At 02:49 AM 2/5/01 -0800, Arben ARAPI wrote:
>Guys, I have wireless connection in my cafe for one
>year now. So let me just tell you of some things to
>consider if you decide to switch to WISP.
>1. Most important: Who ownes the router and the
>antenna? I had a terrible experience with this.
>Radio cards that are installed in the router (mine is
>from Ariola) suck. Within one year, I had to replace
>5 radio cards since they just died. And of course,
>most expensive thing inside the router is radio card.
Hi,
A radio card in a router is not the way it is usually
done with most WISPs. Usually, the radio is a stand alone
unit with an ethernet connection feeding the rest of your
network (or single computer). The network router is usually
outside of the WISPs control, as it has nothing to do with
their radio based service to you.
>I strongly suggest you that you pay little bit more
>but have your WISP own the equipment and, of course,
>provide maintainance for the time you use their
>service.
Always a good thing to consider.
> Even if you buy the equipment (router and
> antenna) you will not fully own it since your WISP
>will set a password to the router and you wont be a
>ble to play with it.
That is not really an acceptable situation. If you
own the router, you should have the password to it. Now
whether you should be in there messing around with the
configuration is a separate issue... <smile>
> The reason that WISP will set a
>password to the router is that the limit to the
>bandwidth is set on the router. For your information,
>router is a normal computer running on a special
>version of Linux (P 200Mhz, 10Mb Flash HDD), has an
>ethernet card and radio card.
Most WISPs that utilize bandwidth limiting do so on
their own end of the connection. They typically run single
box that services numerous radios, with that box running
packet shaping (bandwidth management) software.
>2. Another thing to consider is where are u gonna put
>your router. If your cafe is in a, say, 10 floor
>building, and you're on a ground floor, it would be
>very incovinient since the antenna and the router
>can't be in distance larger than 9 meters (27feet)
>between each other.
An unfortunate limitation of the design being used by
your WISP. With the more typical configurations, the limits
are much larger (antenna coax, and/or ethernet cable can bge
much longer.). For extreme situations, fiber optic based
ethernet can be utilized to increase the distance that the
radio can be from the rest of the network.
>Finally, because of my terrible experience with WISP,
>I just don't understand why would someone that has
>access to DSL switch to Wireless. Here in Kosovo, I
>pay 2000 DM/month (that is $1,000) for wireless 64Kbs
>link because no other service such as cable, DSL, ISDN
>exist. If I had access to DSL, and pay that ridiculus
>price of 39.95 I would never even think of switching
>to something else.
Not all wireless is as deficient as what you have
encountered.
DSL can have its shortcomings too. It's another one of
those cases where each cybercafe owner needs to look at the
particulars of their own situation, and then make a
decision. There are way too many variables for a "one size
fits all" solution.
[snip]
Earl
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Earl Green, Crystal Wind Communications, Inc. (voice)
352-563-5822
"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night
in the
dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find it was
vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they
may act on their dream with open eyes, to make it possible."
~~~~~~~~~~~~ T.E. Lawrence - Seven Pillars of Wisdom
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
**********Footer message for &LIST mailing list***********
To unsubscribe from cybercafe, send mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(NOT to the list itself .. cybercafe@....). In that e-mail type:
unsubscribe cybercafe <your e-mail address (optional)>
end
for details: <http://www.owt.com/users/jlewis/unsub_faq.html>
