Look, Ma--No Wires

Imagine sitting in a cafe one Sunday morning, sipping a steaming latte and working on a laptop. You want to send a bunch of e-mail to a friend, but the only phone jack available is being used.

Someday, hope the staff at Metricom Inc., people throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties will be able to use its wireless network to get online any time they wish.

Metricom’s product line--called the Ricochet network--is a wireless communication system that lets people connect to the Internet without the hassle of plugging into a phone line. Small radio receivers, called micro-cells, are mounted to street lights and utility poles in a series of overlapping grids. Using a wireless modem, a computer user can send and receive information via these elevated units.

The service costs $29.95 a month for unlimited access, and requires a wireless Ricochet modem that retails for $349.

Metricom’s Internet service is up and running in the Bay Area, Seattle and Washington D.C., said Vanessa Wittman, vice president of finance. The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company plans to have the service available in the Southland by 1999. Currently, the firm is getting permission from individual cities to install equipment. In the last year, the company has gained approval from 76 of the 119 cities Metricom hopes to serve in Orange and Los Angeles counties. Metricom also hopes to expand into the Riverside and San Bernardino counties, staff said.

Once launched, there may be some dead spots for the service. In December, the San Juan Capistrano City Council voted down Metricom’s original proposal to hang its equipment on the town’s light poles. The council had aesthetic concerns, city staff said.

But city officials say they are still considering alternative plans with Metricom, staff said.

*

P.J. Huffstutter covers high technology for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7830 and at p.j.huffstutter@latimes.com