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What is the Current Status of WiMAX?
PalletBoy asks: "I live in BFE (read 'remote') Pennsylvania where BroadBand is not available in any form save satellite, which is no good for price and latency reasons (curse my MMO addiction!). My big question is: what is the -actual- current status of WiMAX technology? Different sites have me believing different things and I can't find an exact answer to the question 'When will I be able to buy a WiMAX router and cards so I can remotely receive broadband?' When will WiMAX (802.16) be solidly standardized, out, and affordable? Or is it already there?"
Until two regional companies started offering radio-link internet. I get 256Kb/sec up/down and am eyeballing another provider who will offer better transfer rates for the same price. The only problem is the price. Both ISPs charge $60/month. I am able to justify the price because I can telecommute a few days a month and save gas in my car. My dial-up was $15/month with a $17/month second telephone line. I looked into Hughes' and Echostar's systems, but their Fair Access Policies looked like bandwidth restrictions on what you were already paying for. I was going to stay with dial-up until radio-links came along.
"Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
It IS wireless after all.
Post-rock/Ambient/Drone and other noise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMax Seems to think that it's already out... http://www.towerstream.com/ should already be serving it.
The ISP I work for which is in Williamsport will be deploying Wi-Max Alvarion gear shortly. However, I don't know that that's really going to help you in remote PA. The problem being remote is even Wi-Max probably will not hit you here in the hilly areas. We use some 900mhz stuff and it works well through trees... but hit a mountain and you don't have a chance. Plus in most areas like that it just isn't cost effective to build out to hit 1 or 4 people.
Why did you just link to the same Wikipedia article that the submitterr linked to?
Back in the early days of DSL in the Bay Area (SFO/OAK/SJC) there was a guide in the now-defunct MicroTimes outlining about 40 vendors and what they offered. It was a bit exasperating trying to figure out which to buy into. Sounds like WiMAX is going to have a shaking out period, too.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
It's not just a matter of getting WiMax cards as the person asking the question seems to think. It's a matter of getting the cards and routers *AND* having a service provider cover your area. If you don't currently have a provider offering terresterial wireless or DSL/cable, WiMax isn't going to change that at all.
;-/
You do have a few options though. Move, of course... Or, if there's demand in your area, start up an ISP or cooperative. If there isn't demand for at least 10 people, you now know why nobody is offering it in your area.
Sean
Now I know I'm going to get smacked down for this... But seriously... some of the Ask Slashdot sounds like Ask Google.
I live in BFE Michigan. I have the same problem, but luckily live near a major interstate highway (I69). WIMAX is being considered along the entire stretch and is seen as one of the few hopes to get reasonable rate broadband access by the communities around me.
Even so, the earliest estimate for me is around 2 years until it is ready. Until then, it looks like Cingular will have its edge network in place, and it will be a likely alternative. Although it looks like it will be 8 months until the EDGe network is in place here.
Gator/Claria is Spyware.
It is solidly standardized in fixed mode in IEEE 802.16-2004. Products are in the pipeline from a number of manufacturers.
What is at issue is whether service providers will set up in your area. This is a very complex issue where spectrum policy and licensing collide with equipment availability, local permits (for towers etc), the cost of the technology and competition from DSL and cable. I don't pretend to know how it will pan out, but 2006 will be the year that the market gets effectively tested.
The current work is around mobility which relates more to handsets and laptops. This not only in the unfinished 802.16e spec, but in Wimax and the IETF, since for mobility, the backhaul networks need to be standardized and this is outside the realm of the 802.16 working group. Mobility will take some time.
Evil people are out to get you.
Clearwire is rolling out ALOT of new sites in this coming year. They're up to about 15 right now and growing at a rate of something like 2 every 3 weeks. I think Seattle is on the schedule really soon. The tough part is getting the expensive licenses for airwaves.
/Not a shill, but soon to be a CW customer when Seattle goes live.
But you can't beat the pricing for that kind of mobility in broadband.
Speakeasy has a WiMax setup on the Space Needle in Seattle, but the range only covers the north side of downtown. They are planning on rolling out more too, but I've seen less proof.
www.clearwire.com
It's 1xRTT and EV-DO, not WiMax.
or nearby if you want to get this kind of service - that or next to a major university (or state college/university).
you're more likely to get high-speed service over your power lines out in farm country, IMHO.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
(Look under the section entitled 'Kadigans in the English language for places')
You sir, are a KARMA WHORE! Geez, at least use a different link...
As I understand, the promises about the speed of WiMax are based on top speed (i.e. 1 user). Multiple users will have to share the same radio frequency and their connection speed will be lower.
I remember reading that 4G cell phone network will (with much lower connection speeds) will require on the order of 500MHz of radio spectrum. To put this number in prospective FCC actions slices of 10MHz for billions of $.
