sprint power vision for fixed broadband??

I'm searching for an affordable way to get broadband at home. No cable
available & DSL is about 1/4 mile too far away. It looks like there's a
sprint tower a few miles away & I *might* be able to hit it with a yagi
or dish.

Has anyone used Sprint's Power Vision service for fixed broadband, using
a modem other than the typical card that plugs into a laptop? Obviously,
I'd like to use it to feed a home network. Cellular booster antennas are
ok & even using an old laptop as a server is not out of the question.

Thanks,

Charlie

---

› See More: sprint power vision for fixed broadband??

Well, I have used it, and it's fine some email and web browsing and
telnet/ssh, and single threaded file transfers.

Is it a replacement for Cable/DSL? No. Not even close.

The speeds burst, and the connection slows down significantly, will
drop altogether, or will go "idle" during rush hours or times of peak
usage.

It is an excellent mobile solution for people on the go to use an hour
or two here or there ... but a home broadband connection it is not.

And even in the TOS it says something to the effect of "this is not
intentended to be used as a primary connection and any use to that
effect will be terminated, charged per-kilobyte, or the bandwidth will
slowed, blah, blah, blah". If you are on it 8 hours per day, they will
probably consider that primary.

I pull down over 100Gigs/month via DSL. I seriously doubt that Sprint
would allow that.

EVDO is better suited to Smartphones, IMHO. Where you periodic need
quick bursts of data.

Latency over EVDO is also much greater than you would want for a
orimary connection.

A home network over EVDO would be a disaster, IMHO.

I know a guy in the middle of nowhere Montana that uses $49/month
Satellite internet. I think it is through Dish network or some such.

I would strongly suggest a satellite solution for Internet. What you
are proposing is not a viable solution from my own experience. It gets
on my nerves after 1 hour on a laptop. I couldn't imagine a home
network, or even a home computer using it for broadband.

FWIW wrote:
> Well, I have used it, and it's fine some email and web browsing and
> telnet/ssh, and single threaded file transfers.

I noticed when I tether my phone, I can't use my FTP client nor the
command line FTP, I have to use a web based app to xfer files.

> If you are on it 8 hours per day, they will probably consider
> that primary.

Have used it over 6 hours a day for months for simple browsing and
limited FTP...no nasty letters yet from Sprint.

> The speeds burst, and the connection slows down significantly, will
> drop altogether, or will go "idle" during rush hours or times of peak
> usage.

Often drops several times an hour, regardless of time of day, even when
close to the tower.

> I know a guy in the middle of nowhere Montana that uses $49/month
> Satellite internet. I think it is through Dish network or some such.
> I would strongly suggest a satellite solution for Internet.

I support several dozen DirecWav installs on oil rigs and would only
recommend satellite as the LAST resort.

>I noticed when I tether my phone, I can't use my FTP client nor the
>command line FTP, I have to use a web based app to xfer files.


I use the PC card. I never tether. PC card gives you true TCP/IP ...
at least everything I have tried. They may have blocked file sharing
or something, but I haven't given it a shot.


>Have used it over 6 hours a day for months for simple browsing and
>limited FTP...no nasty letters yet from Sprint.

Good point. Actually, I think they look at bandwidth, not time
connected.

>Often drops several times an hour, regardless of time of day, even when
>close to the tower.

Same here, but I have to run a pinger during rush hour or it will drop
me in 15 seconds of non-use.

>I support several dozen DirecWav installs on oil rigs and would only
>recommend satellite as the LAST resort.

There are a couple of satellite solutions.

And while Satallite would never be my first choice, it would certainly
come ahead of putting a home network on EVDO.

>I noticed when I tether my phone, I can't use my FTP client nor the
>command line FTP, I have to use a web based app to xfer files.

By the way, make sure you uninstall Venturi or any of the software
based accelerators.

It doesn't excellerate much, IMHO, and it appears to plug some ports
..... possibly FTP.

"DecaturTxCowboy" <DTC@boogie_boggie.blog> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>> I know a guy in the middle of nowhere Montana that uses $49/month
>> Satellite internet. I think it is through Dish network or some such.
> > I would strongly suggest a satellite solution for Internet.
>
> I support several dozen DirecWav installs on oil rigs and would only
> recommend satellite as the LAST resort.

I had DirecWay satellite internet for 18 months, before DSL became
available in my neighborhood. I consistently got 800-1200 kbps on
downloads. You can't do big downloads because of the FAP (Fair
Access Policy). A new provider (WildBlue) is getting good reviews:
http://www.broadbandreports.com/forums/all?cat=56
I'd recommend satellite to someone technically savvy who only has
56k dial-up as an alternative.

