Fullscreen HTML5Med Res (??MB)HTML4

Want to go broadband anywhere . . . without waiting for ADSL or Cable connection? Look Mum: No Wires! A ustralians are amongst the world’s largest users of the Internet. These days, if you have a computer, the chances are you have an Internet connection. And chances are also that it is dial-up, sharing the phone line with your existing voice phone service. With the price of broadband ever falling, huge numbers of people have taken the plunge and signed up for one of the countless offerings available from an almost equally countless number of suppliers. 8  Silicon Chip If you have ADSL broadband, well done. As we have found, it’s not always as easy as the suppliers make it out to be. If you could get over the hurdle of ADSL availability (eg, signing up for anything on the Telstra network meant living within just a couple of kilometres of the telephone exchange) you then had to wait for Telstra to let you know that first of all your line By Ross Tester was capable of handling ADSL (and apparently there are many that aren’t, mainly due to cost-cutting installations in earlier, less-digitally-enlightened times). Then, some time (possibly weeks) later, you were informed that you had been connected to ADSL and you could plug in your broadband modem, sign up with an ISP and away you’d go. Hopefully. Many consumers have been caught out with “bargain” broadband connections, finding that the usage limits (and in some cases both upload and siliconchip.com.au downloads count) are unrealistically low. While 300 or 400MB sounds a lot for a dial-up user, it doesn’t take long to gobble that up – and then some. Most people find that when they connect the always-on broadband, usage increases dramatically (why look up a phone book when you can find the info on the net?) and the usage limits are very quickly exceeded. And that’s when some of the broadband ISPs really start earning bulk income: many ISPs charge downright exorbitant rates once you exceed your monthly limit. But that part of broadband is really another story (solutions for which we hope to look at in more detail in a future issue). Cable broadband has of course been an alternative – if (a) you could get it (and there are still vast areas which have not been “cabled”) and (b) if you could afford it. Cable broadband has, at least until recently, been significantly more expensive than ADSL. An aside: a mate of mine is an Optus cable broadband customer because ADSL isn’t available at his place. He pays about seventy dollars a month for the privilege. Not long ago, Optus magnanimously told him they were upping his limit from the current plan’s three gigabytes a month to ten. He very seldom uses any more than one gigabyte. Would they lower the monthly rate and keep him at three? Last time I saw him he was still whistling Dixie. OK, so what if you could bypass the whole ADSL/cable rigmarole and have a broadband connection literally within minutes? One that is at least competitive with Telstra/Optus offerings? And perhaps more importantly, one that doesn’t charge you extra for your excess usage? The Unwired system: in front is the Unwired “rabbit” modem, plugging into the ethernet connection on the laptop (USB versions are also available). It really is as simple as plugging in and turning on . . . providing you have wireless access. Enter Unwired If you live in Sydney, you could hardly have missed the ads for Unwired on commercial radio (OK, maybe you listen to the ABC . . .). Unwired is a one of the large number of service providers offering broadband Internet connection. But Unwired is different. As its name suggests, Unwired doesn’t rely on Telstra (or Optus cable, or any other copper) to connect you. It is totally wireless – all done via a network of 3.4GHz radio towers spread throughout Sydney, which (at the moment) cover about 90% of the population. siliconchip.com.au Unwired’s coverage of the Sydney area is pretty good, considering the topography. They cannot say how long the yellow bits will take to come on line. November 2004  9 and other key regions in Australia for service expansion. They aren’t saying when but we’d be surprised if it’s not sooner rather than later, because Unwired has a very heavy investment in the spectrum space needed to provide the service. How much investment? A cool $100 million+ is the figure being talked about. So how does it work? Run, rabbit, run: the back end of the Unwired modem shows just two sockets, one for power and one for (in this case) PC Ethernet connection. Right now there are 69 of these towers; shortly that will extend to 73 and cover closer to 95%. Note that said population, not area. There is a big difference! Of course, due to Sydney’s topography there will always be some pockets not reached but according to Unwired, these will be relatively few and far between. It’s not the same coverage as mobile phones but it’s not too dissimilar. And while it is only available in Sydney right now, Unwired has targeted Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth We’ve published several articles in SILICON CHIP about WiFi – digital wireless “networking” using (mainly) the 802.11b or 802.11g standards on 2.4GHz. Well, Unwired is not WiFi – although it is similar in some respects. For a start, it is significantly higher in frequency – around 3.4GHz. Wifi, via a wireless network card inside your desktop PC, or a PC card or USB stick attached to your laptop, links to a local access point, itself “hard wired” to ADSL or cable in the normal way. Hence your connection to the ’net is based on standard copper wire technology until the last little “hop” via wireless. It also depends on that access point being and staying connected. Often (usually?) you have to pay for the privilege of using it and in some cases, it can be as expensive as using an internet café! Unwired users have an entirely different type of connection – it uses a special wireless modem (often called a “rabbit” – and if you look at the photos, you’ll see why!) to connect to one of their strategically-placed towers. It doesn’t even have to be line-of-sight but it does have to be within range. They talk about a range of around 10km Setup is as simple as following the step-by-step screens that appear when you run the setup CD which comes with the modem. 