WiFi Network Coverage Range 4.3 Miles

[Andy Sjostrom]

<a href="http://www.sys-con.com/wireless/articlenews.cfm?id=384">http://www.sys-con.com/wireless/articlenews.cfm?id=384</a><br /><br />This article adds a quite interesting aspect to hot spot debate. Check it out and marvel! Reality or fiction?<br /><br />"I've always thought there was something just a little wrong with the plan to bring Wi-Fi to the world though, and it's all about the size of the wireless network. The 300-foot range is just too small. When I hear 802.11 fans talk about how the hotspot size is "perfect for networking" I remember being told that 64K of memory and 5MB hard drives were "perfect" for computers. I didn't buy it then. I don't buy it now. ... Well it was a dream until I sat down with my new best friends at a new company, Vivato, and got a first-look briefing about their new Wi-Fi technology that has a range of 7 kilometers. This raises the Wi-Fi range from 300 feet to nearly 23,000 feet (or 4.3 miles)!"

[Underwater Mike]

ZOWIE! That is incredbile! I wonder what the cost for a basic AP/router setup will be? I could finally start that wireless ISP I've been wanting to do.

Nokia makes another interesting product that gets over the range issue but the routers are expensive and, unfortunately, it's a fixed-location scheme.

http://www.sys-con.com/wireless/articlenews.cfm?id=384

This article adds a quite interesting aspect to hot spot debate. Check it out and marvel! Reality or fiction?

"I've always thought there was something just a little wrong with the plan to bring Wi-Fi to the world though, and it's all about the size of the wireless network. The 300-foot range is just too small. When I hear 802.11 fans talk about how the hotspot size is "perfect for networking" I remember being told that 64K of memory and 5MB hard drives were "perfect" for computers. I didn't buy it then. I don't buy it now. ... Well it was a dream until I sat down with my new best friends at a new company, Vivato, and got a first-look briefing about their new Wi-Fi technology that has a range of 7 kilometers. This raises the Wi-Fi range from 300 feet to nearly 23,000 feet (or 4.3 miles)!"

[don dre]

I too have been thinking of starting a WISP. I hadn't been able to fidn the right technolgy that would allow me to compete with the big boys, comcast and verizon. Using standard equipment on the customer side would tremendously reduce costs. The only other technology that looked good for metro areas was Navini's products. www.navini.com
Those are brilliant but completely proprietery and so have not come down in price nearly as much. WiFi has consistently surprised me. D-Link figuring out how to get a real world 12MBps and now this. I think that this is probably an application of a similar technology that Navini uses but to a non-proprietary standard. Beautiful. If you are thinking of starting a Wisp have you been to bbwexchange.com? What resources have you used? (We won't be in competition unless you plan to go national.) The broadband market needs choice.

[JonnoB]

I am using long-range WiFi right now and get almost 2Mbit up/down speeds. It is through a startup company called Zinnianet (http://www.zinnianet.com).

[Underwater Mike]

Looks great! I wish we could get something like that here. Cox cable service blows and Verizon's DSL has spotty availability. Problem is availability of tower locations and TONS of obstruction.


I am using long-range WiFi right now and get almost 2Mbit up/down speeds. It is through a startup company called Zinnianet (http://www.zinnianet.com).

[Underwater Mike]

There are a couple small wireless ISPs in my area (western Fairfax Co.), but none close enough to use. I live in a 900+ house subdivision, with several others nearby and right across the street from Cox's new NVa heaquarters. Densely populated and great market for WiFi (except for the physical challenges of hills and trees). I'd love to light up my subdivision as a start and give Cox a poke in they eye. But zoning is very restrictive here, as are homeowners' associations: I can't even put a small omni on my roof.

Haven't been to the bbwexchange.com site, but there is a local group of folks that set up public hotspots http://www.novawireless.org/, including one guy who's running an ISP. If I could get clearance for even a 50-foot tower, I'd have something running before the end of the year.
:cry:


P.S. Here's the Nokia solution: http://www.tessco.com/nokia_rooftop

I too have been thinking of starting a WISP. I hadn't been able to fidn the right technolgy that would allow me to compete with the big boys, comcast and verizon. Using standard equipment on the customer side would tremendously reduce costs. The only other technology that looked good for metro areas was Navini's products. www.navini.com
Those are brilliant but completely proprietery and so have not come down in price nearly as much. WiFi has consistently surprised me. D-Link figuring out how to get a real world 12MBps and now this. I think that this is probably an application of a similar technology that Navini uses but to a non-proprietary standard. Beautiful. If you are thinking of starting a Wisp have you been to bbwexchange.com? What resources have you used? (We won't be in competition unless you plan to go national.) The broadband market needs choice.

