HiSpeed in West Carleton Update
I am posting this West Carleton HiSpeed Internet update at the request of Sulo Viherjoki, the author. I have made only minor changes/additions. --Chris
The winter is almost over (touch wood!) and thought I'd give you and your readers an update about what has happened in my neck of the woods since December 2007. I have received responses from some of your readers on my original posting.
There is nothing new to report on from Xplornet and my friends/politicians at city hall.
No new news to report from Sympatico Unplugged or Xplornet either.
However, Rogers has a cell tower within viewing range of my living room window and it supports Rogers Portable Internet. To my knowledge, the only subscriber is the property owner on which the tower is located. He (a mutual friend) was unaware until I told him that Rogers had Wireless internet on this tower. This tower is located on the south side of Richardson Side Road, mid way between the intersections of David Manchester Road and Spruce Ride Road.
Note that although the Rogers website shows only limited access from this tower, their coverage map may be overly pessimistic. This is after talking to their staff at the Rogers Centrum Kanata location. Since they have both an inside and outside installable modem available, I am optimistic that I will be able to get a signal. I have to wait till the snowbanks around my house are gone though!
In addition, I would like to share with you and your readers that the current issue (April 2008 - No. 199) of Harrowsmith Country Life has an article on Rural Internet Options ("High Speed in Cow Country"). The 2 highlights of the article IMHO are:
1.) All of Nunavut now has high-speed, and
[Chris' note: While this may be true, my understanding is that most of the high-speed is satellite based.]
2.) a small startup homebrew operation near Woodstock, Ontario is offering wireless service for a one time connect/install fee of $99 and monthly charges of $29. They were able to do this in most cases by partnering with local farmers to install their equipment on silos, rather than building expensive expensive towers from the ground up.
[Chris' note: The now-defunct Arryba Communications tried to do something similar. In the fact, the tower that services my home is mounted on a silo about 2 kilometres up the road. I think some other small ISPs in the area (Northwind?) are doing something similar as well, but I could be wrong. In any case, I think co-op ISPs are an excellent grass-roots means of getting high-speed to rural areas; I considered do it myself.]
Sulo Viherjoki
The winter is almost over (touch wood!) and thought I'd give you and your readers an update about what has happened in my neck of the woods since December 2007. I have received responses from some of your readers on my original posting.
There is nothing new to report on from Xplornet and my friends/politicians at city hall.
No new news to report from Sympatico Unplugged or Xplornet either.
However, Rogers has a cell tower within viewing range of my living room window and it supports Rogers Portable Internet. To my knowledge, the only subscriber is the property owner on which the tower is located. He (a mutual friend) was unaware until I told him that Rogers had Wireless internet on this tower. This tower is located on the south side of Richardson Side Road, mid way between the intersections of David Manchester Road and Spruce Ride Road.
Note that although the Rogers website shows only limited access from this tower, their coverage map may be overly pessimistic. This is after talking to their staff at the Rogers Centrum Kanata location. Since they have both an inside and outside installable modem available, I am optimistic that I will be able to get a signal. I have to wait till the snowbanks around my house are gone though!
In addition, I would like to share with you and your readers that the current issue (April 2008 - No. 199) of Harrowsmith Country Life has an article on Rural Internet Options ("High Speed in Cow Country"). The 2 highlights of the article IMHO are:
1.) All of Nunavut now has high-speed, and
[Chris' note: While this may be true, my understanding is that most of the high-speed is satellite based.]
2.) a small startup homebrew operation near Woodstock, Ontario is offering wireless service for a one time connect/install fee of $99 and monthly charges of $29. They were able to do this in most cases by partnering with local farmers to install their equipment on silos, rather than building expensive expensive towers from the ground up.
[Chris' note: The now-defunct Arryba Communications tried to do something similar. In the fact, the tower that services my home is mounted on a silo about 2 kilometres up the road. I think some other small ISPs in the area (Northwind?) are doing something similar as well, but I could be wrong. In any case, I think co-op ISPs are an excellent grass-roots means of getting high-speed to rural areas; I considered do it myself.]
Sulo Viherjoki
posted by Chris Spencer at 10:10 pm
3 comments
3 Comments:
I live next door to the property with the Roger's tower and have a clear line of sight to it. Please keep us updated if you get things working. I've heard Bell and Rogers are reluctant to let you sign up and take a modem if your address is not shown as in coverage.
Also, I thought that Bell and Rogers were sharing the network for the Portable Internet/WiMax, have I confused something or should I be able to use either Rogers or Bell for this even though it is a Rogers tower?
I was told by an Xplornet representative that they were looking at putting an antenna on top of the silo on Spruce Ridge to help with coverage in our area but I have not seen anything installed to date.
Just a follow up to my comment yesterday. I went to Rogers Wireless in Centrum and took home a portable modem last night. They didn't discourage me as long as I knew they did not indicated coverage on their map. I live between David Manchester and SPruce Ridge and it found the signal no problem. Their coverage map is definately pessamistic so I would encourage people to give it a try.
Thanks for keeping this site going. I think the need for it will continue as the services push up the data rate demands and our 1.5M-3M rate serving rural Ottawa are once again considered low speed. Sigh....
Bell and Rogers co-developed the Inukshuk network, which they use for the Sympatico Unplugged and Rogers Portable Internet services. However, I have not heard anything about them sharing access points (e.g. cell towers). If anyone knows anything about this, please post.
Towers atop silos are a great idea... if the owner agrees. Some owners don't want high-speed (which is the usual tactic to cover the farmer's expenses) and others don't want the legal hassles associated with unowned equipment on their property. When trying to find a silo in my neighbourhood, the first two owners I contacted weren't interested.
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