Verizon Wireless is expanding its highly successful high-speed data BroadbandAccess service to include router service that will enable multiple users to use the service simultaneously.

Announced Wednesday, the BroadbandAccess Wireless Router Service is aimed at providing wide-area network access for users seeking to link devices within offices or remotely.

Brenda Boyd Raney, a company spokesperson, said Verizon Wireless expects the service to be used "primarily for backup" initially and it is immediately available nationwide "from Maine to Hawaii."

Routers are available from various suppliers including AirLink Communications, BlueTree Wireless Data, Cisco, Digi International, and the MobileBridge from Top Global. Monthly fees for user-based megabyte plans range from $39.99 for a 40-Mbyte configuration to $549 for a 4,500-Mbyte setup. Raney noted that the latter configuration could handle a very large number of users.

Expected applications would likely range from linking automatic teller machines and cash registers to connecting laptop computers in office branches, the firm said. Asked whether the BroadbandAccess Wireless Router Service could displace existing landline service, Raney said Verizon views the service as initially complementing landlines. She said enterprises increasingly have a "wireless strategy" as part of their overall IT plans and they will make adjustments as technologies mature.

The firm also said Wednesday that it has certified the Cisco 3G Wireless WAN High Speed Interface Card for use with selected Cisco routers for the service. The device is CDMA2000 Rev. A compatible and, as such, is the most pervasive 3G high-speed data wireless service in the U.S.

Cindy Patterson, VP of enterprise data sales for Verizon Wireless, said the Cisco router will let business users "keep their operation up and running under a variety of circumstances and in numerous environments."