BT - Radio Broadband Access Trials

BT has announced a series of trials to deliver rural broadband internet
access without the need for wires, in a bid to reach its target of 100 per
cent broadband coverage of every UK community by 2005.

BT has set up the trials as part of the company's efforts to deliver
high-speed broadband services to rural and remote communities that cannot
currently gain access to broadband using more traditional technology.

These include homes based more than 6 kilometres from an enabled exchange
and some of the final 600 smallest exchanges where a trigger level has not
yet been set.

Participants from rural households and businesses in Ballingry in Fife,
Scotland, Pwllheli in Wales, Porthleven in Cornwall and Campsie in Northern
Ireland have been selected to be part of the three-month radio broadband
trials.

The 105 triallists in the four regions, chosen from local people
who registered interest via a web site, will be able to use their fast,
always-on connection to surf the net at speeds similar to BT's existing ADSL
(asymmetric digital subscriber line) service.

The technology uses transmission principles similar to radio signals. BT's
Radio Broadband signals travel from a base station to the user's computer
via a low-power antenna, similar to a satellite dish but much smaller and
diamond-shaped - fitted onto the side of each house.

More at:
http://www.btplc.co.uk/Mediacentre/A...03/an03165.htm

Regards
Sunil

On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 10:37:51 -0000, "Sunil Sood"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Participants from rural households and businesses in Ballingry in Fife,
>...........

I have been told by Scottish Enterprise (Fife) that this trial will
end as soon as the exchange serving Ballingry is ADSL-enabled. But I
wonder what will happen to Ballingry residents who live in the 'black
holes'? I live in another black hole in Fife - a half mile gap between
two exchanges.

Phil

"Phil" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) s.com...
> On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 10:37:51 -0000, "Sunil Sood"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >Participants from rural households and businesses in Ballingry in Fife,
> >...........
>
> I have been told by Scottish Enterprise (Fife) that this trial will
> end as soon as the exchange serving Ballingry is ADSL-enabled. But I
> wonder what will happen to Ballingry residents who live in the 'black
> holes'? I live in another black hole in Fife - a half mile gap between
> two exchanges.

Thats possible, there is some more information issued by BT about the trial
at http://www.btmeshtrial.com/ and that does state, in the FAQ, that the
trial at each location is only for 3 months in each location

It looks like the equipment is being supplied by http://www.alvarion.com/
and appears that it is capable of a lot more than the 512K that BT will be
trialling

Regards
Sunil

On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 21:32:50 GMT, Phil <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 10:37:51 -0000, "Sunil Sood"
><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>Participants from rural households and businesses in Ballingry in Fife,
>>...........
>
>I have been told by Scottish Enterprise (Fife) that this trial will
>end as soon as the exchange serving Ballingry is ADSL-enabled. But I
>wonder what will happen to Ballingry residents who live in the 'black
>holes'? I live in another black hole in Fife - a half mile gap between
>two exchanges.
>

You mean you can't get a 'phone line at all?

--
Niall

On 18 Dec 2003, Niall <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>You mean you can't get a 'phone line at all?

Far more likely to be a distance (OK, loss) issue that where the
property is located is sufficiently far away from either exchange
as to put it in a "black hole" where ADSL might not be provided. I
know someone who has chosen to move to a property which is half-way
between two towns - approx 5.5 miles from each, and is currently on
BT Highway because that is supported, but doubts the property will
be covered by ADSL. Still, knowing that before the exchange of
contracts, though for other reasons it made sense to move to
that location, is something to regret in due course.

On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 23:36:17 +0000, Niall <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>You mean you can't get a 'phone line at all?
Yes, I have 3 - for ISDN. But it is a long route, old and creaky.

Phil

On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 13:29:05 GMT, Phil <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 23:36:17 +0000, Niall <(E-Mail Removed)>
>wrote:
>
>>You mean you can't get a 'phone line at all?
>Yes, I have 3 - for ISDN. But it is a long route, old and creaky.
>

Oh I get it, I missed the reference to the problem being when the
wireless trial *ended*. My bad, sorry.

Are you line of sight with anybody within the ADSL distance? There are
many references on the WWW for people setting up point to point links
over considerable differences. The writer Robert Cringely describes
how he actually paid for someone else to get BB so he could have such
a link.

--
Niall

On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 23:09:19 +0000, Niall <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Are you line of sight with anybody within the ADSL distance? There are
>many references on the WWW for people setting up point to point links
>over considerable differences.
Thanks for this suggestion, Niall. It had also occured to me that when
a village 1 mile away is enabled, I will be within line-of-sight of
houses with ADSL. I have already approached someone (IT consultant)
but he did not seem keen to oblige. What are the costs? If he did help
me out, what would the penalty be on his connection?

Phil

On Sat, 20 Dec 2003 13:14:39 GMT, Phil <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 23:09:19 +0000, Niall <(E-Mail Removed)>
>wrote:
>
>>Are you line of sight with anybody within the ADSL distance? There are
>>many references on the WWW for people setting up point to point links
>>over considerable differences.
>Thanks for this suggestion, Niall. It had also occured to me that when
>a village 1 mile away is enabled, I will be within line-of-sight of
>houses with ADSL. I have already approached someone (IT consultant)
>but he did not seem keen to oblige. What are the costs? If he did help
>me out, what would the penalty be on his connection?
>

How Cringely did it:
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20010628.html

What it costs depends on how you go about it. The actual hardware can
be the cheapest 11Mbps kit, as the ADSL speed is much slower anyway.
You'll probably need directional aerials, which most people seem to
build themselves out of tin cans, Pringles tubes etc.

http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html is one example,
there are loads of websites covering this.

The penalty on his connection will depend what you are doing as
regards bandwidth, it will be the same as sharing an ADSL connection
across a wired network. I do this, and it is only apparent when one of
the other users is uploading or downloading large files, streaming
video etc. 3 users can be online webbrowsing, doing news or email and
you would be unlikely to notice the difference.
It might be better to find someone who doesn't intend to install ADSL
themselves and offer them it free in exchange for hosting your
wireless link, obviously you would have to satisfy yourself that they
would uphold their side of the bargain.
You probably don't want to let the ADSL provider know anything about
this.

--
Niall

On Sat, 20 Dec 2003 21:23:24 +0000, Niall <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>How Cringely did it:
>http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20010628.html
>
>What it costs depends on how you go about it.
[clip]
>
>http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html is one example,
>there are loads of websites covering this.

>The penalty on his connection will depend what you are doing as
[clip]
>It might be better to find someone who doesn't intend to install ADSL
>themselves and offer them it free in exchange for hosting your
>wireless link, obviously you would have to satisfy yourself that they
>would uphold their side of the bargain.

Many thanks for your informative reply.

Phil