News BT tunes into 'radio broadband'

"BT is testing a new way to offer broadband to rural areas that cannot get it by cable or over the phone line.

Four areas have been chosen to test the technology which uses radio signals to transmit a fast, always-on connection. "

Full story from the BBC: here

 

I've been hearing a lot about that lately over here in the states. However, I think that they're talking about using the VHF frequencies or something like that. I just hope that it works and is cost effective enough for companies to roll out quickly. I remember about 15 - 20 years ago there was a "cable" tv service (can't remember the name) who tried to roll out wireless cable tv. They used the microwave band to transmit and each house who subscribed had an antenna similar to the digital sattelite dishes around today. The tech was pretty new at the time so the subscription was pretty high and when DirecTv and USSB (remember them?) came onto the scene with digital sattelite, the cable company folded.

 

yeah, i live in the states and i have a fixed wireless broadband service. it's basically just a wireless desktop network card in my PC, with a wire that connects to an external antenna that's about 8x8" on my roof. i get roughly DSL download speed (a bit less, maybe) , but better upload performance.

though this isn't for everyone. you have to be within a certain range. i just happen for be about 4 miles away from the base station, so i get high performance and signal strength.