Rural Broadband

casingpoint · Post by **casingpoint** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 2:49 pm

Iâ€™m looking for wireless or landline technology that would move a broadband cable at itâ€™s last available location about one-third of a mile to my house. Both the local cable TV company and the telephone company offer broadband service to that point but wonâ€™t bring it any father. Also considering the future possibility of power line broadband, but application of that technology seems to be lagging. Satellite is a last ditch solution. Too much hardware, expensive fees. Feedback appreciated. Thanks in advance. CP

seamusTX · Post by **seamusTX** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 2:55 pm

I may be missing something here, but why can't you just run more cable?

Is it not on or adjacent to your property?

Any device that busts cable down to baseband frequences is going to require electrical power.

- Jim

casingpoint · Post by **casingpoint** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 2:59 pm

Cable TV says there are not enough customers inbetween to justify the expense.

I was mistaken, phone company broadband is not available to nearby points. So it's just a cable tv thing.

BobCat · Post by **BobCat** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:36 pm

I'm in the same boat and will be watching your thread for replys. Dialup is too slow, and the phone line goes out too often when it rains - three times in December, for about a day at a time.

Satellite seems like the only option, expensive as it is. If you find anything better, please follow up to this thread. Thanks!

Regards,
Andrew

seamusTX · Post by **seamusTX** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:38 pm

I don't know of anything cheap and simple that would cover 1/3 mile, except cable.

If you're on good terms with the closest guy who can get cable access, there are some things you could do, but they're either illegal or against the cable company's rules.

- Jim

jimlongley · Post by **jimlongley** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:46 pm

Not real cheap, and a little less than simple, but I happen to have been using wireless technology for carrying the red light photo enforcement traffic in Dallas and this stuff is pretty good for short range.

http://motorola.canopywireless.com/products/

http://www.wirelessguys.com/motorola-ca ... dband.html

Several thousand $$$ up front costs, but you could build your own network and sell access to your neighbors.

Actually there are cheaper broadband wireless solutions available, cheaper than Motorola that is, and they are all in the "unlicensed" bands so you can just put it up where you can power it and run from there.

Sarah81 · Post by **Sarah81** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:40 pm

My family and I live out in the middle of nowhere - really far out in the country. We don't even have the option of having cable TV service, so we have satellite for that.

Satellite Internet service is our only option other than dialup. We pay about 60 bucks a month, which is really reasonable considering that we could be paying almost that much every month for the telephone bill plus the fifteen or so in dialup fees. (We have ditched the land line - don't really need it anymore with the cell phones around.)

The only real problem is that heavy rain tends to knock the dish offline. I like it despite that issue, though, because I hooked up a 50 dollar wireless router and now have my laptop on the wireless home network. That wasn't worth the effort at all when we were on dialup :)

nitrogen · Post by **nitrogen** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:42 pm

Also try wireless internet from a cellphone provider.

John · Post by **John** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:50 pm

nitrogen wrote:Also try wireless internet from a cellphone provider.

I do that on my cell phone from time to time using Blue Tooth. I picked up a blue tooth USB thingy (technical term) to plug into my laptop and it accesses the internet on my PDA/Cell Phone.

As far as shooting the Ethernet 1/3 of a mile through the air, you need to look at an Ethernet RF Spread Spectrum radio. That's the only way I know of to do it. Probably not cheap though.

nitrogen · Post by **nitrogen** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 7:40 pm

Bluetooth will be a severe limiting factor, as bluetooth is limited to approx 56k.
You might want to get a cable, or see if you can get one of those PCMCIA cards for wireless access.

If you want to go Satellite, check out http://www.wildblue.com as they have some of the best deals, service, and performance for satellite internet access right now.

lrb111 · Post by **lrb111** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:31 pm

jimlongley wrote:Not real cheap, and a little less than simple, but I happen to have been using wireless technology for carrying the red light photo enforcement traffic in Dallas and this stuff is pretty good for short range.

http://motorola.canopywireless.com/products/

http://www.wirelessguys.com/motorola-ca ... dband.html

Several thousand $$$ up front costs, but you could build your own network and sell access to your neighbors.

Actually there are cheaper broadband wireless solutions available, cheaper than Motorola that is, and they are all in the "unlicensed" bands so you can just put it up where you can power it and run from there.

My primary job is as a CATV/ISP tech. We use the Canopy systems, all rural. We were installing new equipment until 8 this evening, and were reaching well over 20 miles.
Our new backhauls will hit at 100 miles.

It's not uncommon for me to drive 80 miles from on one edge of our coverage to the other.

Post by **Skiprr** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:06 am

lrb111 wrote:My primary job is as a CATV/ISP tech. We use the Canopy systems, all rural. We were installing new equipment until 8 this evening, and were reaching well over 20 miles. Our new backhauls will hit at 100 miles.

<--- I think you found the guy to talk to.

stroo · Post by **stroo** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:49 am

Have you offered to pay the cable company for the construction cost to extend their line to your place. Might be kind of expensive though. I would think your best bets are going to be satellite or wireless.

Commander · Post by **Commander** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:55 am

I used an Engenius Wireless Bridge with a couple of Hawking Technology directional antennas and a Linksys Access Point to shoot a wireless signal about 100 yards. Works well. The documentation for the antennas say that they have a 10 mile range. Bought all the equipment at CompUSA for about $500. You'd have to have some place where the cable ends to setup the bridge and antenna. Got a neighbor or friend close by that would let you put the stuff at their house?

KBCraig · Post by **KBCraig** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:14 am

Wireless works in flat country, but you have to have line of sight.

Satellite has latency problems; that's only an issue if want to chat, videoconference, or use VOIP telephones. Satellite also has monthly caps on bandwidth; hit the cap, and you're shut down until the end of the month.

That said; I've heard good things about WildBlue satellite. Like Hughes/DirecTV, the startup costs and monthly fees are high, and there's an extended contract to sign. But, the service works, and if you're not swapping huge files or serving your own web page, you'll be fine so far as monthly bandwidth goes.

Kevin