Metricom
E187380
Metricom was a pioneering wireless data communications company best known for its Ricochet wireless internet service in the 1990s.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Metricom canonical | 8 |
| Metricom, Inc. | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1662522 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Metricom Context triple: [Paul Baran, employer, Metricom]
-
A.
Radisys
Radisys is a U.S.-based telecommunications solutions company known for providing open telecom and digital infrastructure platforms to service providers and network operators worldwide.
-
B.
Volacom
Volacom is a company founded by Tesla co-founder and battery technology pioneer JB Straubel, likely focused on advanced engineering and sustainable technology solutions.
-
C.
BBN Technologies
BBN Technologies is an American research and development company renowned for its pioneering work in computer networking and its key role in creating the ARPANET, the precursor to the modern internet.
-
D.
Telcordia Technologies
Telcordia Technologies is a telecommunications research and development company known for creating industry standards and software solutions for network planning, management, and operations.
-
E.
Agere Systems
Agere Systems was a semiconductor company specializing in communications and networking integrated circuits, formed as a spin-off from Lucent Technologies.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Metricom Target entity description: Metricom was a pioneering wireless data communications company best known for its Ricochet wireless internet service in the 1990s.
-
A.
Radisys
Radisys is a U.S.-based telecommunications solutions company known for providing open telecom and digital infrastructure platforms to service providers and network operators worldwide.
-
B.
Volacom
Volacom is a company founded by Tesla co-founder and battery technology pioneer JB Straubel, likely focused on advanced engineering and sustainable technology solutions.
-
C.
BBN Technologies
BBN Technologies is an American research and development company renowned for its pioneering work in computer networking and its key role in creating the ARPANET, the precursor to the modern internet.
-
D.
Telcordia Technologies
Telcordia Technologies is a telecommunications research and development company known for creating industry standards and software solutions for network planning, management, and operations.
-
E.
Agere Systems
Agere Systems was a semiconductor company specializing in communications and networking integrated circuits, formed as a spin-off from Lucent Technologies.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (30)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
telecommunications company
ⓘ
wireless data communications company ⓘ |
| brand | Ricochet ⓘ |
| businessModel | subscription-based internet service ⓘ |
| connectionMethod |
PC Card modems
ⓘ
serial-port modems ⓘ wireless modems ⓘ |
| country |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| customerEquipment | Ricochet wireless modem ⓘ |
| era | pre-broadband internet era ⓘ |
| industry |
telecommunications
ⓘ
wireless data communications ⓘ |
| knownFor |
early deployment of metropolitan-area wireless data networks
ⓘ
offering always-on wireless internet connectivity ⓘ |
| marketedAs | high-speed wireless internet access ⓘ |
| networkCoverage | selected metropolitan areas in the United States ⓘ |
| networkType | microcellular data network ⓘ |
| notableFor | Ricochet wireless internet service ⓘ |
| operationalPeriod | 1990s ⓘ |
| pioneeringIn |
mobile wireless data services in the United States
ⓘ
pre-Wi-Fi wireless internet access ⓘ |
| product | Ricochet ⓘ |
| serviceBrand | Ricochet ⓘ |
| serviceType |
wireless data network
ⓘ
wireless internet access ⓘ |
| status | defunct ⓘ |
| targetUsers |
laptop users
ⓘ
mobile internet users ⓘ |
| technologyUsed |
spread-spectrum radio
ⓘ
wireless packet data network ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Metricom Description of subject: Metricom was a pioneering wireless data communications company best known for its Ricochet wireless internet service in the 1990s.
Referenced by (9)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Metricom