Vianet should also be introducing this service to people in the south part of Parry Sound district over the next few weeks...I have been told they're testing the service currently, and will have more locations live for early Spring.

It would be nice to have more choices, but I guess it is better than nothing. Bell and Rogers provide bare minimum service to consumers in my area, so we really shouldn't expect any better. Spotty cell service, 1x cellular data and EDGE, with no hope (or expectations) for anything better in the future. Thank goodness for small companies and generous Federal funding programmes.

Has anyone had success getting this to work through trees? From what I have read I don't think distance from the tower will be an issue for me, however I do have trees that do not allow line of sight to the tower. Where can I get information on which towers in my area would be used for wimax?

I have one on loan from Rogers (through our corporate contacts) - using as I type this from work :)

I am going to try it this evening from home...even though I am just outside the coverage area (North of Everett, Ont).

I'll report back tomorrow.....

Has anyone had success getting this to work through trees? From what I have read I don't think distance from the tower will be an issue for me, however I do have trees that do not allow line of sight to the tower. Where can I get information on which towers in my area would be used for wimax?
This is a start to show you which towers are in your area. Mods, if this URL is not allowed, please remove.
http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html
I don't think it specifically states if portable internet is provided from a particular cell tower though.

for those who don't know, rogers has a decent coverage area map at:

http://hispeed.rogers.com/expand/map_frames.html

This is a start to show you which towers are in your area. Mods, if this URL is not allowed, please remove.
http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html
I don't think it specifically states if portable internet is provided from a particular cell tower though.
Only shows cell towers..not RPI.....

Cheers

I have one on loan from Rogers (through our corporate contacts) - using as I type this from work :)

I am going to try it this evening from home...even though I am just outside the coverage area (North of Everett, Ont).

I'll report back tomorrow.....
UPDATE:

No signal. :(

Another great technology for the area's ALREADY serviced by DSL/Cable....

Oh well....

Is the Dish Setup Horizontal or Vertical Setup??

I spent alot of time trying to get the outdoor modem working on a 20' mast on my roof. It only worked 25% of the time. 30' above the ground and still not clearing the trees. I got 2 flashing lites. Rogers instructions say this is low but acceptable. When connected to a wireless router I would only get 1 solid lite 25 % of the time or the 5 lites would flash in various sequences. God only Knows what the different Flashing sequences ment. Rogers certainly did not.

So I took a different aproach. I installed the outdoor modem 10 feet high on a larg tree at the edge of my property where I have a clear view or the horizon. I ran the 100' utp cable from outdoor modem in the direction of my house to a wireless router. The router is in a wheather proof contaner (an empty windshield washer contaner) 5 feet up a tree. The power adapter inserter for the outdoor modem is also in the weather proof container. I ran 100' extention cord from my house to power the modems power adator and wireless router.

Waa Hoo! At last! High speed internet.

The Rogers tower is 16 K from my property. Rogers says that the i am at least 3k out of the service area. Getting mostly 2 sometimes 1 of 5 lites on solid. Getting speeds between 1000 and 1800kb/s.

A final note. The power adapter inserter for the modem and the wireless router, are for indoor use but worked OK at -40C.

Cheers
Joe

Hi, I live south of Gravenhurst over by Sparrow Lake route D bridge on HWY 11. Must be between 15 to 20 km. I have a Rogers portable internet that I carry with me wherever I go. I have to go to Gravenhurst to connect.
Today I tried it at home and connected with one green light about 5 times, got google and the site I wanted , but it disconnected after about 3-4 min. every time. The rest of the time it just kept searching. I'm so excited to know that I can connect because there are a lot of trees around us.
My question is, does anyone know whether there is a good chance that an outdoor modem would give me more green lights and does the trees in the summer with many leaves get in the way or does the signal pass through them. Also do they have a return policy on the modem? Thanks for your advice

hey joepaw

nice work getting your internet to work. but, are you sure you want to have your router outside?! it might work now, but think it will still be the same story in a year, or two, or five?!