I'm not an expert in radio communications, but I don't see how the numbers (promised connection bandwidth and available radio spectrum) would ever add up. Could someone explain?
Our small town has been a testbed for WiMax for the past year or so. So far everything seems to be working well and the price hasn't been bad either. 29.99 for standard bandwidth. So far the only limitation I've seen is ling of sight. But, that should be remedied soon, as the operator is moving his towers to the mountain tops. (Why they didn't do this to begin with, I'll never know.) Verizon is the one providing the testing and everything. www.verizonavenue.com is the webpage (I *think*)
Here's a link I found on google, entitled "WiMAX News, Events and Training"
http://www.intel.com/netcomms/events/wimax.htm
The Butt F%^K isn't anything to do with it. BFE is an old term that stood fof "Beyond F-ing Egypt." It meant really far away, as it does today. I am sure this will get modded offtopic, but BFE will be used a lot in replies to this story...
Now- do you know what RFD stands for, as in Mayberry?
And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
Look at the nationwide map. It looks like most, if not all, of PA is covered with Verizon wireless high speed intnernet ($59/month+regular cell - unlimited - 400Kbps-800Kbps with 2Mbps bursting).
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobileoptions/
It may not be WiMax, but it gets the job done.
Also, if you can find someone within line of sight who has DSL or Cable modem, you can roll your own point to point wireless network pretty easilly, even with plain old 802.11a/b/g.
The world will not get better through technology. We must seek to be better people.
You can achieve similar results using standard 2.4Ghz WiFi
That'd be a bitch to do, off the top of my head.
:)
If I were doing it, I'd keep a list of default services machines tend to have if they're of X distro, as well as a list of any nonstandard responses the services give.
nmap has a nice way of telling you what versions of the kernel might be running, but that's all I've got.
Also, mod parent offtopic.
It's only an insult if it's not true.
My office in NYC uses WiMax. We upgraded earlier this year and we've had great uptime, and good speed. The cool thing is that the transmitter we connect to is on the Empire State Building. When I connect to the VPN from home, I can look out the window at the ESB and see my data flying through the air...
Thanks. Very helpful.
Correct, this is offered by Verizon and Sprint, this come from cell towers.
I live in BFE, MS and like the poster have no choice for broadband. Today, I had a couple guys come out and install a WildBlue satellite, they just finished about a half hour ago. It seems pretty nice, I get about 1.5Mbps downstream and 256Kbps upstream says some random bandwidth tester. The latency is pretty painful, I got ~650ms pinging google. The 'Pro' version of this provider is 1.5Mbps/256Kbps for $79 a month, 22GB/6GB fair access policy. My initial opinion is that it rocks when your only choice is nothing or dialup, *if* you can live with the latency. I went a month or two without a connection after moving from Memphis with a cable connection, it's kind of tough. So this is a pretty sizable improvement over nothing. I hope by this time next year to start seeing some WiMax deployments, but I don't expect to see any before then. :(
Kinda worthless, IMO, if you couldn't do something like play a steady game of WoW while riding a bus.
Unless, as the original poster posited, its a broadband alternative where previously there was none. I'd call that pretty un-worthless but, hey, that's just me.
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
Well, RFD either means "Request for Development" or "Rural Free Delivery". I'll take the latter for $200.
The standards may be fully-baked but it's still possible for different vendors to interpret the language of the standard differently. This happened with Wi-Fi and it may happen with WiMax. One proposed solution is to do a labeling program, like what happened with Wi-Fi. The WiMax Forum wants vendors to submit their products to it for interoperability testing. If they pass, they get to put the official WiMax Forum label on their product packaging. However, not one single product has completed this interoperability testing to date. You see products with a generic "WiMax" label on them, but they just slapped that on there themselves, without any kind of independent verification. There's no guarantee that one brand of hardware is going to work with another.
Breakfast served all day!
So are there any routers which will connect to a wimax hotpoint so I can set up my home network? Wireless to wireless I guess? I'm not keen on having N accounts at $60 a pop.
/.?
Yes, I guess I could google, but then, what's the point of asking
Welcome, visitor from another dimension. It turns out that in THIS dimension, words and acronyms can change meaning over time.
Thanks for the point in the right direction, rincebrain.
/., I want to know that my browsing can't be intercepted... hence installing Privoxyhttp://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa on my shared server space... but even from within the cpanel I havn't been able to ascertain what bloody distribution its running. (and Privoxy has different packages for different distibutions).
The reason I ask is that I'm using an open wireless network, and before I log-in to my emails or do anything more sensitive than reading
Thanks for the tip, anyway. I'll work it out in the end...
Try netcraft.com.
"Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
One thing to keep in mind when considering this is the huge difference between a fixed high-gain antenna and a mobile device. I did some work for a company that deployed MANs via 30Ghz point-to-multipoint systems using a proprietary QPSK physical layer. It had very similar performance to what WiMax seems to be talking about, but when you think wireless these days, you think of toting your laptop around anywhere and getting connected. Although our system was a very different protocol and modulation method, the laws of physics dictate that your reliable speed is going to depend on the energy per bit transmitted and the combined gain of the two antenna systems. In other words, a mobile device isn't going to have the kind of range and speed people are hearing about WRT WiMax.
Going back to my military days in the late 70's, it was BumFvck, Egypt. I never heard anybody say Beyond Egypt.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
The FCC recently approved the use of BPL, Broadband over Power Line.... This will allow the most remote users to get High Speed internet! There are a few kinks to work out still, but the technology is there, and ready to roll. We have to make the HAM ops happy first ;) Check it out here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband_over_power_ line
and the availability of competing services in closer, have you considered moving into an area with better services?
you forget:
A) it's not WiMax, it's EVDO
B) it's VERIZON, where they mumble under their breath "we feel like" after "anywhere"
C) Can you screw me over now? Good!
In case Slashdot is Slashdotted, here is the text of the newspost for your convenience:
Posted by Cliff on Monday September 12, @11:20AM
from the last-mile-broadcast-broadband dept.
PalletBoy asks: "I live in BFE (read 'remote') Pennsylvania where BroadBand is not available in any form save satellite, which is no good for price and latency reasons (curse my MMO addiction!). My big question is: what is the -actual- current status of WiMAX technology? Different sites have me believing different things and I can't find an exact answer to the question 'When will I be able to buy a WiMAX router and cards so I can remotely receive broadband?' When will WiMAX (802.16) be solidly standardized, out, and affordable? Or is it already there?"
Hopefully that helps save Slashdot's bandwidth for more news of the same importance.
A B A C A B B
Just watch verizon. Read the SLA first, it will tell you the minimum guaranteed bandwidth. That is what you will get, the minimum they have to give you.
Real life example:
my best bud, and my mom both bought verizon 1.5mbps dsl. They are only guaranteed 640kbps by the SLA. Guess what dsl reports tells me the speed is... I'll tell you 640Kbps so you don't have to guess. Kinda funny that both get exactly 640kbps...
By contrast, as provisioned by Covad, Earthlink dsl delivers a solid 1.24 Mbps on the 1.5Mbps deal I am paying for. As provisioned by Verizon, I don't know because wouldn't get it unless someone other than Verizon provisioned it.
My best bud lives next door to me, so it isn't the familiar excuse: "you live too far from CO to get full speed" crap. Though that's what they told him when he called....
Watch them... It's definitely them squeezing as much bandwidth as they are allowed by law.
l8,
AC
Also, there is really no unity on spectrum for WiMax stuff yet. For 802.11b, for instance, most devices today work in that 2.4Ghz band, so devices are all compatible. Not so much for 802.16, last I saw there were lots of frequencies that could be used, in both licensed and unlicensed spectrum spaces. And it's unlikely that a device you'll get will have antenna systems designed for every possible allowed 802.16 frequency... which I'd wager means that you will likely need to buy hardware that matches your vendor.
I think for the near term, you should see if you have either WCDMA or CDMA 1xEV-DO rev A data coverage in your area. EV-DO has decent bandwith, and DO rev A really reduces latency and increases reverse link bandwith. As a bonus, you should be able to use the service in most major populated areas... You might have to shell out bucks though. For DO rev A, Sprint and Verizon already own the spectrum, and are starting to roll out these services. The GSM folks are switching to WCDMA, but I don't know the state of their data services. My experience is that GPRS/EDGE doesn't have very good data rates in real life... youll want to stick with the 3G data standards.
Or, if you are lucky, you might find a smaller service provider that uses directional 802.11 in your area.. that might work reasonably well.
-- Erich
Slashdot reader since 1997
well, you have to admit it would be useful to put WiMAX where there's sufficient demand - it's possible you might find a trial service set up by a university in farm country, where there might be less interference, but the demand is mostly in densely populated areas.
Hence my comment that proximity to a state college or university might mean you can get the service. Otherwise, the economics just wouldn't work.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
i'm not sure about wimax, but if you aren't to far away from where a landline could be recieved you could always use something like this for the last 10 or so miles:
http://www.radusa.com/Home/0,6583,9279,00.html
shanegrant.com
For those who are wondering what BFE stands for:
r onyms_and_expressions
From the page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._Army_ac
-----
BFE - Bumfuck, Egypt... meaning: the middle of nowhere; any remote place.
