Wireless Internet Question

Iwish · 01-02-2007, 03:39 PM

So this question is for all those computer-savvy people.

I want to get High Speed for the home and have finally broke down and got a new computer for the house. Have a T1 at the office and started checking prices for the home and the only thing I can get out there it seems is Comcast.

Not wanting to pay what they want to charge, is it possible for me to buy a wireless modem with a powerful antenna and get it a different way? I don't mind spending $300-$500 to get it set up and I know there are free internet places around town that I could probably get a signal from but am not sure how it would work.

Thanks for any help/advise you can offer.

FYI - I live in Millersburg/Albany and am about 4-5 miles from Albany.

jimh · 01-02-2007, 04:07 PM

I believe Direct TV satellite is offering internet connections. I don't think there are any wireless transmitters are high enough power to be picked up miles away. Even if you could pick up the signal, there is very little likelihood that you could do without interference since most wireless transmitters use the same frequencies as portable phones.

Cornbread · 01-02-2007, 04:20 PM

Short answer. No, there isn't any way to do what you want to do.

Your alternatives are Comast (the fastest)
DSL from your phone company if offered in your area(faster than dialup but slower than Comcast by roughly 9 times)
Satellite Internet from Dish or similar carrier (usually faster than dialup but slower than DSL)
Dialup(slowest)

wishin · 01-02-2007, 04:23 PM

Do a quick google for "WISP" in your area. WISP = wireless internet provider.

Quite a few providers are set up for service to rural communities and broadcast many miles. You end up with a dish on the side of the house that is line of sight to the radio tower. Pretty cool stuff.

I'll PM you with the name of a WISP that may have service in your area.

ampersat · 01-02-2007, 04:25 PM

Googled "cantenna" and found this great little project. Theoretically, you could have another Ifisher at the other end and get the two lined up just right and you're good to go. You have to have full "line of sight" to pull this off though. Trees in the way, mountains, houses, etc. degrade performance. If you can see the thing you want to pull wireless connectivity from, there's a good chance you could make it work.

Also, how's the cell service at your house? Most of the cell providers are offering internet access via the same cellular service.

Pete · 01-02-2007, 04:40 PM

If you're lucky enough to have FIOS available, I've seen reports of over 15,000 Kbps at consumer prices.

cphatts · 01-02-2007, 07:28 PM

Yes, there are wireless transmitters that will transmit several miles without line of sight, but I doubt there are any set up in your neck of the woods. I think comacst might be your best choice.

icbig1s · 01-02-2007, 08:48 PM

You're basically stuck with Comcast, although it's not all that slow. Make sure you get a wireless modem from them too. Saves from having to put in a router or running network lines everywhere you want a computer.

garyk · 01-02-2007, 08:55 PM

In a rural setting, with no other options at all (not even DSL), a few months back we installed a "Wild Blue" system. It's a small dish/satelite system and is very close to T-1 speeds on downloads, which for web browsing suits me fine.

wishin · 01-02-2007, 09:05 PM

I did a little more google snooping for WISP's in your area, and these two look like they might do the trick......

www.alyrica.net
www.peak.org

The more I learn about these WISP services the more I wonder if the future will include land-lines? GaryK - does the WildBlue system suffer from the heavy rainstorm brownouts that the satelite television systems can experience?

RvW · 01-02-2007, 10:44 PM

Your not stuck with comcast by any means.

With fixed wireless, line of sight is not required with the right antennas, boosters and repeaters. Its worth investigating, call around albany ISPs, you might get lucky. A ten mile range is not unheard of but the antennas start out at $100 for about 1500 meters of range @ 1MBPS and go up from there. If theres a cable competitor near you, a dish style antenna might be an option for data service, but I would stay AWAY from directv (Direcway) which is now called Hughesnet. Their customers are canceling at an alarming rate, and service is reported to be equal to or less than dial-up most of the time. Wild Blue is a dish option and Ive heard great things about it, but it wont be a surprise when they oversell too, and the bottleneck of data will slow everyones speed down..eventually. But, its worth looking into. Negative reviews are piling up already though, and the fair access policy is taking shape which basically means he who uses it the most in 12 hours, gets it the least in the next 12 hours.

ADSL might be available and contrary to popular belief, its is often as fast or faster than cable because DSL does not share bandwidth and cable does. Of course cable is capable of twice the speed of DSL, but dont think for a minute that it always is. The more people on the network, the slower it gets and cable customers will rarely see peak performance unless they are close to the head-end or at the near end of whats called a "star topology" network (which basically means there is a "trunk" of coax/fiber with service "branches" rather than a service "loop")

When I worked for Charter cable, and as a contractor for comcast, I met many many customers that would have had a much faster and more stable transfer rate (up AND down) using ADSL, which is capable of 3mbps but degrades the further you are from the telco central office. (cheaper too!) But I certainly couldnt tell them that. Who knows, maybe theres a CO, or a remote equipment site right around the corner from you? If you can get 400 to 768kbps with DSL, your most likely doing better than the cable customers in your area because your data transfer will be constant and I doubt youll ever see a need for more than that with DSLs stability.

Best thing to do is, next time you see a phone co lineman/tech in your neighborhood, stop and talk to him/her and ask about the services in the area that they or a CLEC (competitor) offer in the way of high speed data, ask about DSL and how far from a CO you are, and the quality of the copper lines in the area. They or someone else may have fiber in the ground where you live too. They may have ADSL available, which can certainly be fast enough to support 300k streaming video, and CD quality sound (cant imagine needing more than that) I dont know about Albany, but some power companies have fiber too and though they dont offer connections to the public, some of them wholesale bandwidth to ISPs who might get you hooked up.

Or, you might consider this. If you have lots of neighbors close by (within a mile)
Get yourself a dedicated T1 from your local phone co, or CLEC, a few antennas and set up your own neighborhood wireless network.
A dozen or so of your neighbors who pitch in $100 dollars up front and $35 bucks a month might just cover the cost of the T1 loop/equipment and theres no legal or FCC concerns...my bet is, if you dont do it, someone in your neighborhood will eventually if its cost effective. But expect to throw down about $1000-$1500 to get set up (with new and used equipment)

Last but not least is sprint or verizon wireless. But that'll cost you about $100 a month, and its not easy to share the connection with other computers. (they dont want you to, but it can be done via bluetooth or LAN)

PapaHog · 01-03-2007, 10:25 AM

I have Comcast and am a happy clam. Always on, Always fast.

garyk · 01-03-2007, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wishin

GaryK - does the WildBlue system suffer from the heavy rainstorm brownouts that the satelite television systems can experience?

Apparantly, it can be a problem. WildBlue wouldn't do an install for a friend in BayCity citing the weather conditions.

I've really not experienced that particular problem in Columbia County. Sometimes I lose connectivity but has seemed to be unrelated to the weather.

With no other options, for $500 set-up, plus ~$50/month (3 tier pricing based on speed) for T-1 performance. I love WildBlue!

Bluto · 01-03-2007, 10:43 AM

If you have access to comcast internet cable available... I'd go with it. I was very happy with mine at the old house. 700+k for $53/mo was a bargain & the service was great. Unfortunately where I live now there is no cable service, no DSL service (too far away from the CO), cannot get WISP on my lot (too many trees in the way) & Satalite is not an option (need ability to VPN into the office). So am stuck with QWest ISDN (from the small-business group), 128K @ $90/mo & a router that cost me $400.