10  Silicon Chip The front end of the Unwired Modem showing the fold-up rabbit ear antenna plus the three indicator LEDs and power switch. (which, at 3.4GHz, is not too shabby!). Unwired is based on a proprietary (and patented) system called “MultiCarrier Beamforming Technology” (MCSB) from Navini Networks in the USA. It’s also known as Nomadic Wireless Broadband Access, bringing wireless not just to an antenna or dish on the roof (as some other systems do) but right to the user’s computer (or at least to the modem close by). To connect to Unwired, you simply plug in the modem. That’s either via a USB port or an Ethernet port, Naturally, you have to sign up to one of the Unwired plans before you can start surfing – but you can do this on line as part of the setup procedure. It’s delightfully simple to do. siliconchip.com.au depending on the type of modem purchased. The modem cost, by the way, is about $189, either on-line (direct from Unwired or via several agents) or retail from technology chain Harvey Norman. If you’re in a reception area, after a few seconds one of three coloured LEDs on the unit glows steady. You then sign up for a plan using your credit card, and you’re on line. Total elapsed time? You’d hardly have enough time to get the egg out of the fridge, let alone boil it . . . Speed Once connection is established (and we’ll look at that in a moment), there appears to be little difference between apparent speeds loading and browsing sites I was familiar with using Unwired or using ADSL/cable. Given the fact that I was using a computer which would have little if any cached sites, I was pleasantly surprised by the speed and smoothness of the wireless system. The three plans on offer run at 256/64Kbps, 512/128Kbps and 1024/256Kbps (download/upload speeds – like ADSL, Unwired is not synchronous). Unwired does not run at a constant speed; it varies according to usage of the system at any given time in much the same way as cable broadband varies: more users, lower speed. For the two weeks or so I played with Unwired, I cannot say speed ever dropped to “too low” levels, although I have read many reports of people complaining of sluggishness at certain times of the day (especially early evening). Also, I experienced none of the dropouts which have been reported in other media, although given the minimal signal strength in my area I would not have been surprised to find dropouts a problem. There have also been reports of massive variations in signal strength on different floors of the same building – one report, surprisingly, said that on the fourth floor there was no signal while on the ground floor there was. Not wireless? Believe it or not, there has been comment in the popular press (and on newsgroups) that Unwired really isn’t a wireless system because you have to connect the modem to your PC and also to a power outlet. Sheesh!! What do they want? Taking the second point first, they’re wrong, because the Unwired modem contains an internal rechargeable battery which will give you up to an hour’s connection away from a power source – as our lead photo (and front cover) shows! The other objection really doesn’t warrant a comment, except that it points up a very good reason for not having non-technical journalists And here’s the proof: the SILICON CHIP website on screen less than three minutes from the time we turned the computer on. Speeds on the service we had were commensurate with our mid-range ADSL service at the SILICON CHIP office. siliconchip.com.au What about iBurst? While we have been concentrating on Unwired, other wireless contenders have recently launched on the Australian market, or are in the process of doing so even as this issue goes to press. The most prominent of these is iBurst, backed by the large ISP Ozemail. Their Personal Broadband service was launched in late September (although it would appear that Ozemail have renamed theirs Metrowide Wireless). Unfortunately, we couldn’t look at iBurst as we have Unwired, because as yet it doesn’t have much coverage of Sydney’s Northern Beaches at all! iBurst uses a different system (Arraycom’s IntelliCell technology) to achieve a somewhat similar result. Like Unwired, it will offer broadband coverage over a wide area of Sydney (though not yet as wide as Unwired) but is already launching into interstate markets. Most of the northern Gold Coast is already on line (sorry, wrong choice of words – not on line, on wireless!) and iBurst was promising to have Brisbane, Melbourne and Canberra up and running within a matter of weeks. In fact, iBurst will offer two versions of its wireless service – one is a mobile system in the true sense of the word, capable of giving a seamless connection to a notebook computer in a car travelling at up to 50km/h. Tests we have seen haven’t been quite so good as the marketing hype suggests but still relatively good, nevertheless. Prices are relatively steep at $99/month for a 1MB per second/1GB limit service and $199 per month