Remember when your 14.4kbps modem made you the coolest kid on the block? You could blow away all those 9.6kbps wannabes and download the latest ASCII battleship game in hours. Oh, how the world has changed.
Upping the ante on your gaming buddies now means you'll be opting for one of dozens of new broadband offerings that offer an astounding 100 times the speed of your old Hayes dinosaur. In the last few weeks, a slew of announcements from major wireless and telecom players has opened up a plethora of offerings that allow one to not only consume bits faster than ever before but also to do it while mobile. Now that is cool.
Wireless giants Verizon Communications
Not to be left out, hefty competitors such as Intel
Not to be outdone, SBC Communications
Rumblings of even more intriguing competition coming to the market are from young entrants with big backing. Private player Flarion has been telegraphing its future recently with vendors Siemens
The end game for all this activity is twofold -- consumers will see cheaper mobile broadband service, and investors will have their picks battling in a more cutthroat market.
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Fool contributor Dave Mock's keen knowledge of Hayes modems and ASCII foretells his nerdlinger roots. He owns shares of Intel.