--
John Richards

DecaturTxCowboy wrote:
> FWIW wrote:
>> Well, I have used it, and it's fine some email and web browsing and
>> telnet/ssh, and single threaded file transfers.
>
> I noticed when I tether my phone, I can't use my FTP client nor the
> command line FTP, I have to use a web based app to xfer files.
>

I have no issue with FTP at all--Standard or Passive mode. What errors
are you receiving in the FTP client? Is it getting past port 21?


>> If you are on it 8 hours per day, they will probably consider
>> that primary.
>
> Have used it over 6 hours a day for months for simple browsing and
> limited FTP...no nasty letters yet from Sprint.

I thought you said you couldn't use FTP? FTP via a Web browser is still
FTP (ftp://...).


>
>> The speeds burst, and the connection slows down significantly, will
>> drop altogether, or will go "idle" during rush hours or times of peak
>> usage.
>
> Often drops several times an hour, regardless of time of day, even
> when close to the tower.
>
>> I know a guy in the middle of nowhere Montana that uses $49/month
>> Satellite internet. I think it is through Dish network or some such.
>> I would strongly suggest a satellite solution for Internet.
>
> I support several dozen DirecWav installs on oil rigs and would only
> recommend satellite as the LAST resort.

Based on your own comments ("often drops several times an hour") I would
think--in this case of no other broadband availability--that a sat feed
might indeed be the "last resort."

OTOH, if the OP can achieve "fast" dial-up connections (44Kbps+), and
uses a "Web accelerator" (compression proxy) they might find they can do
OK with dialup for general browsing and then use EV-DO for the
occasional large download or two (assuming the drop-outs don't preclude
this type of usage).

But I wouldn't use Sprint PCS as my sole ISP. If that is the OP's
intention of using Sprint in the first place, I would go with sat
instead. Or perhaps see if he can find a wireless (802.11abg) provider
in the area--or if he's good with directional antennas, find a friend to
share DSL via 802.11abg. I've gone several miles via 802.11b using
directional antennas and extremely low-loss coax (think: thick).


--
Mike

Tinman wrote:
> I have no issue with FTP at all--Standard or Passive mode. What errors
> are you receiving in the FTP client? Is it getting past port 21?

Didn't pursue it to see why it didn't work.

> I thought you said you couldn't use FTP? FTP via a Web browser is still
> FTP (ftp://...).

Some web hosting services will use an http based upload.

> Based on your own comments ("often drops several times an hour") I would
> think--in this case of no other broadband availability--that a sat feed
> might indeed be the "last resort."

The tethered Sprint connection drops at some point, but not to extent
that I have to disconnect and reconnect via the #777 dialer. Its only a
20 second annoyance.

> I've gone several miles via 802.11b using
> directional antennas and extremely low-loss coax (think: thick).

From my access point on top of four story building on the highest point
in the county, I can get up to 12 miles using a USB WiFi dongle and a
corner reflector.

DecaturTxCowboy wrote:
> Tinman wrote:
>> I have no issue with FTP at all--Standard or Passive mode. What
>> errors are you receiving in the FTP client? Is it getting past port
>> 21?
>
> Didn't pursue it to see why it didn't work.
>
>> I thought you said you couldn't use FTP? FTP via a Web browser is
>> still FTP (ftp://...).
>
> Some web hosting services will use an http based upload.
>

OK, then it wasn't FTP. I suppose in some markets port 21 is blocked.


>> Based on your own comments ("often drops several times an hour") I
>> would think--in this case of no other broadband availability--that a
>> sat feed might indeed be the "last resort."
>
> The tethered Sprint connection drops at some point, but not to extent
> that I have to disconnect and reconnect via the #777 dialer. Its only
> a 20 second annoyance.
>

Yea, that's what my wife says after sex. <g>


>> I've gone several miles via 802.11b using
>> directional antennas and extremely low-loss coax (think: thick).
>
> From my access point on top of four story building on the highest
> point in the county, I can get up to 12 miles using a USB WiFi dongle
> and a corner reflector.

I'm assuming the four story building is not using a single directional
antenna? Around here we have several WiFi "ISPs" and it's also used by
the school district. Lots of traffic in the 2.4 GHz spectrum. So I tend
to set up highly directional rooftop antennas on both ends, and if
possible go with a line-of-sight 5.4 GHz solution (one host, one
client).


--
Mike

>As you might know, running a constant ping is VERY unfriendly to the
>network, but I know it can help, so people do it.


I don't run a constant ping, I run an interval ping.

