Wireless Internet Access Options
This is the area I'm very familiar with since I'm a Web Developer and depend on dependable, high speed Internet access to make a living. There are a few options available depending on your needs and budget.
WiFi Internet
WiFi stands for Wireless Fidelity. It is simply a wireless Internet access signal being broadcast by a WiFi provider which could be a bank, coffee shop, book store, RV park, etc. WiFi Hot Spots typically broadcast their signal anywhere from 300 to 1000 feet from the base station or from a repeater tower. It typically has a very limited signal broadcast range, however with the right amplification equipment you can receive WiFi signals from as far as 10 miles away or more.
Many RV parks now provide WiFi service, some provide it for FREE and others charge for it. You can expect to pay anywhere from $20 to $40 per month for a commercial WiFi service. The benefit of WiFi is speed and mobility. There are numerous FREE WiFi hot spots just about anywhere you go now adays and just about all laptops come equipped with a wireless adapter (equivalent to a wireless modem) built right into them which allows you to connect to any open WiFi Hotspot in range. You can also purchase Wireless adapter cards that plug into a desktop motherboard or USB port. The downside is WiFi signals typically have a limited range and the typical laptop computer's wireless adapter isn't very powerful so you have to be close to a Hot Spot unless you have an amplifyer of some sort.
This is one of the least expensive travelling Internet options available since it is provided FREE from many locations.
WWAN
WWAN stands for Wireless Wide Area Network. A WWAN, as the name implies, provides a Wide Area Internet signal. How wide? Well it could be across a state, a country or the world for that matter. The benefit of a WWAN over WiFi is availability. A good example of a WWAN is Verizon Wireless Internet. You simply plug a card into your laptop and you have high speed (Verizon is fast DSL equivalent) Internet almost anywhere you go in the US or Canada.
I've depended primarily on this service as a web developer since 2004. Verizon will cost you about $80 per month unless you also have your cell phone service with them, in which case you will get a significant discount for adding the Internet service. Recently I've also utilized WiFi wherever available because WiFi is typically faster than Verizon (WiFi is cable speed equivalent).
Cable Internet Access
You can get cable Internet service at any RV park that provides mainstream cable TV. It runs about $25 to $35 per month at the time of this writing. This is a nice, fast, easy option however impractical if you move around alot. If you want to save on the setup fees you will have to pick up and install the equipment yourself. However if you stay in one place for a few months at a time and are somewhat technically savvy, this is a good option.
Satellite Internet
If you tend to stay in one place for any period of time, this is the service of choice and offers the most benefit if you use it correctly. You can use satellite to:
- Broadcast a commercial WiFi Internet Signal to other RVers for pay
- Receive Internet TV Stations
- For VOIP Skype Phone Service
- ANYWHERE in the WORLD
In other words, if you set up your satellite Internet service effectively, you can enjoy high speed Internet access, watch TV and get cheap phone service. You can do all this for FREE or even get paid for using it if you broadcast a WiFi signal and charge a few of your neighbors to access it. How's that for a killer deal? The only downside if you travel alot, is you have to actuall set it up at each place you stop but this should take about a half hour or so.
Types of Satellite Internet Service
There are many options available. I will list the main ones by order of quality (and price) from most expensive to least.
DataStorm Internet
This is the most expensive and the cadillac of the line. If you have $5,000 or more to invest in having a system installed, you can get a roof mounted system that automatically locates, tracks and locks onto the signal with the flip of a switch. You can even get a system that allows you to surf the net as you drive. The DataStorm people were among the first to offer Mobile Satellite Internet Access to TV, Radio Stations, Government, Business and Emergency Services. This is a very high end product and frankly, it's too rich for many peoples pocketbooks. Once you have the system installed
Camping World
Actually you can get dome type roof mount systems for less through various places like camping world. They aren't as high tech as the DataStorms and you are still talking over $2000.00 in most cases to set the system up and then a monthly charge of between $70 and $100 or so, but they are not quite as expensive as their older brother.
