Rogers now offers outdoor modem for portable internet

[jayoldschool]

I'm running a long test on Smokeping, and I think I am finding the problem with online gaming. It may be my ping (averaging 225ms), but I am more concerned about packet loss. I am at almost 17% loss.

Here is the link to my results:

Smokeping results

Thoughts/advice? WiMax tech said there is nothing they can do about latency. How about packet loss?

[stevey_frac]

Vikzak,

Thanks for the update. I upgraded the firmware on my old DI-614+ dlink router. I am getting slightly better response. I was surprised.

It's weird that something that 'can' handle a 11Mbps connection in it's spec is having trouble streaming the 1.4+ Mbps Rogers Portable signal.

Most times that I get a slow test response on www.speedtest.org or speedcheck.rogers.com I either connect the laptop via ethernet cable to the router's wired port, or directly to the modem and get a much better response.....

I would speculate that it's my 802.11b connection that is causing my speed / slingplayer problems 80+% of the time

Going to look for a cheap / reliable .g modem at my favorite computer stores.

Thanks,
Peter

I find something similar with mine. I am thinking it's probably not an issue with your 802.11b bandwidth, but rather, with the fact that the two frequencies that they operate on are close enough to raise the noise floor for the WiMax signal, causing an interference issue. In times when there is already significant noise, or fad, having a transmitter on a nearby frequency blasting out a single may be enough to put you over the edge reception wise, even if the signal it is receiving from the tower is of reasonable strength. Those lights on the top of your modem indicate signal strength, not signal quality. Be aware of the difference. If you have to get your signal around your house, i recommend using power line equipment. I'm using it,and i love it.

-Steve

[Maxwedge]

Originally Posted by skaughtEE

Hello all...

I have been reading these posts with great interests. I have been using the Rogers Portable Outdoor modem now for almost two months with good days and bad days. I am located just outside of Aurora/Newmarket on St. John's Sideroad and I believe that I'm just on the outer limits of the towers in both Aurora and Newmarket.

Hi - I am also on St. John's - between Woodbine and Warden. I went to xplornet wireless. When it works it is pretty good but I am experiencing 6-12 re-registers per hour lasting 1 -3 minutes per time. They tell me it is due to a lot of interference and cannot fix my problem. My antenna is about 90' high so I think I have some options. Anyone having any luck with Bell, Rogers or someone else? The installers (incredible liars - but that is another story) told xplornet they tried changing me from a 900 to a 2.4 but it was a no-go to their tower (which I can actually see from my tower). I did away with 2-way sat and put up my tower to get something better. The shame is Rogers cable is in Aurora, Newmarket and Whitchurch-Stouffville. I think we should all lobby our government to get real high-speed. That was their mandate but the Bell's and Rogers took the governments money and developed this sub-par sat and/or wireless "solution" and said to our pals in Ottawa, " OK, we have high-Speed available to the entire country". I had high speed at my last 2 homes and use it every day at work...It really sucks having to come home and have this jack-leg solution to work with.

[cdogg]

Maxwedge: You are well within acceptable range of 3 towers I see on the map I provided on the 14th or 15th page, the closest being about 7.2km from you, the furthest about 8.3km from you. They all seem to be pointing in your direction as well. I noticed in between Warden and Woodbine there is a river, so I am assuming a significant depression in the land. You look to be around the same elevation of the towers Im talking about, but around the 404 the land appears to be about 60 feet higher than your locatoin which could pose a problem. You said you had a 90 foot tower, so this should definately get you out of the valley Im guessing youre in, and over any ground intereference. That said, get an outdoor modem from Rogers (bell you have to sign a contract and do not own the modem, +pay more).. That doesnt mean I like rogers better than bell, I F^&#ing hate rogers with all their system access fees, and hidden installation fees, blah blah blah. Go up your tower if safe to do so, and try aiming at these three different towers. Buy a compass, these babies are very sensitive to direction.

Tower 1. Yonge St. 300m north of Mulock: ~272 degrees, almost due west.
Tower 2. Yonge St. at Orchard Heights Blvd. ~245 degrees, SWW
Tower 3. Yonge St. a cpl hundred meters north of Upper Canada Mall. ~290 degrees, NWW

Return the modem if you cant get a signal, you get your money back if its within 30 days so its worth a shot right?

[Petee_C]

Originally Posted by stevey_frac

I find something similar with mine. I am thinking it's probably not an issue with your 802.11b bandwidth, but rather, with the fact that the two frequencies that they operate on are close enough to raise the noise floor for the WiMax signal, causing an interference issue. In times when there is already significant noise, or fad, having a transmitter on a nearby frequency blasting out a single may be enough to put you over the edge reception wise, even if the signal it is receiving from the tower is of reasonable strength. .....
-Steve

I was speaking to a friend about my issues too.... he tells me that some b routers have trouble negotiating with g cards.... Possibly the Intel G card in my laptop.

I guess I could also turn down the power to the antenna on the router.... it's not a very big cottage. The main footprint of the cottage might only be 25x40'

[stevey_frac]

I was speaking to a friend about my issues too.... he tells me that some b routers have trouble negotiating with g cards.... Possibly the Intel G card in my laptop.

I guess I could also turn down the power to the antenna on the router.... it's not a very big cottage. The main footprint of the cottage might only be 25x40'

What i've found is that having two wireless connections between your computer and the internet is just a pain. I have a wireless G router & card, and i noticed that it will drop roughly 1% of all packets under light load. Under heavy load it gets worse. This is packets droped between two computers within the network, and only making 1 wireless jump. Combine this with a flaky internet connection, and your asking for trouble it seems. I made sure that my main boxes were wired, and this helped a lot. The laptop remains wireless for the most part, but it only does light web browsing.

