Creating a Wifi Hotspot for 50 sq. miles

I got this crazy idea to provide free wifi internet access in my city with small ads to cover costs and hopefully turn a profit.

I plan to use AP's with 18dBi Omni Range Antennas to cover the distance.

However i need something that will cost me under $500/unit and cover a range of a 2-5miles omni directionally. I found a lot of AP's that can do this, however the AP will not let a laptop wifi user connect to the network at a range of 3 miles even if the signal is there. It will let another AP connect not a user. Weird if you ask me.

I need a solution to this problem. If anyone can share their thoughts it would be great.

 

Got your FCC license application teed up yet? The most likely reason that those APs don't allow individual user units to connect is probably that doing so would require an FCC license.

 

Actually i already have that :d

 

you actually dont need one as 802.11 is under open use. as long as your not putting out too much power your fine,

I used to work for a WISP and it was a lot of fun. just not cheap

 

Do you think you can help with the problem i have. Mainly:

"I found a lot of AP's that can do this, however the AP will not let a laptop wifi user connect to the network at a range of 3 miles even if the signal is there. It will let another AP connect not a user. Weird if you ask me."

 

Yup, but then again, the Devil's always in the details, innt he? Get caught pushing out too much power and, ...oops! Running what the OP seems to want to run is going to get him perilously close to that threshhold.

 

I still dont see a way to get this to work. So wont be any trouble if there aint anything

 

The way you make it sound is that a laptop can pick up a signal - but can't connect? Even if it picks up a signal at a range of 3 miles a laptop would not be able to broadcast that far back?... right?

 

if you need long range wireless you need to amplify the signal on both ends.

you can do this pretty easily by going to any HAM radio store and buying the parts.

the laptop will need a wireless card with and enternal antenna connector. that is going to then be pigtailed into your amplifier and then out to a decent 18dbi antenna. either omni, or directional.


on the "AP" side of things you are going to run a 90-180 degree range antenna prefrably on a hill top with good cover. depending on the type of terrain you may want to run horrizontal or vertical waves. horrizontal works great in wooded areas. vertical works great at very long distance with rolling hills.

you need to really know what you are doing before you decide to take up a project like this though I must say.


if you have any other questions let me know

 

also check these things out
http://www.pcengines.ch/wrap.htm

they work great for your AP side of your network.

 

Increasing client side signal is not an option. We cannot expect people to do that for free internet.

However i think i may have a solution. Another supplier says he has an AP that does support Client Interaction if there is a signal. Getting more info from him and will then buy one unit to test.

 

Any idea what range i can get on those repeaters?

I want to cover the entire city, which can be a problem if it will only give me a few hundred meters of range.

Thanks.

 

there are some pretty decedent AP's out. might check into the city of portland's wifi project. as well as several others. the biggest problem is money. and lots have failed due to that aspect of the project.

 

Thanks. Going to check into it. I got a SB Loan. So can give $500-$750 for each AP to around 100 max.

 

how do you plan on making money off of this?

 

Got a few revenue ideas:

1. Free service will have limited bandwidth and max limit per hour which is small. It will have AD's that will help cover cost. Going to set up something like Google for Targeted AD's.

2. Second sell internet itself. If you want more speed and stuff, without AD's and all. You can buy internet from us. Plan to price is less than all local and national providers, so it will make sense to go with us.

3. Final phase, after wifi net is set up. Provide Wifi Rfid tracking to clients. To track children or cars throughout the city. Or commercial equipment. This is fairly easy to set up once the wifi net is up. Can easily get this done for less than $25k where each tag will only cost $20 and monthly fee can be around $5-$10 with no cost to me.

 

Also seems like the Portland Project went bust. I wonder what kind of AP they used and range they got. Going to google more.

 

ah very cool! sounds like your on a great track. the portland project did go under, they used the ad method you are talking about. Rfid would be a great feature to add in!

best of luck! and let us know how it goes!

 

Thanks. However i keep running into AP problems. Can find one that is economical and has good range. Need to get atleast 2 miles.

 

like it was stated earlier you are going to need to boost client tx levels at the least in order to get that.

what city are we looking at here? big small?

portland set them(AP's) on the traffic lights at most corners. If I recall it was setup in an Adhoc type of network.

 

Just a theoretical, somewhat rhetorical, question: if this is such a rootin' tootin' good idea, why haven't Verizon, Sprint, and every utility that's already gone to the cost and expense of putting up utility poles, already jumped into this with both feet?