ced06
join:2004-03-12
Towanda, PA
| reply to TJ19971
Re: Price?
Well it seems like a good idea (except for price + latency) for people like me...local broadband ISPs can't serve me because:
1) too far out for dsl (25k foot from co)
2) load coil on my phone lines
3) can't get cable!
4) wireless isp is insanely expensive (~$100/month for 256k/256k)
I'm pretty much screwed over.  |
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chex383
join:2003-03-13
Montreal, QC
 ·Verizon Online DSL
 ·Comcast
1 edit | Ced!
Your in Towanda, Penna. Jct of US-220 and US-6. Very rural and empty area of North-East Pennsylvania. I've ridden my motorcycle out there on bike-trips, and its amazing beautiful farm country. Lots of cows, farms and woods. I especially love SR-414 that winds west of Towanda towards US-15. I'll ride for 10-15 minutes on that curvy road and not see another car pass me by. Not many people, businesses or infrastructure. If you want good internet connectivity out there, your gonna have to PAY for it.
Unless the Fedz come up with a 'Rural Broadification Act' like they did for electricity and telephone, your going to have to pay a LOT more for the same kind of access us city-folks do. 
It's kind of a sad thing, broadband access costs a lot more to people who live in rural areas, and generally don't make as much money as people in cities, who get the same services for less. But this is why everyone is in the city, and not the country.  This is why cities work. It's called 'economies of scale'.
Can I drop in and say hello, bring you a 6-pack to enjoy the country air next time I'm riding out there? Its the least this city boy can do for a country boy who is addicted to speeeeeeed.
see ya man
- stefan |
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korym
Go Wisp's
ExMod 1999-03
join:1999-12-23
Richmond, VA
clubs:
| said by chex383  :
Unless the Fedz come up with a 'Rural Broadification Act' like they did for electricity and telephone, your going to have to pay a LOT more for the same kind of access us city-folks do.
Actually, there's an RUS loan/grant program for small broadband providers specifically looking to serve customers in rural areas. It's especially attractive to WISPs.
FYI, I'm in Emmaus, PA and suffer the same problem. It's probably not as rural as Towanda but Verizon's never going to provide DSL, so we've been told and the cable company is just too small for the time being.
Perhaps a wireless mesh like LocustWorld could be an idea if enough interested residents and/or businesses sign up:
»www.locustworld.com
HtH!
Regards,
Kory
--
Find a or list your WISP for free on the WISP Directory!
WISP News & Info and Hotspot News pages |
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ced06
join:2004-03-12
Towanda, PA
| reply to chex383
Well, with any hope I'll be moving out in a few years (I'm 15).
Adelphia decided to do a $1.5 million upgrade to the cable infrastructure on Towanda, which includes cable interenet...I saw an Adelphia truck (and a fiber truck) a few miles away from my house. Argh, it makes me angry that they won't lay cable a few more miles.
Towanda is nice for the scenery, I guess. Not too useful for anything else, quite frankly. |
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keason
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Ann Arbor, MI
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to chex383
Nexnet already installed in Michigan
SpeednetLLC , a wireless ISP based in Saginaw MI has installed Nextnet in Bay City and Mt. Pleasant MI. The nextnet eq is non-line of sight wireless - it works through trees, and minor obstacles. Latency is comparible to DSL and speed is 2-3Mb down. Nextnet can also be mounted in a vehicle.
They use licensed spectrum (unlike most WISPs) so there are no interference problems.
Speednet charges $45 (home) /mo and includes a static IP with every account. Mt. Pleasant is a college town (Central Michigan U) and most students don't have land lines - Speednet is $15-$30 cheaper than DSL (inc phone) or Cable.
They also offer a VoIP service phone service on the wireless for an additional charge.
$80 seems excessive.
www.speednetllc.com |
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chex383
join:2003-03-13
Montreal, QC
·Verizon Online DSL
·Comcast
| Man, thats totally awesome. Wireless companies are completely organic, some good ones in some areas, others have nothing. Wireless economics works better in sparsely populated areas, than fixed-line access does, but its still weak.
Why aren't these guys listed under a BBR ISP category? Someone get these guys listed!
If I could switch to a reasonably fast (say 800/200 kbps), low-latency (> 100ms) wireless provider, I would pay up to $80 a month to switch away from Verizon ADSL. I am paying them a total of $60/mo for the stripped-down POTS and DSL line.
There is one wireless provider in Boston who is reasonable, but the headache of getting hardware installed on my rented building in the North End is too much of a headache.
-- Stefan
--
Sung to the old New England Telephone Ad Jingle: " We're the only one New Eng-Lund, Hell-Ri-zon Tele-phonnnnne! " |
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