Rogers now offers outdoor modem for portable internet

[gexgeko]

Originally Posted by 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!

Jay as far as ping times go ... There will always be more latency in Wireless Vs DSL/Cable Due to the the Physics involved. ie: speed of light to which the Signal travels to and from much like satellite.. of coarse satellite being of a greater distance but overall latency of this particular signal and distances being short should have very low latency figures. I would try to point at a different Tower if possable and see if there is a difference.
Obviously the closer the server or test center is to you the lower the ping.
What site and or server are you getting these results from? Is it far away? as said above..network congestion ect.
This setup i'm working on is for a friend (I have DSL)who lives in the stix so to speak. He has no other viable solution for internet other than what we have accomplished today with this setup.
I will post some pics in my album of what we did today and also talk later on the results.....but right now i'm Starving...we spent most of the day outside and trudging through several feet of Snow. l8tr./

[gexgeko]

Ok.....pictures are in http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/album.php?albumid=84


So things went pretty smooth today Firstly we put the Grid Antenna in a tripod on the Deck outdoors and attached the modem with the short pigtail as seen in the pictures./
A few mins later by moving left to right WOW 5 lights! I couldn't believe it. Rogers Maps shows we are not able to recieve coverage.
With the stock internal Antenna the best we could do was 2 lights so this was a big improvement. He is fortunate that his house is on a hilltop with a very clear shot at the horizon.
So now its time to climb the tower...I could see for miles from standing on the roof @ about 25 feet up so we decided to mount it there.
The cable run was 60 feet of LMR-400 which attenuated the signal slightly the best we could do was 4 solid lights.
Also note in the pictures you will see a 900Mhz Antenna mounted near the top. This was remnants of a poorly designed local Wireless Network Company (un-named)to which he has had but quickly deteriated to the point of useless.

Using G00gle Earth we mapped out the approx distance to the tower site @ 20Km.
Thruput to speedtestdotnet toronto/hamilton and a few closer servers benchmarked 1.5 to 2.4 KB/s down and 250 to 280 up.....with pings around 88 to 130ms,not bad.
After a long day in the cold I left him to further test things out. If things remain the same i'm pretty sure he will commit to a one year contract with Rogers.
The only thing I wish we had of done was to test QOS ect before mounting this to the Tower.... oh well it's seems to be working pretty good. There was no problem streaming a 5 min youtube video or pretty much anything else.
When I got home we chatted using skype and I did notice a slight lagg..however using MSN Messenger it was acceptable.

Check out My Photo Album.

[rob1]

gexgeko,

Thanks for the update ! I'm glad it worked out.

I am really surprised it worked when the Roger's map stated no coverage. I am in the same boat - it shows no coverage on my street and the outdoor antenna coverage on their map starts about 1/2 a km from my house. I am in a heavy wooded area with a new house built last year. I do not have any towers but many tall pine trees around my property.

I have borrowed a wireless modem from our corporate Rogers rep a few times (last time back in Nov.) to check the signal but I only have the strobe of LED's to indicate no signal . I wonder when/if they plan to expand coverage?)

I have never tried with an outdoor antenna - I wonder if it would make any difference?

You indicated you had 2 LED's without the outdoor antenna so when attached it gave you a good boost.

I do have a full Rogers cell signal both Edge and sometimes 3G on my Iphone - but I understand Rogers portable internet is not run off the same towers.

Is there a map that shows the WIMAX towers??

Cheers

[gexgeko]

Keep in mind this was a indoor modem Hacked to fit with a outdoor antenna. They also advertise an actual outdoor modem the only difference is a antenna with a higher gain than what's in them allready. I don't know the gain specs on them but i'm sure they wont match the levels of a 23dbi grid.
He lives in the country with a unobstructed view even at ground level.
In you're instance you would need to get as high as possable as pine trees carry a very high moisture content in there needles (thats why they dont loose there needles) which the signal will not penetrate easily'

[gexgeko]

Ok.... quick update.

