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WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY The Technology Wireless technology has been around for a
long time. The first radios were the early days of wireless. They were as big as
TV sets are today and received signals from towers that were miles away from the
receiver. In the 70 and 80’s computers and miniature electronics made a
radiotelephone or cell phones a possibility. This technology allows many cell towers in a
certain area to pass phone calls from one location to another. Radio technology
has advanced rapidly in the past ten years and now PCS cell phones and wireless
computers networks are very common and inexpensive. Planet Connect is now using this technology
to bring wireless high-speed Internet access to Internet users in Eastern
Tennessee. Our wireless system operates at a frequency of 2.4 Ghz. which is a
microwave frequency. This frequency is used because it allows a greater amount
of data to be sent in the signal. The radios can transfer data at speeds as high
as 11 million bits per second. Lower frequencies such as FM radio or cell phone
frequencies would restrict the speed of the connection. The microwave frequency
used by the wireless Internet service requires line of site connections to work
properly unless the receiving site is near the tower. For this reason Planet Connect has installed the transmitter on high
points near areas that have high population density. Fortunately the mountains
and hills of East Tennessee allow
many places that offer this arrangement. Internet connections and most computer
communications are measured in bits per second. When someone says they have a
56K modem they are saying that the maximum speed at which the modem will operate
is 56,000 bits per second. The Planet Connect Wireless system can operate at
speeds up to
11,000,000 bits per second. This is normally referred to as 11 Mbits which is
short for 11 megabits. This speed is much higher than phone lines can delivery
and allows much faster downloads and quicker response from web site page
displays. Each user of the system shares the bandwidth
of their channel with other users, therefore the total speed and bandwidth
available to each users will vary depending on the number of people downloading
at the same time and the speed of the Internet at that time. This is the same
technique that is used by cable modems since a central signal passes every home
on the cable and each users data is mixed in with everyone’s data. Unlike the
cable modems, multiple towers can be used in the same town to increase the
bandwidth in each area. As the system gets crowded this technique will open
additional bandwidth to keep the speed from slowing down. At the subscribers site, an antenna is mounted in a place where it can see the local tower and
a cable connected between the antenna and the radio card. The radio card is
plugged into a PC computer or laptop. After the radio software is loaded your
computer will communicate with the wireless system without any need for phone
lines or TV cable. While the system is bi-directional, in most cases the
download speed will be higher than the upload speed. When considering a wireless system, the most important consideration is the antenna location. There must be clear line of site between the antenna and the tower. There is information on each site under the locations section of the site. The installation section will help you with the antenna mounting arrangements. Remember the antenna needs to be as near the radio card as possible to keep the signal as strong as possible. GOOD LINE OF SITE
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