Why all this struggle with Qwest? Why didn't you simply use a wireless solution? Why not use 802.11b cards and Pringles cans to set up point-to-point links between houses in your neighborhood? First, we are using a wireless solution for part of our network. Qwest says they can't bring a T1 line anywhere near our neighborhood. We do, however, have a T1 line in nearby Dillon, Colorado, at a location that has direct line of sight to two of the homes in our neighborhood. So we have set up a point-to-point microwave link to bring T1-speed connectivity to the neighborhood. The microwave link is an 802.11 link using the 2.4 GHz band with frequency-hopping transceivers, and high-gain antennas. (The use of high-gain antennas minimizes the risk of others interfering with our microwave system, and minimizes the risk of our microwave system interfering with others.)

But if we had had some other option, we would have preferred not to use any wireless solution. The reasons are simple. First, the 2.4 GHz band used in 802.11 is getting more and more crowded. Many technologies help themselves to this unlicensed band, including 801.11b, Bluetooth, microwave ovens, and cordless telephones. A 2.4 GHz system that works on a Monday might not work on a Tuesday due to interference by some new user of that band.

Second, we have a lot of lightning. Yes, it is possible to ground things diligently and to install gas-tube protectors on the antenna lines. But such a protector does not protect against a direct strike, nor even against a nearby strike. We have already had to replace two of our microwave transceivers due to lightning damage, and we now keep a spare on hand for the next strike.

So we do use a wireless approach for part of our system, namely connecting our T1 line to our DSLAM, basically because we had no other choice. But we chose not to use wireless to connect up the rest of the neighborhood. Lightning problems are one reason. Topography and vegetation also work against us -- the neighborhood is very hilly and forested and there are many homes in our neighborhood that do not have decent line of sight to other homes. There is no single location where a tower could be placed that would have line-of-sight to all of the homes in the neighborhood.

Relaying wireless signals from house to house through the neighborhood would also be problematic. First, as mentioned earlier, many homes don't have line-of-sight to any other home. Second, any house that would serve as a relay point would have to be a house that we could get into at any time for troubleshooting and repair purposes. But some of the homes in our neighborhood are second homes that are occupied only part-time. So none of them would be well suited for wireless relay purposes.

Installing and maintaining a wireless system, especially one that relies upon relaying from house to house, is a lot of work. It is no fun to imagine having to set up a ladder in the snow to climb up and fiddle with an antenna on the side of a house, while the temperature is below freezing, to troubleshoot a loss of connectivity.