psst...Kona...I'm not sure about your math, but $2 a month is still $24 a year that you are paying for it. It doesn't matter if you lease or buy, it still costs money.

still cheaper than your setup KG, at 2 dollars a mouth plus 30 for the service...

Bakerstreet,wireless here works perfect and was actually pretty simple to implement.The legalities were actually less than for cable providers and way faster.Weather dosnt affect it.Plus you can use it anywhere in town with a laptop and a wifi card.Towers are not special.Atall building works fine and a hill with a small tower works fineto reach lowlying areas.Two guys started this ontheir own and made it work.They have already merged with other companies in the surrounding towns.

I.R. Brainiac: Where's here? What is the speed of the internet connection? I mean is it true lan-like wireless or is it more like wireless cellular dial-up? I'd be interested to see the details of how a true city-wide wireless network is implemented. I wonder what the security on the ISP end is like.

Hi bakerstreet,I live in bowie (podunk village) texas.About 5000 people.Yes its true lan.My house has a small antenna,About 8 inches sqare.Speed is fantastic at 2+ mbps.Used to be only 1.5 max but they added a secondT1.They are now in some larger towns nearby and branching out to more metropolitan areas.As far as security ,I'm not up on that but they do have a way of keeping unauthorized users out.

I.R. Brainiac: hrm... Maybe it is the size of my city (Lexington, Ky). Downtown has a lot of 20+ story buildings, but they are riddled with cellular towers, I wonder if that is a problem? It is cellular hell.

I have heard of networks like you describe in apartment buildings and dorms downtown for the residents, but not over large multi-block areas. I guess I am behind. I wonder how ISPs overlap service, or if they would be assigned "channels". There are only like 11 channels on my router, though, so that would become pretty competitive. I had just assumed that it was out of the question with these litigious telephone companies and ISPs.

Thanks, gives me something to look into. Nice to know that it is working somewhere. I like the idea of being able to sit out in the back yard with my laptop. My little wireless router won't make it through the brick of my house.


[Message Edited]

What is the speed of the internet connection? I mean is it true lan-like wireless or is it more like wireless cellular dial-up?

For the last two years there has been a company (have to look up the name) which has had highspeed Cellular internet access with a cell-modem. It started out with 256 and has improved over time, not sure what it is at now. I have a friend who lives on his 42' sailboat that uses it. Says it works great and never has a problem when tied up, though he has had some problems with it when under way and off shore a bit.

There is now Spread Spectrum Radio Data Communication Links running 11 mbit and higher which are not line of sight

$$$$$$$ though...

Actually, that might be something Brad might want to look into doing as a second business. Starting small of course, but, I know that the Midwest is ripe for installations. You sell hardware from Clarion, Lucent, KarlBridge, BlackBox and others and of course the cabling, telescopic masts, and prefab mini towers. Set up data links to ISP's and other feeds into the net, or for busines networks with remote locations. Years back, 1995 - 1996, I was up at Annarbhor (spelling) at the University conneting some of the K-12 schools with 10 mbit Mircowave and Spread Spectrum Radio fall back when the weather killed the Microwave, to the University for Internet and also the AP classes at the high schools...

The state paid a large contract on it and it only took 5 days after the site(s) surveys where finished.

WIth the new SSR without need for line of sight, and a couple of repeaters you could go 50 miles or better so you could really get out to those in the middle of nowhere. Hell the company I ran product development and was lead engineer at has been down in Africa for the last two years installing this stuff everywhere. We did all of Nato's bases and most of the Military Bases connecting the 6, BX, MP's to Admin and the gates and on the AFB's the flight lines. Once your name is out there, contracts fall out of the sky from Education, Health, Government - Local - State and Federal services...

if I had to money together for such a thing I know it is what I would be working on building such a business...

mmm.... anyway...

btw: I am not a geek

I don't think it will happen any time soon. Soon meaning 2006.

That is allot of money they will not be getting if they chose this option.

Those who use dial up because the can't afford anything else just won't get anything else.

you know, it was almost 8 years ago that Novell started working on a network through the power lines and running into homes. They even had a small setup they traveled with to different Big Red shows. I remember they came up with the NDS and were talking about how great it was one month and the next month they were talking about running networks through homes elc cabling. I had a issue with both things and they really were put out by my suggestions.

1: the NDS will allow Business around the world to all join and fall under one Tree. I asked who would administer this Tree. They said Novell, I asked who was ready to hang their business out there for everyone in the world to hack at while someone else, even if it was Novell, had control of it?

2: Homes of the future will all be wired into the Internet and everything plugged into a socket will be net ready, Lights, TV's, you Oven and on and on. I asked who wanted the government to have the ability to either lock you inside your home or out of it on a whim? Also who was ready to have the kid's next door turn your Fridge off in the middle of the night spoiling everything in it because they got in trouble for throwing a party and think you narked on them?

Man, Rick pulled me to the side after that and asked if I liked being invited to the release parties and such because if I kept it up I would basically end up persona-non-grata. I told him to tell those that had him ask me this to pee up a rope and at that point I asked if they wanted my CNE certification's back, everyone was going MS anyways... I also told him that I felt that MS was going to take over the LAN market because of all the side line crap Novell was messing with instead of sticking to the core products which is what made them strong in the first place.

Rick now works for Microsoft, Novell does ok but does not have anywhere near the market share it once held and there have been times since then that it was questioned if Novell could or would survive another year... sad...

Novell Servers are more stable, faster and more secure with less down time than Microsoft has evern dreamed of being and yet they never seem to keep it all in one sock...