for a 1MB per second unlimited service. Still, if mobility is important to you, you’re probably prepared to pay the price. The second service is similar to the ADSL/cable alternative offered by Unwired – ie, portable, not mobile. Prices are more reasonable (though slightly higher than Unwired), starting at $49.95 a month for a 256KB service and $99 for a 1GB service. Ordering is via the web (www. ozemail.com.au) with modem delivery within 24 hours. Ozemail promise to have your account activated by the time you receive your modem. November 2004  11 nificant degree when the wavelength approaches the raindrop size. 3.4GHz signals have a wavelength of about 0.09 metres or 9cm, a tad larger than even Noah-sized rain. For all intents and purposes, you can use the figure of 10GHz as the minimum affected frequency (for the same reason, Ku-band [11-13GHz] satellite signals can be affected by rain while C-band [4-5GHz] are relatively immune). How well does it work? After you’ve purchased the wireless modem (about $189, which is significantly more than an ADSL/cable modem), the plans are not dissimilar to the plans offered by wired broadband ISPs. The minimum plan is $34.95 per month. talking about matters technical in the non-technical press! And now I have that off my chest . . . What affects Wireless strength? The location of the antenna can often make the difference between no signal at all and wall-to-wall signal... or anywhere in between. Because in the case of Unwired the antenna is an integral part of the modem, that means placing the modem in the most advantageous position. Filing cabinets, steel-reinforced concrete walls, aluminium-backed wall or ceiling insulation . . . even someone walking between your modem and the wireless tower (wherever that might be) can cause degradation or even total loss of signal. That’s why you might need to experiment somewhat for best signal level. It’s quite common to read reports of rock-solid signal on one side of a building and low or no signal on the other. Low signal levels mean that data speeds are reduced or sometimes data disappears and the link drops out. The USB or Ethernet (crossover) cables supplied with the modem are only a couple of metres in length. But you might need to place the modem (say) on the other side of the room for best signal strength. The Ethernet modem would be the best option here because you can buy significantly longer cables (many 12  Silicon Chip metres long) which will have little apparent effect (if any at all) on your system speed. Naturally, your system will need an Ethernet card for this to be practical – either on-board, as most late-model desktops and laptops are, or an add-in Ethernet card (fortunately now VERY cheap!). The USB option, on the other hand, does limit you to a fairly short distance. You can buy USB extension cables but your maximum is just a couple of metres more. Otherwise you would have to start looking at amplifiers – our advice is to stick with the Ethernet version. Is Wireless affected by rain? Mmm – good question. There’s a lot of discussion about this point, with some saying it is (a little) and some saying it isn’t at all. Because wireless signal strength DOES vary significantly due to any number of factors, we believe that rain might often be the innocent victim – eg, signal strength’s down a bit today. Yep, it’s raining. Therefore it must be the rain causing it. (Corollary: the bank robber was described as having blue eyes and blonde hair. There’s a blue-eyed blonde. He must be a bank robber . . .). The truth is (at least according to many satellite websites that we’ve looked at) that rain normally only starts affecting radio signal to any sig- Here’s where we came across the first stumbling block. Unwired’s marketing people suggested we try the system “both at home and in the office” because they were selling Unwired as suitable for both home use and small office use. OK, first thing I did was had a look at the Unwired coverage map on their website. Like many ADSL/cable websites you can type in your street name and suburb and you’ll get a map showing availability (www.unwired. com.au/availability/current.php). I did – type my street name in, that is. Aaaaaagh!!!! Not in the service area. Strike one. (Of course I tried – just one street away I managed excellent reception. One lousy street!). I have seen several comments about being able to use Unwired well outside their “official” service area. But not in my case. So I thought I’d try the SILICON CHIP office and typed in the address. Aaaaagh!!!! Strike two. In fact, the whole of the Mona Vale area, one of the major retail, business and industrial centres of the Northern Beaches, is not covered. That was a surprise. When I raised this anomaly with the people from Unwired, they informed me that there was a site available for a tower which would solve the problem for both areas. But thus far they had been stymied by some misguided tree-hugging souls who maintained that those electromagnetic thingies would make them glow in the dark or something. (So they used their mobile phones to call all their friends to the protest . . .) No strike three! What to do? Fortunately, my “home away from home”, Narrabeen Beach Surf Lifesaving Club, was in an area with coverage (it is in a pink area on the Unwired website map). siliconchip.com.au So – down to the club, plugged the modem into the Ethernet socket on the club’s PC, turned it on and . . . no signal. You can tell whether you have signal by the three LEDs on the front of the unit. Green means a very strong signal, orange a strong signal and red a good signal. Flashing red means no signal. As