New to wireless, with some troubles. (long winded) - Wireless Service Providers (2024)

PaulLaufer
join:2001-10-17
Exeter, CA

PaulLaufer

Member

2003-Jan-16 2:07 am

Forgive me if you frequent the satellite forum, for I've copied some of this message from a post I made there this morning.

I often need to use PcAnywhere with my clients. For that I've been using a dialup connection, and for the rest I have DirecWay Business Edition satellite connection. I get nice throughput on the satellite for downloads, it's been a savior out here since I moved to the boonies. But I have rarely gotten better than 1-2 kilobytes per second uploads.

My clients were starting to get a little disappointed in me being so slow when I connect to them via dialup. (I'm charging them a substantial hourly rate) The satellite, with its inherent latency, is even worse than dialup so it's not an option for remote control of computers via TCP/IP.

I then discovered a wireless provider called "West Coast Wireless" that services this area. www.westcoastwireless.com They hooked me up yesterday. Download throughput is not as good as the satellite, but upload is 128k, and latency is about what you'd expect for dsl/cable/etc. So my work machine is on via this wireless, and the rest of the network is on via the satellite, which is shared through an XP/Pro machine.

I'm locked into the satellite for about another 10 months I believe. And the wireless for 6 months. They seem to be coexisting nicely on the network. The XP PRO (satellite) machine doles out IP's in the 192.168.0.xxx range to all the other computers, except for the work machine which has a hard coded IP from the wireless modem. They all seem to be doing OK, though the wireless guy wasn't very comfortable having me plug the wireless modem into my switch instead of into a single PC. But no problems there.

So... here's the problem part...

I was ready to hook up with my first client via wireless today. Chomping at the bit, really, after using dialup for the last three months since moving here! This client likes to use Web-ex. We hooked up and it worked great for about two minutes. Then it stopped responding on his end. (He needed to see MY machine today... normally it's the other way around) We restarted things a few times, each time getting no response after a few minutes of hopeful spritefulness, and gave up on Web-ex. I said "maybe it's the Web-ex middleman, lets try TightVNC." We hooked up and it worked great for a couple of minutes, and then nothing. So I said how about PcAnywhere? His company moved and he lost his copy, so I tried to email it to him. A 15 meg zip file. After being encoded to 7 bit it's a 20 meg attachment. The upload craps anywhere between 50k and 3megs. It's starts out at 12 to 15 kilobytes per second, levels off at around 9, it may go for a meg or two, then starts to stutter, and then eventually stops. After numerous attempts at that I set up an FTP server. He connects and starts downloading. Craps out after 50k to 3megs. AARGH!@!$ I'm gonna pull my hair out! BOTH of them!!!

I'm waiting for the "senior" tech to call me back since my issue has been escalated by the tech support person. The senior tech neglected to call me back today.

I've since climbed on the roof to see if I have a straight shot to the tower. It's a straight shot with no trees or other obstructions, only about 5 or 6 miles distant. (It was foggy when they installed and so we weren't positive that there weren't trees in the way)

Ah well, there's always tomorrow...

Any words of wisdom from the long-timers here?

Thanks,

Paul

PaulLaufer
join:2001-10-17
Exeter, CA

PaulLaufer

Member

2003-Jan-16 3:09 pm

What would be their advantage in doing that? Might they throttle one tower up and another down to even out flow? If that were true I think I'd cancel my service right now. I say let the bottleneck be where it may, so that the pain points towards the wound.

My guess is that the big tower I'm on is overloaded. Last night at midnight I sent the 20 meg file attachment. I got 19.6 kilobytes per second, no apparent slowdowns during the process. This morning at 9:00am the same crappy pattern of fast for a few hundred kilobytes, followed by nothing, and eventually an email client time out.

They have another tower on top of the Exeter Mercantile building, which is about 1 mile from me. They originally tried to get me on that one, saying that there were far fewer people on that tower compared to Rocky Hill. The installers had a problem getting me an IP on that tower though, and so switched me to the big one on Rocky Hill. I'm going to get them to switch me to the Exeter Mercantile tower and see if it makes a difference. Funny thing is that the two towers have a difference in azimuth of about 3deg from my house. Nearly a perfect line of sight. One's horizontal and the other vertical polarization.

