Now, cell phones can deliver nifty Net services fast, and Americans are signing up by the millions

At their suburban homes, kids use cellular phones to play games while sitting on front stoops. And on weekend camping trips, families pull color Internet images of news and sporting events via their mobile handsets. The era of wireless data has arrived. No, you can't put the equivalent of a high-powered Dell PC (DELL ) in your pocket. You can, however, connect to the Internet with a cell phone, download and play games and music, store color photos, and send and receive e-mail--with attachments. AT&T Wireless Services (AWE ) and Sprint PCS (PCS) have experimented with mobile data service in the past, but it has been a slow, cumbersome experience for users. All that changed last year when most of the major wireless providers began marketing a faster, more effective data service called 2.5G, shorthand for wireless service with more data capacity than the previous voice-only generation of service. The new technology zaps bits of data--the building blocks of games, e-mails, and funky ring tones--at about 40 kilobits to 60 kilobits per second. At that clip, cell phones approach the pace of most dial-up PCs. Two wireless players, AT&T and T-Mobile USA, also sells an even swifter service dubbed Wi-Fi, which lets laptops and handhelds gallop the Net at speeds 20 times faster than most home systems.