Is Wireless Internet Available and Is it Any Good?

**azul08** · #1 22nd Feb 2009, 20:03

I'm not sure if this right place for this thread... My question is, soon I'll be moving to a townhouse, and it doesn't have cable... Could wireless internet be installed instead, and would it be as fast as cable? And would my neighbours be able to use it as well?

~~Rik~~ · #2 22nd Feb 2009, 21:07

Not sure about austrailia, but I used to use wireless internet here in the UK and it was slow, unreliable, and absolutely impossible to share out to more than 1 pc.

Junes · #3 22nd Feb 2009, 22:38

My friend moved to aussie last year (well bout 8 months ago) he has wireless he says its much more realiable than the UK's (Still not that great) and as for you question about privacy you can still place Wep and WPA keys on your wireless to prevent useage other than the household members

**Hybr!d** · #4 23rd Feb 2009, 04:01

Wireless works good in some situations and bad in others.

No harm in trying, sounds like you don't have much choice.

**DarkKaleo** · #5 23rd Feb 2009, 16:11

I don't know how it is in Australia, but in the US Wireless is really hard to get in any apartment/townhouse/city situation and its speeds, signal, etc is worthless. It would be worth paying for cable installation and your own wireless router for your townhouse.

**Hybr!d** · #6 23rd Feb 2009, 16:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Junes

My friend moved to aussie last year (well bout 8 months ago) he has wireless he says its much more realiable than the UK's (Still not that great) and as for you question about privacy you can still place Wep and WPA keys on your wireless to prevent useage other than the household members

The country makes no difference.

The equipment you use, the design of the building it is in and where it is placed etc. does.

**Carbon** · #7 23rd Feb 2009, 21:09

I think people are mixing up various types of "wireless" internet.

For an actual connection, you have two choices:

1. Satellite internet
2. Cell phone 3G internet connection.

#1 has higher speeds with more latency, #2 has lower speeds with less latency, #2 is usually more expensive unless you already have a comprehensive cell phone plan, but you can use it with anything (laptops, cell phone, PDAs, etc). #1 requires a mounted dish but you can get it anywhere, unlike #2 where while cell phone coverage is usually quite good, it can be spotty in some areas.

Of course, you can share any connection "wirelessly" but this is no good for anything other than inside your house or maybe half a block at most.

Australia has several ADSL providers (a friend of mine has worked for a couple), so if the place has a close-enough DSLAM and phone access, that may be your best option (much cheaper, speeds almost as good as cable). In that case, anyone can use it, as long as you have a wireless router set up (though this may be against your contract/terms and conditions).

**DarkKaleo** · #8 24th Feb 2009, 08:01

If he's thinking about satellite and cell phone wave internet access, that's different from wireless. Wireless refers to Wi-Fi, RF-based routers, etc. Satellite would be best except on really windy, rainy, cloudy, or densely fogged days. Cellular adapter is second. If the city has its own city-wide WiFi set up, don't even bother. Had a few cities try it around here and its slower then dial-up and goes down constantly. Plus it's completely insecure.

If your friend plans on satellite he needs to first make sure the dish would have a clear view to the north (towards equator), little to no foliage in way. Also he will need to make sure that the installation of cables in the house is okay with owner of townhouse (assuming he's renting) as satellite requires Coaxial cables running from dish to the modems. Another warning, satellite is only about one tenth the speed of cable broadband, so if cable is an option he should go with it. Cheaper installation and monthly bill. Satellite is usually the best option in rural situations where phone company is too far for DSL and/or cable company doesn't run their installations that far due to lack of optical lines, and cellular wave adapters are usually for businessmen who travel and can't rely on finding WiFi points to use.

ComputerWorld · #9 3rd Mar 2009, 12:59

I have wireless internet connection on my laptop and it works perfectly well. No problems with it apart from the odd times it gets really slow. I think wireless is really good and convenient. Cables suck!

**azul08** · #10 5th Mar 2009, 16:13

Thanks for all the replies... It turns out that ADSL is going to be installed instead, I hope it works okay.

Quote:

Australia has several ADSL providers (a friend of mine has worked for a couple), so if the place has a close-enough DSLAM and phone access, that may be your best option (much cheaper, speeds almost as good as cable). In that case, anyone can use it, as long as you have a wireless router set up (though this may be against your contract/terms and conditions).

This is probably a stupid question, but by 'anyone can use it', do you just mean my housemates (I'm a student)? Not people in the other townhouses?