[clue-talk] Semi portable, Wireless access from an ISP

[Greg Knaddison - GVS]

On 8/30/06, rex evans <rexfordevans at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I am not sure that I am using the
> right key words. "Semi Portable"
> means different parts of the metro
> area, but not "on the move". Some
> small antenna is expected.
>
> Does an ISP of some kind offer this?

Ricochet offers this, but I wasn't terribly impressed with their
service a few years ago when I used it.  I was on windows at the time
- I'm not sure if they support Linux.  A friend - who is used to DSL -
recently used it and felt it was noticeably slower.  I signed up for
Ricochet because I was in an apartment that couldn't get DSL or Cable
(horror!).

An alternative service - that is both linux and ms and apple friendly
and which is at the right price and is a way for you to get cheap
802.11G routers: http://en.fon.com/

I've written a bit about my experience with Fon:
http://knaddison.com/category/fon

Generally speaking, it's a great service and the network is the
largest worldwide hotspot network (almost 80,000 nodes!).  On the
other hand, the access points tend to be in less desirable
locations...

Here's the map of Denver: http://us.maps.fon.com/recenter/-104.995/39.7537/

As you can see - the coverage isn't great, but the idea is golden.

Greg