Rogers now offers outdoor modem for portable internet - Page 18 - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

stevey_frac · 2008-10-30, 01:54 PM

You guys may remember me from earlier in the thread. I put up my own dish on a pole bolted to my shed. It worked well all sumer, but as temperatures turned colder, my connection has once again began to decrease in stability. Unfortunatly, there are no real alternatives for the time being, the ovation modem is simply to expensive bandwidth wise.

Ham.Clan · 2008-10-30, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcengbeam

I am located just outside (SW) of Glencoe, Ont. near London.... I believe the new tower is just north of Glencoe. Does anyone know where it is?

mcengbeam, check out this site to find cell tower locations.
The map shows a Rogers tower south of Glencoe off Centreville drive.
Maybe you're just pointing it in the wrong direction.
I wouldn't keep the modem if you can't get a signal strength of at least 3 lights.

waynem · 2008-11-10, 12:04 PM

Ok... quick update.

Started out with Bell's Portable Internet (yeah I know this is a Rogers thread but its more active than the Bell one) .. worked great until the leaves started to fall. Slowly went from 4/5 bars to 1/5 bars with hideous packet loss and high latency.

Called Bell to complain and eventually convinced them to switch me over to the "In-home" version (they REALLY don't want to have to send a tech out). After a semi-disastrous activation (Bell's authorization/activation servers were having problems all weekend). I'm up and running again. The radio is about 30' up on and I'm getting a really solid 5/5 signal and back to reasonable latency and no lost packets.

And.. if it drops again, its much easier to hack the external modem with a bigger antenna than it is the internal one !

jayoldschool · 2008-11-10, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waynem

Ok... quick update.

Started out with Bell's Portable Internet (yeah I know this is a Rogers thread but its more active than the Bell one) .. worked great until the leaves started to fall. Slowly went from 4/5 bars to 1/5 bars with hideous packet loss and high latency.

Called Bell to complain and eventually convinced them to switch me over to the "In-home" version (they REALLY don't want to have to send a tech out). After a semi-disastrous activation (Bell's authorization/activation servers were having problems all weekend). I'm up and running again. The radio is about 30' up on and I'm getting a really solid 5/5 signal and back to reasonable latency and no lost packets.

And.. if it drops again, its much easier to hack the external modem with a bigger antenna than it is the internal one !

What's your latency? Check it at speedtest.net and post the link up for us. Mine is usually in the 250-300ms range...

waynem · 2008-11-11, 11:39 PM

Sure ...

http://www.speedtest.net/result/35476782.png

186ms seems high ... if I ping a random website (this one for example) .. my results are in the 30-50ms range. But, can't complain about 2.8Mbps down. 250kbps up isn't anything to jump for joy over but its not a huge issue for me. I was debugging some issues earlier and was down around 1.8Mbps down.

I'm less than 4kkm from the tower in Metcalfe and, based on the maps, it looks like I'm catching the north edge of the west facing antenna.

Interesting bit of triva. I was speaking with a second-level tech today and he told me that the tower has 61 subscribers both Bell and Rogers and that is considered "over subscribed" so my performance in the early evening may suffer... an issue I was definitely seeing with the portable unit.

alcr · 2008-11-13, 12:03 PM

Has anyone encountered a similar problem to this:

I signed up for Rogers Nov 1, installed the outdoor modem on a tv tower (3/5 leds), and ping times were good 100 ms. The 2nd day the connection was even better (50-70ms), but it was very windy the first day. I switched back to my regular ISP a couple of days later. Yesterday, I decided to relocate the modem about 4M higher on the tower where the signal is a solid 4/5. Ping times were slower (300ms) and there is packet loss. Download speeds are down to 1/4 of the original speed. Called tech support and the agent reset my network connection. Anyone here know what they mean by reset? She had me power off the modem and pc before she did the reset.

With the signal 4/5, I would expect as good or better ping times than the first 2 days with signal 3/5. Speedtest.net shows download around 90kps, upload 150kbps. I'm subscribed to a basic package (512kbsp/256kbsp) with the intent of upgrading once this service proves itself or when I get kicked off the Storm network. The first 2 days, speedtest was showing over 500kbps down and 250 kbps up. There are no other towers in the direction the modem is pointing. I moved the modem back to the original location with no improvement.

-Al

jayoldschool · 2008-11-13, 07:03 PM

Here's my latest. Done at 7:00pm, so it is pretty much peak time. 5 lights, 9.8 km from the tower.

andrew867 · 2008-11-13, 11:32 PM

I found some pictures of inside the indoor Motorola modem in case anyone was wondering what was inside,
http://www.omghax.ca/photos.php?level=album&id=7

raidersfan · 2008-11-26, 10:04 PM

are there specific towers for which ones are cell phone and which ones are wimax? and does rogers offer wimax home? like a non unplugged one cause i cant see it on there website. thanks

floyd2 · 2008-11-27, 11:19 AM

Just to let people know if you signed up on the 1.5mb plan, they now have a 2mb plan that if you do not call them to convert it they will not do it automatically.

rob1 · 2008-11-28, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ham.Clan

mcengbeam, check out this site to find cell tower locations.
The map shows a Rogers tower south of Glencoe off Centreville drive.
Maybe you're just pointing it in the wrong direction.
I wouldn't keep the modem if you can't get a signal strength of at least 3 lights.

