And here I thought wireless meant wireless. Stupid me. Shouldn't the
Earthlink representative have told me that on the phone or sent one
to me?
In any case, I've had wireless cards in my desktop and laptop
computers for eight or so years and I'm not about to wire them now.
What's the point if the signal is still inconsistent even with the
modem? Also I haven't a land line phone for years either so dial-up
ain't happening for me either.
Frank
On Jul 4, 2007, at 07:25 AM, Kirk Wattles wrote:
It sounds like you're accessing it mainly through a wireless card
in your laptop, Frank. People should know that you get a wireless
modem that's supposed to pull in the signal better, and they even
recommend that you take the modem with you for a better signal if
you move around between semi-fixed locations (the modem needs to be
plugged in, and comes with a big ethernet cord to connect it to the
computer).
Only some sections of the city have been set up -- in West
Philadelphia, mainly south of Baltimore Ave. (A map of the current
service area is at http://www.earthlink.net/wifi/cities/ ) You can
see the Wi-Fi antennas on top of street lights. They're a
horizontal box (like a styrofoam takeout box) bolted to the bar
near the light, with two white antennas sticking up. I have a line-
of-sight connection to one of those, about 300 feet through the
glass of my window and some trees, and the signal is still iffy
sometimes.
The speed is fine for me when there's a good connection (most of
the time). I test occasionally through the CNet "Bandwidth
Meter" (under Internet Access), and I find I generally get about
650 kbps, plus or minus 300 or so. It's nearly always fast enough
to watch YouTube videos without hesitations. The downside is that
it's not entirely reliable. You can use their dial-up whenever the
Wi-Fi isn't working, and actually I haven't had to do that since I
started two weeks ago, but it is frustrating not to get an instant
connection when the signal has dropped.
We'll find out in a few months if Earthlink is going to build out
the whole network, and invest what they need to put in to make it
work well. They have a brand-new CEO, Rolla Huff, who has a
reputation of being able to cut projects that aren't going to make
enough money, and the municipal Wi-Fi projects are on his list to
be considered.
In the meantime, the price is right (6.95 for 6 months, then 19.95)
and in a year the modem will be paid off (free if you keep service
for the year).
But did I say that the signal is iffy sometimes?
On Jul 4, 2007, at 4:46 AM, Frank wrote:
I've been on Earthlink WiFi for a couple of months now. The signal
is inconsistent and the signal strength is never above 4 bars.
It's not as fast as DSL or cable. I can connect to any of the
three access points on my list and they all seem to work equally
well.
There will be weeks at a time with no problems at all and then a
few days in a row when I get disconnected a couple of times an
hour. Also, the network doesn't show up at all in some of the
interior rooms of the house even though they have windows. It's
really frustrating. I joined as soon as the network showed up in
my list of available networks, so I've been hoping it's because
they're not done with the build-out yet. I remain hopeful but I'm
still using Comcast 90% of the time. I've been able to have two
computers connected at the same time which is nice but
transferring files between them is glacially slow.
Since I'm on disability, I'm supposed to get the service for $9.95
a month but the Wireless Philadelphia office hasn't called me back
yet after several tries. In the meantime I'm paying the full
$19.95. a one year contract is necessary as usual.
Also, it's sort of like hotel internet access. I have to sign in
with my username and password at least once a day.
And that's the story so far.
Frank
On Jul 3, 2007, at 11:18 PM, Joe Clarke wrote:
Hey Tech Heads,
What do you think of Earthlink's offer to go completely
wireless eliminating the need for DSL & in-house Router? Another
selling point would be
the capability of accessing the signal anywhere in the city. This
would have come in real handy with my last job, where I ended up
using my laptop but had to
find unsecured signals since our IT department was having
problems getting us hooked up. Let me know what you think or if
you know of a forum where
they're discussing this topic.
Thanks in Advance,
Joe Clarke
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