Bridging over a mile - no obstuctions

[Captain Pooka]

Hey guys,

I moved out into the country a few months ago and - I need the internet!

Right now I'm using a 3g virgin mobile card. My ping (at good times) is about 200ms. It can jump up to in the 10k+ ms range sometimes - that's no good. I'm more concerned with the latency than the speed - but the speed seems good. About .75-1.3Mb/s

I can't deal with the latency out here like that, and the download speeds suck period. I was thinking about getting a booster for this card, but I don't think that would be very effective. I live about a mile out past town - probably .8 miles from the nearest house with cable (or dsl.. just a guess) and there are no obstacles in the way.. maybe a small tree. You think making a friend and briding a connection would work OK? Dsl usually runs at 50ms at 3Mb/s around here. Bridging that over a mile.. how do you think that would affect the latency? Or is it even worth my time...

Thanks,

-Q

[FlightSimBoy]

I don't know the specific rate of signal loss on Ethernet cable, or coax cable.. Whatever you would decide to use. But if you have enough repeaters, you could theoretically run an infinite amount of cable... But you're talking about a lot of time and money.

If you could get ahold of some fiber optic cable, you would be talking about no signal or speed loss at a distance of 1+ miles, but that may be just as expensive as the repeater option.

The best option would be to pressure the local cable or DSL company to make it possible for you to get their service. .8 miles really isn't too bad, it shouldn't be an issue for them to be able to hook you up.

[detox]

Originally Posted by FlightSimBoy

The best option would be to pressure the local cable or DSL company to make it possible for you to get their service. .8 miles really isn't too bad, it shouldn't be an issue for them to be able to hook you up.

it can be, my dad has been asking his local cable company to put a run down his street and the hole neighborhood signed a petition, they said no. while people on the next street over have cable. maybe a few hundred yards away. I doubt they'll do it for one person.

[Legodude522]

It can probably be done. You can find some really cheap directional antennas at DealExtreme if you don't mind waiting for shipping. You can probably get some inspiration from this site. 1 mile has been done before, I don't know if the performance will be that great though.

[Captain Pooka]

Yeah, I'm talking about a wireless bridge... All of the info I can find online about getting a company to run cable for you says it costs 10k+ for a mile..
Fiber would be an excellent choice But what costs a lot of money are those damn converter boxes!

[Legodude522]

Originally Posted by Captain Pooka

Yeah, I'm talking about a wireless bridge... All of the info I can find online about getting a company to run cable for you says it costs 10k+ for a mile..
Fiber would be an excellent choice But what costs a lot of money are those damn converter boxes!

Dig yourself? In parts of Scandinavia, people can dig themselves to get a discount.

[root]

I've read about this on another site somewhere.

Basically a guy in the exact same position he extended a wireless signal over five or ten miles, basically using nothing more than an old satellite dish at either end as a directional antenna.

I think where I read about it was on The Register: Sci/Tech News for the World you'll have to search for the article.