Unfortunately they still have not gotten back to me. I started calling them 24 hours ago.

Thanks,

Paul

Tom Zachman
join:2002-12-01
Dodge City, KS

Tom Zachman

Member

2003-Jan-16 3:53 pm

Bandwidth managers do an excellent job. The average surfer clicks, and the data flows until the page is done. Most pages load way before the 2 minute window closes.
The bandwidth hog is throttled back to allow for other subscriber's usage.

You should have had the wisp's sales department explain how much bandwidth they subscribe to, and how much bandwidth is available on their backhaul link, and how many subscribers are sharing your access point. And he should have asked you what your normal patterns are going to be like as a subscriber on their network.

I do think there is technical trouble.

PaulLaufer
join:2001-10-17
Exeter, CA

PaulLaufer

Member

2003-Jan-16 4:27 pm

OK, now I've shot coffe out of my nose here!!!! Of the 10 or so ISP's I've had over the years, the only one who had a sales department who knew what your words mean was "Surf City", down in Huntington Beach, CA. Those guys were the best!

The sales bambi here was very pretty sounding.....and soothing to the ear.

I can see from the posts I've read here that the majority of you have built your own WISP's from the ground up, and you're all technically savvy. I think I saw one post saying that you have your board meetings with your wife over 8:00am coffee, and put things in motion at 8:30am. I like that style, and that's how I run my business here as well. But my business relies on having a GOOD connection to the internet so I can remote control other PC's. I only need 128/128, but it must be continuous, with low latency.

If one of you guys can give me that I'll sign up for a year @ $100.00/Mo. today!

said by Tom Zachman:You should have had the wisp's sales department explain how much bandwidth they subscribe to, and how much bandwidth is available on their backhaul link, and how many subscribers are sharing your access point. And he should have asked you what your normal patterns are going to be like as a subscriber on their network.

One other thing that just dawned on me. Had I asked those questions, and gotten the answers, I wouldn't know how to interpret them anyway. What's "too many" subscribers sharing my access point? I guess you'd have to look at the big picture to really have an idea of whether or not a particular connection was going to work out. I consider myself a savvy user, but I'm sure I could still be flim-flammed by someone in the industry who could shoot a bunch of buzz words at me.... YOU know the jargon and so you wouldn't have a problem.

Thanks,

Paul

Tom Zachman
join:2002-12-01
Dodge City, KS

Tom Zachman

Member

2003-Jan-16 5:19 pm

Nose around your town a little bit to find who might be able to provide a "fractional T-1" line. It won't be a hundred bucks, but it will deliver what you need.

Should you get a fraction or even a whole T-1, you will have excess capacity. You won't be constantly drawing/sending data. What you're paying for is "Use it or loose it" service. Now, go next door and ask your neighbor if he wants faster service. Then go to the other homes within sight of your place and ask them if they want faster service. Find out if they want share your pipe and the costs. If enough of them want it and are willing to purchase the gear, then you're co-operating. If you have 40 people wanting to draw from your pipe and are willing to pay $30.00+ per month (after they buy their equipment), then you're a WISP, too.

mabatche to PaulLaufer

Member

2003-Jan-17 12:08 pm

PaulLaufer
join:2001-10-17
Exeter, CA

PaulLaufer

Member

2003-Jan-17 1:31 pm

I finally got a call from them late yesterday. They said that they are going to be working on the tower located on the Exeter Mercantile Building this Saturday, and will come out Monday to connect me to that tower. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

>>ikarus said: Is your provider running Raylink hardware?>mabatche said:May be a bit off-topic, but I think it applies... Have you looked into ISDN at all?

Funny thing you should mention that. My buddy yesterday told me that ISDN is still going strong, and that it's 128/128 with reliable connectivity anywhere you have a phone line. I'm not familliar with the technology at all, but if this wireless doesn't work out I'll have to do that. I'm sick and tired of remote control via dialup. Thanks for the heads up!

If I do get ISDN, and the wireless people hold me to my contract (which I haven't really analyzed yet), then I'd have two dialups, one satellite, one wireless, and one ISDN connection all at the same time. And I'd trade them all for my good old Surf City DSL 1.5/128 connection I had in Long Beach.

Thanks,

Paul