In brief: AT&T Wireless expands UMTS 3G

AT&T Wireless is expanding the reach of its Universal Mobile Telecommunications System 3G service. The high-speed mobile offering is now available in Dallas and San Diego. The service provider has been offering its UMTS service in Detroit, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle since July. U

MTS supports average wireless data speeds between 220K and 320K bit/sec, but can burst to 384K bit/sec.

AT&T is offering two handsets, the Motorola A845 or the Nokia 6651, to support its broadband service. Each device costs $300, and both support voice and data traffic. Users also have the choice of buying a Novatel Wireless Merlin UMTS PC modem card for their laptop for $150.

Verizon has upped the speed of its DSL service to 3M bit/sec for businesses and consumers in 12 states in New England, the mid-Atlantic region and the District of Columbia. The new asymmetrical DSL service offers a maximum connection speed of 3M bit/sec downstream and 768K bit/sec upstream, making it more competitive with cable modem service.

Until now, the highest downstream speed for Verizon's DSL service was 1.5M bit/sec. The company plans to offer 3M bit/sec DSL service later this year in the remaining 11 states where it now offers 1.5M bit/sec service.

For businesses, Verizon is pricing the service at $90 per month for dynamic IP addressing or $130 per month for static IP addressing. Verizon also offers business-grade DSL service in packages up to a maximum of 7.1M bit/sec.