Rogers now offers outdoor modem for portable internet

[GTC]

Thanks Pinza. I have found that it blinks until it finds an IP address. I now am up and running on a temporary basis ( too much snow here now) and it works fairly well (1 meg down) with only one light lit.

[potsocalma]

Hi - ran out of space at the end: any comments greatly appreciated.
As you can see I am a newcomer, not just to this Forum, but to forums in general. Please be patient if I err.
I am in a rural area near Arnprior On.
Here is some info I have:
- The Roger's Outdoor Modem reception map shows my area to be favourable.
- A Roger's cell phone reads 5/5 bars almost everywhere around the house.
- The cell phone towers map shows a tower about 10 km SW of me, but there are intervening hills. The tower serves other providers, and their line-of-sight service will not reach me.

Here are a number of comments and questions about which I would greatly appreciate any comments:
- I assume the WIMAX (is this correct?) service offered by Roger's Outdoor Modem is line-of site and, as such, I need to know the best tower location and the direction in order to position the modem.
- The Roger's sales person says that my Roger's cell phone reception indicates that I will have excellent WIMAX reception. I would assume a Rogers rural tower would offer WIMAX as well as cellphone frequencies, but that still doesn't necessarily mean both frequencies have equivalent reception, does it???
- The areas of good reception on the map make no sense when the towers positions are noted. The hills, distances, etc suggest the reception from the nearest towers should be totally different from what the map shows.

[Shaun]

I just got my modem delivered to my office in Edmonton. Been playing with it for maybe 5 minutes.

Set up is quick. Plugged it in and had 5 lights right off the bat. Had to call customer service because the set up website was rejecting my address but I didn't have to wait on hold at all and the guy took less than a minute to get it running.

First thing I did was check a few websites and speed seemed fine. Then I ran speedtest a few times:

calgary server: 120ms, 1653kbps down, 278 up
Austin, TX server: 151ms, 2800kbps down, 255 kbps up
Hamilton, Bahamas server: 260ms, 3280 kbps down, 182 kbps up
calgary server attempt #2: 120ms, 2751 kbps down, 283 kbps up
montreal server: 88ms, 2417 kbps down, 338 kbps up

Seems reasonable but the real test will be when I get home and try it out. I live 25 minutes SE of Edmonton where there is no ADSL or cable internet available. My wife has a telus aircard but it is not great and it is for her work so I can't always use it for browsing and I can't use it at all for downloading.

I will update everyone tonight after I've tested it from home. If it works as well as it is right now I will be very pleased. Although $45/month is pretty steep for this speed I think it is a better choice than an aircard(expensive) or Xplornet wireless(based solely on bad reviews, no personal experience, although many neighbours have it and the one I've talked to seems to like it).

[Shaun]

Well, it's hooked up at home and working great.

The speedtest tests are much slower (around 900kbps) but real world usability seems unchanged. Sites load quick enough and I'm downloading a 900 meg torrent right now that started out slow but within a couple of minutes it's maintaining a 100-180 kbps download speed which is as good as I could ever get in Edmonton with regular Telus ADSL rated at 3mbps down.

Oddly I still have 5 lights lit up so I'm not sure why the speedtests are coming out slower. Maybe the lights aren't indicative of signal strength on this model of modem (slim black indoor Motorola with 5 green LEDs on top and no model # to be found anywhere)? Which brings up a strange point: There is no modem manual or any portable internet specific materials in the box at all. There is the standard instruction sheet for hooking up cable internet and a Rogers High Speed booklet that doesn't even mention portable internet anywhere.

Anyway, I am excited to have a decent high(relative to whats available out here) speed connection for a reasonable price.

With my few hours experience I would definitely recommend it for anyone that lives outside of the major centers with no access to ADSL or cable internet. The portability is a neat feature but not one I will utilize often and I think the coverage is a bit limited to compete with aircards for truly portable internet.

[pmj]

We are moving to a place near Arnprior - Vydon Acres - and the Rogers coverage map shows it as borderline for outdoor coverage. I also can't relate the coverage "arcs" to the apparent tower locations. And there are lots of trees I'd like to try out an outdoor modem there - or even indoor...