I did a remote session into the test site tonight and performed a few checks/speedtests ect.
It appears my pings to speedtestDOTnet toronto /hamilton servers went through the roof. They were around 88 to 100ms yesterday but tonight they are extremely high up to 600 and some./ and thruput has diminished under the 1 meg limit and as low as 250KB.,still 4 led's lit i'm being told.

I will go back on Saturday and have a look.
That's why it's we call it testing

[rob1]

Maybe just an issue on the Rogers back end??

[gexgeko]

Appears so rob.
I did a remote login to his pc Friday morning around 7 am and again in the evening around 8pm it was back to what I'm calling normal. I'll post speedtest results Below.

TEST_DATE,IP_ADDRESS,DOWNLOAD_SPEED,UPLOAD_SPEED,LATENCY,SER VER_NAME,DISTANCE
1/21/2009 5:42 PM GMT,74.210.46.*,1693 kb/s,272 kb/s,81 ms,"Iron Mountain, MI",~ 450 mi
1/21/2009 5:44 PM GMT,74.210.46.*,1341 kb/s,182 kb/s,108 ms,Toronto,< 50 mi
1/21/2009 5:45 PM GMT,74.210.46.*,1722 kb/s,262 kb/s,80 ms,Kippen,~ 100 mi
1/21/2009 7:39 PM GMT,74.210.46.*,861 kb/s,130 kb/s,86 ms,"Iron Mountain, MI",~ 450 mi
1/21/2009 7:49 PM GMT,74.210.46.*,2089 kb/s,232 kb/s,71 ms,Hamilton,~ 50 mi
1/21/2009 7:50 PM GMT,74.210.46.*,1379 kb/s,205 kb/s,123 ms,"Iron Mountain, MI",~ 450 mi
1/21/2009 7:51 PM GMT,74.210.46.*,975 kb/s,214 kb/s,286 ms,Sydney,~ 9700 mi
1/23/2009 1:11 AM GMT,74.210.46.*,775 kb/s,313 kb/s,871 ms,Hamilton,~ 50 mi
1/23/2009 1:28 AM GMT,74.210.46.*,339 kb/s,299 kb/s,363 ms,Hamilton,~ 50 mi
1/23/2009 1:35 AM GMT,74.210.46.*,395 kb/s,129 kb/s,782 ms,"Iron Mountain, MI",~ 450 mi
1:54 AM GMT,74.210.46.*,1523 kb/s,99 kb/s,90 ms,Montreal,~ 300 mi
1/23/2009 1:56 AM GMT,74.210.46.*,814 kb/s,175 kb/s,109 ms,"Iron Mountain, MI",~ 450 mi
1/23/2009 2:10 AM GMT,74.210.46.*,750 kb/s,412 kb/s,621 ms,Hamilton,~ 50 mi
1/23/2009 2:12 AM GMT,74.210.46.*,1256 kb/s,254 kb/s,764 ms,"Chicago, IL",~ 450 mi
1/23/2009 2:13 AM GMT,74.210.46.*,326 kb/s,269 kb/s,660 ms,Kippen,~ 100 mi
1/23/2009 2:20 AM GMT,74.210.46.*,334 kb/s,129 kb/s,258 ms,"Iron Mountain, MI",~ 450 mi
1/23/2009 12:14 PM GMT,74.210.46.*,3075 kb/s,193 kb/s,143 ms,Toronto,< 50 mi
1/23/2009 12:15 PM GMT,74.210.46.*,2130 kb/s,250 kb/s,60 ms,Kippen,~ 100 mi
1/23/2009 12:17 PM GMT,74.210.46.*,2337 kb/s,181 kb/s,50 ms,Montreal,~ 300 mi
1/23/2009 12:20 PM GMT,74.210.46.*,3068 kb/s,218 kb/s,113 ms,Kippen,~ 100 mi
1/23/2009 12:21 PM GMT,74.210.46.*,2322 kb/s,210 kb/s,71 ms,"Chicago, IL",~ 450 mi
1/23/2009 12:23 PM GMT,74.210.46.*,1965 kb/s,276 kb/s,69 ms,Montreal,~ 300 mi
1/23/2009 12:24 PM GMT,74.210.46.*,2279 kb/s,226 kb/s,99 ms,"Kalamazoo, MI",~ 350 mi
1/24/2009 12:04 AM GMT,74.210.46.*,1856 kb/s,172 kb/s,215 ms,Toronto,< 50 mi
1/24/2009 12:06 AM GMT,74.210.46.*,2689 kb/s,213 kb/s,61 ms,Montreal,~ 300 mi
1/24/2009 12:07 AM GMT,74.210.46.*,1468 kb/s,201 kb/s,108 ms,"Iron Mountain, MI",~ 450 mi
1/24/2009 12:08 AM GMT,74.210.46.*,2319 kb/s,254 kb/s,211 ms,"Chicago, IL",~ 450 mi
1/24/2009 12:10 AM GMT,74.210.46.*,1289 kb/s,221 kb/s,84 ms,"Frederick, MD",~ 300 mi
1/24/2009 12:11 AM GMT,74.210.46.*,2696 kb/s,302 kb/s,126 ms,"Stanton, MI",~ 300 mi

