AT&T Wireless Services Inc. started testing third-generation wireless technology at AT&T Labs research center in Menlo Park, Calif., where the company has established a testbed for wireless data transfer using General Packet Radio Service equipment from a variety of vendors. “Our focus in California is to work with application software developers to create new products and services that may exist on the final [EDGE] commercial network, which we hope to trial next year and then deploy in 2002,” said David Nagel, chief technology officer of AT&T and president of AT&T Labs. In addition the company plans to install GPRS test nodes at its Redmond, Wash., headquarters and AT&T Labs in Florham Park, N.J.
Cricket Communications Inc., a subsidiary of Leap Wireless International Inc., selected Xypoint Corp. to provide enhanced location services to its wireless subscribers. Xypoint said that with the addition of Cricket, it now provides location-enhanced services to carriers serving customers in Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Indiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Washington. Financial terms of the agreement were not released.
Online wireless retailer Point.com Inc. expanded coverage on its Web site to include 55 new metropolitan markets, bringing the total number of metro areas it reports on to 105. “This has been a tremendous growth opportunity for our company,” said Court Lorenzini, chief executive officer and co-founder of Point.com. “The addition of new markets allows us to increase our current customer base as well as create more opportunities for new consumers to conveniently buy a wireless phone and service plan online.”
Verizon Wireless added another pricing plan to its SingleRate family of plans. The new plan is priced at $200 per month for 2,000 minutes. Verizon said demand for SingleRate service accelerated when the company unveiled the new family of plans in concert with the launch of the Verizon name in April. Customers asked the company to create a service package with a larger bundle of minutes, Verizon said.