DirecWay Tripod System
You can get into a nice system for about $1700.00 and as low as $40 per month. You can even have it shipped to the RV park you are staying in. This is probably the most economical option other than buying used off of Ebay.
WiFi News
WiFi News
Dade County Wireless Project Halted
Before it really began, the Dade County, Flor., wireless effort shuts down: Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Alvarez has dropped his plans for an ambitious county-wide network after the departure of a key aide. It seems that WiMax was always part of the thinking for this 2,000 sq mi network, but Alvarez was optimistically relying on the separately politically organized county school board to give them valuable 2.5 GHz frequency for use! Rather than, you know, lease it to Sprint or Clearwire for tens of millions of dollars. Very optimistic. I'm quoted in the articles saying that there are no successful countywide initiatives anywhere in the world (replace county with similar political units where unavailable). I can't think of a one; all I know of are abandoned plans and struggling projects likely to shut down. The mayor is quoted stating, incorrectly, "Several communities before us attempted to do too much too soon, only to learn that their models were impractical, and more importantly, costly to taxpayers." That's really wrong. In all the Wi-Fi networks across the U.S., only a handful involved more than a few tens of thousands of dollars, and even in those cases, there was typically a public benefit. St. Louis Park, Minn., Chaska, Minn., and St. Cloud, Flor., are the most notable examples of public dollars spent to build networks; each is a relatively small town, and each has a different story to tell about outcomes. A few large hotzones in Miami-Dade will still be built. Copyright ©2008 Glenn Fleishman. All rights reserved. Please notify us if you find this content anywhere but at wifinetnews.com or wimaxnetnews.com. Reproduction of full articles from RSS feeds is prohibited without permission.
Fiber to Link 22 Rural Vermont Towns to Rest of World
22 Vermont rural towns pool efforts to build fiber network: I don't usually write much about fiber--it's a kind of wire, for crying out loud--but this is an interesting model for rural communities that are still left behind in the telecom revolution because of the lack of interest by monopolies and competitors in rewiring remote areas. The East Central Vermont Community Fiber Network (try saying ec-vic-fun out loud) could increase the viability of these rural communities by providing a lifeline for telecommuters and local businesses trying to stay competitive. Half of the population of the towns has no option for broadband; I expect, although it's not mentioned, that most of the other half can only get a slow speed of broadband, too, since broadband includes 512 Kbps downstream, 128 Kbps upstream DSL. The network would requires $70m, and the estimate is for positive cash flow in 4 to 6 years from just 6,000 paying customers out of the 25,000 residents in the covered towns. The plan includes--here it comes--a wireless overlay to enable mobile voice and data. It's no walk in the park to build fiber in rural areas, but it's also clear that broadband brings business. I'd like to see some economic analysis of what happened in the Berkshires in Massachusetts following the laying of fiber along two major north-south highways across that region. There's likely to be little carping by incumbents or others because these markets they'd rather not serve. The more the markets serve themselves, the less the incumbents are required to pay from Universal Service Funds and other state programs to subsidize service. If 6,000 people switched phone service to the East Central fiber system, that would likely produce hundreds of thousands of dollars a year or more in savings for the local telcos. Copyright ©2008 Glenn Fleishman. All rights reserved. Please notify us if you find this content anywhere but at wifinetnews.com or wimaxnetnews.com. Reproduction of full articles from RSS feeds is prohibited without permission.
Business Flyers Indifferent to In-Flight Broadband, But They Haven't Tasted That Apple Yet
Orbitz's business service arm asked 640 business travelers about their interest in sky-hi Wi-Fi: The results are lackluster, but there's an important proviso. Orbitz found that only 8 percent of those surveyed thought Wi-Fi was important enough to take a "less convenient or more expensive" flight, while 56 percent didn't think Internet access was a necessity, and 36 percent said they'd look for a Wi-Fi-equipped flight but apparently not work hard for it. But that's before virtually any domestic business traveler has used in-flight broadband. My expectation is that as service becomes available, people start relying on it, just as they do with a cell phone. Few business people needed to make a call away from a landline or phone booth before cells were common and reliable, too. Copyright ©2008 Glenn Fleishman. All rights reserved. Please notify us if you find this content anywhere but at wifinetnews.com or wimaxnetnews.com. Reproduction of full articles from RSS feeds is prohibited without permission.
