Portable broadband Internet access: system and services

Wireless communications has created a generation of users who are entirely dependent on portable devices for personal connectivity. The underlying technologies have matured to a level where portable telephony is ubiquitous, and a very large and exciting market is emerging. Now, what promises to be the transparent convergence of the Internet and wireless is portable broadband Internet access. The enabling technologies of packet radio, adaptive antenna systems and Internet architectures will make access to the rich content of the Internet as pervasive as cellular telephony today. We describe a new system, i-BURST, which provides a portable broadband experience.