Wireless home internet

[DougK62]

My new house is out in the cornfields here in Indiana and I can't get cable or DSL out here. Even dial-up is horrible because my phone lines are so old that I have troubles connecting.

I've recently learned that there is a company offering wireless internet in my area. It's a 1MB download (I have to call to ask upload - not on their webpage) service for $49/month. I'm fortunate to only be 1/2 mile from one of their towers so my signal should be great.

My question is about the reliability of this service. Does anyone here use something like this? Does the signal come and go with weather, like satellites do? The service is a bit expensive for what you get, but if it's reliable and makes a good solid connection I may go for it.

www.fourway.net

EDIT: Anyone game on a connection like this?

 

[ZOXXO]

The website says 3Mb download speeds and higher than the average cable/dsl upload speeds.

You may want to visit BroadbandReports.com for others experience with wireless services.

EDIT - The 3Mb quote was from the FAQ.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: ZOXXO
The website says 3Mb download speeds and higher than the average cable/dsl upload speeds.

You may want to visit BroadbandReports.com for others experience with wireless services.

I wonder what kind of antenna you need on your house to to transmit from your house to the tower a half-mile away.

 

[Kelemvor]

Damn. $50/mo is expensive. Friend of mine uses a satellite based internet and it works OK. Called EyeCom or something like that.

 

[imported_FishTaco]

Interesting, after glancing over the website, looks like they operate in the mid and upper bands used by 802.11a. residential gets 1 Mbps down and 512 kbps up. Certainly better than a crappy modem and much better than nothing which is what you're getting from cable and dsl. Eh, says refund within 30 days so give it a try. Also the faq answered all your questions.

As far as being expensive for what you get, yes the 1 Mbps down is kinda lame but the 512kbs up is better than most dsl/cable upload rates.

EDIT: incase you missed it: faq

 

[DougK62]

Originally posted by: KnightBreed

Originally posted by: ZOXXO
The website says 3Mb download speeds and higher than the average cable/dsl upload speeds.

You may want to visit BroadbandReports.com for others experience with wireless services.

I wonder what kind of antenna you need on your house to to transmit from your house to the tower a half-mile away.

They say it's a very small antenna that goes on your roof. Beige color and less than 12 inches tall.

 

[DougK62]

Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
Damn. $50/mo is expensive. Friend of mine uses a satellite based internet and it works OK. Called EyeCom or something like that.

I know several people with satellite and they all hate it. This is much different then that.

 

[ZOXXO]

Originally posted by: FishTaco
Interesting, after glancing over the website, looks like they operate in the mid and upper bands used by 802.11a. residential gets 1 Mbps down and 512 kbps up. Certainly better than a crappy modem and much better than nothing which is what you're getting from cable and dsl. Eh, says refund within 30 days so give it a try. Also the faq answered all your questions.

As far as being expensive for what you get, yes the 1 Mbps down is kinda lame but the 512kbs up is better than most dsl/cable upload rates.

EDIT: incase you missed it: faq

Where in the FAQ are you getting the 1 Mbps and 512 kbps figures?

 

[imported_FishTaco]

Originally posted by: ZOXXO

Originally posted by: FishTaco
Interesting, after glancing over the website, looks like they operate in the mid and upper bands used by 802.11a. residential gets 1 Mbps down and 512 kbps up. Certainly better than a crappy modem and much better than nothing which is what you're getting from cable and dsl. Eh, says refund within 30 days so give it a try. Also the faq answered all your questions.

As far as being expensive for what you get, yes the 1 Mbps down is kinda lame but the 512kbs up is better than most dsl/cable upload rates.

EDIT: incase you missed it: faq

Where in the FAQ are you getting the 1 Mbps and 512 kbps figures?

Sorry that was on the other page. Text

 

[ZOXXO]

Sorry that was on the other page. Text

Ok, I thought I was losing it there for a minute.

 

[K1052]

I have it from DTNSpeednet. It is $50 a month and provides decent speeds but causes online games to lag pretty bad. Better than dial up.

The good news is that there is no transfer cap. I have tested that out.

 

[Genero]

I have wireless internet through foxvalley.net and it's about as stable as cable or dsl. I'm less than 1/2 mile from the tower and have clear line of sight. The equipment is a Motorolla Canopy and it's mounted in my attic. It's not large at all - you can see a photo of it on foxvalley.

I subscribed to the service 2 years ago before cable and dsl were available in my area. I was an eq addict and wireless made the game into an amazing experience. With dial-up, there was unbearable lag during raids and constant drop-outs. All of that changed 2 years ago. I was amazed at the difference. I've since quit eq but continue to game online. There is virtually no lag at all unless it's server side. It's nothing like having high-speed satellite.

Foxvalley states an upload/download limit but I've exceeded that and never received a warning from them.

If it's your only option and if you don't mind potentially high start-up costs, then you should go for it. The canopy was pretty damn expensive to buy.