[sclug] Wireless Broadband in Slough and Windsor areas

[John Dickson]

On Fri, 21 May 2004 21:07:15 +0100, John Mullins <John.Mullins at tvu.ac.uk> 
wrote:

> Simon and everyone else who replied,
>
> Thank you for your responses. I made the mistake years ago of changing 
> my telephone to cable so I don't have a BT line.

I bet you do.  Surely BT wouldn't have physically removed the wiring to 
your property? I still have three BT lines connected to my house, on which 
I cancelled all BT services six years ago.

> It seemed a good idea at the time, getting rid of the noisy BT line and 
> having a high quality cable piped to the house. Although the cable 
> provider in this area is called Telewest Broadband, their name is a lie. 
> In Slough and district they are NOT broadband and don't look like ever 
> being so, hence my interest in Netvigator. This may be why they are 
> targetting this area. I shall probably have to eat humble pie and go 
> back to BT :-[ . Is any one else in this position? In the Reading area I 
> believe you have broadband cable through NTL.

And we also have wireless DSL (both symmetric and asymmetric) through 
Tele2 (originally), which begat Liberty Broadband, which begat Firstnet 
Services WDSL, which begat Pipex WDSL

>

Don't get confused by the lack of detail about how the Netvigator service 
is provided! It is a wireless service, and to connect to it you don't need 
any form of telephone line (it specifically says on their website that the 
modem does not connect to a telephone line).

I have spent immeasurable hours in the last five years going round the 
houses with Tele2 and its successors, in attempt to get WDSL to both of 
our locations in Caversham (batting average 0.5). The two major problems 
were the need to erect an external aerial (one location is in a block of 
flats where this is prohibited) and the problem of getting a clear 
line-of-sight to one of their masts. So I was interested to see that there 
is no mention of any work being necessary to erect an external aerial for 
Netvigator.

I spent a somewhat frustrating half hour or so talking to a (sales) 
support guy yesterday (Saturday) and at about the ninth attempt I finally 
got him to explain that:

a) the modem they provide also contains the necessary aerial

b) because the frequency band (3.4 GHz)is lower than those originally 
allocated to wireless DSL (4.5GHz I think)the modem can "see out" through 
brickwork and/or roof tiles (if you want to put it in a roof space). This 
is not possible at higher frequencies.

c) On the question of line-of-sight to a base station he was less 
forthcoming, saying that the location of their base stations was a matter 
of commercial confidentiality.  I was also given some pseudo-technical 
b*ll*x about solving the problems caused by nearby trees, which is a 
continuing nightmare for me.  However they do provide two "delivery 
methods" If they think that you will not have any connectivity problems 
they send you the modem by courier, you plug it in and away you go (Hmmm! 
PPPoE permitting). Otherwise they send out the modem with an engineer who 
will sort out the problems (even more Hmmm!).

As far as the Netvigator service being no better than ADSL over copper is 
concerned, this is a marketing decision by them which I think is entirely 
misguided, but I wouldn't let that worry you.  There are many new entrants 
to the broadband connectivity market in the Thames Valley and, as is the 
way of such things, this will all be rationalised by mergers and 
acquisitions in the next 18 months or so. I think that the result of that 
will be that (subject to local demand) everyone will be offered both ADSL 
and SDSL over one or more of copper, wireless, and possibly the 
electricity mains (see the Southern Electric trials in Winchester). My 
guess is that this will be true by end 2006. I don't think this is the 
place to expand much on this thesis (perhaps I'll write a longer essay and 
post it on the web).

So you have three lines to pursue before you need to think about 
re-connecting your BT line:

1) You have nothing to lose by following up Netvigator. If you can connect 
to them you get an ADSL service at the usual price.  If they grow and 
spread then market forces will either persuade them to offer SDSL, or they 
will be taken over by someone who will.

2) I'm not sure how far the Pipex network extends in your direction but, 
if you can put up an external aerial it's worth an enquiry.  I currently 
have 512Kbs symmetric, with a reasonable contention, for ?85 + VAT per 
month, and other packages are available.

3)The third option which is worth looking at now is that because BT are 
already offering SDSL over copper as a "business package" (read usual BT 
rip-off) in selected exchanges, the viability of the technology has 
already encouraged Easynet into the market at much more realistic prices.  
In Reading they are offering up to 1Mbit SDSL over copper (I think 
contended at 10:1) at very realistic prices. The range is up to 3Km from 
the relevant telephone exchange, so it would be worth checking out whether 
Easynet are active in your area.

(For those in the Reading area - don't all rush!  Only the central Reading 
exchange has been converted so if, like me, you are within 3Km but 
connected to another exchange like Caversham then it's not available.  
This makes me think that Easynet are simply retailing the BT service).

********************

OFT I think I will try to put together a more comprehensive guide to this 
connectivity wilderness.  If anyone has any other other 
information/experiences to share please let me know.  Perhaps it would be 
better to e-mail me directly rather than flood this mailing list?


-- 
****************************************************

John Dickson  johnd at cavcomp.co.uk
Caversham Computer Services Ltd
1A Kidmore Road
Caversham
Reading
RG4 7LR

Tel: +44 (0)118 954 3166  Fax: +44 (0)118 954 3199
http://www.cavcomp.co.uk/