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Rogers now offers outdoor modem for portable internet

165K views 396 replies 93 participants last post by  Pinza 
#1 ·
Rogers portable internet is now available with an external modem. With this modem you can not recieve the portable internet if you could not recieve it before but you were not to far out of the service area.


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

They have a new availability tool on another site that shows it this modem may work for you. If the availablity tool on the normal rogers portable internet site shows "no coverage" try this one for the outdoor modem and expanded coverage.

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

I now show up as able to get coverage but so far they say they aren't shipping these yet even though they have the price listed and instructions to mount them--spent an hour on the phone playing phone tag.
 
#323 ·
Any help appreciated

I use the Motorola outdoor modem with the 5 little LEDs on the bottem. I have been using this service for about 8 months on the 50$ package. I have 3 towers close to me the farthest being 12km away and the closest being 7km which i am pointed to and get 2 consistant lights and 3 when weather is clear and calm. The first two weeks I had the service I was getting awesome download(over 1.5mbs) and awesome pings, was playing my MMO WoW, with no issues and downloading awesome. After that the download dropped to avg of 180kbs. Off and On My signal throughout the day changes from 0-2 bars and at night usually 3. Lately (last month or so) my Signal strength 0-2 all day, stays at 3 green bars(at night) and my ping goes up too minimum 1500ms and max 3000ms with Download speeds of 3.5kbs and then for brief momemts it may go normal.

1. I wish I had the software that allows me to check this connection without climbing my roof and looking at the LEDS since winter is still here.
2. I am swarmed by trees and in a low area (although my avg signal is 2 bars)
3. Does reflecting of the signal increase and decrease pings and does wimax traffic ?
4. I have phoned many times to rogers and there is no one who understands this OUTDOOR modem or even has any idea how it works or for that matter has trouble finding my location on Mapquest lol.

so I turn to you fellas basically I understand Higher the better yet During daytime if i raise my modem another 5 feet I lose signal strength.(leading me to believe maybe the signal i have now is a reflection?)

Is there anything I can check with a program or if the link monitor program is still avail where do i find it. Googled for hours for information on this modem service and software and found nothing but this single forum.

Im beginning to think maybe the modem has something wrong with it OR does everyone have this happen to them?

Thank You
 
#325 ·
So im considering on getting the outdoor modem. looking at the locations of the cell towers in my area, there are three within 8km. The info on the site said two of the towers were 1900mhz but no idea what that means. I get 3g signals on my iphone where i live. Any info on this would be great. Secondly, ive tried the indoor one few years ago when the service was first introduced, has the service changed for the better since then. Never got a signal back then. Lastly, since i have trees around my house, what would the chances be of me getting service. I can see one of the towers from my roof but not 100% sure whether it is the actual tower. According to my friend it is.

PS. Anyone know whether they give a money back gurantee on the outdoor modem. Rogers said they did but the way the rep said it, im not sure if she knew herself.
 
#326 ·
reply.

First off I would reccoment a hardwire high speed over this wimax stuff. As wind, rain and weather in general has affected my outdoor modem as well as trees and their leaves. But if your like myself and only thing avail is Wimax or dial up then go for it. The outdoor modem for my works and im 20 km away from a tower which on good days i can get 2 bars and 7 km away from another tower which i can get 2-3 bars. I am surrounded by forest and in a low lying area and still am capable of attaining a connection. Yes you can take the modem back and get ur full credit as I did it once before going and trying it out again after a few months. If you can see the tower I wouldnt be suprised if you get an awesome signal worth a shot. You can always phone rogers and ask them if that tower is the one for there Wimax?.
Anyway I would say if wimax is ur only choice give it a shot nothing to lose. Its a bit of work to set up, You have to fish the Ethernet cable inside somehow from where ever ur mounting the outdoor modem(if you choose the outdoor).

Have you considering getting the indoor if ur so close to the tower?
Best bet is go to a retailer and talk to them see what they think.

