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Parent-Friendly Wireless Bridge To Span 500 Meters?

GonnaBRichYeahYeah! writes "My dad lives down a dirt road 500 meters off the main road. The cable company will not put cable down his lane for any less than the ridiculous sum of $10,000. And he cannot get phone line DSL since he is so far away from the central terminal, so he relied on painful 22k/sec dial-up for access to the Internet. He got sick of it and relies on Hughes satellite Internet, at $60/month, but he still has to be connected to a phone line to upload to the Internet. It's not a good solution, but better than dial-up. His friend lives on the corner of the main drag with his lane and has cable, thus hi-speed Internet. I suggested that he get a wireless access point, and put it at his friend's house and then get a wireless card for access. The problem is that no wireless routers go that far (max range of -N is 200 feet) and WiMax is too complex for a 70-year old man. Any suggestions from Slashdot crowd would be helpful." Plenty of people make wireless links over longer distances, but often they're not suited for people who want simplicity and reliability. What's the best out there right now?

25 of 558 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Consider the do it yourself way... by avronius · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh yeah...
    Don't forget to fill the trench after you've installed the conduit!

    Failing to do so, may turn this solution into a bigger problem than simple "internet access"...

  2. Did he lose his marbles? by pigiron · · Score: 5, Funny

    "WiMax is too complex for a 70-year old man." At what age does WiMax dementia set in?

    1. Re:Did he lose his marbles? by Mordok-DestroyerOfWo · · Score: 5, Funny

      If your folks can understand WiMax, you may want to mod your parents up

      [Ducks]

      --
      "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
  3. Re:Consider the do it yourself way... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hoe (one per helper)

    The mark of true friendship is helping you lay cable even when you don't hire them prostitutes in return.

  4. Re:Consider the do it yourself way... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Christ on a cracker.. rent a ditch witch
    Is that a new slang term for immigrants that I'm not hip to yet?
  5. This wouldn't be on Cape Cod now would it? by notthepainter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe a 300 year old cottage? Just asking...

  6. Re:Consider the do it yourself way... by spazdor · · Score: 5, Funny

    Witches and hoes.

    Aww yeah.

    --
    DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
  7. Re:Consider the do it yourself way... by nfk · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of course the low tech solution would be to tie a string to a real mouse and put some cheese on the other end.

  8. Re:Doable with 802.11g by BlargIAmDead · · Score: 2, Funny

    Damn. You parents have their basement 500 meters from the house? :)

  9. Re:Consider the do it yourself way... by Amouth · · Score: 3, Funny

    keep watching - aroudn where i am that is standard for the tech whom is reparing serivce.. they will run it on top and leave slack.. then a few days later a contractor will come by and bury it 2-3in with a (some odd looking tool)..

    but it allows them to get service up to you now and bank on you not mowing your lawn for a few days..

    what is fun is when that contractor never shows up.. and told the cable company he did..

    i had a similar issue with my power last year.. one of the 120v legs went bad.. so they slapped a transformer on the side of my house -next day techs came out and identified where the leg was bad.. ripped up part of my neighbors driveway to fix the cable.. told them a contractor would come by in a day or so to poor a new patch slab... two weeks later the neighbor is pissed and the power company says it has beenfixed.. all because a contractor never bothered to do the job and jsut said he did it...

    --
    '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
  10. Re:Cantenna? by smellsofbikes · · Score: 2, Funny

    1. I build flamethrowers for fun: I see your toothbrush and raise you 2000 degrees.

    2. It was my understanding that modifying the antenna on an FCC-licensed device was illegal. I may be wrong.

    --
    Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
  11. Re:Do it like Cox. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I thought he sniffed sawdust? (you know, from the broken chairs?)

  12. Obligatory Ken Jennings Jeopardy clip by Solandri · · Score: 2, Funny
  13. Re:Consider the do it yourself way... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Christ? Cracker? Ditch? or Witch?

  14. Obligatory Chris Rock Joke Rewrite by wsanders · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ho: "For $20 I'll do anything you want."

    Dad: "Here's twenty bucks, lay 500 meters of conduit to my house, b****!"

    --
    Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
  15. Re:Consider the do it yourself way... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I saw an article where a guy did that with his ferret. The food at the other end? Strawberry pop tarts.

  16. Re:Consider the do it yourself way... by nfk · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's a good idea, so long as you don't burn the string. I had my own method for speeding up the mouse, but I figured it would be silly to make the conduit big enough to send a cat through.

  17. Re:DIY vdsl/aerial cable by number11 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Then go aerial, affix the cat 3 to a wire (for support) and put a 10 ft pole every 10 meters or so.

    For 500 meters? Better have some good lightning protection, or things will get exciting first time a thunderstorm comes along.

  18. Re:Consider the do it yourself way... by BUL2294 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't forget to fill the trench after you've installed the conduit!
    Failing to do so, may turn this solution into a bigger problem than simple "internet access"...
    You sure about that? Having a moat would be cool!
    --
    Windows 3.1x calc: 3.11 - 3.10 = 0.00
  19. Re:Consider the do it yourself way... by eu4ik · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's a good idea, so long as you don't burn the string. I had my own method for speeding up the mouse, but I figured it would be silly to make the conduit big enough to send a cat through.

    Mouse, string, mouse, string; which do I want to play with now? I know, I'll take a nap!

  20. Re:Doable with 802.11g by chill · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, but unless he has a swimming pool, where does he keep the sharks?

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  21. Re:Consider the do it yourself way... by carrett · · Score: 5, Funny

    I put on my robe and wizard hat..

    --
    I'm against picketing but I don't know how to show it.
  22. Re:Why not hoes? by theshowmecanuck · · Score: 4, Funny

    make sure they know you want to 'lay some pipe'

    --
    -- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
  23. Re:Consider the do it yourself way... by WobindWonderdog · · Score: 2, Funny

    I dunno, 15 people with backhoes in a synchronous dance of digging would be kinda cool to watch...

  24. Re:Consider the do it yourself way... by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2, Funny

    One assumption you are all making is that he owns all 500 meters of the land between his place and his friend's place.


    If you want to go the wireless route, I've had good luck with the antenna "amplifier" I built from this site.

    IAMALBISIIL* Just get some well armed men to occupy the 500m stretch and pay off a couple of households to recognize that it has always been yours but upto that date had been illegally occupied by foreign imperialists. Send more armed men to kill anyone who complains and confiscate their possesions are womenfolk. Pay academics to write papers that backup your territorial claim.

    You can pay me in slaves or loot.

    * I am a lawyer but I specialise in International Law
    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;