Wireless internet - still a dream? (Los Angeles)

Hello -
I have been using dial up for ages, and its depressing to see how the
system has not gotten any better.
I realised that I will be Living in Marina Del Rey (Los Angeles) for
the few months. Enquiries with my corporate housing revealed that they
do not have any internet service in the building, and the only way I
could get high speed internet was - to install a compatible telephone
line from verizon (which takes three weeks), and get a dsl connection
with it. Given the time verizon needs, and given the fixed cost it
would incur, I decided against this option. Armed with an apple
powerbook, I am exploring wireless ways of internet access. Will be
glad if someone could enlighten me.

1. 802.11b - are there any public providers? [I know about tmobile hot
spots, but I dont spend my life at starbucks and airport.] I would
like something that works in my balcony. Is it ruled out? New york
city had some parks with 802.11 clouds, is LA far behind?

2. Data service with cellphones - lot of mobile companies are offering
GPRS data plans (expensive @ $80/month I should say). Does anyone have
any first hand experience with any of these? How is the actual speed
(in kilobyte per second when downloading), and the coverage?

3. Any other ways of wireless access.

TIA,
Praty

In message <(E-Mail Removed) >, praty
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Hello -
>I have been using dial up for ages, and its depressing to see how the
>system has not gotten any better.
>I realised that I will be Living in Marina Del Rey (Los Angeles) for
>the few months. Enquiries with my corporate housing revealed that they
>do not have any internet service in the building, and the only way I
>could get high speed internet was - to install a compatible telephone
>line from verizon (which takes three weeks), and get a dsl connection
>with it. Given the time verizon needs, and given the fixed cost it
>would incur, I decided against this option. Armed with an apple
>powerbook, I am exploring wireless ways of internet access. Will be
>glad if someone could enlighten me.
>
>1. 802.11b - are there any public providers? [I know about tmobile hot
>spots, but I dont spend my life at starbucks and airport.] I would
>like something that works in my balcony. Is it ruled out? New york
>city had some parks with 802.11 clouds, is LA far behind?
>
>2. Data service with cellphones - lot of mobile companies are offering
>GPRS data plans (expensive @ $80/month I should say). Does anyone have
>any first hand experience with any of these? How is the actual speed
>(in kilobyte per second when downloading), and the coverage?
>
>3. Any other ways of wireless access.

You can come and live next to me, I'm on broadband Internet and 802.11b.
North Wales?
No?
Ahh well....
--
Tony Morgan
Smile in the face of adversity - and adversity will probably
think you're taking the piss and kick the shit out of you.

"praty" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...

> Enquiries with my corporate housing revealed that they
> do not have any internet service in the building.

Wot no cable TV company offering broadband?

"praty" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> Hello -
> I have been using dial up for ages, and its depressing to see how the
> system has not gotten any better.
> I realised that I will be Living in Marina Del Rey (Los Angeles) for
> the few months. Enquiries with my corporate housing revealed that they
> do not have any internet service in the building, and the only way I
> could get high speed internet was - to install a compatible telephone
> line from verizon (which takes three weeks), and get a dsl connection
> with it. Given the time verizon needs, and given the fixed cost it
> would incur, I decided against this option. Armed with an apple
> powerbook, I am exploring wireless ways of internet access. Will be
> glad if someone could enlighten me.


http://tinyurl.com/mosh

I've scoped out Marina del Rey & found 290 hot spots. Check out my map &
data files at:

http://www.catalina42.org/war-sail/

You could download the NetStumbler file & check out how many have wep.

I know of a few commercial providers, http://www.bbob.net/index.html,
http://www.labridge.com/, http://www.5gwireless.com/ and I expect there are
more. Bottom line, plenty of high speed wireless access in MdR.

Sounds like you may be staying in Oakwood. Depends on how close to Via
Marina as to which ones you could hit. 5G may be your best bet, they have
excellent coverage, highest antenna, though, probably most expensive.

Btw, my email ends in 101.

Norm Perron

"praty" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> Hello -
> I have been using dial up for ages, and its depressing to see how the
> system has not gotten any better.
> I realised that I will be Living in Marina Del Rey (Los Angeles) for
> the few months. Enquiries with my corporate housing revealed that they
> do not have any internet service in the building, and the only way I
> could get high speed internet was - to install a compatible telephone
> line from verizon (which takes three weeks), and get a dsl connection
> with it. Given the time verizon needs, and given the fixed cost it
> would incur, I decided against this option. Armed with an apple
> powerbook, I am exploring wireless ways of internet access. Will be
> glad if someone could enlighten me.
>
> 1. 802.11b - are there any public providers? [I know about tmobile hot
> spots, but I dont spend my life at starbucks and airport.] I would
> like something that works in my balcony. Is it ruled out? New york
> city had some parks with 802.11 clouds, is LA far behind?
>
> 2. Data service with cellphones - lot of mobile companies are offering
> GPRS data plans (expensive @ $80/month I should say). Does anyone have
> any first hand experience with any of these? How is the actual speed
> (in kilobyte per second when downloading), and the coverage?
>
> 3. Any other ways of wireless access.
>
> TIA,
> Praty