-----
Oh, and AUA stands for Another Useless Acronoym.
WiMax is pretty well standardized from the perspective of protocols and modulations, but unlike WiFi which is developed for use in unlicensed bands, WiMax is primarily intended for use by network operators who will have licensed bands. (There will be some gear available for use in the 5.8GHz unlicensed band, but that is a small fraction of the market.
In North America, the main deployments are expected to be in the 2.5GHz "wireless cable" bands, which are mostly licensed to Sprint, the IFTS (educational TV bands) mostly licensed to Catholic Archdioceses but now authorized for subleasing) and a band around 3.5GHz. Various bands around 3.2, 3.5 and 3.6GHz is also where other parts of the world are expected to deploy these services.
If you are a large provider, like Sprint, you had better get field trials underway by now, or your licenses may be in danger of expiring. And you will be negotiating with a handful of equipment manufacturers for a wholesale deal on equipment working on your licensed frequencies.
If you are a small ISP, you will probably have to look to the unlicensed 5.8GHz, and talk to Alvarion. I have not looked much at who else has equipment for that band. Be aware that the higher frequencies do not travel as far as 2.4GHz, so you may in fact be better off with high-end WiFi kit built from the ground up for outdoor use.
If you are a user, you need to shop around for a service provider, and let them worry about the right equipment.
(I work for a small wireless equipment house that makes low-bandwidth wireless systems for very long range, especially targeted to underdeveloped areas of the world. http://www.afar.net/)
All you need to do is connect your first connection to a router and use Network Address Translation to split your one address into many private addresses.
This will not only allow you to allocate a fairly large address space, but will also allow your addresses to be unroutable, meaning that an outsider will not be able to reach your machine without you explicitly allowing them to.
This may be an overly simplistic answer to your question, but it should work even if you have to use an old box and run something like ipcop you can then have an additional router with some fairly sophisticated firewalling to split up your account and then ethernet cable to a wireless router.
Also, as I understand it, this coverage is more limited than their overall system coverage. So it might be a viable option if you're in a metro area, but I doubt it covers BFE yet. So you'll probably see it roll out in a similar way to previous cellular system upgrades.
They'll be able to make the amateur ops happy when BPL stops blanketing the surrounding countryside with stray RF =)
... When Google partners with Wal-Mart to install APs on their stores.
Deploying a broadband infrastructure takes lots of $$$. And where are the best places to recover your capitol expenses? The high population density areas (which by the way already have other forms of broadband already available (cable, DSL)).
The bottom line is that you have to already have access to broadband in order to get other forms of broadband.
I live in BFE Ohio and am resigned to the fact that I will need to wait for suburban sprawl to engulf my area before I'll have any hope of broadband.
We have a startup called Main Street Wimax ...
They have the wireless service spread over a 10 mile radius at $26.95 a month for 4Mb service.
They have this same service "morphed" into a free downtown Wifi network. (Basically taking the wimax modem and running it into a wireless router then installing repeaters every 300 ft downtown.)
It's building slowly but surely - it's not going to be for big cities - it will be rural broadband.
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
A wireless ISP locater as well as other good broadband wireless info is available at http://bbwexchange.com/. I was amazed at how many wireless ISPs are in operation in rural areas already. (most are line-of-sight point-to-point wireless)
In the past 30 or so years, many of them in the US military, I have frequently heard the terms "Bum Fuck Egypt" or "Butt Fuck Egypt" (abbreviated as "BFE") used to indicate a remote location. I have also (very seldom) heard the term "Beyond Fucking Egypt" (also abbreviated as "BFE") used to indicate a long distance .
RFD stands for "Rural Free Delivery", which I believe was replaced by the term "Rural Route".
BUFF as a name for a B52 means "Big Ugly Fat Fucker".
In the capital of Paraguay, Asuncion. We already have WiMax. Though I suspect it is very costly.
Wimax is designed to work in several different frequency bands, including the unlicensed bands everybody else uses and also some licensed bands. Some ISPs I know are leaning toward only using licensed service - it takes longer to get approval, but you don't have to worry about interference from everybody's home wifi networks; others are going full-blast with unlicensed-band pre-standard equipment so they can get fast rollouts.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Try getting 3,000+ people online at a 3-story conference center covering 200,000 square feet. This is Apple's WWDC at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco and let me tell you, it doesn't fucking work.
Also, of course, you still need to have an ISP within earshot who's running the stuff. Some ISPs are planning to do licensed spectrum only, and some are planning to do unlicensed, and of course the distance they get depends a lot on geography, and BFE PA is pretty hilly; your luck getting service may depend on whether there's a good mountain-top you can see that some ISP can also see.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
at the Idaho National Laboratory this last summer. They currently have a fully operational 802.16 network supporting their staff. I tell ya, there is nothing more cool than being miles and miles away from the tower and getting a full 54Mb signal in the middle of the desert!
