Everyone just hold on

Like most of you, I got high speed internet, bought the cable modem, and
wireless networking router. This was to set-up my home so we could move
around anywhere inside and out with our laptops.

However, an ISP in our area will be setting up a big tower and setting up
the wireless network so the signal reaches three miles. The cost will be
$34.95 a month.

What does this mean? Instead of getting on the internet at home, my wife
and I could be anywhere in town. Also, my high speed set-up is only at my
home. At my office, I still use my dial-up account, so I am paying about
double for two services. This ISP comes in, I can dumped the cable and
dial-up and get high speed internet at home or at the office or at the park
or in my car, whereever.

So, don't do like I did, jump in right away and spend the money on the modem
and router. See if your internet service provider is making plans to set up
your towns and areas for wireless networking.

Now, I may have listed the positives, as best as I know it. I would
appreciate it if someone lists the negatives to this areawide wireless
internet.

"Marshall Karp" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Nnxqb.1680$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Like most of you, I got high speed internet, bought the cable modem, and
> wireless networking router. This was to set-up my home so we could move
> around anywhere inside and out with our laptops.
>
> However, an ISP in our area will be setting up a big tower and setting up
> the wireless network so the signal reaches three miles. The cost will be
> $34.95 a month.
>
> What does this mean? Instead of getting on the internet at home, my wife
> and I could be anywhere in town. Also, my high speed set-up is only at my
> home. At my office, I still use my dial-up account, so I am paying about
> double for two services. This ISP comes in, I can dumped the cable and
> dial-up and get high speed internet at home or at the office or at the
park
> or in my car, whereever.
>
> So, don't do like I did, jump in right away and spend the money on the
modem
> and router. See if your internet service provider is making plans to set
up
> your towns and areas for wireless networking.
>
> Now, I may have listed the positives, as best as I know it. I would
> appreciate it if someone lists the negatives to this areawide wireless
> internet.
>
>
And the ISP is? A foot in the door, and then more $$$$?

Possible negatives:

1. May require a high-gain outdoor antenna at your home to get good signal
in both directions - which means you may not be able to get reliable
performance if you are not at home.

2. May not support security (at least not yet). One long-range wifi provider
in my area is not WPA-capable, and does not provide WEP for the same reason
hotspots do not use it. If you're comfortable without security, that's your
lookout - but I think it's an unacceptable risk for a service I'd be using
all the time. Maybe you're lucky, and they do WPA or have a VPN backend.

Unless the provider dedicates an entire channel to just you, you also
consider the following.

3. Find out if there will be bandwidth usage restrictions. You'll be sharing
the channel with a lot more stations then you would be in your home net. A
few guys streaming video could deplete the useable bandwidth in a hurry.
If's there's no restrictions, then your "mileage may vary". If there are
restrictions, they apply to you too.

4. Unlike a home net, the other stations almost certainly can't hear you,
and you can't hear them. So I'm guessing they'll use RTS/CTS to co-ordinate
traffic and solve the hidden-node problem. In fact, if they are offering
802.11g service, then there will certainly be 802.11b clients in the mix.
RTS/CTS is necessary to prevent serious performance degradation in that
case. Point is, RTS/CTS adds its own overhead that reduces overall
throughput.

I'm not saying the wifi ISP wouldn't be adequate for your needs. If you
don't need more than 1 or 2 Mbps (all you'd get via a cable modem anway),
and your network cell is not overloaded with other users, you probably won't
care. But in the worst case, your bandwidth could erode as new users come
online, and you forfeit all control.

"Marshall Karp" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Nnxqb.1680$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Like most of you, I got high speed internet, bought the cable modem, and
> wireless networking router. This was to set-up my home so we could move
> around anywhere inside and out with our laptops.
>
> However, an ISP in our area will be setting up a big tower and setting up
> the wireless network so the signal reaches three miles. The cost will be
> $34.95 a month.
>
> What does this mean? Instead of getting on the internet at home, my wife
> and I could be anywhere in town. Also, my high speed set-up is only at my
> home. At my office, I still use my dial-up account, so I am paying about
> double for two services. This ISP comes in, I can dumped the cable and
> dial-up and get high speed internet at home or at the office or at the
park
> or in my car, whereever.
>
> So, don't do like I did, jump in right away and spend the money on the
modem
> and router. See if your internet service provider is making plans to set
up
> your towns and areas for wireless networking.
>
> Now, I may have listed the positives, as best as I know it. I would
> appreciate it if someone lists the negatives to this areawide wireless
> internet.
>
>

> And the ISP is? A foot in the door, and then more $$$$?
>
>

The ISP is a long time local provider with a good reputation.

