[RFI] Interesting Wireless Broadband article

[Pete Smith]

At 05:52 AM 7/15/2004, Dan Kovatch wrote:

>Let's see if the BPL denizens can compete with this in the 'rural' areas 
>they claim they will service. Sounds like some other people have been 
>finding practical solutions while BPL advocates have been drooling over 
>market share possibilites.
>
>http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-07-14-wireless_x.htm
>
>Disclaimer:first cupa while reading news so maybe a little grumpy!

Better yet, I notice that one of these guys who is local to me (in the next 
county over) is trading Internet service for access to high places for 
repeater antennas.  Here's a chance both to help diminish the need for BPL 
(if there ever was any) and get free service.  I've already sent him e-mail 
raising the possibility.

By the way, on the web site (http://www.roadstarinternet.com/index.htm) 
there's a report of a visit to Roadstar by Chairman Powell of the FCC, 
quoting him later as saying (in an FCC notice -- 
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-238842A2.pdf):

"Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to see first-hand a rural wireless
broadband network in Bluemont, Virginia. Using a network made up of entirely
unlicensed devices, Roadstar Internet provides wireless broadband services 
to both
commercial and residential customers. Roadstar is literally a mom and pop 
operation,
run by Marty and Rose Dougherty, and headquartered in a barn behind their 
home. Many
of Roadstar’s subscribers previously had no broadband option. Now in 
Bluemont, a local
company can market its products over the Internet, students can benefit 
from distance
learning, and local workers can telecommute.
What’s exciting about all of this is that wireless internet service providers
(WISPs), like Roadstar, are springing up all over the country – from 
Bluemont, Virginia
to Coffman Cove, Alaska. It’s the dawn of a new facilities-based broadband 
industry; a
new industry spawned in part by the Commission’s unlicensed rules."

Could it be that the initial enthusiasm for BPL is waning, even at the FCC?



73, Pete N4ZR
The World HF Contest Station Database
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