We're all hypocrites. We all have hidden parts, it's the contrast between them that make us more a hypocrite than others
BFE stands for Bumfuck, Eqypt.
Which means "out in the middle of nowhere". I had heard that there was a city called "Bumfunk" or something similar but personally, I've never actually seen the city on a map so I am guessing someone was just joking with me.
It is a VERY common saying throughout the entire US. Don't know about our British friends across the pond, though.
availability in selected areas of the country. I've seen their ad on TV a number of times now. No idea if it actually works though...
There are some cellphone companies that provide high-speed data service (as opposed to relatively low-speed, which has been out for a while.) I don't know if they're in your part of PA, and I don't know if they meet your definition of "affordable" (they're usually ~$80/month for real data service, as opposed to ~$20-30 "unlimited" service that's only unlimited for use on your cellular handset, not your PC.)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Kinda worthless, IMO, if you couldn't do something like play a steady game of WoW while riding a bus.
But of course, since we all know that the only reason for getting BB is for playing WoW, right?
Grow up, get a real job, move out of your parents' basement.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
If you look at the whole of PA, there are large areas without any service.
Pennyslvania is a tough market for any wireless tech. Due to the hilly terrain, line of sight is limited. I'd make sure it works before investing.
I have field agents who use my mobile application in PA and they say most places they hit do not even get crappy cell service. So we set them up with dial up and modems for their PDA's. Cellular modems, from our tests, are slow (1200 - 2400 bps) and dodgy when used over normal cellular networks.
... Although if you can see a broadband tower from your place, cellular broadband would be a nice way to go. And to be honest, I'd prefer it over my home connection of DSL and plan to switch when/if it ever becomes available. I am not holding my breathe.
Gasp! I hope you got there in time!
:(
It sucks being late
You seem to enjoy the military therefore you probably also like anal pleasure like many of your soldiers. Please send address so i may give you such pleasure.
KTHXBI
xoxox
In related news: what exactly is "The Power of MSN Premium"? Is it anything?
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
Thanks for the enlightenment. I thought it stood for "Big Fucking Empty".
...but on further questioning said she faked it.
/. crowd which is otherwise very given to tinfoil hat paranoia? I mean, did Johnny Mnemonic not come to mind yet with the concept of electronic everything affecting the human nervous system? Did all the scares over power and cell towers and cancer clusters and cell phone brain cancer stories not sink in?
/. overall.
Why is it that this wireless stuff gets fawning slavish attention from the
I'm not saying it is necessarily all bad, but to give adoring praise constantly to every wireless trend that comes down the pike without any questioning of the health and environmental ramifications while not giving the same pass to almost anything else is merely pointing out the intellectual dishonesty of
We're willing to turn a blind eye to what agrees with our predispostions. Apple does DRM'd music we okay it. Anyone uses WMA DRM and they're pawns of the evil Microsoft. We give a free pass to wireless but not nuclear tech. We have no problem with anyone EXCEPT Microsoft giving software away for free and if MS does it, they're being unfairly anti-competitive.
I'm not entirely satisfied that we should be turning our present electromagnetic soup into a chunky stew in the rush to watch full motion pr0n on our cell phones while we drive to work with the other hand on our (censored) using it to steer, one leg out the windows and the other foot changing the radio station.
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
Consider satellite (if it is your last option), such as DirecWay. Yes, latency is a problem for gaming, but for web surfing the speeds are getting much better.
Exactly.... Any Slashdot reader worth his salt knows that wireless broadband is best used for downloading pr0n and bootleg music while you're on the bus! :)
He just SAID he wanted to play Wow on a bus, that's pretty far out of the parents basement :P
Good for the MMO players out there, that find time to do something they enjoy rather than just work 9-5 for the man and play sally with their wife.
"I live in BFE (read 'remote') Pennsylvania..."
You pronounce BFE as 'remote'?
I would pronounce it as 'buffy'.
I hope that WiMax equipment will be as
readily available as WiFi equipment,
so anyone can setup equipment. Will it?
So far it seems much more oriented to
being deployed by service providers.
WiMax is a FIXED, POINT TO POINT multiple access protocol for backhaul, NOT end users. It's intended for linking 300 foot towers with line of sight to each other over a Metropolitan Area.
It's NOT something you're going to use for your laptop, or cellphone, or even at home. You're not going to buy a Linksys WiMax router any time soon.
Ugh!
--Mike--
For what it's worth, I agree with you. However, since acronym is commonly used to encompass all abbreviations formed in this way, pronounceable words or not, there's no point in being prescriptive about it. Linguistically speaking, there is no "correct" usage: there is only convention, and conventions change.
