Ricochet wireless internet service

E706625

Ricochet wireless internet service was an early wireless data network in the United States that provided mobile internet access via a nationwide mesh of radio modems before Wi-Fi and modern cellular data became widespread.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Ricochet wireless internet service canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (36)

Predicate Object
instanceOf mobile internet service
wireless data network
accessTechnology spread-spectrum radio
associatedCompany Metricom, Inc. NERFINISHED
billingModel monthly subscription
commercialLaunch mid-1990s
competition emerging cellular data services
connectionMethod PC Card
serial port
country United States of America
surface form: United States
coverage metropolitan areas
dataRate 128 kbit/s
28.8 kbit/s
declinePeriod early 2000s
introduced 1990s
limitation high infrastructure cost
limited geographic coverage
marketPosition one of the first commercial mobile data networks in the U.S.
networkArchitecture mesh network
notableFor early wide-area mobile data access
use of dense mesh of pole-top radios
operator Metricom NERFINISHED
peakPopularity late 1990s
precededBy dial-up internet access
predated Wi‑Fi hotspots
predecessorOf modern cellular data services
provided mobile internet access
requiredDevice external wireless modem
serviceBrand Ricochet NERFINISHED
serviceType packet-switched data
status defunct
targetUsers laptop users
mobile professionals
useCase email access on the go
mobile web browsing
used radio modems

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Metricom notableFor Ricochet wireless internet service