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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 dan prisk wrote: > On Thursday 24 Apr 2003 17:39, Kai Hendry wrote: > >>Wireless. 802.11b is unsuitable. I tested it around my little village in >>the holidays, and its impressive but its range isn't so good through >>Cornish hedges. > > > I imagine this is what a lot of these community projects are based upon... > although a few seem to be mentioning some form of radio signals that have > completely baffled me (I've sent off emails asking for more info, so I'll > post it here when I find out). I think Kai is unduely pessimistic, community wireless is just about feasible in rural areas, but without an amateur radio licence you are restricted to very low power. The main issue is that you need to get to a cheap broadband connection fairly quickly, otherwise you'll be hung off a chain of a lot of unreliable connections. We tried trialing a big hop spanning tree solution with multiple routes, but the project ran out of cash, and goodwill, despite some successes. The big issue is that without a site survey and more experience you can't guarantee success but you need people to stomp up the kind of setup fees they'll have to pay for alternative broadband solutions (200 to 300 quid), and you need quite a few of them, then you spend it on kit, and hope it works. Thus it is far easier for enthusiasts with some cash, than as a business proposition, even if at the end of it you have a viable business. Microwave is line of sight, so you have to go over the hedges, this also creates other issues with placement of antennas, unless you happen to have really good line of sight to somewhere with broadband, without putting up antenna masks. There are some projects in Cornwall, I wouldn't hold your breathe. I read rumours of BT housing wireless antennas on some exchanges in future, but I'll believe it when I see it. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQE+qFH+GFXfHI9FVgYRAvhqAKCE/0RRG6tI5dPu214VqLbnvuLYMQCdEx9S vdRozs8A2xIsCDEDeTlSXhY= =s3FO -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG Mail majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe list" in the message body to unsubscribe.