And I don't run a ping unless I am actually actively using the
connection. I do it to prevent having to renegotiate a connection
after taking 60 seconds to read an email.

If I will not be transferring data for 5 minutes or more, I disconnect
altogether.

A 15 second interval ping is not network unfriendly when you connect
for 15-20 minutes at a time, and you would otherwise have to redial the
connection to pull up each and every webpage.

Dare I opine that renegotiating the connection frequently uses more
bandwidth and resources than do 4 ICMP packets per minute.

>Verizon uses Venturi; Sprint uses Bytemobile. Interestingly, when you
>use a data card or tether your handset, you're _always_ using
>Bytemobile for HTTP, POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP. There's no way for you to
>disable it.

Venturi can be disabled easily via a click. When I got rid of it, my
latency times were improved by 4-5 times.

Bytemobile can be deleted from the machine altogether.

It may be in the card firmware, however. I don't know about that. I
have heard that sprint EVDO compresses data on the fly, so there is
probably aways some sort of compression running.

While there is a place for the compression software, I hate it because
of the latency. Once a connection to a source is established, it can
transfer faster, but if you pull a webpage with tons of different
graphics with banners on adservers, it slows down load times from my
experience, and induces a slower keystroke response in SSL, etc.

I'm not a big fan of the stuff, but I guess it saves bandwidth.

Tinman wrote:
> DecaturTxCowboy wrote:
>>From my access point on top of four story building on the highest
>>point in the county, I can get up to 12 miles using a USB WiFi dongle
>>and a corner reflector.
>
> I'm assuming the four story building is not using a single directional
> antenna? Around here we have several WiFi "ISPs" and it's also used by
> the school district. Lots of traffic in the 2.4 GHz spectrum. So I tend
> to set up highly directional rooftop antennas on both ends, and if
> possible go with a line-of-sight 5.4 GHz solution (one host, one
> client).

No....just a 9dBi omni. AP is running at -23 dBm TX and -103 dBm RX
sensitivity. Dongle is rated at 16 dBm TX and -90dBm RX with 16 dBi gain
corner reflector.

Typical range is 8 miles with a ten foot mast, but from a hilltop up to
12 miles.

Usually a "ping" by setting your email clint to check mail once a minute
has worked for me. Two minutes was too long, just like not checking mail
at all.

>>A 15 second interval ping is not network unfriendly

>Actually, it is, because it prevents the RF link from going dormant.


Paul, therin lies the huge problem.

I often have trouble pulling the connection back from "dormant" to
"active". A large part of the time when the connection goes dormant, I
have to manually disconnect and redial. Too often "dormant" =
"disconnected" for all intentes and purposes on my laptop.

So for my uses, an interval ping keeps me from taking the 10-20 seconds
to reneogitate a connection during peak periods, which I am almost
positive is more "network unfriendly" than simply keep the connection
in active state for 20 minutes ... or until I find a way to make
dormant mean somthing other than a broken connection.


>Yes, I've done it too, but only when I felt I needed near-instant response
>without the delay of coming out of dormancy.

I do it because I have a hard time coming out of dormancy altogether.
I will often get "server not found", etc ... until I drop, and
renogiate the connection.

I have only had this setup for a short period of time, so it may be a
software issue on my end, or some anamoly because my local tower is
VERY heavily used ... but in order to have a semi-reliable internet
connection, I really have no choice put to keep the connection active
during peak hours. I don't stay on for long periods of time and don't
hog bandwidth, and the faster I get my work done, the faster I am off
the network altogether.

I think what I am doing is saving resources.


P.S. The latency times were not exaggerations. You do realize that
they were measured in milliseconds and a 4x improvement may not even be
noticeable to Joe Blow. However, depending on the specific server, I
have dropped from the 300ms range to well under 100ms after disabling
compression. And 300ms can be a real ball buster when you are
administering as system vaia SSH.

I won't pretend to know everything going on under the hood of the
compression schemes, but I can tell you that by my own latency testing,
compression sacrifices latency for raw-burst speed when downloading
large files. This is great for low-object same-server file transers
via HTTP, FTP, or whatever ... but can be annoying for multi-object and
key response type applications.

There is no free lunch, and something has to be sacrificed when you go
to a compression scheme. From my observation, this is latency, and it
can indeed be measured by multiples. And I am sure it will vary from
client to client and from tower to tower.

>Usually a "ping" by setting your email clint to check mail once a minute
>has worked for me. Two minutes was too long, just like not checking mail
>at all.

Sometimes that works, but during people periods 60 seconds can actually
be too long.

15 seconds is the reliability spot for my location.

I can't imagine that it doesn't vary from place to place.