It sounds like you're accessing it mainly through a wireless card in
your laptop, Frank. People should know that you get a wireless modem
that's supposed to pull in the signal better, and they even recommend
that you take the modem with you for a better signal if you move around
between semi-fixed locations (the modem needs to be plugged in, and
comes with a big ethernet cord to connect it to the computer).
Only some sections of the city have been set up -- in West
Philadelphia, mainly south of Baltimore Ave. (A map of the current
service area is at http://www.earthlink.net/wifi/cities/ ) You can see
the Wi-Fi antennas on top of street lights. They're a horizontal box
(like a styrofoam takeout box) bolted to the bar near the light, with
two white antennas sticking up. I have a line-of-sight connection to
one of those, about 300 feet through the glass of my window and some
trees, and the signal is still iffy sometimes.
The speed is fine for me when there's a good connection (most of the
time). I test occasionally through the CNet "Bandwidth Meter" (under
Internet Access), and I find I generally get about 650 kbps, plus or
minus 300 or so. It's nearly always fast enough to watch YouTube
videos without hesitations. The downside is that it's not entirely
reliable. You can use their dial-up whenever the Wi-Fi isn't working,
and actually I haven't had to do that since I started two weeks ago,
but it is frustrating not to get an instant connection when the signal
has dropped.
We'll find out in a few months if Earthlink is going to build out the
whole network, and invest what they need to put in to make it work
well. They have a brand-new CEO, Rolla Huff, who has a reputation of
being able to cut projects that aren't going to make enough money, and
the municipal Wi-Fi projects are on his list to be considered.
In the meantime, the price is right (6.95 for 6 months, then 19.95) and
in a year the modem will be paid off (free if you keep service for the
year).
But did I say that the signal is iffy sometimes?
On Jul 4, 2007, at 4:46 AM, Frank wrote:
I've been on Earthlink WiFi for a couple of months now. The signal is
inconsistent and the signal strength is never above 4 bars. It's not
as fast as DSL or cable. I can connect to any of the three access
points on my list and they all seem to work equally well.
There will be weeks at a time with no problems at all and then a few
days in a row when I get disconnected a couple of times an hour. Also,
the network doesn't show up at all in some of the interior rooms of
the house even though they have windows. It's really frustrating. I
joined as soon as the network showed up in my list of available
networks, so I've been hoping it's because they're not done with the
build-out yet. I remain hopeful but I'm still using Comcast 90% of the
time. I've been able to have two computers connected at the same time
which is nice but transferring files between them is glacially slow.
Since I'm on disability, I'm supposed to get the service for $9.95 a
month but the Wireless Philadelphia office hasn't called me back yet
after several tries. In the meantime I'm paying the full $19.95. a one
year contract is necessary as usual.
Also, it's sort of like hotel internet access. I have to sign in with
my username and password at least once a day.
And that's the story so far.
Frank
On Jul 3, 2007, at 11:18 PM, Joe Clarke wrote:
Hey Tech Heads,
What do you think of Earthlink's offer to go completely wireless
eliminating the need for DSL & in-house Router? Another selling
point would be
the capability of accessing the signal anywhere in the city. This
would have come in real handy with my last job, where I ended up
using my laptop but had to
find unsecured signals since our IT department was having problems
getting us hooked up. Let me know what you think or if you know of a
forum where
they're discussing this topic.
Thanks in Advance,
Joe Clarke
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