If your comment title says 'Re: Foo', I'm not likely to read it.
I would have modded you insightful rather than just funny.
The #3 US wireless carrier is currently testing WiMax in one of its research labs, but there aren't yet any solid plans to deploy it. Test equipment is available, but the technology is far from ready for reliable, large-scale deployments.
... It's junk. I bought one, and the service just plain sucks.
1) If you exceed 160 MB in any 2-hour period, your download speeds drop below 56k.
2) You can only have a MAXIMUM of 15 active TCP connections at any given time; I share the cost with a neighbor, and his computer is riddled with spyware, so I usually only have 1 or 2 TCP pipes I can use which makes web surfing problematic.
3) They advertise 512MB speeds on their site, but the most I've gotten was 128MB down, 64K up. If the sky is the least bit cloudy, you might as well just turn the system off and wait a few hours for the weather to clear.
4) Their customer service is terrible, and their promise of "free installation" is an outright lie -- I had to pay about $200 for some idiot to stick a metal pole in the ground, right next to a seperate metal pole that was already there not being used.
Satellite is not the way, pester your power company for BPL, or find someone that's line of site to you within range of DSL and get a couple 18dB dish-antennas and make your own connection.
Starband offers satilite Internet without those stupid bandwidth bucket policies of DirecWay and similar companies.
Bellsouth is currently undergoing Wi-Max trials in Athens, Georgia. I think they may be testing elsewhere as well. (this is public info)
Me and some friends would like to start out a free neighborhood mesh network in our area based on WiMAX. Does anyone know exactly what mesh networking functions are already in the WiMAX protocol and which ones of the upcoming cards will be able to operate in "base station" mode?
Security is just a side benefit to the solution requested. The user asked for a way to split up an adress in order to avoid paying $60 per computer at his site. I figure they hadn't heard of NAT so I gave him my $0.02.
NAT alone does improve security. It is far better than a direct connection. NAT alone will stop a lot of port scan worms and door knob testers(the bulk of the crud that attacks simple users like myself). It's like having a cheap U-Lock on your bike, sure you can pick it with a BIC, but most people don't know that and it keeps mooks from riding off on it. THis is why most broadband routers & modems these days have NAT, it's a good first step.
Double NAT, however, is a different story. Double NAT is more difficult to breach. I am not going to say it is foolproof but it takes some serious effort to get across and for the networks that I have set up with this solution the end users have seen a dramatic drop in successful attacks. The only thing that I have seen succeed are trojans.
Still, if you want to be secure, I did suggested http://www.ipcop.org/, a linux distro that uses ipchains/tables and is a fairly sophisticated firewall and I have found to be a reliable and cost effective alternative to PIX or Checkpoint. Sites I have installed this solution in conjunction with good AV have had no breaches and they still run 98.
Security is not just one thing. Like the bike example above, security is many things: not just locking the front wheel, but locking the frame and both wheels; locking it in a well lit and visible place; bringing it indoors when possible... security is a matter of practicing many layers of secure procedures across the board -- it's using a secure OS, strong passwords, using virus/spyware protection, using firewalls, intrusion detection, logging, etc.
For the average enduser, most of this doesn't make any sense and you can't expect them to get it right even some of the time. But you put an unpatched Win98 box behind double NAT, even single NAT, and you will see a dramatic reduction in exploitation.
That qualifies as an improvement in security.
You are now ready for a job in the Rove/Cheney administration, since your devotion to principle is clearly unaffected by logic, common sense, or any other contact with reality, yet you think you speak for the planet Earth.
Just ran a snap test at www.bandwithplace.com in another window and got these results:
Communications 536.6 kilobits per second
Storage 65.5 kilobytes per second
1MB file download 15.6 seconds
Subjective rating Not bad
I get service on par with DSL and have zero problems with latency. I have a few problems with Halo2 on Xbox live, but that is more due to Old Gamers Syndrome than it is connectivity.
I believe that I am running 2.4Ghz, because the owner of the ISP suggested that I run down to a 900Mhz phone, and not up to a 5.8Ghz saying that he could promise he would not scale down to 900..
Provider: West Michigan Wireless ISP
http://www.wmwisp.net/modules/news/
Good folks.
Grimwell - old, cranky, mean, obsessive
I don't think that Rev A is rolled out anywhere. I remember hearing VZW was testing it for possible deployement like 2007?? I think the Rev A will be around 3.4Mbps down/1.8Mbps up maximum, which is still better than the standard EV-DO. Just out of curiosity, what is the latency like on EV-DO and EV-DO Rev A? Does anyone know.
"The boy is dangerous, they all sense it, why can't you?"
