[Hidden-tech] sharing broadband via wireless?

[Jeremy Dunn]

Greetings fellow Hidden-Tech members, and happy (nearly) new year!

I am a board member and active volunteer for a non-profit in Western Mass.
We are seeking a better internet connection than our current poor (26k)
dialup.

For various reasons, Cable, DSL, and ISDN are all not available at our
location, nor do we anticipate this changing. (we are more than 10 wire
miles from the telephone central office, and on a sparsely-populated road).
We have explored various kinds of satellite connections (direcway, skyway)
but there are some limitations for the applications we need to run.  We have
investigated wireless, but there are no providers currently servicing our
area, which is in a valley.

We have received quotes for partial- or full- T1 service.  However this is
somewhat expensive.

One option we would like to explore is acquiring a T1 line and sharing it
with neighbors via some kind of wireless connection.  But the neighbors are
too far and there are too many trees and hills to use WiFi in broadcast
mode.

The Question:
--> does anyone have direct experience sharing a broadband internet
connection via wireless, e.g. WiFi using special antennas, or point-to-point
wireless, etc.?

If you are such a person, or have a contact I can speak with I would
appreciate it very much.

Thanks!

- Jeremy Dunn
Becket