Re: Locations with no good Internet (was ISP in Johannesburg)

[Joel Jaeggli <joelja () bogus com>]

On 03/01/2010 05:34 PM, Akyol, Bora A wrote:
> Michael
>
> I think for the people in the situation you are describing, the best bet would be
> one of the wireless technologies. Someone on the thread mentioned LTE (which should
> be coming out in a couple years time), and to that we can add WiMAX and 
> even the 3G/3.5G HSPDA type wireless. The prices will not be USD19.99 but for
> less than USD70/month it is quite possible to get reasonable high speed Internet 
> access. Will it be as fast as GigE to the house? No. But it will certainly support
> most web apps. The only challenge is that some of these wireless technologies still have
> much higher latency when compared to the wired DSL/cable modem links.

point-to-point  and ptmp 802.11phy derived tdm gear has been
outperforming cellular access layers on the throughput and cost
equations for a number of years. The choice of frequencies and licensed
vs unlicensed operation continues to proliferate as the radios get more
flexible and cheaper...

see for one ptp backkhul example:

http://www.ubnt.com/nanobridge

It is now possible to put together a passable community or wisp network
for what essentially is microcap money. Unlike rural electrification or
rural ftfth the prospects of doing such a deployment for the low
hundreds of dollars per household in aggregate are not hard to imagine.

As far as I'm concerned someone else with capital can solve the mobility
problem, the fixed wireless problem can be addressed in many cases with
sound engineering, sweat equitity, community involvement and a little
capital.

If a technology can connect a bunch of ngo's in haiti or connect
transponder sites for hf radio relays in New Guinea it ought to work in
the less developed parts of the developed world.

> Regards
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Sokolov [mailto:msokolov () ivan Harhan ORG] 
> Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 4:05 PM
> To: nanog () nanog org
> Subject: Re: Locations with no good Internet (was ISP in Johannesburg)
>
> Brandon Galbraith <brandon.galbraith () gmail com> wrote:
>
> > http://www.rric.net/
>
> I'm very familiar with those folks of course, they've been an inspiration
> to me for a long time.
>
> However, my needs are different.  RRIC's model basically involves a
> specific community with a well-defined boundary: bring the bandwidth
> into the community via a bulk feed, then sublet inside the community.
>
> But I don't have a specific community in mind - I'm trying to develop a
> more generic solution.  (The case of my friend who is at 31 kft from a
> Covad-enabled CO is only an example and nothing more.)  Again, consider
> a town with a Covad-enabled CO plus an outlying countryside.  The people
> in the town proper already have Covad xDSL available to them, and if we
> could stick my SDSL/2B1Q repeater in the middle of some longer loops, it
> would enable the people in the countryside to get *exactly the same*
> Covad (or ISP-X-via-Covad) services as those in the town proper.
>
> My repeater approach would also allow me to stay out of ISP or ISP-like
> business which I really don't want to get into - I would rather just
> make hardware and let someone else operate it.  A repeater is totally
> unlike a router, it is not IP-aware, it just makes the loop seem shorter,
> allowing farther-outlying users to connect to *existing* ISPs with an
> already established business structure.
>
> Anyway, I just saw a post on NANOG about an area deprived of "high-speed
> Internet" services and thought I would post my idea in the hope that
> someone would have some ideas that would actually be *helpful* to what
> I'm trying to do.  If not - oh well, I'll just put the idea back on the
> dusty shelf in the back of my mind until I'm ready to try presenting it
> to the folks who own the CO-colocated DSLAMs it would have to work with
> - gotta finish a few other things before I open that can of worms in the
> earnest.
>
> MS