lets them send instant text messages simultaneously to as many
friends as they like.  fastxt(TM) also lets subscribers send and receive
ordinary SMS text messages as well as communicate with MSN Messenger(TM)
friends at their PC's.  FastMobile's services work on Symbian OS handsets and
many of the newer Java handsets.
FastMobile will be demonstrating this walkie-talkie feature and its suite
of instant communications services at February's 3GSM World Congress in
Cannes, France, in Hall 2, stand F10.

About FastMobile:
FastMobile is the company that brings you fastxt(TM). FastMobile has
operations in the US, Europe and Asia delivering value added messaging
services over GPRS and other 2.5G and 3G mobile networks. FastMobile's first
service, fastxt(TM), brings the power of instant messaging to mobile phones
and will be followed with a range of innovative services that link the power
of the internet to the immediacy of mobile.
The company is backed by private investment and venture capital from US
companies BlueStar Ventures, Leo Capital Holdings and Red Barn Investments.
The company raised $4 million in its first round of funding.  For more
information, please visit FastMobile's Web Site at http://www.fastmobile.com .

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-21-2003/0001875927&EDATE=

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/