Wireless to Shake Up Telecom World

Associated Press ^ | Sunday, August 11, 2002 | MATTHEW FORDAHL

[The Duke]

I hear "Internet push" is gonna be BIG too - I think I'll rush out and invest all my money in that!

Oh, wait...forgot...I don't have any money! *frown*

[RightOnline]

Look at the speed that your current ISP is providing to you via your high-speed access service. My guess is that you probably aren't getting much more than 10 megabit.......and if that's the case, then 802.11b will provide a connection that is more than ample at 11 megabit. It's well known that you can't trust what Windows is telling you by way of your network connection speed. Ours routinely says that we're running full out at 100 megabit..........but there's no way in hell we're running at that speed (that'd be network speed; we're smokin' and all, but NOT at 100 megabit).

IOW, I highly doubt your son would notice any appreciable difference whatsoever.

As for security.............excellent point. Nowdays, you can easily run at 256 bit data encryption on your internal, wireless network. No one short of a spook is going to crack that. Routers that you purchase for such things also have excellent built in firewalls as well.

In addition to all of the above, we also run Zone Alarm. That keeps twerps (well, along with the router's firewall) out of our "hardwired" system, and with the encryption on the wireless nodes / WAP, we're QUITE secure.

[Dog Gone]

According to this test, I'm running at 1.3 megabits per second, which it claims is fantastic. Sounds like I'm absolutely crawling compared to you. :(

[semaj]

Don't let Sprint find out. If you look at their service contract agreement you may be suprised to find that what you are doing is illegal.

[lodwick]

Try this speed test .

[usconservative]

What I signed said nothing about re-selling the service. :) I've looked. Their entire AUP deals with network intrusion/hacking, running web and email servers, and spamming.

[lafroste]

I installed a wireless access point in my home, then set up the new computer to connect to it. During setup, the new 'puter zeroed in on three other wireless home networks in my neighborhood. Turns out one of them is a pro software developer. He and my wife started scheming on this very setup the other night (she's a computer scientist) to cut our costs and share one broadband connection. Don't know about the other neighbors yet, but past history has shown some of them to be wienies. (Time-Warner won't be thrilled either is my guess).

[Dog Gone]

That's a better site. It provides far more detail, although the results were basically the same. Nobody is getting 10 megabites per second, at least as reported there.

[Glenn]

They are the worst for customer service, and they raise their rates whenever they damn well please.

How often do you need their customer service? How often have they raised their rates? By how much? I use their service, by the way. My first high speed connection was ISDN. $175/month for 128k access through Alltel. You're getting a bargain. Perhaps you'll be happier when it has the name of Charter on the bill.

[milestogo]

It seems as if the internet is about to become like free broadcast radio, and there's nothing the AOL Time-Warners can do about it.

They can restrict bandwidth and set limits.

[usconservative]

Funny Story - and TRUE.

A friend of mine who's in my Mens group @ church took his notebook with a wireless network card and drove around his neighborhood to see if he could connect to the internet through one of his neighbors wireless connections.

Sure enough, he found at least 5 wireless connections that he could connect to with a blank key and get on the 'net. One of them lived only two doors down from him, and he could get the signal from his neighbor sitting in the comfort of his own home.

That's what gave me the idea to do it. The new 5.4Ghz wireless systems that will do 54mbit connections have even a greater range than the wireless system I have now.

Now, ya gotta wonder just what the terrorist opportunities are here. I'm afraid to go into the details. ;-) But think about it: if you can drive through a neighborhood and pick up multiple FREE internet access connections because people are too stupid to lock their wireless systems down, what other types of mischief can be cause on the internet?

Inquiring minds...

[lodwick]

Interesting. On your site, I was doing 941, and on "mine" I was at 1.3. Who knows?

Anything but dial-up. Once you've tasted speed - you can never go back. ;-)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the link:

I got --- 2492/114 over Cable!

[Dog Gone]

Weird. At your site I'm doing slightly slower than at the one I linked.

It's been well over a year since I switched from a 56K modem to DSL. The difference cannot be adequately described in words.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Well according to the test you link to I get : 521.2 kilobits per second, they say it is fantastic also. Why am I so much slower than with the other test? Hmm!

[CheneyChick]

I just helped a friend of mine who is a teacher set up her new wireless Mac lab at the school. She had to move into a new classroom over the Summer and the room only had two drops. Instead of waiting around for the work to get done, she talked the Principal into getting wireless cards for all the iMacs and a couple of base stations.... We were up and surfing in minutes. No ugly wires, and it saved lots of $$.

Cheers, CC :)

<---Click Here

[KevinDavis]

How much does a wirless internet service cost? What does it detail? Is it fast a dsl? I'm very interested. Once I get rid of dialup, I may get rid of my telephone service. I have no need for it.

[tortoise]

That's what gave me the idea to do it. The new 5.4Ghz wireless systems that will do 54mbit connections have even a greater range than the wireless system I have now.

Yeah, wireless is getting pretty damn fast for casual wireless access. I've already handled wireless systems capable of 400 Mbits throughput, and others with ranges of well over a hundred miles. Its perfect for residential, though the latency and other factors are sufficiently crappy that no one would want to run a server farm over them.

[Bogey78O]

Wireless is capable of faster speed than cable or DSL. It all depends on the equipment used in the area and how much you're willing to pay.

I find it odd that wireless is being touted as being a cheaper low cost alternative to the telcoms when the most likely places they're going to put this will be in places where telcoms and cable companies can easily serve for just as much.

I doubt they'll be hooking this up in rural areas for the heck of it.

[Bogey78O]

As to the cable and DSL services upset over WiFi I can understand Cable. After all they sell bandwidth. DSL providers usually just give a fixed amount and leave it at that. A DSL Channel Unit splits upwards 6 to 8 megs of DSL over 4 phone lines. Whether or not you use it is meaningless. It's still there. It'll only bottleneck in the CO's server. With coax it's quite different.