Sprint Broadband Direct......

[deltaf508]

Does anyone out there use Sprint's Broadband Direct internet service, and if so, are you happy with it?

I am talking about wireless, not DSL, they mount a little wireless transmitter on your house and it send the signal (via Microwave...I think). I've heard that it is MUCH faster than traditional DSL, but I wasn't sure...

Anyone...

Gary

[Mr.Goodbytes]

Ya know, I've heard that microwave internet technology was supposed to be popping up in my area sometime soon. Heard it was gonna be like 30 bucks a month and just as fast if not faster than cable without the bandwidth sharing problem.

[AzKidd69]

I do alot of telecomm work and have used an experimental system that was being set up for a newspaper and TV station. It had awesome speed I was doin d/l's at about 1200KB not kb per sec. I loved it.. Th only bad part was just like anything else line of sight sometimes u get dropped for no apparent reason.. Well that's what a consumer would see.. I had set up alot of the antennas and I knew where all the repeater sites were and I have software running that told me what the rx signal strength was so I KNEW what was goin on when things were slow.. BTW I was using this on a laptop! And in a moving vehicle alot.. And NO I was not driving.. Against company policy and common sense.. Anyways the only forseeable problem I see with it was that it was an unlicsensed system... New FCC allocation that meant the FCC was NOT issuing liscenses and such so there was a possibility of 2 systems running too close together in frequencies... But there is another system used by Metricom on the E. Coast that was quite nice not as fast tho, but it was a liscensed system and had band plans and all that and it was alot more reliable.. The only prob the company did not have the capitol to keep up with the costs of networking and all that and they went under.. Just a litlle info from the Telecommunications field..
I'll look into Sprint and see what their broadband sys is and let u know what I think...

~~Dan~~

Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!

if anyone wants more info than this let me know I can always dig up all the info for y'all..

[AzKidd69]

OK I did some research...

Max down is 5 Mbps
Typ down is 512Kbps to 1.5 Mbps
Max up is 256 Kbps

that is in bits per sec NOT bytes.. To find it in actual KBps u could divide by 10 to get 'real world' bandwidth... That is because of headers and all that...

They use the frequency range of 2.5 to 2.69 GHz.. FCC controlled and liscensed system, should not have frequency conflicts.. U can be up to 35 miles away from the tower.. but any thing over about 25 miles would be pushing it in my eyes, due to signal loss in the air.. Typ latency is kinda high but that can be worked around.. I forget the actual latency..

U must use a firewall.. I personally reccomend ZoneAlarm versus their offerings. It's free at www.zonelabs.com. (http://www.zonelabs.com.) (1.1 user agreement paragraph number)

Private use only on a residential account (1.1.4)

Says packet sniffers are not allowed (1.1.14)

May not set up any type of server (1.1.21)

They do protect against 'excessive' bandwidth usage 'if' it affects other customers usage. that is at their sole discretion (1.2)

They do use dynamic IP's

They have a patch utility to change rwin from 8192 (default) to 49152 in order to make up for latency.

{edit) use that if u do alot of web surfing but if u do alot of online gaming the default or a lower rwin that their patch should be better for gaming. maybe a compromise between the 2 would werk fer u if u do alot of both


And they do use port scanners occasionally to make 'sure' your system cannot be accesed maliciously. They will notify u if they do succesfully find open ports.

Personally for 30$ a month I would say it is a good option. IF they do what they promise... It looks good.. only actual user reviews will tell u.. Check out www.dslreports.com (http://www.dslreports.com) if anything I have said confused u or if u want actual user reviews.. The ones I have read seem to say that u need to know how to set-up the software yourself because the installation crews are lazy about DHCP server info and subnet masks etc... Also as a fair warning they don't tell u but U may end up with a tall antenna mast on your roof.. Sounds like 25 feet is about the Max... But the would be for ppl who are distant from the tower and need to increase antenna height to 'see' the tower.. The closer u are and depending on obstuctions between u and the tower will determine how high the antenna has to be.. Line of sight means exactly that...It has to be a clear and direct path to the tower.


I hope all this helps u out....

OH BTW if Sprint maintains their normal quality for equipment and such the reliability from a fixed location should be stable as long as it is good from day one. They do have some of the highest QC of their tower installations, altho their RF engineering at times do leave some things to be desired.


~~Dan~~

Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!

I hope my ramblings help.

[This message has been edited by AzKidd69 (edited 08-31-2001).]

[deltaf508]

WoW Kidd, that is great. I was planning on checking it out today to see if it was available. I'll let you know what I find out. A 5 Mb/sec downlaod would be awesome!!!!

I am not to hip about Qwest DSL (coming soon to my area), If I could get something better I would...

Gary

[crockett]

well they offer that here, and I'm not that impressed. I have tested it at 2 diffrent locations, and its great if its nice and sunny out with no clouds in the sky. But soon as it gets real cloudly or if it rains you might as well forget it.

[deltaf508]

I just found out today that it's not available in my town anyway. Looks like I'm back to looking at DSL. Unless anyone has any other ideas that would be better.

Thanks for all the replies,

Gary