Wireless Internet options

[drew at drewtaylor.com (Drew Taylor)]

At 01:50 PM 8/20/02 -0400, Kent Borg wrote:

>Most any wireless choice is going to like a choice of antenna
>locations, so having 5 of you interested suggests you can maybe get to
>the roof, or at least a choice of windows.

Yes, we can definitely get to the roof. There is a common deck area there, 
so it would be trivial to install an antenna pointed somewhere. The pooling 
is just an idea - I just moved in and haven't met any of my neighbors yet. 
But my landlord mentioned one resident is a "computer guy", so I suspect I 
might have at least one interested party.

>So I would consider running your own wireless.  802.11b wireless can
>be run through a highly directional external antenna.  Aim it at a
>similar antenna that is looking back and you can do a fast link over
>quite a distance (as in miles); quite a distance line of sight.  What
>can you see from your apartments?  Who lives or works at that place
>you can see?  You want to find someone satisfying these two
>requirements:

I've read the stories of folks doing this, and I suspect it is probably my 
best option. It's a 5 story building so I can see over most of the North 
End, and everything on the west side of the Expressway.

>Who do you (or your neighbors) know in your view?

I don't know anyone that can get DSL personally, but I think I'm going to 
ask this week. Perhaps it will be a good way to introduce myself to my new 
neighbors. I probably shouldn't tell me wife I'm going to do it though... ;-)

Thanks for the ideas.

Drew


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