you should consider this if you are thinking long term: get a parabolic grid antenna and a lmr400 cable in the length you need. place your antenna wherever you can see the sky clearly (probably on a mast and not in a tree due to growth moving it over time).

then, run the lmr400 cable to your outdoor antenna. and from there, run the cable to your router inside your house.

to make a long story short, by adding a grid antenna i added 40 ft to my setup. it could be longer but 40ft was good for my needs. and my router is high and dry in my house!

the dude

For those asking, unfortunately, YES, leaves make a HUGE difference if you don't have the best line of sight to the tower. I barely got signal in June and it has been booming in all winter.

I don't have line of sight to the tower. In your situation where your signal degrades in June is that a single tree or is it more? Is your location within the coverage area?

Thanks

just to reiterate my story (as we are almost 10 pages in to this thread)...

my signal went _down_ in the winter.

perhaps less reflection off the water in my area?! who knows, but my outdoor modem was good last summer and the signal fell off the charts in fall.(hence why i got the grid antenna...and all is well)

the dude

Conley I am in a bit of a valley on the fringe between "indoor" and "outdoor" coverage areas. There are lots of leafy trees between me and the tower (no line of sight, due to me being at lower height). As dudler said, YMMV.

hi ralph

valleys are the worst! i am more or less in the outdoor modem coverage, with the exception of my street (which is down a hill and "out of coverage".)

get that modem high up on a pole, or if that fails, try the grid. i have a two storey house and a tv antenna with a ten foot pole on top. my neighbours have an aeriel i'd be scared to climb-- that high! but, all are getting the net.

elevation really counts. the streets further from the tower but at a higher elevation all have coverage around me. (how depressing it was for me!)

the dude

Hi again

Just wanted to ask this again. Does anyone know what kind of connector the indoor modem has? I still want to get a parabolic antenna but I need to know what kind of adapter to order from radiolabs.

Rogers refuses to sell me an outdoor modem after months of pestering. But I can buy an indoor modem at BestBuy and connect no problem. But with spring coming I want to put an antenna on my roof to get over the trees.

Thanks,
Greggo...

I have followed this thread closely and decided to try the rogers outdoor modem as my last resort for high speed. I had tried bell and rogers portable to no avail. I received my outdoor modem via UPS after only 2 days from ordering it. I live in a rural area with lots of pine trees around my property. I tried walking around on the ground and climbed my roof and my 25 ft tv antenna trying to receive signal. I didn't get one bar. Finally, I tried mounting modem on a pole about 20 ft. off the ground and received one light. Reading in this forum that elevation means everything to getting a good signal i put another 10 ft extension on the pole. I received two solid lights. Once I received the two lights I plugged ethernet cable into laptop. WOW!!!! I was finally getting high speed internet. Decided to put one more 10 ft. extension on pole and received 3 lights. Mounted pole base to side of garage and am now a happy customer. Modem is now mounted about 40 ft. in the air and works great. Even though the pole sways a bit at the top in a high wind, I have yet to experience any downgrade with my signal. Doing a speedtest I average 2100 kbps download and 280 kbps upload. All I have to say is that elevation is the key to a successful installation. My kids are now on xbox live and works most of the time no problem. Sometimes it lags a bit on a game but it is livable.

Greggo, did you find an antenna for your indoor portable modem...i am looking to do the same thing so i can use it in my car...i now have to have my car pointed at a tower for it to work...i took apart the modem and see that you probably have to unsolder the antenna from the board...or just solder a wire to the circuit board side and run it out to an antenna...where can we get 2.6mhz antennas that are mobile mount (omnidirectional i would think)
Eric

How did you take apart the modem to get inside it? I need to add an external antenna as well.

FYI, I have a house with plaster walls and screen metal lathing......kills wireless signals. I have mounted my inside modem temporily on my TV antenna tower and regularly get 2.5-2.9 Mbs down and 350 up......But Bell won't sell me an outdoor modem!