Just an FYI - just becuase there is a cell tower next to your house does not mean you have WIMAX coverage....as in my case.

I have a Rogers and Bell tower within 10Km of me - no Wimax support. I am currently using Bell's EVDO internet card. It works well but @ $97 a month for unlimited (Corporate plan) it is expensive.

The golf course within viewing distance from the end of my driveway has ADSL....but my phone line terminates at another CO....so I'm out of luck with that as well.

Love living in the country....hate the lack of services!

Cheers

spider_mun · 2008-12-18, 01:37 PM

I live rural just off HWY43, between Merrickville and Kemptville, according to the link posted showing Bell and Rogers towers, I should be able to pick up the Wimax offered, from my house LOS (line of sight)to the Merrickville tower is 5.48km, with no obstructions,other then normal tree height. To the tower in Kemptville it is 13km, with no elevation obstructions, based on 15m off ground at house and 48m height towers. I called Bell, and got nowhere, actually had to hang up on person, for his knowledge was useless. Looking for anyone near this area who may have this wiorking?

Pinza · 2008-12-18, 01:48 PM

I did the exact same thing when I was looking for the Bell WiMax service. Then I called Rogers, they explained that I was NOT in their service area but I said i wanted to risk it anyway.

I paid my $250, they shipped an Outdoor Modem, I jumped for joy when straight out of the box, just walking on the front lawn I got a good signal. The first thing I did then was locate the Modem as high as I could on a TV tower. That turned out to not be required, it now lives at about 9' abouve the ground and I get 4 or 5 lights all the time.

Advantage with Rogers is that if you cannot get signal, you ship back the Modem, they refund the $250. Perfect.

GTC · 2008-12-20, 07:51 PM

I got my outdoor modem today and tried to find a signal. I could, without much problem, get 3 flashing lights pointing at a Rogers tower directly west of me. At no time did they turn solid, even after plugging it into the computer. I have not yet activated my account, so I don't know if that step is necessary to actually receive the Rogers sign up page. I called tech support (I may have woken him up) and he told me the only tower in my area was due east of me (on the other side of a mountain) and that unless my 3 lights were solid, I had nothing. So my question is (finally) which towers are in my area that will work. I live on Salt Spring Island, in BC, between Victoria and Vancouver. I live about 500 meters ASL and am line of site to much of Vancouver and Victoria. The tech support guy said the only tower was in North Cowichan, BC, but I found it hard to believe that is the only tower for all Victoria and Vancouver!

Pinza · 2008-12-21, 08:37 AM

From my memory, the lights flash, all together, until you activate the unit.

Have a read through the Manual, I am pretty sure it tells you in there.

I hit signal in at least 5 different directions and get good connections even with 2 lights. I recently dropped my Modem to about 8 feet above ground and in this location get 5 lights most of the time.

2008-10-30, 01:54 PM	#256
stevey_frac Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 32	You guys may remember me from earlier in the thread. I put up my own dish on a pole bolted to my shed. It worked well all sumer, but as temperatures turned colder, my connection has once again began to decrease in stability. Unfortunatly, there are no real alternatives for the time being, the ovation modem is simply to expensive bandwidth wise.
$stevey_frac is offline$

2008-12-18, 01:37 PM	#267
spider_mun Rookie Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 6	Bell Wimaxx/Rogers I live rural just off HWY43, between Merrickville and Kemptville, according to the link posted showing Bell and Rogers towers, I should be able to pick up the Wimax offered, from my house LOS (line of sight)to the Merrickville tower is 5.48km, with no obstructions,other then normal tree height. To the tower in Kemptville it is 13km, with no elevation obstructions, based on 15m off ground at house and 48m height towers. I called Bell, and got nowhere, actually had to hang up on person, for his knowledge was useless. Looking for anyone near this area who may have this wiorking?

2008-12-20, 07:51 PM	#269
GTC Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 7	Where is my closest Portable Internet Tower I got my outdoor modem today and tried to find a signal. I could, without much problem, get 3 flashing lights pointing at a Rogers tower directly west of me. At no time did they turn solid, even after plugging it into the computer. I have not yet activated my account, so I don't know if that step is necessary to actually receive the Rogers sign up page. I called tech support (I may have woken him up) and he told me the only tower in my area was due east of me (on the other side of a mountain) and that unless my 3 lights were solid, I had nothing. So my question is (finally) which towers are in my area that will work. I live on Salt Spring Island, in BC, between Victoria and Vancouver. I live about 500 meters ASL and am line of site to much of Vancouver and Victoria. The tech support guy said the only tower was in North Cowichan, BC, but I found it hard to believe that is the only tower for all Victoria and Vancouver!