[Maxwedge]

Originally Posted by cdogg

Maxwedge: You are well within acceptable range of 3 towers I see on the map I provided on the 14th or 15th page, the closest being about 7.2km from you, the furthest about 8.3km from you. They all seem to be pointing in your direction as well. I noticed in between Warden and Woodbine there is a river, so I am assuming a significant depression in the land. You look to be around the same elevation of the towers Im talking about, but around the 404 the land appears to be about 60 feet higher than your locatoin which could pose a problem. You said you had a 90 foot tower, so this should definately get you out of the valley Im guessing youre in, and over any ground intereference. That said, get an outdoor modem from Rogers (bell you have to sign a contract and do not own the modem, +pay more).. That doesnt mean I like rogers better than bell, I F^&#ing hate rogers with all their system access fees, and hidden installation fees, blah blah blah. Go up your tower if safe to do so, and try aiming at these three different towers. Buy a compass, these babies are very sensitive to direction.

Tower 1. Yonge St. 300m north of Mulock: ~272 degrees, almost due west.
Tower 2. Yonge St. at Orchard Heights Blvd. ~245 degrees, SWW
Tower 3. Yonge St. a cpl hundred meters north of Upper Canada Mall. ~290 degrees, NWW

Return the modem if you cant get a signal, you get your money back if its within 30 days so its worth a shot right?

Thanks cdogg,
I know Bell will send a tech and climb that rascal to check for signal. The tower has 6 support cables and is as solid as you can get. That said, the older I get, the more of a height chicken I get! I guess Rogers wants me to try it myself. Dont they share the same towers? The xplornet, on paper should work. They have interference on their transmit tower. When working, my u/load's and d/load's are 2-3 times faster than the Bell/Rogers advertised numbers. Maybe I'll call Bell and get them to climb.

[jayoldschool]

Well, I climbed up on the roof today to see if I could connect my antenna array. Here are some shots on how to take apart the Motorola outdoor modem (the old links earlier in the thread are broken).

Flex the front plastic cover to release it from the tabs:


Here's the internal antenna:


You have to take out all those phillips screws around the perimeter (not the one in the middle):


Gently pry the antenna away from the base. It has an O ring and a bit of goop to seal it):


Continued on the next post...

[jayoldschool]

Here's the antenna connector on the board:


And, here is the problem that I now face:


This connector (it said "J501 antenna" on the board) is just a push on connector, and it is about half the size of the connector on my antenna array (this connector is the same as a wireless router antenna):


So, how do I adapt my antenna array connector to this small, push on connector?

The one thing that I did accomplish is boosting my reception by altering the aim of my antenna modem. I'm up to five lights

[gdmaclew]

I have been having some frustrating experiences lately with Rogers Portable Internet.
I first got it on Nov. 30/2007.
I am 1.2 km away from a tower and it worked right out of the box with no drop-outs until June 30th.
Then for no reason, I lost the signal for 36 hours.
It came back by itself.
OK until July 23rd when it dropped again...3 or 4 flashing lights once every two seconds or so (not the quick flashing at start-up).
That lasted 3 days and it came back by itself.
Now starting July 31st the same thing right after a power failure. The power came back on after 90 minutes (I was up and running the whole time on a UPS with good signal) and the signal went out (same 3 flashing lights with search every 30 seconds) and it's still out - yes I am on dial-up right now.
Rogers says there are multiple Calls on that tower but this is getting so frustrating...3 days now with no service.
Apparently they are working the problem.
I hope so - even with the long weekend.

[waynem]

The board in the external modem is substantially different than the "portable" one .. On the portable ones, the antenna connector (middle of the antenna panel) is directly connected to the main circuit board. I haven't tried to pry it apart yet.

[stevey_frac]

Waynem: What i did was to just gently spin the antenna. The pin in the middle is smooth, and the solder doen't really bite into it. it doesn't require much force. I just spun it a few times, and it came loose. The i took a butter knife in flatwise, and twisted it so the straight edge came up right beside thepin. It came off fairly easily. Oh, and i also used a butterknife to remove all the stupid spongy thingies.

[gdmaclew]

It's been 9 days without Rogers Portable Internet service now and this is getting frustrating.
I've tried just about everything.
They sent me a new modem with no difference.
I bought 50 feet of Cat6 cable and moved the modem to the highest point in my house facing the tower.
I dropped my PC back to XP SP2 in case the problem was with my PC...no connection...or at least I could not receive an IP address.
The next test is with a laptop.
I will take it with my modem to within sight of the tower and test it.
That will be the ultimate test.
Strange that the modem worked when I took it to a Rogers office 20 miles away to connect to another tower.
And the saga continues.

[Pinza]

It almost sounds like they have decomishoned your Modem......

I installed an outdoor Modem for an elderly neighbor 2 weeks ago, when we called to activate they questioned us as to where the Modem came from. They said the S/N we gave them was already active on an account, elsewhere in Ontario... I wonder if this could be something to do with your problem.? Only an idea.

[gdmaclew]

Thanks Pinza.
Rogers sent me a new indoor modem last week and I had the same problem with that one.
Today I received an outdoor modem and they said that there was a problem with "registering" the modem because they were having a problem with that "system".
I had thought all along that they might have been having a problem with registering modems...even ones that had been activated for months.
I had always insisted that there was no problem with my modem (for 2 weeks now) and it looks like I might have been right.
I mean...3 modems with the same problem?
They have told me to wait 24 hours to see if the problem goes away with my new outdoor modem.
Stay tuned.