BTW if you do happen to get it and it comes with the link monitor software can you hook me up with a copy. Mine didnt come with it and apparently rogers says you can only get it inside the box of the modem hmmm>?
Good Luck
 
#327 ·
New Modems

I think when Rogers & Bell changed over from the older outside modems to the new ones that have the 5 lights they did away with the software since you could use the lights for alignment. I think their documentation still mentions it.

Someone out there must have a copy of Linkmonitor ...
 
#328 ·
Just got my outdoor modem and got five bars wherever i go around my house. What is a grounding wire and its purpose. There was nothing in the box that said grounding wire. is it necessary? Havent activated i yet playoff season just started and my canucks are playing. So ill update once i get everything ready and working.
 
#329 ·
I got everything working as it should. Took two hours and three calls to rogers and about three different transfers to agents but at the end it finally got activated. Running a test at speedtest.net i got 1.9mbps down and 220kb down. Much better than my satellite. Im going to use this for about two to three weeks and see how things go. Anyone know of any way of tracking usage? It would be helpful to know as im more than likely gonna go over the 30gb cap
 
#333 ·
#330 ·
good too hear

Glad your getting good reception. The ground wire is suppose to be for interference i believe. It will work without it for sure but for the hell of it i hooked mine up. Basically all u need to do is run a wire from the ground Lug (which is the screw spot for the groundwire) any copper wire will do i stripped some regular housewire 14/2 and used that as mine. Your getting great download/upload by the sounds of it, much better than myself. Did you get any software with your modem that allows you to see your connection from the desktop?

Anyways hope it works out
 
#331 ·
Im two days into my outdoor modem experiment and all is going extremely well. Im still averaging around 2mbps down and about 250kbps down. I can even use xbox live and play nhl09 which i could never do before. From what i can tell i didnt get any software from rogers just the virus protection stuff but once i put the cd in i'll know for sure then.
 
#335 · (Edited)
Indoor modem outside

Well, I went out a bought a Portable modem(indoor) to try where we live. We are probably 6km from the tower directly. Also, my parents live next door, and we wanted to figure out a way to share the internet.
The only signal we could get was from the top of their driveway(they live on one side of the hill, we live on the other, with the tower on their side)
After finding out that we had a signal(1, 2 and sometimes 3 bars, depending on where it was placed...very touchy) I went out a purchased a belkin wireless d mimo router.
This morning we erected a tv tower in between our houses at the top of the hill, and created a plexiglass housing for both the modem and router. We also put in ventilation holes, and at the bottom an opening with rubber slits to place the power cord in to plug everything in.
So up the tower it is, with extension cords running across our property.
Now, the only problem is, that we can get a signal from both houses, but very low signals.
The modem has only one bar, sometimes 2. When I first tried a couple of nights ago, I had sometimes 3 bars and 1.8mbps down, now I am lucky to get 0.5mbps down.(with one bar, sometimes 2)
Do you think it would improve with an outdoor modem?(was thinking it had the same antenna, just a weather proofed case)
Or any ideas on how to get another bar or two?
 
#338 · (Edited)
Well, I went out a bought a Portable modem(indoor) to try where we live. We are probably 6km from the tower directly. Also, my parents live next door, and we wanted to figure out a way to share the internet.
The only signal we could get was from the top of their driveway(they live on one side of the hill, we live on the other, with the tower on their side)
After finding out that we had a signal(1, 2 and sometimes 3 bars, depending on where it was placed...very touchy) I went out a purchased a belkin wireless d mimo router.
This morning we erected a tv tower in between our houses at the top of the hill, and created a plexiglass housing for both the modem and router. We also put in ventilation holes, and at the bottom an opening with rubber slits to place the power cord in to plug everything in.
So up the tower it is, with extension cords running across our property.
Now, the only problem is, that we can get a signal from both houses, but very low signals.
The modem has only one bar, sometimes 2. When I first tried a couple of nights ago, I had sometimes 3 bars and 1.8mbps down, now I am lucky to get 0.5mbps down.(with one bar, sometimes 2)
Do you think it would improve with an outdoor modem?(was thinking it had the same antenna, just a weather proofed case)
Or any ideas on how to get another bar or two?
Just for insight,,,,,,, go here http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=61999&page=19 and follow my posts starting from post #280..it should help.