NOTE the Times are GMT.....so subtract 5 hours

Now I was talking to a guy who has this service through Bell and he is saying that sometimes his just seems to slowdown.....then picks back up again.
I'm wondering if this is a phenomanom specific to WiMax and or server load.

anyone else?

[gexgeko]

Rob you asked about a site that showed WiMax cells.
I saw reference to a Inukshuk Website on a earlier post and entered the user name rogers and password rogers ,,,,,,but it didn't accept it. http://inukshukjv.mapanswerDOTcom/Ro...security_check <---- Not sure if live links are allowed?
Maybe someone has an update to this as it would be Really beneficial.

I was told by a friend where my Site was.

[genx]

Gex I dont have wireless access, tried everything. So the modem and antenna is up for sale.

I tried, 3ghz, 2.5ghz and 900mhz. Looks like I would have to build a tower to get it.

[gexgeko]

Originally Posted by genx

Gex I dont have wireless access, tried everything. So the modem and antenna is up for sale.

I tried, 3ghz, 2.5ghz and 900mhz. Looks like I would have to build a tower to get it.

Did you check with Pioneer Wireless?
Putting up a Tower would be cheaper than being locked into Sattelite Internet for a commitment.
I had Hughesnet for almost 4 yrs only because @ the time there was NO other choice.
The Service was rock solid I will say that but the upload speeds killed me 4KB/s downloads fluctuated depending on the time of day and the pings were typically 600ms.

I'm trying a Re-point Saturday to another cell site with my buddies Rogers Portable because its Slow.
I'll keep you informed

[gexgeko]

Well our testing of the Rogers Portable Internet has concluded.
I called today to cancelled the subscription, as the slow times far out numbered the good.
Today the network was running @ advertised speeds tested at 11 am and by noon it went to hell in a handbasket with pings to several speedtest sites in the 900's.
Page loading was comparable to dialup Arrrrrg.
It's too bad because when the network was good, it was great.

I called Tech Support just to see if there was any issues with the service to which they said no.

So i'ts onward we go in our quest for a reliable service.
EVDO 3g.....maybe possably the new Rogers Rocket Stick.

Thanks to all who responded in this thread and all the best

Ciao.

[_spud_]

Originally Posted by 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?

Well I don't have any inside info but I am in Muskoka and I just got my Rogers Outdoor modem on Jan 27th. The link wasn't working when I ordered the indoor modem. When that didn't work they sold me an outdoor one over the phone. However, I did notice a sticker on my package that said "repack".

A stock problem maybe? All I know is that "repack" means "used" and I paid $250 for a new one.

OK well I actually spent the whole evening reading the entire 20 pages and I have some comments and some questions.

