wireless broadband

[fc3646]

I live in a small town (pop less than 1100). So far our only choice for internet has been dial-up. There is a new company coming in offering wireless braodband. They put an antenna on our water tower and, if you have line of sight to the tower, you can get this broadband. I guess you have to have some kind of "radio card", according to their website. Cost for the service will be $30 a month, plus anywhere from $200-$300 for installation.

Anyway, anyone have any experiance with this, and what equipment will I need. The idea of surfing and gaming faster than a speeding slug is very exciting.

Thanks for any input!

[fc3646]

Here is their website, in case I didn't get enough info in my post.

http://bitwind.net/

[Force Flow]

With wireless, its easy for someone to latch onto your broadband service and use it for free (or at your expense).

Also, there are security issues with wireless. It's like picking up you're portible phone and you can hear someone else's conversation on their portible phone.

[Markoman01027]

My friend has Wireless Broadband, and it is slow compared to the regular setup. But if it's your only option other than dialup, I would go right ahead with it.

[bailey]

I have set up a small lan system that is on a wireless broadband system and it works great for out in the country areas, the connection was limited to 128mb though. still alot better than the 32k that the phone lines allowed in that area.

[glc]

The company should provide all required equipment or tell you what to get - all you should need in the computer would be a NIC.

Commercial wireless companies, if they are even half professional, should have a good security system.

$30 a month is a very good value, that type of service here runs $65.

[fc3646]

I guess they are saying they will install an antenna on my house and it has to have "line of sight" to their antenna. I can see where theres is, but there are some trees that somewhat block the view. In the summer when they are full of leaves, they will block the view. Will the signal go through trees/leaves?

THanks

[reboot]

The signal should have no trouble with trees or leaves.
"Line of sight" actually means not over the horizon, when speaking in radio wave lingo. Taking their definition literally, it should still work just fine, even with a little snow on the branches

[fc3646]

thats what i would have thought. other people are telling me that the signal will be degraded by the leaves/trees. if it's a radio signal, well then, i pick up radio signals on my stereo just fine through buildings and such.......is it much different than that?

[reboot]

It's a matter of frequency. A short wave will travel longer, and through stuff easier than a long wave. For example, a 5w output at 27mhz, can go about 30 miles. You need a ton more power to go any further, and it's "line of sight". A 500mhz signal at 5w will go much farther, and penetrate buildings and such much easier.
I would assume they're using a low wattage transmitter, but at a high frequency, the same rule applies, it must be line of sight, basically, NOT over the horizon.
Think of your car radio. The AM band is low freq, Amplitude Modulated, and doesn't go very far, the FM band is much higher freq, and at the same power, travels much farther, but still line of sight. Now think of a cordless phone (not cell), which runs at VERY low power, but goes through walls with ease, then think of a microwave oven, which uses reasonably low power, but at an extremely high frequency, and it goes right through just about everything except the metal shielding.
Clear as mud?

[EzyStvy]

The apartments I live in tried this. The company that did it has many contracts with Hilton Hotels. Took two months to get me on line and then was pretty much downhill from there.