Card cellular international phone

TORONTO -- Delivering high-speed data communications on the road, Megahertz Corp. is trying in notebook PCs and cellular phones with the Megahertz 14,400/14,400 bps PCMCIA Cellular Fax Modem.

The modem is based on a new cellular standard for error-correction called MNP-10. Previously, according to Bruce Gray, director of product marketing for Salt Lake City, UT-based Megahertz, the "crackle and hiss" associated with cellular would often cut off high-speed transmissions.

At the Laptop and Palmtop Show in Toronto, Gray said the biggest wish of Megahertz's users was to not be "tethered" to phone lines. Now, with Megahertz's 14.4 cellular modem, users can either get connected with cellular or with standard phone lines.

For salespeople in the insurance field for example, Gray said it has often been embarrassing to have to ask clients to unplug their phones, so they could communicate with head office. Now salespeople in the field can just pull out their cellulars.

The modem is designed for Mitsubishi 3500 and 4000; Diamondtel 20 and 22; and NEC P100 series cellular phones. As well, Megahertz has signed OEM agreements with Mitsubishi International and NEC Corp.

Gray said the cellular PCMCIA modem was scheduled to ship sometime this month, priced at $599.

"It's a technology that will make data communications ubiquitous," said Christopher Blythe, a principal with the Toronto-based consulting firm, 2iC. And while the 14.4 speed is nice, he said the main issue is "ease-of-use and being able to be connected."

Fran Berman, senior training specialist for AST Research Inc., based in Irvine, CA, was one speaker at the Toronto show. In an interview, she said automated mobile sales forces tend to save between six to seven hours of work per week.

About 4,000 people preregistered for the Laptop and Palmtop show, according to Fred Schuler, director of operations for New York-based Laptop Expositions. Attendees included private industry and government buyers. "We like to think of them as the who's who in Ontario," said Schuler.

The show drew about 50 exhibitors, including AST, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Toshiba, Texas Instruments, DCA, Panasonic and the IBM PC Co. This was its first year in Toronto, although Schuler expects that to double at next year's event, scheduled for Dec. 5 and 6, 1994. Other show locations include New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.