I have it bolted to the side of my house about 6 feet off the ground and I have 2 lights (most) of the time. Latency is anywhere from 40 - 200ms, d/l averages about 900k but a large torrent was having trouble averaging 80k (can you say throttling?) and u/l around 200k,,not bad when I have a signal.
Within about a day I was noticing long pauses and went outside to check the lights. It was dropping from 2 to 1 to none, resetting back to 2 and so on. It's definitely worse when the weather is worse.

There are plenty of good suggestions in this thread for me to try and thanx to all who contributed.

My comments have mainly to do with antennas and antenna placement. My newest hobby is transmitting video from my remote control plane via a 2.4 Ghz TX on the plane and the RX on the ground pumped into a portable TV and DVR. the equipment is very similar and a lot of the gear we use was made for wireless networking.

For those using the 24 Dbi antennas.
Keep the cable run as short as possibe. Signal loss is more than you think
24Dbi grid antennas are VERY directional.Typically the higher the Dbi the narrower the beam width. Some may be better off with a lower Dbi but a wider more forgiving beamwidth.

Another thing some may want to try is putting a reflector behind the modem.

Also some in my circle have had better reception having a "patch" antenna (which is what the outdoor modem is built into) closer to the ground verses high in the air. Somthing to do with the "ground plane".

Antennas are also polarized so if the TX tower antenna is vertically polarized then yours should match.

I have a ton of links for all this info that I will post when I dig it all up.

Questions.

Is there any way to monitor connection status from the desktop if you have the outdoor modem with the lights on it.

When you look at the transmitter tower, what am I looking for to determine which way the TX is pointed? (the link to get into that passworded rogers thing several pages back doesn't work anymore) What does the TX look like? There's lots of stuff up there.

If we have to purchase these modems, why aren't there any used ones for sale on Ebay? And if there were, does Rogers have to activate them for us?

Cheers,
Spud.

[gexgeko]

There is a program called Link Monitor Software from what I have read it's only for the outdoor modems (Which I didnt have) so I didn't persue it.

Perhaps someone with it can Upload it

As for what you said about torrenting.well ofcoarse it's throttled both bell and rogers have been doing this for some time now.. Try this .change the port to 1723

I'm not to clear myself as to what the actual transmitter antennas look like.but i would think they are Sector Panels (to what degree the signals are transmitted i don't know) not omni's as they obviously concentrate the signal in the direction needed.

As to repack...well Rogers allows you to return this equipment if no signal is obtained...hence the repack.

I purchased my indoor modem $50.00 from an ad on kijjiji,,there are tons of them. and hacked it to an outdoor modem quite easily see my photo album.
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/album.php?albumid=84

Keep in mind this frequency is LOS line of sight .i dont care what they say.
If you have a cluster of evergreens pines/spruce in the signal path....forget it. The needles contain a high amount of moisture and act as a perverbial Wall to which 2.4/2.5/2.6Ghz does not penetrate.
I have had experiances with 2.4Ghz and pines...to which a solution was to shoot under it rather than over. Obviously over is the Clearer chioce.
Get this stuff as high as possable..even mounting an indoor modem in an enclosure getting it as high as possable and running ethernet down to a max of 300 feet is a far better solution to mounting on an eaves or roofline with a bad LOS line of sight.

Oh.....and yes Rogers does have to activate the MAC....to obtain internet only..you can check for signal without activation. I'm sure you knew this.

[gexgeko]

To sum up what i'm talking about read here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_zone

[pmj]

Originally Posted by _spud_

Well I don't have any inside info but I am in Muskoka and I just got my Rogers Outdoor modem on Jan 27th.

I saw somewhere that there is a Rogers dealer in Muskoka promoting the outdoor service - here maybe:
http://hispeed.rogers.com/bband/cont...e_int_buy.html - so maybe someone there can investigate full access to the mapping site? It did show the towers, but not the orientation of the transmitters. Previous posters have reported discussion with Rogers tech staff who had more location-specific info.

If we have to purchase these modems, why aren't there any used ones for sale on Ebay? And if there were, does Rogers have to activate them for us?

I'd guess that the activation relates to tying that particular modem into your account at Rogers

I've found an outdoor modem, and will be testing it mid-February.