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Wired Voice and Data to Cellular Options?
otterboy asks: "I am involved with a remote scuba diving operation in Northern British Columbia. The lodge has a regular wired handset, with a wire running up to the top of a nearby mountain. At the top of the mountain sits a little shack, which contains a cell phone, a big antenna, and a black box from Motorola. That box provides an RJ11 jack into which we can plug the 'regular' phone, which allows us to use the cell link from the regular wired phone in the lodge, since the only cell signal we can get is at the top of this mountain. We also use a GSM modem (over the 'regular' phone line, which gets converted to a cell signal up on the mountain), but the best rate we can get is about 4.8kbs. According to Motorola, this is a limitation of their converter. I've looked at Cellsocket, but it deals only with voice. Does anyone know of a converter with better data performance, or are we stuck with Motorola?"
The unit that the article author is speaking of is known as a "Fixed Subscriber Unit", which is rapidly becoming the choice method to replace the old Autotel and Mobitel systems. If you think it's bad now, just imagine what it was like trying to get *any* data at all over the old method of doing things. These new FSU's are quite an improvement over what was used in the past. No, Motorola isn't the only company which manufacturs FSU's, however, they are among the best. Furthermore, any other FSU by any other company will yield around the same (if not worse) results.
Your only other alternative would be to build your own network out there (either by a microwave or 802.11 longshot, or by running some of your own copper over the distance from the nearest telephone CO.) Sattelite Internet service may also be an option, although possibly expensive. At least with a FSU your only initial cost is in the capital expense, the recurring expense is just as if you had a regular cellular telephone (i.e. inexpensive.)
Speeds can't get much better over a cellular network because of all the latency involved. Just be thankful that you've got a CDMA FSU as opposed to one that uses the old-school analog AMPS. The signal's gotta go up to the shack, over the air (a great distance by the sound of it), into the cell tower, then trunk it all the way back to your ISP, where the signal gets converted. That's a lot of delay, not withstanding the sound quality factors, you're not going to get much better.
Naturally, I'm speaking of carrying an actual modem carrier over CDMA (as opposed to something like 1x, which is raw data.) Personally, I'd try to get some 802.11 longshot going, perhaps with the co-operation of your local amateur radio group, especially since you have the facilities atop the mountain already.