Ricochet Case Study
Metricom Inc., a high speed wireless internet company, decided to discontinue their business functions including their cutting edge Ricochet wireless service. On July 2, 2002, Metricom laid-off 282 of their remaining employees and finally declared chapter 11. The Ricochet service is a proprietary modem technology that puts radio transceivers on light poles throughout the market area quarter to a half male apart (Davis 12). The Ricochet wireless data network service only extended to 17 cities and provided most of their subscribers with internet access at 128 kilobits per second. Metricom wanted to increase their consumer base; however, they could not get into the competitive market due to reasons that plague many companies.
