Experience with a fixed wireless internet service?

May 17, 2018 11:27 AM

A WISP is offering me a deal on wireless internet, but I'm wondering how reliable the service really is. Looking it up, it uses a Mimosa Networks' 24 GHz antenna on my rooftop to connect to the WISP network. I assume it's more reliable than satellite? Will it cut out when it's too rainy/windy?
posted by mhh5 to Computers & Internet (13 answers total)

What does the WISP itself have to say about how its particular technology performs in inclement weather? Everyone's equipment is a little different, everyone's climate is a little different, so they are probably the best source of info here. Can they give you referrals? Do they have uptime stats? etc.
posted by rachelpapers at 11:38 AM on May 17, 2018

The company I work for had a point-to-point wireless internet connection a few years ago; the hardware likely was different, but from our standpoint it was pretty reliable. We did experience some 'fluttery' internet if it was really windy, but otherwise not much of an issue. It may also have benefitted that we're less than a quarter mile from the ISP's antenna, I suspect connection issues increase with distance. We couldn't get the 30MB/sec upstream and downstream that we get now with Fiber, so consider the usual ISP statistics as well.

RE: satellite: you're going a looong ways to get a satellite signal so latency and dropped packets are more likely with satellite; your profile says you're in the bay area, I'd bet that cellphone networks are better than satellite service where you are.
posted by AzraelBrown at 11:39 AM on May 17, 2018

I use wireless internet and streaming video gets a little choppy during thunderstorms but otherwise it’s very reliable.
posted by annathea at 11:44 AM on May 17, 2018

Response by poster: Rachelpapers -- the WISP rep just said "our tech is weather resistant for pretty much all the conditions you'll experience." So.. that's just the answer I'd expect from them. I was just wondering if anyone had real experience to say something like "when it's really windy, the *up to 100 Mbps* goes down to 15 Mbps" or something like that...

edit: I'm guessing that's what annathea is basically saying when "video gets a little choppy".
posted by mhh5 at 11:58 AM on May 17, 2018

I had fixed point wireless for 12 years between 2002 and 2014 and I loved it. I don't recall weather ever affecting, like DirectTV did at the same residence, but I don't know from antennas either. I was less than a mile from the provider's broadcast antenna, so your mileage may differ based on that factor. One of the things I really liked about it was that it was symmetrical, although that may differ by provider. No differential between upload and download speeds.
posted by hwestiii at 11:59 AM on May 17, 2018

I've hosted million dollar ecommerce websites over a WISP (life's tough when you only have one wired ISP option). They were very upfront about weather, and as a general rule kept customers well under the maximum distance that the equipment was rated for so rain wouldn't normally cause issues.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 12:39 PM on May 17, 2018

We're on fixed-point wireless transmission at home. It does noticeably stutter in inclement weather, but it's transient and momentary. We're pretty happy over all. We get roughly DSL speeds.

Interestingly, with a UPS on our end, it works even when there's a general power outage, as our service provider has fail-over generators on their service towers. So that's pretty nice too. The POE transmitter doesn't seem to be a terribly huge draw either.
posted by bonehead at 1:01 PM on May 17, 2018

Best answer: It really depends on exactly what equipment, exactly what distance, and exactly what the environment is like. If it's 24GHz, it will be subject to more rain fade than a lower frequency link, but whether it actually impacts service depends entirely on how the link is engineered, mainly what the margin between your normal signal levels and what they are during inclement weather.

Wind is only generally an issue with high gain dish antennas.

The point being that I've had connections that never go down for anything but maintenance or hardware issues and I've had ones that were nothing but trouble from the same WISP. (who I adored because the owner and I communicated well and worked together to solve problems, unlike most wired ISPs that don't listen even when I tell them what they need to do to fix the problem) My trouble was always a crappy RF environment or foliage or on a link everyone knew was going to be marginal at best. That and the time a Cisco bug that at&t refused to believe was happening took out their upstream for nearly a week. TBH, that's the biggest risk of using a small ISP. Their spend is low enough nobody gives a shit when something breaks.
posted by wierdo at 1:31 PM on May 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

To underline that last point, no movement was had until the owner literally walked into the CO with a pair of very large wire cutters and threatened to start cutting 500 pair cables if they didn't get their brethren on the IP side to stop screwing around. Yes, this really happened, and a lot more recently than one might expect. I was half surprised I didn't have to bail him out of jail.
posted by wierdo at 1:35 PM on May 17, 2018

I used wireless internet via MonkeyBrains.net when I lived in San Francisco. No idea what kind of antenna was on the roof, but I can say that the quality of service was incredible- at least as good as Comcast, at like half the price. Did not degrade w/ wind or rain. Great customer service too.
posted by armoir from antproof case at 2:33 PM on May 17, 2018

We use Webpass in the Bay Area -- it's been great in all kinds of weather, though there are occasional (maybe annual) outages of an hour or so.
posted by crazy with stars at 2:34 PM on May 17, 2018

I'm on nycMesh and connect with a ubiquity litebeam on my roof and have had no weather problems.
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:22 PM on May 17, 2018

The Mimosa B24 datasheet says it's good to 2 miles in the rain. Got some mention of wind, but i think that's just mechanical characteristics.
posted by at at 2:40 AM on May 19, 2018