wireless internet project
 

Just trying to set up a community based project with wireless access to the internet in a town with just 2,000 folks living there, any ideas as to how we can market it and make it work. this is not for profit

well... youll need the super fast connection that everyones gonna share... prolly atleast t1 or t3 i would think... then ya gotta get a central antena.... and everyone thats gonna use it will need a directional antena aimed exactly at the main one... and hills and all that will mess with the reception... its line of sight...

also... if its gonna have a range of over a mile or 2 you need to get some permits or something with the fcc...

look up 802.11 B thats the wireless protocal thats standard these days...

check out SFLAN http://www.archive.org/web/sflan.php

i was hoping to do the same in my neighbourhood, SFLAN already has theirs up..

Its not cheap or easy, but usually youll get a lot of techies involved that have a lot of the equipment

thanks for the advice
 

and the swift response. I should have mentioned that I am in Europe - in Ireland to be precise where we have got a cash grant of about 100,000 dollars from the Government to produce this service but are still finding the costs very high from day to day. We would have to bill our ordinary customers about 60 dollars a month at the present pricing structure. Can anybody think of ways of bringing down the costs or using the wireless internet service for any other uses - we have full broadband access

This is a very cool concept !!

Down with ISPs!! :D

If you find an old satellite dish and put the wireless antenna in there... should give you a big signal boost. Or so I've heard anyway. Not sure if that helps or not, or exactly how it works, but I'd guess it's something similar to this:

http://wire.less.dk/static/cantennahowto_metric.html

I've been thinking of doing something this recently. However I would do it for profit. My downfall is that I am approaching it from the "side project" point of view, and not a "full time job" point of view. Cuz once it's all up and running, shit will go wrong somewhere sometime when I can't be there to fix it. It would probably need to be profitable enough for me to have a tech that I could call on for service work when I'm tied up at work.

Where in Europe, might I ask?
I am currently helping a friend get his dream of covering the whole Lower East Side in Manhattan, NYC.

We just finished putting up our antenna array and repeaters so we have covered what you are about to do.

He's in Ireland. Reread the post.

Muller, please ping me offline. I work for a major producer of wireless equipment (both LAN and WAN), and have been involved in many projects exactly like this.

Coincidently I'm also Irish, not that that matters, but I thought it was funny.

I may be able to offer you some advice.

Mr Mephisto

We are basically a community development group which is trying to convince the residents of a small town to go on line with a wireless broadband project. We need suggestions as to any devices we could use to convince them and /or ideas about how to hook a strategic partner with cash for the project - in this part of the world (Ireland) All ideas welcome

guiness ... strategic partner :)

here's what I found from Ireland's area.....

http://www.nodedb.com/ireland/

contact some of those node owners.

Check out the WISP fourm on DSL reports. I actualy work for a WISP, but we provide access at apartment complexes. You should look in to using 5.8 GHz gear. Check out the offerings of trango and proxim.