Neighborhood Wifi possible yet?

[timjowers]

Several years ago I got an omi and two bidirectionals and soldered to an 802.11b and tried it in my neighborhood with in 802.11b router. Ok. Worked as long as no car and only 1 wall. Up to a few hundred feet. In SouthEast where houses were sticks and vinyl. Not really something we could deploy yet.

How about now? Does 802.11N make it OK? Anyone have real feedback on rain? Distance between houses?

Thanks for the discussion,
TimJowers

P.S. I'd love to buy some equipment and play with it but money's tight and the main driver is to save myself and neighbors on the Internet costs. Costs which are always rising despite the obvious. And, in Charlotte, at least, cable is slow at times but DSL is much worse especially for uploads.

 

[timjowers]

Economists says "No" in 2007

"What no one seems to have bargained for was that, while Wi-Fi technology works perfectly well over short distances within a home, coffee shop or airport, it doesn’t work all that well outside."
and
"the vast majority of dwellings in America use chicken wire in their walls"
(Har-de-har-har-har. Sounds like someone never traveled around the USA.
-- http://www.economist.com/node/9244199?story_id=9244199

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

You have to go to professional grade equipment..and it will work well outside...very well. No obstructions.

And your main source for internet..you want a very fast internet connection to share to many people. And an account from your ISP that allows that (reselling).

Add to this...you'll want to keep the internet connection as equal to all users as possible...so you want a higher end router that does good metering of traffic and QoS.

 

[timjowers]

Thanks!

Thanks for the advice. Do you have any particular equipment you recommend? I guess I should mention I would probably set this all up to run through a Linux box to enforce the proxy server login and push a default web page and such. E.g. Welcome to Berewick Net. Please register to login. to prevent the war drivers. I see SMC Enterprise Wireless seems to have stopped development at 802.11G. http://www.smc.com/index.cfm?event=viewCategory&localeCode=EN_USA&cid=94 So, who's the best vendor or what's the best for enterprise quality wifi?

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I'll hold back from recommending a brand/product..rather...give you some sites with some options.
I've had a colleague purchase from these guys..
http://www.wirelessnetworkproducts.com/index.aspx

I've purchased from this site several times
http://www.fab-corp.com/

"Captive Portal" is the phrase you're looking for...to have someones browser first go to a sign in/message page that you designate.

 

[raleighthings]

"the vast majority of dwellings in America use chicken wire in their walls"
(Har-de-har-har-har. Sounds like someone never traveled around the USA.

The article was centered about Anaheim. Southern California. Stucco. Yes, wire lath as a foundation. But that's not even close to "vast majority" for the entire country. It depends on where and when built. That nice foil on insulation put into many walls in the 80s or 90s is a real hassle. Or the 1' masonry walls in older buildings. Or metal roofs. (These can turn into a dish trying to direct signals in a house towards the center of the earth.)

There are a lot of issues that can affect anything but 2 by wood frame construction.

 

[sdeleeuw]

One thing you really need to look at with sharing the internet is any unethical things your neighbors may be doing.. You really don't want the FBI knocking your door down and seizing all of your equipment because someone is attempting to hack a government site or download kiddie porn.