There's a spoil heap at Bristol Mines on the other side of the Ottawa river that would make an excellent tower site

- Hmm - it seems that the rogers-rogers username-password combo is not working at Inukshuk. Anyone have an update?

[RJones]

Has the Rogers outdoor modem been discontinued? It is not showing on their site anymore.

[Pinza]

I have struggled to find it on the web site for a while now.

I just helped a neighbour 2 weeks ago to get one, so if it is discontinued it is very recent.

[GTC]

I got mine 3 weeks ago, and their maps show areas that require it, so I'd be surprised if they discontinued it. They wouldn't have gotten my business without it and the free 30 day trial, since my area shows unavailable coverage. The best I can do is 4 lights, which is ok with me.

[pmj]

It's almost disappeared from the website.

The old interactive map http://hispeed.rogers.com/expand/map_frames.html shows outdoor coverage in dark green - and there's a link there promising more info on outdoor modems http://hispeed.rogers.com/expand/por...t_outdoor.html that doesn't work.

The new map - start here - http://www.rogers.com/web/content/internet-portable (warning - 12 MB pdf for Ottawa ) shows fringe areas in a kind of pink colour, annotated "Outdoor Modem Recommended".

Interesting. I recall the outdoor modems were heavily marketed in Muskoka - anyone up there can get any inside info?

[gexgeko]

After reading pages 1 to current I decided to purchase one of these Rogers Portable Modems with full intention of adding a outdoor High Gain Antenna to which I'm about to test.
First I dismantled the Modem by gentley prying the base off with a small screwdriver. Then Removing the Etched printed circuit board internal antenna which is held in place by double sided sticky rubber pads with only one tiny solder joint in the center of the antenna which is soldered to a SMA Flange on the circuit board. Once removed you will see a 8mm nut securing the SMA flange to the alluminum plate, Remove that nut or you won't have enough thread to screw on you're N Male to RP SMA Male, 3 feet (0.914 meter)92 Cable. Yes the connector needed on this particular modem is a RP-SMA meaning reverse polarity MALE...which is exactly opposite of what you would be thinking as it has a hole in it
(SubMiniature version A) is what SMA stand for and RP = Reverse Polarity.......just incase you're wondering/
I was able to test this tonight using a 19dbi 2.4Ghz WiFi Flat Panel Antenna (see pic) and aimed the Antenna towards Kitchener from a Guelph location 2 floors up and out a window probobly close to 15KM away.
Well I'm impressed... 3 solid lights using the 19dbi panel compared to 1 and None with the stock internal Antenna. Thruput was 2.5meg down and 257 up.

That being said....i'm off work tommorow to try this setup @ my friends place out in the country between Guelph and Erin. There is no coverage @ this location, according to Rogers.... but we'll see.. It will be attached to a 23dbi 2.4Ghz Grid Antenna which will be mounted to his tower.
We will be using approx 70 feet of LMR-400 Cable for our initial test.
If that proves to be too much of a Signal loss I'll be mounting the complete modem in a weather proof Electrical box just under the Antenna,.
I'll let you all know of my results.
Cheers.

Hmmm since this is my first post here on this forum......is it possable i dont have privy to picture attachments yet?/// oh well.

Pics are here http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/album.php?albumid=84

[rob1]

Gexgeko,

Keep us posted on your results.

Cheers

[jayoldschool]

Gexgeko, did the antenna provide any benefit with ping times? I have 5 lights right now with my outdoor modem, but I need a faster ping. I haven't installed my high gain antenna because I am good for signal and not sure if it will improve the ping.

Thanks!

[rob1]

Jay,

The antenna is make to improve your signal. Since you already have 5 lights I do not think it will make any difference.

Ping times on any wireless (including Satellite) are always slower then hardwire ( I.E. DSL) plus other conditions like network congestion play a part.

Maybe share your ping times on here to compare with others.

Cheers

[genx]

Hi,

I bought a outdoor modem and high gain antenna last year and set it up. I am now selling it as it did not work out for me. If anyone is interested just PM me. I am in Luskville QC.

Looks like I will be going sattelite internet after all

[gexgeko]

GenX

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