In the defense industry we used it for "Another Unpronounceable Abbreviation".
AFA was "Another Fucking Acronym", though.
I currently reside in BFE, Missouri (What a coincidence). The best transfer rate I can get is 22K modem (That's K!! Not M!!!) All the major carriers say that I won't live long enough to see THEM bring broadband out here.
I'm 39.
I did talk to someone in the closest town (24 miles away) about wireless broadband. He checked the topo maps and said I only need to get a 250 ft tower. A $60/mo. service plan for a year and I'm good to go.
Of course, I should get the 'net for free for a couple of years, given what a tower that size runs (tens of thousands of dollars).
Anyone have ideas on how I can affordably get faster speeds that a carrier pidgeon?
When you want something built, come see me. If you want correct grammar and spelling, get a F*ing liberal arts student.
I don't know where you are located in comparison to your neighbours, but I've usually found that I'm not the only one wishing I had a better Internet connection. The current WiFi standard(s) or even 802.11 Pre-N solutions may be enough for you to build your own wireless mesh and share the cost of a T1 line with your neighbours. Alternatively, you could look at something like Free Space Optics for longer hauls. It's more expensive, but that type of thing is something that the Municipal P-T-B might consider funding.
VPN over satellite often results in 50-75% bandwidth loss. WiMAX, BPL, or whatever Verizon is offering - will they suffer from the same?
Expensive, equipment-wise. Not available in many places. With the unlicensed bands, there's not a lot of space left at 900 or 2.4 ghz.
It might be better to get some people together and do some wifi link out to a location where you can get service. But that's a lot of work. But $500 can get you a power link.
For the record. I'm the same AC as above (I'm too lazy to register just for this follow-up).
First of all, I agree that NAT/PAT was the temporal solution for that user. He only had one IPv4 address and IPv4 connectivity. No argue about that. I also agree it is a security improvement. It's just a bad implementation.
What I wanted to notice is that NAT isn't a good option as a security measure. It's true you can use NAT as a firewall which blocks incoming connections but a firewall that just do that is much more CPU efficient and has not the problems associated with them. Double-NATing as you use it is just an esoteric not so efficient firewall.
The issue is: using NAT as a firewall is simply the wrong way. There is no protection system you can't do with a firewall that NAT provides. But NAT breaks too many things. NAT is the main reason there is no widespread IPSec deployment (which *it is* a security improvement).
Finishing, there is no need to touch the IP address space to block connections. It is just needed to enforce sane incoming/outgoing ACLs (a.k.a. firewall).
to broadband over powerlines? Wasn't that supposed to be the next big thing for... the past few years...
-ZMorek
There's an agenda behind NAT. With IPv4 and NAT, consumers aren't routable. This forces consumers to relay their connections through a corporation who has enough money to buy scarce IPv4 addresses. Thus unprofitable internet applications become impossible.
Corporations are also easy targets for government regulation, unlike millions of individuals. Imagine if a government required all consumers to sit behind NAT while only allowing licensed, responsible corporate citizens to have routable addresses. P2P could be outlawed. VoIP could be regulated and taxed. Key escrow could be enforced.
IPv6 enables "consumers" to communicate directly without middlemen. Think of the lost opportunities for corporate profit and government surveillance.
What really annoys me are the fascist, self proclaimed "experts" who promote NAT at every opportunity for security. Default deny can be done on a per-address basis. Next argument for NAT please.
I want FTTP.
It was an example, dipshit, seeing as how you're completely unaware that most wifi BB have shitty unreliable connections.
Replace "play wow" with any of your favorites:
downloading porn
p2p
reading slashdot
Get the idea, dick?
We have secretly replaced these Slashdot mods' sense of humor with a rusty nail. Let's see if they notice!!
I'm particularly interested in the mesh mode of 802.16a, where each 802.16a node is able to operate as both the subscriber and base station. This forms a wireless mesh network, and this is largely different from the usual point-to-multipoint mode. A wireless mesh enables wireless coverage to areas not reached by the base station but can be reached by the other client nodes.
There are a lot of publications on 802.16a at the IEEE 802.16 Task Group A. I find the tutorial presentation slides particularly helpful in explaining the 802.16a mesh mode, although it gets really technical towards the end.
Here's a good technical introduction to WiMAX.
I am doing performance studies on the WiMAX network. Please contact me if you are interested in sharing your views, tips and experiences of deploying a WiMAX network.
w00t
it was an example, dipshit, seeing as how you're completely unaware that most wifi BB have shitty unreliable connections.
Replace "play wow" with any of your favorites:
He said it's worthless if you can't do Z on the bus.
That's stupid.
There are millions of people who will get huge use out of WiMax without ever using it in a bus, car, van, SUV, etc.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
I think you have many options while waiting for the fat cats to get to you.
