Walter Mossberg writes a fine weekly technology column for the Wall Street Journal. In today’s column ($), Mr. Mossberg gives a favorable review of Verizon Wireless‘ new wireless broadband service, which, by the end of 2005, will allow users to connect a laptop, PDA, or celphone to the Internet at real broadband speeds from almost any location in every major U.S. metropolitan area. Mr. Mossberg has been testing the service, and reports as follows:

I’m not talking about the spread of more Wi-Fi “hot spots” in airports, coffee shops and similar places. I’m talking about wireless high-speed Internet service that you can use just about anywhere — even on the street or in a car.
This isn’t a pipe dream. I’ve been testing Verizon’s new service, called BroadBand Access, on a laptop around Washington, D.C., one of the first two cities where the company has rolled it out. I am very impressed. It is simple to set up and works just like any other broadband connection, with your normal Web browser and e-mail program.
Based on a new cellphone technology called EV-DO (short for Evolution-Data Optimized), the new Verizon service is as fast as most wired DSL lines, and it worked effortlessly almost everywhere I tried it in a wide swath of Washington and its suburbs.

This is the next logical step in allowing computer users to access the Internet from virtually anywhere within a city. With Verizon’s marketing muscle, this could be a huge money maker for the company if they can offer the service for a low enough price to attract users to supplement their existing Internet connection with this service.