Please clarify on the foot in the door, then more $$$?

Do you mean they are going to Walmart the customers?

(THIS IS A RESEND - APOLOGIES IF IT APPEARS TWICE)

Possible negatives:

1. Does it require a high-gain outdoor antenna at your home to get good
signal in both directions? If so, you may not be able to get reliable
performance if you are not at home.

2. Does it support WPA or local VPN? One long-range wifi provider in my area
is not WPA-capable, and does not provide WEP for the same reason hotspots do
not use it. If you're comfortable without security, that's your lookout -
but I think it's an unacceptable risk for a service I'd be using all the
time.

Unless the provider dedicates an entire channel to just you, you also
consider the following.

3. Find out if there will be bandwidth usage restrictions. You'll be sharing
the channel with a lot more stations then you would be in your home net. A
few guys streaming video could deplete the useable bandwidth in a hurry.
If's there's no restrictions, then your "mileage may vary". If there are
restrictions, they apply to you too.

4. Unlike a home net, the other stations almost certainly can't hear you,
and you can't hear them. So I'm guessing they'll use RTS/CTS to co-ordinate
traffic and solve the hidden-node problem. In fact, if they are offering
802.11g service, then there will certainly be 802.11b clients in the mix.
RTS/CTS is necessary to prevent serious performance degradation in that
case. Point is, RTS/CTS adds its own overhead that reduces overall
throughput.

I'm not saying the ISP wouldn't be adequate for your needs. If you don't
need more than 1 or 2 Mbps (all you'd get via a cable modem anway), and your
network cell is not overloaded with other users, you probably won't care.
But in the worst case, your bandwidth could erode as new users come online,
and you forfeit all control.

"Marshall Karp" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Nnxqb.1680$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Like most of you, I got high speed internet, bought the cable modem, and
> wireless networking router. This was to set-up my home so we could move
> around anywhere inside and out with our laptops.
>
> However, an ISP in our area will be setting up a big tower and setting up
> the wireless network so the signal reaches three miles. The cost will be
> $34.95 a month.
>
> What does this mean? Instead of getting on the internet at home, my wife
> and I could be anywhere in town. Also, my high speed set-up is only at my
> home. At my office, I still use my dial-up account, so I am paying about
> double for two services. This ISP comes in, I can dumped the cable and
> dial-up and get high speed internet at home or at the office or at the
park
> or in my car, whereever.
>
> So, don't do like I did, jump in right away and spend the money on the
modem
> and router. See if your internet service provider is making plans to set
up
> your towns and areas for wireless networking.
>
> Now, I may have listed the positives, as best as I know it. I would
> appreciate it if someone lists the negatives to this areawide wireless
> internet.
>
>

That is not a bad price. Find out your up and downlink speeds. That price
is average in my area
for 256kbs up and down.

Do you get a private or public IP? Even if you will obtain your IP using
DHCP you
may want to be sure you get a public IP address. One WISP service provider
near me
will assign IP's using DHCP but is private. (192.168.xxx.xxx) Each sector
and channel at
the antenna has a public IP but is shared with up to 30 subscribers.
Promised me he would
open a port to me for VNC use (port 5900) but it did not see in writing.
This was to
prevent someone from setting up a server and hogging bandwidth.

Cable companies use DHCP and put a fairly long lease time on the IP you get
and as long as
you keep your computer or router powered 24/7 you should keep the same IP
but that is
not promised so find out more info if you need a permanent IP assigned.
Don't expect to register
a domain unless you can use a dynamic domain registration company.

As far as going anywhere in town? Most likely not. The radio is usually
installed on a mast
they don't want you to move it about. Because there is a high cost in
setting up a tower they
want as many customers as possible on the system. Few use only one antenna
that covers
360 degrees. They use special antennas that serve a small section say 6 60
degrees antennas.
You could step into a sector that has IP's filled and create a problem with
someone not
getting service that should be. These systems are Line-Of-Sight and you may
not see the
tower due to trees, etc. while walking or driving about. They also may use
MAC address filtering
to prevent someone from buying hardware and getting free service.