Re: New to Wireless-Can't I Buy My Own Equip?

"Monica" <monicakm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> hath wroth:

I need some hand holding :o I live in a rural area where cable and dsl are
not available.

Bummer.

Satellite is available but very expensive startup and from
what I read, not too stable.

I don't know what you mean by "not too stable". I have customers
using DirecWay and it works well enough. The major complaints are
that uploads are incredibly slow, download preformance is awful during
peak hours, latency causes VoIP and VPN's to be useless, and weather
has a big effect on everything. Personally, I would suggest satellite
internet as the last resort, when nothing else is available.

I've been waiting for over a year on a company to put up a wireless tower.
Just found out last week that they've shelved the plan for this tower
because someone has installed a
tower and "the two towers would cause interference and both companies would
have problems". Really? So in large metropolitan areas there's only one
wireless company??

Really. Interference among WISP (wireless ISP) installations is a
common and serious problem. Add a few municipal networks and usual
clueless individual with an RF power amplifier, and nobody
communicates. The WISP's solve such problems by coordinating
frequencies (there's really only 3 channels available), elaborate
antenna patterns, or just fighting it out. It's no fun.

The way large metro areas are handled is to use small "cells" for
covering the city. No WISP tries to cover the entire city from one
location. That's not because of interference, but because the number
of clients per access point and backhaul bandwidth are often limited.
More access points simply means more customers. If your small town
has a limited number of potential customers, then a WISP might elect
to start with a single central wireless access point, and grow from
there. Starting out with an elaborate system of access points,
backhauls, routers, and towers is expensive for the WISP.

I've been given a price of $597 startup cost (hardware/install and setup)
and $49 a month (no contract and I purchase the equipment from them). This
gets me 512K download.

That's about typical. Figure on 2 hours install and setup for about
$150-$200. That leaves $400 for the hardware. If you bought your
own, my guess is your cash expenditures would be:
1. 24dBi dish $ 70
2. Pole mounted PoE client bridge (Tranzeo TR-CPE90-Nf) $220
3. Rooftop mounting hardware $ 40
4. CAT5 and misc network wiring. $ 10
=============================================================
Total $340

You probably cut the $220 for the radio down by using a commodity
wireless indoor client bridge (WET54G, WAP54G, etc), repackaging it
for outdoor use, and adding a PoE adapter. At best, you'll save about
$100.

Also note that if you have more than one computer, you *MAY* need to
purchase an ethernet router. This will vary by WISP depending on how
they deliver their IP addresses. If they issue one IP address per
computer, you can live without the added router. If they deliver only
one, you have another $70 expense. This will probably be in addition
to either the $600 package deal, or your do-it-thyself conglomeration.

If you have a particularly good location with a view, you might be
able to get away with an indoor client bridge, a few feet of LMR-400
caox cable, and a rooftop antenna. 25ft of LMR-400 with "N"
connectors will cost about $40. You'll also need a "pigtail" to go
from whatever client bridge radio uses to "N" for about $15. The
cable is very lossy and will have lousy performance compared to an
antenna mounted radio.

The owner went on to explain I *could* go to Best Buy and buy my equipment
but it isn't very good quality (and of course, his is). I have no idea what
GOOD wireless hardware costs

There's a big difference between something that's meant to operate
indoors and what will survive outdoors. For typical outdoor client
radios, see:
http://tranzeo.com/index.php?section_id=40&sub_section_id=41&sub_sub_section_id=92

or what is considered good quality or what I need. As well versed in
computers as I am, I'm that clueless to anything wireless :o This is a lot
of money and I know the fact that there is no competition
in the area is why it's so expensive.

Do the math. $600 installed is about the vendors cost. That's also
about what a satellite internet setup costs except that these tend to
be partially subsidized by Direcway. The actual cost of the hardware
and installers time is much more.

If I can get the price down by buying
my own equipment, I really need to. I don't know if this will help or not
but he did say that some companies
install a tower at your house but he doesn't. He installs some kind of
(box?) on an existing structure such as a TV tower. Any info, tips, advice
you can offer would be much
appreciated.

It's difficult to pass judgement on a prospective installation without
knowing what the vendor is going to supply. As you noted, it's also
not just for the radio and antenna. You MUST have line of sight to
wherever he's locating his access point. Without line of sight, it
won't work. If you're fairly close, you might be able to get a
connection, but it will vary and fade when the wind blows through the
trees, when the obstructions move around, and when the leaves
re-appear in the summer. The tower, pole, pipe, or mounting should be
part of the installation but is difficult to estimate without a "site
survey". That's where they come out to your house and try to guess
what it will take to provide service. Add that to the cost.

Oh, my Dell computer is P4 3.2ghz, 1GB ram. Looking under
Network Adapters in Device Manager, I have a 1394 Net Adapter and Broadcom
NetXtreme 57xx GB Net Controller...just in
case any of that matters <g>

Well, you have an ethernet port, which is all that's necessary.

Thanks,
Monica

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
.

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