[don dre]

I'm skeptical of the cost effectiveness of rooftop antennas. It seems like a lot of money to have a guy go out and install the antenna and run the RJ45 connection into the house. Plus you have to worry about roof conditions, weather, etc. With a solution like navini's and this one here, you have plug and play installation, meaning you cut out the truck roll as its called. the beauty of this product is that it uses off the shelf Wifi card which drastically reduces the total cost of ownership. AS you know, you ahve to be able to price under the cable and DSL services to get people to switch to a no name. DSL is slow in my opinion. I'm very happy with Comcast's service except that it is expensive and not mobil. I would love to be able to access my internet acct anywhere in my area. I live in philly and would love to surf the net in the park (in several months anways.) check out bbw, great resource.

[CoreyJF]

the larger and faster teh connection the better...

[JonnoB]

I'm skeptical of the cost effectiveness of rooftop antennas. It seems like a lot of money to have a guy go out and install the antenna and run the RJ45 connection into the house. Plus you have to worry about roof conditions, weather, etc. With a solution like navini's and this one here, you have plug and play installation, meaning you cut out the truck roll as its called. .

Somehow, the dish type providers find it to be a lucrative business. With a dish, receiver, access card, etc - I see this as the same.

[Kirkaiya]

I'd really like to see how the first few customers find the practical application of the technology before I start drinking the Kool-aid.

When I hear of directed narrow-angle beams of EM, the first thought that comes to mind is, how many simultaneous beams can it handle?

Does it do 2-D or 3-D aiming? (I would assume 3D, since you can mount the AP on a building, etc).

And if so - there would almost definitely be scaling issues, as the AP would have to have integrated intelligence to simultaneously aim and maintain say, 100 seperate beams, each 9 degrees wide.

I'm not saying I doubt the technology is possible, only that there are definite issues they would have to have resolved before widescale commercial use could begin. I would also guess that this "smart" AP would be rather expensive, what with muti-beam targeting capabilities, etc. Also, how rapidly can the AP re-target the beam? (or, what's the beam direction update frequency?). Is it fast enough to walk at a normal pace, if i'm only 100 feet away?

At 100 feet, a 9 degree beam means I'm in a spot about 16 feet wide. If I'm walking at about 4 feet/sec, then my median time to leave the beam is 8/4 (8=half the beam width), or 2 seconds.

Sooo... I basically just want know whether the tracking is good enough to handle that? (and how many simultaneous beams it can handle, of course, since that's the limiting factor for # of users)

Hmmm

[st63z]

Comdex showings:

http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/0,3018,p=1&s=0&a=33729&po=6&i=1,00.asp (Navini 25mi-radius proprietary wireless)

http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/0,3018,p=1&s=0&a=33842&po=5&i=1,00.asp (IPWireless UMTS wireless in motion)

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,718808,00.asp (Linksys 802.11b 14dBm diversity antenna booster). Then again, D-Link has had a very wide variety of add-on antennas available for a long time...

And don't forget, that Mike TinMan ex-Brighthand columnist guy has used a long-range .11b ISP since years ago, which he could use while riding his bike all over town...

[Kirkaiya]

Interesting links, BUT none of those systems advertise an active user-tracking system, which the one that started this thread does.

If you read the article that this thread (1st post) links to, it talks about the AP locating a user based on their network card's emissions, then targeting a 9 degree beam at the user.

I didn't see where this type of tech was in the other 3 you posted (of course, they didn't specifically say very much about them), but the D-Link seems to be a simple signal amp, and the top one is a proprietary solution that may operate at different frequencies, etc.

I still have my doubts, until someone sees multiple users using this thing.

Kirk

[st63z]

Ya, just posting interesting stuff I'd read related to what's been discussed in thread ;)

[Kirkaiya]

oh - cool, sorry if I came off sounding like a wise-ass (I've been known to ;-) )

Anyway - some of the other technologies might be appropriate for starting a wireless ISP anyway. For now, I don't see a lot of revenue there the firms trying (oingo boingo, T-Mobile's "Starbucks" hotspots, etc). Might be an opportunity for a home-based business if you're out beyond the reach of cable and DSL, but still have enough customer's to warrant the T-1 line.

[Underwater Mike]

I was wondering what kind of technology was used for the antenna, and thinking how much it sounded like a phased-array setup. Turns out that's EXACTLY what it is! See The Changing Face of Wi-Fi (http://www.80211-planet.com/columns/article.php/1551041). Pretty cool...