Rule of Tim - Very wireless broadband

Vodafone 3G would be what I'd suggest just now, but your coverage will be spotty at best.

You're not going to get cheap, reliable, fast and available. You'll have to compromise I'm afraid.

Pick what you need most and go there. If you need available everywhere then you're stuck with Globalstar or Inmarsat and that will cost serious money.

P.

What's the bandwidth with 3G data connections?

I've found I get about 14-28kbit average through Vodafone GPRS, which is disappointing. I can't find anywhere on Vodafone's website which states what their GPRS bandwidth is.

I'm sort of banking on persuading somebody to give it to us free, in exchange for publicity.

Inmarsat Regional BGAN would be nice, but I have a feeling if you need to ask how much it costs, then you can't afford it.

David

I've just checked out coverage, and according to Vodafone's interactive maps, there is no 3G coverage at all in the South West. Cardiff is about as far south west as they go.

:(

David

The bandwidth is dependant on the number of timeslots your phone uses for upload/download. This sounds like you have at best a Class 4 phone which uses 3 12000bps timeslots for download and 1 12000bps timeslot for upload.

In theory you can get Class 8 phones (Ericsson T39, R520) which use 4 timeslots down and 1 up and give you a maximum of 48-56kbps.

The theoretical maximum bandwith with 3G is 384kbps with Voda promising "200-300kbps on average"

I'd go for slow via HF radio at those prices.

P.

My current phone is a T68i, which I'm changing for a T630 in a few weeks. Oddly, I found the bandwidth for GPRS *way* better when I was with Orange.

What are the options for wirelessly "extending" an ADSL connection? For example, if we had an ADSL link in a nearby town, how could it be beamed (not line of site - hills in the way) over further distances than the standard 100m or so from 802.11?

David

According to a recent thread here BT satellite is not too terribly expensive these days- both ways. But for a temporary link its going to be a non-starter unless you know someone who can bring their kit along.

As for bouncing ADSL, via 802.11, its possible to get KM of range, but only Line of sight. You CAN put repeaters in, which under some circumstances can be passive, but its a royal pain.

On the other hand, recent experiments in Israel with pigeons have demonstrated a data rate of 2.47 Megabits / second over a 40 mile range..........

I kid you not.

Steve

Ping times measured in hours?

Nigel Worsley

Well you can't have everything.

Steve

Ah, Avian Datagram...

See RFC 1149:

What about one-way satellite, with GPRS for the return leg? EOL are offering one-way sat for 10 Euros a month.

You'll need a compass and a satmeter to line it up, obviously, and mobile operation's could be bit tricky, but even so ..

Implemented in Norway, April 2001

Thought the point of going to places like iceland was to get away and recharge, being out of touch being one of the great joys , or are you just so attached to all of us on a.f.l that you'd miss us too much :-) Rich

Just installing an infrared link for a customer, which will do fairly long distances (I'll get a spec sheet). It's a 5 grand bit of kit though. And it won't work over a hill!

It's amazing the distance you can get with a bog-standard 802.11b setup using directional antennae - several miles isn't a problem.

..and these antennae can be something as simple as a Pringles can.

See

Re the pigeon stuff - I've been designing and building networks for years - we used to have a saying "never underestimate the bandwidth of a vanload of tapes". Latency wasn't too good though.....

Bruce.

A veteran of FloppyNet eh?

Not if you use a rifle.

BANG - squawk - yes, it's there all right.

David

True, but for full compliance with IP specs, the header needs to be checked for the Time To Live first :-)

Nigel Worsley

On or around Sat, 03 Apr 2004 13:40:59 +0100, Mother enlightened us thusly:

Wasn't there one about transmitting very large amounts of data over long distances by using a minivan full of CDs?