PageNet Launches 2-WayPlus On Its Advanced Wireless Data

Going beyond SurePage, its 1.5-way assured delivery service that it has marketed since May 1999, PageNet (Dallas, TX) has begun offering Internet e-mail and other interactive services on its own advanced wireless data network. Called 2-WayPlus, the service offers several advantages over other current two-way messaging services, including wider, denser coverage and better pricing for consumers.

With 2-WayPlus, subscribers can send and receive Internet e-mail, exchange messages with other two-way devices, and receive traditional numeric and alphanumeric messages. Messages can have as many as 5,000 characters—10 times the previous limit. If the subscriber is outside the coverage area or has the device turned off, the network will store messages for as long as three days and deliver them whenever the unit is turned on or re-enters the coverage area.

Monthly service pricing for 2-WayPlus starts at $12.95 per month for 10,000 characters. All pricing plans are for nationwide service and include news and information updates in eight categories.

Coverage for the service is expanded because the network uses more transmitters per market. The advanced network matches the one-way nationwide coverage.

2-WayPlus service features the Motorola PageWriter 2000X, which offers a flip-up screen, a small QWERTY keyboard, a back-lit display and lighted keyboard, and applications for managing messages and the address book. Motorola's applications for this device include a scheduler, alert 2000 (a reminder/alarm clock tool), note pad, and to-do manager.

Edited by Ellen Jensen