Flat-Rate Wireless Where The Sun Don't Shine (Much)

Tantus writes: "Something I've been drooling for for years has finally started to see the light of day... and it's not even close to where I am! I work for a company that does help desk outsourcing for a small startup in the ND, SD, and MN area called Monet Mobile http://www.monetmobile.com, which hopefully will hopefully start a wireless trend that will spread beyond Fargo, ND... Up to twice modem speeds and a $49 flat fee for your laptop or home. Sigh ..." This service sounds much like Ricochet's, for those lucky enough to live in range. Nice to see a wireless option starting up rather than shutting down

Comments

Check *this* out...

[jcapell]

[boast]

Just got it installed this week:

My Internet Connection

I got tired of my cable modem losing signal everytime it rained, and DirecTV-DSL (Telocity) was dissapointing, so I got me a dedicated 1.54Mb microwave wireless connection from MCI Worldcomm about 2 hops off UUNets's backbone.

Ok, so its about $340.00 a month, but I can write it off ;-)

While I'm bragging, also check out my Tower O' Power

[/boast]

Several such things exist.

[Segfault 11]

Having worked for an ISP out of Mankato, MN, I can tell you that there are several areas with wireless access. Rural areas are taking to wireless as the solution for their local utilities' lack of interest and/or ability to provide alternatives:
http://www.wirelessinitiative.net/

In Duluth, my friend used to work for Superior Broadband, where fixed wireless is available throughout the city and neighboring towns.

For (soon-to-be) college kids

[ekrout]

If you're thinking wireless, and you're considering college, check out Virginia Tech. They just bought four OC-12's, and are supposedly putting up wireless thru the entire campus this winter, or spring. Its already available in some parts of campus. I don't go there, but I've heard good things. Georgie Tech and Bucknell also are pursuing (and using, to some extent) 802.11b.

Re:Ricochet Coming Back?

[timothy]

Well, there's hope of it, anyhow --
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/11/05/229204 .

It would be a shame for all that infrastructure to go to waste -- 128Kbps, flat rate, is really all I need for the most part. Sure, I like cable modems, DSL, and faster things when I have them to use, but on a day-t'-day basis, 128 wireless and flat-rate would be not bad. However, this stuff is so far still too localized for me to buy a Honda Goldwing and roam the country with an always-connected laptop. Low-Earth-Orbit Satellites are what I'm looking for.

Cheers,

timothy

The Midwest...

[drenehtsral]

The midwest is a wireless imlementor's dream. There's no hills, no trees, no mountains, and few cities. Any line-of-sight wireless system will thrive there because initially when the customer base is small, they can still cover a large service area with a small number of towers, and then ass they fill up decrease transmitter power and increase density of towers.