Overview of Rural Wireless Internet

It is not uncommon to feel the urge to escape to a quaint little rural town to escape from the noise and the action of the big city or to visit a picturesque farm for a relaxed vacation but it might not be as rosy as it sounds because of one major factor- the internet.

The biggest and the most over looked factor about rural life is that there is no internet access in most rural areas where even some of the cell phones do not support their services.

There are still several areas in the US which are very far flung where even the dial up internet services are not available. 

Luckily, for those who are living in such areas, there are a few options to get access to broadband internet. There are many remote areas which today have access to broadband internet which is achieved wirelessly at a lower cost.

The companies which provide these services are known for WISPs or Wireless Internet Service Providers. Typically you would have to have an antenna installed in order to get the radio signals for accessing internet. These signals would be transmitted from a tower in the location.

Linksys WRT54G 54 Mbps 4-Port 10/100 Wireless G Router (WRT54G-EU) $10.00

Cisco Linksys E3200 300 Mbps 4-Port Gigabit Wireless N Router (E3200) $61.00

Netgear Wireless-G 4-Port Router (WGR614) $7.99

Many of these networks use the Wi-Fi technology and many providers have very small networks but it would be possible to roam between different service providers. Wi-Fi Alliance encourages inter network roaming and this means that you would be able to use mobile internet.

It is wise to check with the service providers if they offer roaming services and the modems that they support before choosing a service.

Though these services might seem to be the best way to get access to broadband internet, there can still be many limitations which would have to be answered. There is a small range on the transmitted signals so this in turn can mean smaller service areas. Most of the technology which is used for this service would also need line of sight.

What this means that there would have to be an unobstructed and straight line between the radio tower and the antenna. Some of the lower frequency types of technology do not need a line of site but there would still be a significant drop in the maximum bandwidth.

For this reason, geographical location can play an important role in the service availability. At the moment, one of the newest technologies in the field is WiMAX which would help overcome some of these problems.

Currently several companies are building their own WiMAX networks since they are long range systems. What this means that they would need to set up fewer towers to cover larger areas.

This would help provide homes with last mile services since the existing Wi-Fi hotspots can also be used to connect to the other networks. There are larger areas for roaming making it perfect for mobile broadband.

With time as the rural wireless popularity continues to grow, many new and exciting technologies would start to roll out like WiMAX and it would not be long before any place and anyone would have access to broadband.

Linksys WRT54G 54 Mbps 4-Port 10/100 Wireless G Router (WRT54G-EU) $10.00

Cisco Linksys E3200 300 Mbps 4-Port Gigabit Wireless N Router (E3200) $61.00

Netgear Wireless-G 4-Port Router (WGR614) $7.99

NetGear WNDR3300 270 Mbps 4-Port 10/100 Wireless N Router (WNDR3300-100AUS) $32.00

Motorola SBG941 Wireless Cable Modem/Router Gateway Charter Comcast 45 DayWrrnty $49.99

Linksys wireless B broadband router $14.95

Linksys RangePlus WRT110 24 Mbps 4-Port 10/100 Wireless Router $11.99