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2008-11-10, 12:04 PM	#258
waynem Rookie Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 10	Ok... quick update. Started out with Bell's Portable Internet (yeah I know this is a Rogers thread but its more active than the Bell one) .. worked great until the leaves started to fall. Slowly went from 4/5 bars to 1/5 bars with hideous packet loss and high latency. Called Bell to complain and eventually convinced them to switch me over to the "In-home" version (they REALLY don't want to have to send a tech out). After a semi-disastrous activation (Bell's authorization/activation servers were having problems all weekend). I'm up and running again. The radio is about 30' up on and I'm getting a really solid 5/5 signal and back to reasonable latency and no lost packets. And.. if it drops again, its much easier to hack the external modem with a bigger antenna than it is the internal one !

2008-11-11, 11:39 PM	#260
waynem Rookie Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 10	Sure ... http://www.speedtest.net/result/35476782.png 186ms seems high ... if I ping a random website (this one for example) .. my results are in the 30-50ms range. But, can't complain about 2.8Mbps down. 250kbps up isn't anything to jump for joy over but its not a huge issue for me. I was debugging some issues earlier and was down around 1.8Mbps down. I'm less than 4kkm from the tower in Metcalfe and, based on the maps, it looks like I'm catching the north edge of the west facing antenna. Interesting bit of triva. I was speaking with a second-level tech today and he told me that the tower has 61 subscribers both Bell and Rogers and that is considered "over subscribed" so my performance in the early evening may suffer... an issue I was definitely seeing with the portable unit.

2008-11-13, 12:03 PM	#261
alcr Rookie Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 1	Has anyone encountered a similar problem to this: I signed up for Rogers Nov 1, installed the outdoor modem on a tv tower (3/5 leds), and ping times were good 100 ms. The 2nd day the connection was even better (50-70ms), but it was very windy the first day. I switched back to my regular ISP a couple of days later. Yesterday, I decided to relocate the modem about 4M higher on the tower where the signal is a solid 4/5. Ping times were slower (300ms) and there is packet loss. Download speeds are down to 1/4 of the original speed. Called tech support and the agent reset my network connection. Anyone here know what they mean by reset? She had me power off the modem and pc before she did the reset. With the signal 4/5, I would expect as good or better ping times than the first 2 days with signal 3/5. Speedtest.net shows download around 90kps, upload 150kbps. I'm subscribed to a basic package (512kbsp/256kbsp) with the intent of upgrading once this service proves itself or when I get kicked off the Storm network. The first 2 days, speedtest was showing over 500kbps down and 250 kbps up. There are no other towers in the direction the modem is pointing. I moved the modem back to the original location with no improvement. -Al

2008-11-13, 07:03 PM	#262
jayoldschool Veteran Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 1,746	Here's my latest. Done at 7:00pm, so it is pretty much peak time. 5 lights, 9.8 km from the tower.

2008-11-13, 11:32 PM	#263
andrew867 Rookie Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 2	I found some pictures of inside the indoor Motorola modem in case anyone was wondering what was inside, http://www.omghax.ca/photos.php?level=album&id=7

2008-11-26, 10:04 PM	#264
raidersfan Rookie Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 1	are there specific towers for which ones are cell phone and which ones are wimax? and does rogers offer wimax home? like a non unplugged one cause i cant see it on there website. thanks

2008-11-27, 11:19 AM	#265
floyd2 Rookie Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 3	Just to let people know if you signed up on the 1.5mb plan, they now have a 2mb plan that if you do not call them to convert it they will not do it automatically.

2008-12-18, 01:48 PM	#268
Pinza Veteran Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: GTA Posts: 8,583	I did the exact same thing when I was looking for the Bell WiMax service. Then I called Rogers, they explained that I was NOT in their service area but I said i wanted to risk it anyway. I paid my $250, they shipped an Outdoor Modem, I jumped for joy when straight out of the box, just walking on the front lawn I got a good signal. The first thing I did then was locate the Modem as high as I could on a TV tower. That turned out to not be required, it now lives at about 9' abouve the ground and I get 4 or 5 lights all the time. Advantage with Rogers is that if you cannot get signal, you ship back the Modem, they refund the $250. Perfect.

2008-12-21, 08:37 AM	#270
Pinza Veteran Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: GTA Posts: 8,583	From my memory, the lights flash, all together, until you activate the unit. Have a read through the Manual, I am pretty sure it tells you in there. I hit signal in at least 5 different directions and get good connections even with 2 lights. I recently dropped my Modem to about 8 feet above ground and in this location get 5 lights most of the time.