Alternative Wireless Broadband for your Neighborhood

An anonymous reader writes "TelephonyOnline reports Motorola has announced a new line of 5GHz *unlicensed* Wireless Broadband point to multi-point solution with a 2 mile range called Canopy. Pricing may allow neighborhoods to gang up and be their own ISP."

Comments

end of ip over fixed telephony?

[tapiwa]

With the everincreasing range of wireless, especially over the *free* spectrum, will we see the end of ip over telephony.

Taken to the extreme, if each 'neighbourhood' is running high speed ip over wireless, and is peering with its neighbours, then the world becomes a true web. Why connect via maBell and pay $$$ lots, when these local wireless networks grow and peer to a level where xx% of your ip traffic can be routed without ever going via the major backbone providers?

Re:end of ip over fixed telephony?

[warpSpeed]

... and is peering with its neighbours

This is a great idea in theory. However if you look at the real Internet there are a handful of major backbone providers due to the fact that it makes sence to aggrigate your traffic to a few major pipes them many multiple smaller pipes.

Chances are that if something like this were to pop up in several ajacent networks the users on the networks would be interested in getting to the outside world, not the next neighbourhood over.

You would still need at least one point of entery to the net, and if you wanted multiple points you would most likley need and AS number, and largish, expnsive routers.

The single biggest obstical is the cost of the equipment, and even more so, the skills set required to configure and maintain the network.

I have had dreams about setting something like this up, but the amount of time to maintain it is too high. When you can get a better routing protocol, cheaper equipement, I can see it taking off. But it is a little ways away, except for the volunteer efforts by some dedicated geeks out there.

~Sean

Actual article URL

[herrlich_98]

Actual Article URL

None of the links in the base topic is actually to the article.

Is this really cost effective?

[teaserX]

> CANOPY STARTER KIT, 6 AP CLUSTER, SUPPORTS UP TO 200 SUBSCRIBERS ON EACH AP MODULE $30,000.00

So let me get this straight. 6 APs supporting 1200 total users (assume residences) for $30k. That's only $25. Oh then there's the Customer Terminal Equipment at $515 a pop and a license at $28.95 ea and bandwith to feed your back haul...

Your talkin AT LEAST $650,000 to set this up for a neighborho(ood). That works out to around $540 per household assuming evreyone in the coverage area gets on board. I guess that's not bad if you amortize it over the year (or two). But what kind of freaky geek commune are you going to find that needs 1200 BB connections in a two mile radius?

Re:Is this really cost effective?

[Innomi]

> But what kind of freaky geek commune are you going to find that needs 1200 BB connections in a two mile radius?

Heaven?

slightly OT: wireless rollout in Allen, TX

[renehollan]

There's a company starting to rollout wireless access in the Allen, TX area, and being a geek (and not particularly liking my $80/month DSL bill for 768k/384k (with $15/month for a dedicated pair, 'cause I'm 15.6 kft from the DSLAM)), I looked into it.

I can get 2 Mbit up/down, synchronous, for something like $40-$50 a month, so it looks interesting. However, I share that bandwidth with all the people in my quadrant, so, like cable modems, if I'm an early adopter, I get great bandwidth, but if it gets popular, there will be times when it gets clogged up.

Is it worth the $30 extra a month that I'm paying now? Well, I've had few problems, bandwidth is great, and I don't need to worry anout rain fade (ask me about my terrestrial HDTV and DirectTV signals).

Systems like this probably need bandwidth caps on users, and the ability to support multiple channels in a single quadrant. Remember the days of asking what the user/modem ratio for a dial-up ISP was before chosing one? Same kind of thing.

Compare it to diggin up the roads

[Moderation abuser]

How much does it cost to lay a cable to 1200 people? It's also 10Mbit both ways.

Against 802.11b it isn't quite so hot, but it's a *turnkey solution* to the last mile problem where you'll probably have to roll a whole load of your own software and hardware out of 802.11b kit. Plus it'll get cheaper with negotiation and time.

Basically they've taken a leaf from the 802.11b book and put it in the telco space. For the telcos, it's a cheap turnkey solution to the last mile problem.

Re:Not newsworthy

[Salamander]

their are dozens of manafactures of Access points and customer premise equipment that looks exactly like that

(1) You meant "there". (2) Looks aren't everything.

The Musenki system doesn't look at all comparable. As for TechsPlanet, you might want to check your math. The system you reference is designed for 500 users total. The $30K Canopy system includes 6 APs supporting 200 users each for a total of 1200. Also, the 30-mile radius you claim is very highly questionable even with a directional antenna; it's totally out of the question with the antennas specified in the document you linked to. Lastly, both Musenki and TechsPlanet make quite a point of the fact that their installations involve custom design and installation, instead of being out-of-the-box capable.

You might very well be right that this is not significantly superior to a properly designed 802.11b setup. That ceased to be the point a while ago, if it ever was. The fact of this technology's commoditization is still newsworthy even if similar capabilities were already available in custom form, and your habit of trying to make what might be a valid point with BS and misinformation is simply annoying.

BTW, "a lot" is two words. Get literate.