On 21-Feb-02 Dryden wrote:

Well this sounds like a very good idea i dont live anywhere nere ely but I agree that Norfolk would be a very nice place to try wirless networks.

Well what options are there? ive been told about wirless but dont fully understand what hardware is needed. Maybe some1 could give a talk about it at the next meeting?

I live 15 miles from kings lynn and 10 miles from swafam. No chance of geting any connection better then isdn atm :( so a wirless lan would be nice ;)

Hi! Well, that puts you either roughly near the Raynhams, which is some distance from me (abt 30 miles), or else somewhere near Methwold/Northwold which is not too far (about 6 miles) -- in which case we might both benefit from discussing it together!

I don't fully understand the hardware side either, though I do understand that it's not trivial.

There was some info given on followups to my original question: it would be worth you having a look at those.

Another possibility to consider is using the mobile phone cellnet: even out where I live, there's no problem with the mobile phone signal. The problem might be the expense, I think: I'm appending a very informative response I got from Alex Masidlover on the Manchester "linux-users" list.

Cheers, Ted. =====================================

I'm pondering the possibilities of accessing the internet by radio using mobile cellnets.

This seems to need a pcmcia card (if for laptop) which is quite pricey. Is there equivalent for desktop?

Presumably, a suitable mobile-phone handset is also required. Are these pricey too? If you only want the data connection from PC to cellnet, presumably there are basic models which do just that.

There are currently two options for connecting a laptop to the cellular networks:

1) A PCMCIA mobile phone. This is essentially a mobile phone with no keypad, speaker or microphone. You still need a SIM card which allow connection to the phone network. Either by purchasing a phone with a SIM card or purchasing a SIM card alone (only vodafone currently allow this). For a desktop machine you would need to buy a PCMCIA slot device (which are unusual but obtainable from some suppliers).

2) A Mobile phone with Data capability and/or IR capability. If your computer or mobile phone do not have IR then you will need a data cable from the phone manufacturer or third party. (Serial -> IR converters are readily available for desktop/laptop computers costing around 20GBP). In my opinion this is the best solution since if you don't have a mobile phone then you will need to buy one to get a SIM card, and if you already have a mobile phone then you can simply buy a second data capable one second-hand (E-Bay or similar).

I've been hearing a bit about CDMA and GPRS (the latter apparenty rolled out by BT-cellnet).

GPRS is now available from Cellnet (And I believe Vodafone), this is an always-on connection and is charged per megabyte (I'm not sure whether you can have phone terminated connections, i.e. whether you can use your computer as a server since there are major problems with who pays the bill for traffic which you may not want). Speeds vary from 9600bps to a theoretical 148000bps, since you are sharing the available 'bandwidth' with other phone users in that cell (including voice users).

HSCSD is simply two ordinary GSM phone lines joined together to give twice the data rate. You still have to dial-up for your connection. It is available from Orange.

CDMA2000 in the US or (3G 3rd Generation GSM) everywhere else is a new system likely to be available here in 2003 it will be similar to GPRS but faster from the users point of view (I have heard talk of 2Mbps, but early systems are unlikely to achieve this)

There is also a new technology called GSM EDGE or Evolution which is 'simply' a way of squeezing more bandwidth out of the cellular network. I'm not sure whether this will ever be seen since it is a stop gap to 3G which is due next year.

Anyone know what tariffs are like? Could this be worth it compared with landline dialup, if usage is fairly heavy?

HSCSD is charged at twice the rate of an ordinary data call. GPRS is currently charged at 1GBP per megabyte by Cellnet. Neither of these options are even close to being cheaper than landline dial-up or always-on, the only situation I can think of where you might see a cost advantage is if you need always on but only have a very low volume of traffic (<20 Megabytes per month).

My current overall view is that data over cell phone networks is a very powerfull tool for the business traveller and GPRS is a major boon (despite being expensive).

In the future I believe that if BT continue to price ADSL at such high levels and not increase the data rate, then 3G could well take over a big chunk of this market (when it finally appears).

Since your question was fairly general I've tried to give an overview of whats available/coming soon, but if you need any advice on specific combinations of devices / set-up under Linux then get in touch.

Hope this helps,

Alex Masidlover