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Fido Launches New Broadband Wireless Access
bug-eyed monster writes "Fido is launching a new wireless internet service with 'Download at speeds of up to 2.2 Mbps,' in Richmond BC and Cumberland ON. It uses a special modem that plugs into a regular network card. The technology providers' websites, Microcell and Inukshuk, inform us that the service uses Multipoint Communications Systems (radio-based) in the 2500 MHz range. The modem can be used anywhere within Richmond and 'up to 2.5km away from any network base station' (no idea if it can also run on batteries). Of course, this is all torture for me since I live next-door in Vancouver, just out of reach of the network."
This won't satisfy most /. readers. The CAN$40 a monthly fee only covers 20 GB down and 5 GB up. Extra GBs cost CAN$10 each.
In the USA, we have one oddball cell company called Cricket that offers unlimited local calls and a decent rate for long distance. The problem is that roaming isn't available from these guys at any price... stray outside of your home zone and the phone simply doesn't work. They only exist in spotty metro areas, nowhere close to coast-to-coast availabity.
Telus bought Clearnet a few years ago. Fido ran into bankruptcy problems a while back and many expected them to be bought out, but they seem to be recovering.
>> Of course, this is all torture for me since I live next-door in Vancouver, just out of reach of the network."
Two Words...
Names, actually...
Yagi - Uda
Many years ago, these two Nipponese rf engineers designed a nifty, easy to build yourself, high gain antenna, that at the frequencies you need, is quite a small package.
You see them all over, they look like sideways, one dimensional xmas trees. They are made in many sizes, for different frequencies.
They are however, mostly line of sight, with increasing signal attenuation (crappier signal) if the path is blocked by anything, like mountians, buildings, big trees, etc..
Don't give up hope. Experiment a little, and see if you can't connect to their network.
You may even be able to find a techy inside the company, who is willing to go above and beyond the call of duty, and help you out, over time, to see if you can make the connection.
Don't give up, go for it!
"Relatively?" More like it is entirely flat. The only hills you'll find are when you're hitting the tunnel, an overpass on the 99 or 91, or the five bridges that go into the city.
The reason why Microcell is introducing the service into the area is partly due to the fact that the majority of Richmond's population is west of Highway 99, which means the population is relatively dense. In fact, the majority of the population sits around Richmond Centre, which isn't really all that large of an area when you look at it.
GPRS has a latency that's just high enough to prevent voice over IP. FIdo is no exception. This appears to be some sort of 802.11 concoction that operates on a higher frequency range much like fatport or the other wireless providers out there.
These kinds of service are not even close to being new. There is a service here locally that has wireless internet, and they have been operating for the past three years. Why is slashdot covering a press release from an ISP web page anyway? Mod me down, troll, but its been my experience that these pages/ads are 90% hype , 5% marketing, and 5% service agreement. The only thing somewhat interesting about this is that this is non-directional, and the local service in my town just rolled out non-directional modems only six months ago. On second though, not very interesting at all. Move along, nothing to see here.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
If you are in the state of Virginia, USA. There is a 3 MBit wireless host called:
http://www.r-comm.net/
They are friendly fellas and their rates are comparable with DSL pricing. Nice if you are out in the sticks.
FYI the manufacturer will tell you the di-lithium crystals only need to be replaced every ten thousand light years or so.
OFDM is a good thing, but it ain't all that. Claims of non line of site operation are nice, with some of the products it will work a lot of the time, but you can never, ever build a business plan based on the builder's claim of radio performance.
Write me when you've done fifty installs and let me know how well it works
I am very easy to get along with, but I don't have time to waste being nice to people who are being stupid. -Theo
Been with Fido in Winnipeg for some time now, as has a friend of mine at work, and neither of us have any complaints with the service. Albeit, Winnipeg is a smaller metro area than the Vancouver or Toronto areas...
jaraxle