Hack that sucker and add a external antenna ......
Your first mistake was a belkin router. No Offence......should have got a linksys wrt54gl.......flashed it with Tomato firmware which would increase the output from 42 milliwats up to 250 and adding a 9Dbi dipole to the router which both you and you're parents could access/

I'm kinda a WiFi nut... My network consists of 3 routers two of which are 800 feet apart talking to eachother in WDS mode supplying a good friend with internet.

It's really easy to hack these modems and remove the internel antenna adding a N Male to RP SMA Male 195 Cable, 1 feet (0.304 meter)
the shorter the cable the less signal loss. :) attach it to a 2.4GHz Grid or Panel directional Antenna and you're all set.

I'll post a picture in my album showing the WiFi Access Point @ my place.

What model and version of Belkin did you purchase...
 
#337 ·
Suagrfly i would get the outdoor modem as you will more than likely get a much better signal. I had similar problems when i tried the indoor modem. I would get 1 or 2 or 3 bars even though there is tower less than 8km away. Now, with the outdoor modem, i have five bars and am averaging more than 2.5mbps down and 250kbps down. I have even hit 3.9mbps down. I just hope it continues to work as well as it has so i can cancel my satellite by the end of next week. (need to give 30 days) I've tried the netmeter and it only allows me to track the computer its installed on. I need something that can track my entire wireless network (pc, 2 laptops, ps3, 360, wii, iphones and everyone who uses it when they come over). Havent found nothing yet. Anyone that knows of something can do this please let me know.
 
#339 · (Edited)
Wii360 Quote
Suagrfly i would get the outdoor modem as you will more than likely get a much better signal. I had similar problems when i tried the indoor modem. I would get 1 or 2 or 3 bars even though there is tower less than 8km away. Now, with the outdoor modem, i have five bars and am averaging more than 2.5mbps down and 250kbps down. I have even hit 3.9mbps down. I just hope it continues to work as well as it has so i can cancel my satellite by the end of next week. (need to give 30 days) I've tried the netmeter and it only allows me to track the computer its installed on. I need something that can track my entire wireless network (pc, 2 laptops, ps3, 360, wii, iphones and everyone who uses it when they come over). Havent found nothing yet. Anyone that knows of something can do this please let me know.

What Router do you have?
Make and model.


I kinda Screwed that up Didn't I.....lol
 
#341 ·
I wish Not to get to far off topic here but anyone who is Computer Savy and would like to extend the capabilities of there Router depending on the Make and Model/Version consider flashing the firmware to Tomato or DD-WRT Google it and do you're Research before considering this as it can make a usable Router NON usable if not done correctly but has allot of benefits to many to mention here look for yourself.

I take no resposability for anything a user does or doesn't do. And will answer no questions regarding.
Do the homework and see if it's a viable solution or consideration.


It works for me.
 
#343 ·
#344 ·
Sorry for the delay in my reply. I dont come by here much anymore since I am no longer with rogers but this is a great forum. The hack that I did I thought was fun also.

I am now with Explornet and subsribed to contract as I had too. 512 kbps down and it tests as they claim. the ping is about 900 ms on average. The worst thing for me is that VPN does not work. They force the use of NAT on Hughesnet modem. I would expect this to be an issue for gamers also. Unfortunately I did not find this out until 30 day grace period was over.

For the modem I still have it in my basement but I expect it to be gone this weekend.
 
#345 ·
I'm just curious,
Did you check into Bell Canada's 3G network? I know rogers in Luskville, QC is marginal but Bell says full coverage and signal strength in Luskville, QC.

Quote from Bell page "In Quebec, our 3G network is now available to 84.8% of the population."

I had HughsNet for close to 4 yrs. I know what you're talking about but from what i remeber VPN will work ....just slow as Mole@sses.
I used to turn off there proxy to be able to host worms armageddon games.
 
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