Internet in the sticks

[BruceM]

WIMAX has much more bandwidth, and actually schedules timeslots for each active link so that performance under load is reported as much superior to WIFI. (WIFI has an ethernet-like system where anybody can try to transmit at any time, and collisions increase dramatically with increased service loading. More distant links tend to fair very poorly.  WIMAX is much better suited to a rural long distance situation.  

[rbodell]

we have a bunch of services from the ridiculously expensive Hughes-net to Prairienet where I didn't even get a sorry when I only had 5 days of service out of a month, no returned calls, office seldom open during operating hours and daily calls to have them reset my account up to the speed I was paying for because they would set it down every evening before they went home. I finally went to dial-up for a couple of years. Then I tried one that showed up to install it the same day I ordered it. 20 minutes after the installer left it quit and they said it would be 9 days till they could come to fix it. I canceled the account within an hour of it being installed. Then I tried another one that worked fine till a tree in line with the tower got leaves on it and the signal stopped. The service was fine till then so I built a 40 foot mast and it has been working fine for the last couple of years. I also use magic-jack for telephone too and it works fine. We were supposed to have high speed through the phone lines 5 or 6 months ago but that never happened. 

[lowspeedlife]

Hey Marcus, OOMA is basically the same thing as vonage, call forwarding, call waiting, voicemail ect, the difference is once you have paid for it you never have to pay again. vonage costs 24.99 a month, OOMA is a one time 249.95 & that's it, forever!  So after ten months it costs you nothing. Oh & a one time 35.00 fee if you want to transfer your current phone number.

   Scott R.

[Tom Reed]

Tom, I'd be very grateful if you could take some typical power consumption measurements on the Wild Blue system.  The company could not provide that to me; they had no idea what their actual power consumption was. 

BruceM

My Watts-Up meter says 11/12 watts with an occasional flash of up to 25 watts. I'm running 2 OutBack vfx3648's and my idle current for the whole house at night is 2.6 amps. The satellite system stays on 24/7.

Tom

[BruceM]

Thank you Tom!

I'll have my friend John re-do the measurement on the Hughes satellite with a Watts Up next week or so, and will post those results.  I think your Wild Blue unit is the lower of the two, but  he only used my  clamp on amp meter before, so the readings were questionable.  

[Mad_Labs]

Late on this thread, but...

I have Wildblue. For a guy that got 3k/sec for years on my rural dialup, it's OK. If you are used to "real" highspeed, it will blow. I have NO choice here, so it works for me. I'm all the way off grid here.

I draw about 20 watts, reliability is good, customer service is good.

Jonathan

[BruceM]

Johnathan, was your typical power measured with Kill a Watt or volt/amp meter?  I ask because the crappy power factor (PF)  of some switching supplies would tend to exaggerate the power consumption.  If you did use a V/A measurement, that would help explain the difference between your reading and Tom's.  11 vs 20 watts is quite a jump. 

Maybe Tom can remember what the PF was, or perhaps they are different model #'s of transceivers?

[miket]

My Wildblue setup draws about 14 watts.  With my IMac, total draw is a 100 watts Depending on the DVD running or not.  Measured on my Tri-metric (couldn't live without it!). Been with them going on 4 years. LNA did a year and a half ago... free parts, 40 dollars mileage cuz I'm so far out in the sticks... I ain't kickin! On the wrong side of the hill for WIFI!?!?!

mike

[BruceM]

I noticed that the Asus Eee Box is now available at Walmart online.  The higher performance dual core processor and higher end video chip version is  a bit more but is still listed at 20 watts.  Perhaps a lie, but maybe a promising setup.  Running Linux, the Asus netbooks are pretty decent; the EeePC netbook my girlfriend has is very responsive. (She has no anti-virus, I have AVG on XP.)

I just don't need a high end machine, most of the time I'm just doing email and web browsing.  Alas, I have to be able to run XP for some engineering programs I do occasionally run.

Anyone seen some good deals on low power  Mini-ITX or nano-ITX machines? 

[Jedon]

My laptop only draws 40W with the screen off, My PC is 250W! I charge my laptop at work :-D Getting the wife a laptop soon hopefully.

[Tom Reed]

My son and I built my PC it is a core 2 quad in a Silentium case which lives up to its name and is almost silent. Idle current is around 60 w. It is mated to a lg flatron w86 lcd monitor that uses 28 w. I do a lot of database applications and wanted a low power quite number cruncher.

Tom

[cschuerm]

I also live "in the sticks" but have business requirements for solid very high bandwidth connections.  My solution is probably a little pricey for the typical residential user, but it works VERY well.
I have a 70' tower at my house.  I negotiated a spot on a rural water tower about 8 miles away which had  line-of-site to my tower. I have a 5.8Ghz PTP link from my tower to the water tower.  I have a bridge router at the tower and another PTP link from there to a site in town 5 miles away where cable data service is available.  All three towers have dissipaters and polyphaser lightning protection as well as battery back-ups.  I've been able to maintain 36mbit links even during blizzard conditions.
If anyone wants further details, I would be happy to recommend components, towers, RF links, etc.  I design and install telemetry systems for a living so this is all old-hat stuff to me.
I have tried all the sat service providers and was very displeased with all of them.  Using my tower, I could have made a cellular connection, but the bandwidth limitations were a kill for my needs.
Cheers,
Chris S.

[cschuerm]

Jens,
I offered to replace their troublesome aging telemetry cable run in exchange for the ability to add my hardware, so I didn't end up with any re-occurring cost.  Since I had to climb the tower anyway for the install I was only out about $200 worth of LMR400 cable.  The PTP transceivers  were almost $2000 ea (times 4) and the tower was about $4000, so yes.... I have a pile wrapped up in the whole mess, but it's absolutely solid and all top quality gear.  In my case, thought, it's part of the tools of my trade, so it's already paid for itself.

Oh...and just to keep with the forum topic, my network has run extensively on Listeroid power during several outages :-)  I can also report that the newer APC UPS's with the adjustable power sensitivity will work just fine on the noisy power from a 24/2 with an ST head.

pat Thumper for me.
Chris

[BruceM]

Very impressive, Chris. You win the prize, hands down, for the ultimate remote internet connection!

[cschuerm]

Well thanks Bruce, but I'll just put my humble hat on and say that it's simply an example of the philosophy that most things are really fairly easy if you can throw enough money at them.
I really need to write something up for the "member projects" section about my generators.  I have a dual generator system that's really pretty neat if I do say so.  Primary is a White 100kW full auto start/transfer.  It's in it's own building and has a hospital grade exhaust silencer.  Wireless telemetry of all parameters back to a touchscreen panel in my house for monitoring.  For long-term, lower power operation, I can transfer the feed over to my lister which is mounted in my shop building.  My house has an Asco 7000 series ATS which is primary control for the generator.  My shop has a secondary ATS also fed from both generators.   I had to rent a rather large crane to move the big generator as it had to be lifted OVER the top of my shop due to terrain and trees.  (nuther example of easy if you spend money).
cheers,
Chris