Wireless Internet connection rocks!!

[jinman]

That sounds like a great deal, since it looks like $200 of that is a deposit on the equipment. What's the speed that they advertise, and have you noticed any increase over dial-up?

Yes, the deposit was $200, install was $80, and $45 per month plus some tax for 512 kbps. The speed improvement is dramatic since my normal previous connection was at 28.8 kbps. The jury is still out on long-term reliability and service.

 

[Fug1000]

Below is something I said in another thread and it was suggested that it might be of help here, so here it is......

If any of you rural guys are stuck on dialup or satellite, I discovered a great thing.

Sprint PCS. Unlimited means unlimited and if you can get cell phone service at your new place, you may be able to get sprint PSC. (59 bux a month, broadband speed...I get 1.2MBS down and 100 kps up)

I have it hooked up to a wireless router and we have a broadband hotspot now out in the middle of nowhere.

Try the mapping tools at sprint.com. Click on Coverage maps, enter zip code and at the bottom make sure sprint mobile PCS is checked. If your address is in or NEAR the orange, you can get broadband.
My address is 1/4 mile away from orange but with a cellular antenna (Ommi-Directional) and an amplifier, I got 4 bars and loving it.

If anyone is interested and they want info on how to set it up, give me a holler.

I learned a lot at this forum.... EVDO Forums - EV-DO Discussion, Support, Coverage, Compatibility, Tips, Verizon, Sprint, KR1, WRT54G3G-ST : EVDOforums.com

I bought everything from these guys including the sprint card and the sign up itself, they are an authorized sprint dealer. 3Gstore.com, Verizon & Sprint EVDO Modems, Antennas, Amplifiers, Routers
They answered all my setup questions and you can get a 30 day no questions asked return policy on the card and sprint services if it won't work for you. You can get 15 days no questions asked on the other equipment.
I bought the omni-direction antenna, the 3watt amp and the Linksys wireless router.
The router is so nice, after you have the card setup, you plug the card into the router and it makes your house a wireless hotspot. Farmers welcome to the 21st century!

DO NOT CONFUSE this with Verzion's mobile broadband. They suk. If you go over 5GB in a month, you are canceled! Heck if you watch youtube movies a couple days out of the month you will go over that limit.
Sprint is truly unlimited and I am loving it so far.

 

[MrJimi]

I don't even want to poop on dialup people but I used to be on it for $24,90 per month on a simple phone line. I splurged and went with cable and here are my results.


Is $50.16 per month and I love it
Jim

 

[vrman]

I'd also like to let you know that Cingular, well, AT&T now I guess, has a similiar service to Sprint. Unlimited downloading for about $60/month. I've had it for about 6 months now, and I use it just about everywhere. I picked up an antenna booster for those areas that I get weak signal. But coverage has been great and I'm really happy with the service so far. Also, if you are going to get a booster, make sure you get a powered one. Just adding a bigger antenna didn't help my signal strength at all. I went from -100db to -75db with a powered booster.

I have a LOS wireless service at home. My problem there has been my trees blocking the LOS to the tower. I ended up having them move me to an older antenna, 900mhz, so I could keep my connection. The tower is just on the other side of the road, so it works for the most part. I'm just limited to the 1.5mb with the older antenna. I'm looking at putting in a wind generator, and if I do, I'll be able to get the newer antenna and boost my speed since I'll be able to get it above the trees.

I can't use the internet connection where I work for personal use, so I just bring along my tablet with the cingular card. Sometimes being in IT is a good thing!

 

[anojones]

The WISP has been a great thing for rural areas- there is no way to get cable/DSL out where we are and the satellite connections are limited. We have a local WISP- the customer service is fantastic and we have a 1MB connection (not that I wouldn't love an 8MB cable or 100MB fiber optic- but don't want it bad enought to move to town). The USDA has provided grant money to get WISPs up and running to bring broadband to rural agricultural areas. We don't have any more reliability problems then we had with cable, and when the satelite TV goes down, we still can surf the web. Worth looking into if someone in your area provides it.

 

[MarkV]

I am another rural dial up user that has about had it with the slow speeds. I don’t even try to look at photos they take so long to load. Also most grade school kids are more computer literate than I am. Maybe some of you can help me with some dumb questions.

We use Version for cell service, have a strong signal at home and are line of site from a tower. If the cell works well should I expect a wireless connection to work well?

Everyone talks of a card for their lap top to get wireless service. Is there some type of “card thing” for a desk top computer or do you have to have a lap top?

MarkV

 

[sr160009]

The info on this thread has been a lot of help for me, Thanks to everyone!!! I will be moving to an area where no DSL or Cable, but after looking at some of the links that was provided here I was able to find a high speed wireless service in my area. Just wanting to know if anyone has Speednet for their service and are you happy with it. Also let me know what kind of speed you are getting from this service. High speed internet is very important to me because I do work from my house and everything I do is web based.

Thanks again to all of you.

 

[sr160009]

I am another rural dial up user that has about had it with the slow speeds. I don’t even try to look at photos they take so long to load. Also most grade school kids are more computer literate than I am. Maybe some of you can help me with some dumb questions.

We use Version for cell service, have a strong signal at home and are line of site from a tower. If the cell works well should I expect a wireless connection to work well?

Everyone talks of a card for their lap top to get wireless service. Is there some type of “card thing” for a desk top computer or do you have to have a lap top?

MarkV

Mark V

I know there is a USB card that you can get from Verison/cingular or Sprint it would work with your desktop (if you have an USB port).

 

[MarkV]

Mark V

I know there is a USB card that you can get from Verison/cingular or Sprint it would work with your desktop (if you have an USB port).

Thanks, a USB port is one of the few things I know because our new digital camera plugs into it. Now if I could just figure out what to do with photo’s once they were in the “magic box” I’d be one step closer to posting my own on TBN.

MarkV

 

[_RaT_]

I was in the same boat until a couple of guys in my area bought a highspeed connection, brought it to their house and then bought the Motorola Canopy system and now have hundreds of subscribers. We also paid about $199 for install and equipment which included a free sight analysis to see if we had line of sight. We did not but they added a 15' mast to a pole we had and it worked great. $29.95 a month. They have one main tower and several reflector sites. When you live in the foothils, you have hills in the way but if you can see the tops of hills, that will work when they put a reflector up there. The speed was good, I could always have paid more and bought more speed. Best of all, it was always on. The company is norcalbroadband.net