In-Car Net Access: Spotty and Pricey

LAS VEGAS — At the Consumer Electronics Show -- the annual bacchanal of gadgetry in Las Vegas -- sometimes the technology is more intoxicating than useful.

A case in point: Satellite-based Internet service for cars.

Rolling down the famed Strip in a Ford Explorer last week, I tried out a system developed by RaySat Inc. that sent my mouse clicks and keystrokes directly to a satellite 22,000 miles above the Earth and returned Web pages, e-mail, music and instant messages back down to my laptop. (Don't worry, I wasn't driving.)

The SUV essentially became a roving satellite-transmission platform. Unlike the passive reception of satellite TV and radio, this technology promises to allow consumers to interact directly with a satellite by sending signals into space.

The Consumer Electronics Show was the coming-out party for RaySat's SpeedRay 3000 Internet system, which the Vienna, Va., company has been developing for a couple of years. It uses global positioning system technology to aim its car-top antenna, which looks a bit like an oversize cafeteria tray, at a satellite in geosynchronous orbit. The Internet signal comes down from the satellite and fills the car via a wireless modem hooked up to the antenna.

It took a couple of minutes of fiddling to get my laptop signed on, but once it took hold the results were impressive. I was able to surf the Net as if I was in any wireless hotspot. I played a couple of tunes from Rhapsody's music service, checked my e-mail and watched a streaming-video news clip. I exchanged instant messages with a colleague back at the office, telling him what hotels I was passing.

Then, somewhere around the Mirage, the fun ended.

My Web access became spotty, the music quit and my colleague went silent. It was as if I had suddenly gone undercover, but in truth my signal was being blocked by the hotels. This technology relies on line-of-sight access to the satellite, and if a building or a tree gets in the way, the signal dies, at least momentarily.

My connection was on and off as we traveled down the Strip. Would I get back online by the time I reached Paris (Las Vegas)? Yes, but only for a moment. I had to send my instant messages quickly and type URLs at top speed to get Web pages before being cut off.

Giving up on the Strip, we headed out to the open desert spaces just south of the city. Here, the system thrived.