Airnet/NextGenUs

[el-ahrairah]

I was walking down cottingham road going towards beverely road and on the left hand side of the street there are many many houses/buildings with either nextgen or Airnet recievers on.. I counted at least 5 in one row of houses/buildings..

[hullnet]

I was walking down cottingham road going towards beverely road and on the left hand side of the street there are many many houses/buildings with either nextgen or Airnet recievers on.. I counted at least 5 in one row of houses/buildings..

Some of them are businesses such as Accommodation companies that offer "Free" internet to their rental houses for students so they could be point to point over to a single line, maybe some kind of private network?

[el-ahrairah]

Hmm possibly.. All where pointing towards the direction of Hull University

[dylan]

ISTR from a post here that Air Net have a transmitter at the University.

[el-ahrairah]

Hmmm i'm worrying about these airnet/nextgen services now.. could people who are using these services please keep a monitor on how the weather affects their connection.. It would be interesting to see if rain etc affects the signal and speeds..

I was told by NextGenUs that weather Would Not be an issue as they work on a 5gz frequency and have not experienced any issues regarding weather in any previous tests.

[Leese]

Hmmm i'm worrying about these airnet/nextgen services now.. could people who are using these services please keep a monitor on how the weather affects their connection.. It would be interesting to see if rain etc affects the signal and speeds..

Yeah good idea...not seen any significant changes today though.. :-)

[el-ahrairah]

So all in all are you happy with your new service?

I'm living just off princess avenue so not sure how the connection would be if they where to connect me from hull universities transmitter.

[Leese]

So all in all are you happy with your new service?
I'm living just off princess avenue so not sure how the connection would be if they where to connect me from hull universities transmitter.

It's early days yet and I have some issues with online gaming that need resolving... but apart from that it's no problem. Princess ave is about the same distance as me so shouldn't be an issue.
If it's just a regular Broadband for general internet access I'd go for it without a doubt, kicks Karoo's ass no problem... 

[dylan]

The Cisco Wireless Network Adminstrators (CWNA) guide says the following:

Weather
       Severely adverse weather conditions can affect the performance of a wireless LAN. In
       general, common weather occurrences like rain, hail, snow, or fog do not have an adverse
       affect on wireless LANs. However, extreme occurrences of wind, fog, and perhaps smog
       can cause degradation or even downtime of your wireless LAN. A radome can be used
       to protect an antenna from the elements. If used, radomes must have a drain hole for
       condensation drainage. Yagi antennas without radomes are vulnerable to rain, as the
       raindrops will accumulate on the elements and detune the performance. The droplets
       actually make each element look longer than it really is. Ice accumulation on exposed
       elements can cause the same detuning effect as rain; however, it stays around longer.
       Radomes may also protect an antenna from falling objects such as ice falling from an
       overhead tree.
       2.4 GHz signals may be attenuated by up to 0.05 dB/km (0.08 dB/mile) by torrential rain
       (4 inches/hr). Thick fog produces up to 0.02 dB/km (0.03 dB/mile) attenuation.At 5.8
       GHz, torrential rain may produce up to 0.5 dB/km (0.8 dB/mile) attenuation, and thick
       fog up to 0.07 dB/km (0.11 dB/mile). Even though rain itself does not cause major
       propagation problems, rain will collect on the leaves of trees and will produce attenuation
       until it evaporates.

So in summary, rain increases attenuation a little bit (and increased attenuation = decreased signal strength) and water sitting on objects between the transmitter and receiver can increase attenuation quite a bit until it evaporates.

I guess it all depends on what signal strength you have anyway... If you don't have much, any extra attenuation is going to hurt.

[richardmyers]

Hmmm i'm worrying about these airnet/nextgen services now.. could people who are using these services please keep a monitor on how the weather affects their connection.. It would be interesting to see if rain etc affects the signal and speeds..

I was told by NextGenUs that weather Would Not be an issue as they work on a 5gz frequency and have not experienced any issues regarding weather in any previous tests.

From a nextgen point of view, I didn't notice any slow down or loading issues last night (was up til 4am) or during today whilst raining.

[el-ahrairah]

@Leese

Thankyou, hopefully i will be ok then, I've been informed recieving the 10mb/10mb shouldnt be a problem as i'm within range of 4 transmitters..

@richardmyers

Thanks for getting in touch, I'd love to go with NextGenUs and have waited patiently. But i'm afraid i can't really keep waiting any longer, As you know richard i've been trying hard to get in touch with NextGenUs and Simon and he obviously has higher priorities right now. Its good to know the service you get wasnt affected by the weather.

@Dylan

Thanks for putting that info up, I guess Buster_UK's signal strength isnt as strong as some others..

I will be happy to become an airnet customer (seen as all NextGen wont get back to me).. Hopefully they will mount the equipment on a self standing pole should i request it (I dont mind paying extra for this).. And hopefully they will work out which transmitter gives me the best connection/signal..

[Leese]

@Leese
Thank you, hopefully i will be ok then, I've been informed recieving the 10mb/10mb shouldnt be a problem as i'm within range of 4 transmitters..

No problem el...
Airnet fitter's were spot on mate, If they can fix the Base Station onto something that already exists they will do if it's in the correct location. All cable was pinned to the house and run inside to the box. very tidy... and for sure will fix it to receive the strongest signal etc...go for it bud I'm sure you wont regret it...

[el-ahrairah]

@Leese

I was actually one of the first people to have the equipment installed by NextGenUs on 22nd July.

But unfortunately tree's inbetween their transmitter and my house scuppered the signal and made it unusable..

Hopefully with Airnet having more transmitters it'll be ok.. But reading everything on here it looks like Airnet are having stock issues, As for NextGenUs.. I was hoping Simon would keep his word and keep me informed, However he has not done so and unfortunately it means i have to look for an alternative..

[bobthebuilder]

get a chainsaw and cut down the trees lol.

right me gonna ask a noob ?

why haven't karoo gone down the same route as airnet and nextgen  to provide better coverage

[richardmyers]

why haven't karoo gone down the same route as airnet and nextgen  to provide better coverage

That's what i wonder.