advised in the setup, I moved the modem slightly closer to a window and, joy of joys, the LED stopped flashing – “good” signal. Elsewhere in, and outside, the club (away from the foil-covered roof insulation), the signal was green – excellent. The setup via the supplied CD was, thankfully, a doddle and I was on the net literally three minutes from when I turned the PC on – including entering the password and user names which Unwired had thoughtfully provided. Mr or Mrs Average Citizen would get their password and user names when they first log on and purchase their plan. Unwired in use Quite simply, I found using Unwired broadband very similar in performance to the two other broadband services I regularly use: ADSL here at SILICON CHIP and cable at home. Regrettably, I wasn’t in a position to do any actual speed tests (I was about to but the trial period ran out!) but purely by observation, I would have to say I was pretty happy with the way Unwired broadband behaved. That feeling was further backed up when one of my colleagues here at SILICON CHIP took the Unwired modem home for a few days. He’s in the north-western suburbs of Sydney and reported an instant “green” signal (excellent level) when he plugged in Unwired and no problems whatsoever with surfing the ’net. Unlike me, he is close enough to the exchange to theoretically get ADSL but suffers from the Telstra “pair gain” bogey so it’s back to the “incompatible infrastructure” excuse. Though Foxtel cable is available in his street, given his success with Unwired, he’s pretty firmly convinced which way he is going to go. Is Unwired safe? A few moments ago, I made somewhat flippant comment about electromagnetic radiation. But is that a concern with the Unwired system? siliconchip.com.au Given the fact that Unwired is “up there” on 3.4GHz (much higher than mobile phones, WiFi or even microwave ovens!) AND the fact that you have a device emitting e-m radiation very close to where you are working, perhaps it is something to be wary of. Where I was being sarcastic was in objections to electromagnetic radiation from Unwired towers: sure, transmitted energy levels will be higher but the inverse square law tells me that the radiation at ground level would be diminished to virtual background levels. Having said that, I would be wary about having an Unwired modem in close proximity to where I’m sleeping (and let’s face it – a lot of kids would have their PC, ergo their Unwired modem, on a desk next to their bed). In fact, I’d want to keep the distance between it and me as far as practical. Even Unwired themselves have a warning with the modem that it should not be used within 20cm of a person. It’s probably more of a “protect your butt” clause than anything else but it’s something to keep in mind. Do you really need a phone line any more? Many of Sydney’s (and, obviously, Australia’s) young, mobile population live in rented accommodation which may or may not include a phone line. Even if it does, there’s the cost and hassle of having the phone connected, rent to pay, not to mention (in the majority of cases) the inconvenience of a different phone number when you move. That’s why so many people have given away the fixed phone line, instead relying on their mobiles to stay in touch. If and when they move, their phone number goes with them. And there’s no re-connection fee, line rental, bond, whatever. Now even that is set to change as we enter the Wireless Broadband era. Last month we featured Voice Over IP, (VoIP), explaining how it could dramatically lower your phone bills – especially if you were on broadband. Unwired is broadband. You are already paying for the connection (without time constraints) so why not use Unwired in conjunction with a Netphone or headset on your PC to make ALL your “phone” calls. Hey, this could even replace mobile phones! Admittedly, calls are costed by time but if you’re not one to sit on the phone for hours, it is a completely viable option. As we pointed out last month, quick local calls can even cost less than what you currently pay. Long distance is where VoIP really starts to shine. So there it is: a new service which we believe will revolutionize not just the way we surf the net but the way we use our telecommunications systems and infrastructure. For more information, visit www. unwired.com.au SC COMING NEXT MONTH Satellite TV reception – the downside of Unwired Those who remember the first (VHF) television bandplan implemented in Australia will remember that it was a total debacle, with channels 3, 4 and 5 bang-smack in the middle of the international FM broadcast station allocation. “It’s OK,” they said at the time. “Australia doesn’t have any FM radio stations. . .” Not then, we didn’t. It’s taken the best part of fifty years to unscramble those particular eggs. Believe it or not, the Government has done it again, with wireless broadband. Our satellite TV writer, Garry Cratt, will tell how the powers-that-be have managed to auction off chunks of the international C-band Satellite TV spectrum for data communications. The net result is that people who have gone to considerable expense to set up their own C-band receiving systems (dishes, LNBs, receivers and so on) are now complaining long and loud about wireless broadband. The spread of frequencies is again right on top of many of their favourite satellite signals and in this case, Goliath wipes out David every time. “Too bad” say the authorities. “You’re not supposed to be watching overseas satellite television programs anyway. . .” In some cases, the problems can be cured, or at least eased, as Garry explains next month. November 2004  13