- *IF* your satellite companys has the feature, use only their downlink-- but uplink with a land phone (little to no latency).
- Get a T1.. there not as expensive as the past and I believe the phone company will put them anywhere there are paved roads.
- You probably have enough pots wiring to have at least 4 phone lines at once. Find out if any isp in the area (or any with reasonable 800's which are not in the area) handle: 'Load Balancing', which is a feature that combines your several regular phone lines into one, which can be as fast or faster than isdn.
- There are probably alot of other people frustrated 'out there' as well. Get together with them and start your own little wireless isp..maybe even charge new people a few bux.
- And last but not least, should you get realllly desperate (or board).. Remember this? :)
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=58 383
I will gladly loose all of life's battles.. in order to win the war..
WiMax looks like a good technology - but don't expect to usefully deploy it yrself unless you can afford the mucho bux0r to license the bands. And if you can't, expect vicious competition and/or poor results.
This will mostly be useful to folks in broadband-poor areas, period.
Beware impostors! I have at least one, by handle
Expanding a vast wasteland since 1996.
Any one knows a way to encourage the ISP to improve their upload limit?
It has *always* been "BumFuck Iowa".
Always.
i live in a small (100) village, merely 15 miles out of a fair size town (which has no fewer than 2 cable companies, both of which provide net access.) the phone company has been screwing around for many years (i was supposed to get high speed access back in 2002, and last time i checked the calender, it's now 2005, and i'm still on dial up) and even better, they've basically got a monopoly on the net access out here. there isn't even a local number for AOHell. and the techs are blameless. if you call, the problem is with your equipment (regardless of the fact that no one else in town can dial in). the price is a bit ludicris ($45/month for 180 hours (comes to about 3 hours a day between me and my sister, which is not nearly enough when downloads take fracking forever.)
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
I just read this article in Interactive TV Today [itvt] (http://blog.itvt.com./ Looks like WiMAX will eventually be used to enable satellite TV companies to offer VOD, two-way interactive TV and voice and broadband data services--all of which until now have been big differentiators for cable. WiNetworks Unveils WiMAX-Based Solution for Two-Way Satellite Broadband --Says it will Allow Satellite Operators to Offer VOD, Triple-Play Services At the IBC show in Amsterdam last week, a London-based company called WiNetworks demo'd a WiMAX-based solution designed to provide satellite TV providers with a two-way broadband network over which they can offer triple-play services, including not only voice and data, but VOD and other two-way interactive TV applications (note: the solution could also be used to enable local ad insertion). The solution, which enables an always-on return path, is based on the company's patented "Hybrid WiMAX DVB" (HWDV) technology, which it says allows satellite operators to leverage their existing customer premises infrastructure (dish, set-top box, coax wiring, etc.) to deploy a WiMAX broadband wireless network at very low cost. WiNetworks says that it is the first company to use the new WiMAX protocol (IEEE 802.16 d/e) to deliver a solution uniquely designed for the DBS industry (note: WiMAX is a new broadband wireless standard backed by around 300 telecom technology and service providers). "The DBS carriers have recognized the need to expand beyond their existing satellite infrastructure in order to deliver broadband triple-play services," WiNetworks CEO, Effi Atad, said in a prepared statement. "Our innovative solution will do for DBS what HFC did for cable, and will make DBS operators the third and most effective broadband access channel to the home. Over time WiMAX' ability to deliver fully integrated fixed and mobile connectivity services will provide DBS carriers with an advantage over CATV and Telcos." According to WiNetworks, the new solution would enable satellite customers to order a VOD movie from a typical DVB set-top: the customer's request would be transmitted in real time to the DBS provider's regional VOD server over the always-on return path enabled by the WiMAX network. IP video content would then be delivered through the WiMAX connection, and the HWDV technology would then convert it into the DVB format and deliver it to the set-top for viewing by the customer. To ensure the quality of the video, an embedded QoS algorithm assigns higher priority to the video content over WiMAX-delivered data services. WiNetworks' IBC demo also showcased the integration of the new HWDV solution with NDS's VideoGuard conditional access technology: the latter was seen securing both DVB streams delivered through a satellite infrastructure and IP streams delivered through a WiMAX infrastructure. "The integrated vision of broadcast and IP has a strong value proposition for satellite operators," NDS's VP of product marketing, Gadi Tirosh, said in a prepared statement. "WiMAX technology in many ways complements the satellite broadcast and poses potential for both underserved areas and growth into mobile services with the introduction of the 802.16/e WiMAX standard. The NDS and WiNetworks solution also solves many of the challenges related to WiMAX VOD, building on the intrinsic physical infrastructure of the satellite operator."