Palm Tungsten W now on AT&T

Keith Shaw is traveling and in place of his regular column we bring you breaking mobile news from within the Web pages of Network World Fusion.

* Palm Tungsten W on AT&T Wireless data network

AT&T Wireless Services last week became the first carrier to offer mobile data service in the U.S. on Palm’s Tungsten W, the first Palm-branded integrated GSM/GPRS wireless handheld. The device became available last week at select CompUSA, Franklin Covey and other U.S. retail stores for a suggested retail price of $549.

Monthly data plans from AT&T Wireless range from $29.99 for 10M bytes to $99.99 for 100M bytes. Voice plans, which can be added to any data plan, may be purchased separately and begin at $19.99 per month. AT&T and Palm said that a special 8M-byte data plan is available for $19.99 when a customer also subscribes to a voice plan.

The Tungsten W features a built-in keyboard, one-handed navigation, dual expansion, and a high-resolution color screen. For more information about the device, go to https://store.palm.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1243428 .

*WLAN security spec may appear in 2004

The IEEE 802.11i standard that aims to address all known security holes in 802.11 Wi-Fi networks could be approved a year from now, according to an Intel architect involved in the drafting of the specification who spoke at the company’s recent developers forum.

The 802.11i standard is expected to include a system for creating fresh keys at the start of each session. It also will provide a way of checking packets to make sure they are part of a current session and not repeated by hackers to fool network users.

In advance of the standard’s approval, users should be able to add a subset of it to their wireless LANs through an upgrade to Wireless Protected Access, a specification adopted by the Wi-Fi Alliance.

*Smart card for wireless LAN access

An international group of 19 vendors has formed the WLAN Smart Card Consortium aimed at establishing a set of specifications that will allow travelers to use smart cards to access public wireless LAN hotspots and pay for the service.

The Consortium plans to support existing standards and add its own where necessary.

The founding members of the consortium include Alcatel, Dai Nippon Printing, Infineon Technologies, and Texas Instruments.

For more information head to https://wlansmartcard.org/