We received some “junk mail” today for “high-speed Internet access” from Suburban Broadband.
Hmmmmm.
– Faster than comparably priced DSL.
– Less expensive than a cable modem.
– Equal uploadnand download speeds.
– VPN support – static IP address.
– No phone line or cable TV required.
– No satellite dish or rooftop antenna.
– Installed in 10 days or less.
“And it’s delivered by pigs with wings!”
No, but seriously, it appears that the company deploys non-line-of-sight (NLOS) wireless broadband. It’s a Castle Rock start-up; they began in Castle Pines (the chi-chi community to the south of us that almost got all burnt up) and are now expanding to the Denver metro area. They use Waverider’s NLOS solution, which is a 900MHz broadband that can be antennaed inside (in theory).
The packages are reasonably priced, it seems — especially compared to the local lack of broadband. $38/mo for 384k up/down, plus $6/mo for the modem, including access to extra computers and a static IP. With the limited time offer, we get two months free and free install ($100 value, sh’yeah right), in exchange for an 18 month commitment. Compare that to $44/mo for Comcast cable broadband, 1.5M down/256k up — plus equipment fees.
The reviews (which are limited) are pretty positive.
I’m torn. I hate that much of a commitment up front. On the other hand, I hate our 42k dial-up. It may be cool to get in on the relative ground floor, but it may also mean that service may dip in the future. No external antenna is cool, but 900MHz is also the range of most of our wireless phones and our wireless speakers, but 900MHz seems to be the best for NLOS from what I read.
Hmmm.
That whole “I hate our 42k dial-up” weighs pretty heavily in here.
Anyone have any words of wisdom here?
Haven’t used wireless broadband so I can’t comment on how good/bad it is, but if it’s the same price as Comcast then I don’t see the advantage unless you’re not already a Comcast cable subscriber. I’m not fan of Comcast (I refuse to use them if there’s alternatives which I’m fortunate to have), but the extra elbow room of 1.5MB down comes in handy when you’re patching your OS or applications.
Also consider that in the Detroit area Comcast recently bumped all of their 1.5MB subscribers to 3MB at no extra charge and made that the default offering. Word has it they plan to make that standard everywhere though in some places they may need to update infrastructure.
Problem is, Comcast broadband isn’t available in my neighborhood. Yet. (I used it just as an example.) It might be coming Real Soon Now. Or it might now. We heard it might be in several months — about a year and a merger ago. They’ve done a lot of recabling, but the only result has been a change in our digital cable packages.
I have an e-mail in to Comcast as to what the plans are.
If it were available, the trade-off would be wireless access (no cable need be pulled anywhere) vs the higher broadband.
Oh, well, that makes a big difference. If it’s all that’s available then I’d give it some serious consideration. After using broadband for as long as I have I’d find it very difficult to go back to dialup so I’m of the opinion that any broadband is better than no broadband. 🙂 This opinion tends to be reinforced every time I go to my parent’s or in-law’s house and have to deal with trying to patch their PCs using dialup.