[Hidden-tech] WiredWest fiberoptic broadband

[Matthew S. Crocker]

> From: "Christopher Eliot" <cre at chriseliot.com>
> To: "Matthew S. Crocker" <matthew at corp.crocker.com>
> Cc: "Town Websites" <townwebsites at gmail.com>, hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
> Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2010 7:25:07 PM
> Subject: Re: [Hidden-tech] WiredWest fiberoptic broadband
> 
> How about:
> >
> > -- State builds a regional fiber network to every town (MBI is  
> > working on this)
> > -- Towns build a municipal fiber network to every street (town funds
>  
> > via bonding like building a road or bridge)
> 
> With a wireless access point every quarter or half mile along the  
> street? Would that be enough? Can wireless reach 1/8 or 1/4 miles?

Wireless won't support video so you are limited to data & voice.   Unlicensed wireless with point to multipoint won't support much voice, not something I would sell residential voice over (911 and all, you really want it to work).  1/8 mile = 660 feet so a wireless transmitter would be less than 330 feet away.  You may need external antennas on the houses.  You would also need to keep track of other unlicensed gear in the area (2.5Ghz cordless phones, baby monitors, alarm systems, etc.) to limit the interference.

As a service provider, I'm the one who gets yelled at when things don't work.  A customer doesn't want to hear that their Internet is down because the couple down the street moved the baby monitor to another room and it is now interfering with the service.   unlicensed wireless is a nightmare to debug.  I had a 900Mhz unlicensed wireless network in Springfield that went 5+ miles. I shut it down because of impossible to find interference,  stuff would work great for months then drop for a couple days at random.  I donated the radios to the Connects and they had better luck in the rural areas.

-Matt

-- 
Matthew S. Crocker
President
Crocker Communications, Inc.
PO BOX 710
Greenfield, MA 01302-0710
http://www.crocker.com
P: 413-746-2760