neeloy
join:2002-03-08
North Las Vegas, NV
clubs:
| reply to CenTex2
Re: sounds nice, BUT......
Hi Centex. Not to rain on your parade or anything but a couple of things I would like to contribute. First of all 802.16 does work in the licensed spectrum, meaning much higher power levels than un-licensed ops. I am not entirely familiar with FCC regs, but up here in Canada, Industry Canada makes it fairly cheap, but never easy to get licenses for rural areas. Secondly, aside from the mobile capabilities afforded by the 802.16e spec, the way 802.11 does things on a technical level is totally different than 802.16. Meaning that 802.16 is actually meant to be used in a metro-area or wide-area situation and therefore has mechanisims in place, mainly based off what we learned in the DOCSIS spec, to deal with the many variables in the outside environment that 802.11 does not account for. Thirdly one of the big advantages to the longer distance reach offered by 802.16 is that you can have fewer backhaul points provided you have more than one small community within 15 - 30 miles of each other.
Don't get me wrong, I don't envy your position. I don't and haven't operated a small ISP or WISP like you because I know how difficult it can be and have set up several. However I do know that as a major or "big" ISP, there is a business case to be made using 802.16e for supporting rural areas that barely breakeven or may even end-up costing money as long as you have the necessary metro area subs, because it raises your company profile, helps out businesses in certain areas, and gives your metro customers better mobile coverage. Afterall the only thing that drive down the cost of CPE devices is volume. 5 years ago a cable modem cost $300, today, you can buy one for a tenth of that.
Anyways, best of luck to you with your WISP. |
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CenTex2
join:2003-04-16
Marlin, TX
| reply to reverendRon
yessir, we're based in Marlin, but have towers covering about 80% or so of Falls County, and stretching a bit into the surrounding counties as well. Our current service area stretches from Bremond to Waco approximately....
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Don't sweat the petty things, and never pet the sweaty things... |
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reverendRon
join:2002-07-27
Mabank, TX | reply to CenTex2
Is your wireless service in Marlin? If so, where are you finding subs there? |
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CenTex2
join:2003-04-16
Marlin, TX
| reply to phoenixtech
it's supposedly NLOS, but it's still microwave - and microwave is microwave. We've played around a bit with 802.16 equipment, and the NLOS range is very short. Not very practical unless you saturate your service area with towers and AP's...not something anybody in the industry wants to do due to the cost. True NLOS is only going to be achieved by lower frequencies and higher power output...no matter how good your design is, you can't defeat physics. The higher the frequency, the more bandwidth the signal can carry, but it's more affected by the type of terrain and obstacles you find in rural surroundings.
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Don't sweat the petty things, and never pet the sweaty things... |
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phoenixtech
join:2002-10-29
Platte City, MO | reply to CenTex2
Isn't 802.16 NLOS? I believe this market is as big as satellite TV. The biggest problem is going to be the shared nature. It is going to be way worse than cable internet. |
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