AT&T Gives Free Wi-fi to All DSL Customers
AT&T expands a previous free offer to premium DSL subscribers to almost all DSL subscribers: That's right: 10m AT&T DSL subscribers now qualify for free Wi-Fi at the 9,000 McDonald's and 1,000 other locations in AT&T's network (operated or resold by Wayport). Anyone with 1.5 Mbps DSL or greater, which is pretty much all of its subscribers, can sign up for free Wi-Fi at the AT&T Web site. This is another big win for Wayport, which has a few deals already for free access to its McDonald's locations: Nintendo for its DS2 player and Zipit for the Zipit Wireless Messenger 2. I've long thought it odd that AT&T was willing to charge even a nominal amount to its DSL subscribers for them to use Wi-Fi, because that set a bar that would keep people from using it. Because AT&T is clearly using Wi-Fi as a customer retention tool, not a real line of revenue, the $2 per month charge seemed a little silly--both too low and too high. I'm not sure if this puts any pressure on other locations or operators, because the kind of AT&T customer who would find this free access appealing is likely not paying for Wi-Fi elsewhere. And while McDonald's are convenient, it's not quite the same thing as, say, the mix of networks in Boingo's aggregated network or the comfort of Starbucks in T-Mobile's network. Of course, McDonald's is putting in coffee bars in its stores, and perhaps this is part of a strategy that involves the fast-food giant to get more customers that frequent Starbucks, thus increasing the average meal price. But McDonald's would need to put cushy chairs and sofas in meet the coffee retailer halfway. Copyright ©2008 Glenn Fleishman. All rights reserved. Please notify us if you find this content anywhere but at wifinetnews.com or wimaxnetnews.com. Reproduction of full articles from RSS feeds is prohibited without permission.
Wee-Fi: Minneapolis Network Nearly Done; Longmont, Colo., Considers Buying Network; JiWire, Boingo in Airport Ad Partnership; Skyhook Overview; Share with Faux Cher in the Castro
Minneapolis network operator says completion is close: About 85 percent of the network that US Internet is building in this Minnesotan city is complete, with the remainder done by February. US Internet has previously said that based on current subscribers and interest by people in areas that weren't covered, they could be cash flow positive in what seems to be months. That would be a huge milestone for the entire industry if it comes to pass. As usual utility poles figure into delays: Some poles don't have day-time electricity, exacerbated by what sounds like bad maintenance leading to cracked conduits where wiring could otherwise have been added. Longmont considers buying network at fire sale: The city of Longmont, Colo., thinks that the network built by Kite Networks for their city could be worthwhile if purchased at discount if no other buyers emerge, this story from the local paper notes. Under Colorado law, voters would have to approve. Boingo, JiWire partner in airport ad deal: Boingo Wireless will rely on JiWire for airport advertising on its 28 airport Wi-Fi networks. The deal is described as additive to revenue--that is, there's no mention of passengers getting free Wi-Fi for watching ads, although that's been part of JiWire's strategy elsewhere, including an ads-for-free-Wi-Fi deal for iPhone/iPod touch users in airports that obviously involves Boingo. (Disclosure: I own a vanishingly small number of shares in privately held JiWire.) USA Today profiles Skyhook Wireless: The company's Wi-Fi-based GPS-like service was picked up by Apple, and this should make more deals easier for the firm. Fon offers free routers to Castro neighborhood in San Francisco: Cher impersonator encourages people to share. Get it? The Cher connection comes from the Castro's long history as a gay commumity. Copyright ©2008 Glenn Fleishman. All rights reserved. Please notify us if you find this content anywhere but at wifinetnews.com or wimaxnetnews.com. Reproduction of full articles from RSS feeds is prohibited without permission.