[MLB-WIRELESS]Wireless experiments-Melb WISP

[Tony Langdon]

> It might also be of interest to people that Alphalink are now offering
> Wireless ISP services in some of the inner city suburbs.  
> While I think the
> concept is a good idea, they have no control over who else connects a
> wireless lan up in the area, and with the limited number of 
> channels I am
> sure they will run into problems soon.  Also in saying this 
> it looks like
> they are using the 8dbi omni's from the TIB a while ago to 
> put onto clients
> house, I also dont think this is a very good idea due to the 
> nature of an
> omni (sending the signal everywhere and not focused where it 
> needs to go).

I've always had a lot of reservations about ISPs and other commercial
entities using WiFi in this way, because of the shared "no guarantees"
nature of the band.  If they enter the market on the understanding that
nothing's guaranteed, and let their customers know the same, it's not so
bad, but one day, someone might just start lobbying for a better deal for
business.  If they want that kind of reliability, they should go out and pay
for a licence for their own bit of protected spectrum (like all the other
radio users).

> Alphalink also do not guarantee this service, and also say 
> that while you
> can get up to about 500KB/sec from it if there is basically 
> no one else on
> the link, no interferance etc.

At least they're responsible enough to not offer guarantees.  I would be
interested to see their user agreements and how they express the potential
unreliability of the service.

On one hand, ISPs have as much right to the 2.4 GHz band as we do, on the
same terms, but OTOH, they (and in this case, their customers) have to live
by the same rules and uncertainties as the rest of us.  If they're prepared
to do that and not squeal for "special rights", I can accept them sharing
the band.  I'll only get annoyed when big business tries to muscle in with
their $$$.

I haven't checked their pricing, but if it was cheap enough for a "no
frills, if it breaks, stiff..." service, it might be a useful supplement to
a regular cable/xDSL connection, for those times you want to exceed your
normal broadband cap. :)

As for the antenna arrangement, a tightly focussed beam pointed at an AP
would seem to make more sense, minimising the risk of interference, with the
AP managing the channel.  I'd be interested to see why they decided to go
for omnis.  Maybe they have a reason to be able to hear all the other
clutter out there.

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