Best Broadband Solutions

[mrlayance]

Well, what do you think would be the best solution for rural people?
DSL
aDsl
Powerline Broadband
802.11
Satellite?

What do you think will cover the most ground and be the cheapest to implement?

 

[techfuzz]

Powerline Boardband isn't cheap because it hasn't been totally developed yet. Someone said a company in Germany I think was trying to develop it a while back and it went flop because they couldn't get around some pretty big issues. Even if they do come up with something I don't think it will be cheap enough because of all the filtering they have to do on the lines. Power lines are NOTORIOUS for being saturated with interferance.

802.11? Unless some ISP is willing to stick boxes on every phone pole from here to the Great Alaskan Divide, you're not going to see that in rural areas for a LONG time. Too epensive to implement the infrastructure required to support it.

Satellite is an option, fairly cheap, don't even need a phone line for the return traffic any more. Not nearly as fast as some of your other options.

xDSL is probably going to be the #1 choice for people in rural areas. The infrastructure is already there, repeaters still need to be installed to boost the signal strength due to the great distances from central offices. I could be wrong but as the phone companies expand and upgrade their networks I'm pretty sure they are installing the equipment to support xDSL. I had a friend who just got DSL service in his area, it took a while to get that far out of the city (1 hour by interstate travel). I really didn't think he would get it so soon!

techfuzz

 

[Maverick]

I don't see why you ruled out 802.11. Many wireless ISPs exist using it with pretty good chances of success. People mount antennas on their roofs or in their attics and hook it to their wireless router inside the house. The equipment cost is high, but it works really well in many cases. Just pull in a T1, split it between about 30 or so people and you've got broadband.

 

[techfuzz]

Shiva112, he question was the "cheapest to implement" so I outlined each of this options. Wireless is currently not that cheap when compared with DSL! I don't know of any wireless providers in my area, but I know of 50 or so DSL providers. DSL will give me the equipment I need for free, will a wireless provider do the same? That remains to be seen.

Based on economics, wireless providers will end up charging more because they have to install more equipment, WAP's through the city. DSL providers don't have to install anything, the copper phone lines are already in place. Wireless providers will pass on the the equipment costs to their customers which I would think would be pretty high considering what I've seen lately of wireless equipment.

techfuzz

 

[EeyoreX]

Personally, I think for "rural" areas the cheapest would be satellite. As DSL is largly distance limited, I don't envision repeaters being installed for rural areas. I don't think there would be much return on the investment, unless we maybe have differing definitions of what "rural" is. Also, if by "cheapest to impliment" you mean by the end user, than really i think satellite is your only choice anyhow. So really, I think xDSL would be towards the bottom of that list, mainly because repeaters are not likely to be installed so a couple people can access the net via DSL.

Of course, I could be wrong...

\Dan

 

[vegetation]

Ugh and have one of those 30 calling you, or knocking you on the door I suppose, at 2am? I can just imagine it now, "My IE don't work, your damn connection is screwed!". You reply, "Umm, how many times have I told you to stop downloading warez on Kazaa, your system is hosed again."

Originally posted by: Shiva112
I don't see why you ruled out 802.11. Many wireless ISPs exist using it with pretty good chances of success. People mount antennas on their roofs or in their attics and hook it to their wireless router inside the house. The equipment cost is high, but it works really well in many cases. Just pull in a T1, split it between about 30 or so people and you've got broadband.