RE: live CDPD network from a person who was there at the show

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Don't believe the hype.  It was a kluge.


1.  They had to dedicate data channels, they weren't able to get it working the
way they advertise (i.e., sending packets in the empty spaces between voice
conversations).


2.  I never actually saw WAIS work.  The demo the guy showed me kept timing out.


3.  The time to access the SMTP server for the e-mail they were able to demo for
me took about a minute.


4.  At the booth they were claiming throughput of 9600 bps.  At a conference
session a guy from Lotus who's working with the CDPD guys said they were seeing
1200 bps.


Anyway, it may eventually get there, but it's still a way off.