THE WIRELESS WORLD

Phones, No. Wi-Fi, Yes
HERMISTON, ORE.
Population: 13,200
Why: Rural areas need the Internet, too
Fact: Thirty-five towers and 75 antennas broadcast a signal that covers the whole county

The phone and cable companies ignore the towns along the Columbia River in northeast Oregon despite the prevalence of farms, food-processing facilities, power plants and military installations that crave high-speed Internet access. "Sometimes it seems like we live in a third world out here," says Fred Ziari, founder of EZ Wireless, the 23-employee company in Hermiston, Ore., that decided to do something about it. EZ Wireless built the country's largest regional wireless broadband network, a 600-square-mile Wi-Fi blanket, and activated it this February. The network of high-power Wi-Fi towers and antennas allows users anywhere in the county to surf the Net at speeds equal to those of fixed lines like DSL. But users can also take their laptops on the road, driving 20 miles across the region while maintaining a connection the whole way--a trick Ziari proudly demonstrates by watching a "Lord of the Rings" movie trailer while cruising down the road.

The Sunny City Where It All Began
SAN DIEGO, CALIF.
Population: 1.2 million
Why: In the third unwired generation
Fact: Employs the highest concentration of workers in the wireless field in the United States

If wireless technology has a birthplace, it's San Diego. In 1968, University of California, San Diego, professor Irwin Jacobs founded a company called Linkabit to create the world's first digital wireless-communications network. Today, spinoffs like Qualcomm and Leap Wireless, as well as the U.S. branches of international giants like Nokia and Sony Electronics, popu-late the region. San Diego has about 150 wireless firms and the highest concentration of wireless workers in the country. A special program at UCSD even offers a degree in wireless communications.

So it's not surprising to see the city on the cutting edge. Last year Verizon chose San Diego as the second city (with Washington, D.C.) to deploy its new, third-generation "EV-DO" high-speed wireless network (page 65). A 250-member community group called SoCalFreeNet is trying to make wireless Internet access available for free, installing a dozen public nodes around the city and in the suburbs. Some of the most interesting action is downtown. In One America Plaza, an office building that opened last year, tenants on all 36 floors get free wireless Web access. And atop the building, a company called XO Communications has installed a base station that blasts wireless broadband at speeds up to 20 mega-bits per second to subscribers within a five-mile radius.

Old Town, New Zeal
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
Population: 370,000
Why: Right on top down under
Fact: Eighty cellular sites around the city provide potential access to 1 million residents