WAN thru phone line without internet

[thameema]

I have a requirement..please give me some tips...
I would like to run a server at our library which will serve information to users. The users can dial in to library server to access it using thier phone line and 56k modem. We don't want to use internet or any kind of networking other than using the existing phone line.

My question is, Is it possible to achieve this? If I want to setup this kind of networking, what should i do? I prefer this way, because my hometown the internet charges are higher and the users can benifit by paying only local phone charge.

Thanks,
Thameem

 

[thameema]

Again... Mattwray..before you answer any question, please read it fully.
Bobg1 - Thanks for your reply. Anyway I know that the implementation of cable is little bit costlier (as I need to install repeaters to boost the signal) and cost of cable modem also costlier I have to think about something else.

 

[AvayaNovice]

A) Plenty of Cable companies provide access to their IP network for point to point connections. No internet involved if it stays within the cable company's network.

B) 30-40 users at one time? Village as described by the Wesbster's dictionary: a small unincorporate area that is lesser in size than a town, but larger than a hamlet. I know of no villages with users that own computers that would actually be online with you 30-40 at a time.

C) If you're looking to provide some type of "Intranet" connection, I would say that's a wise choice. To make it as cheap as possible and also keep future expansion in mind, scratch the modem idea. I don't know how difficult it is to acquire materials in your area, but a cable outside plant network could be what you need. It all depends on the type of plant you have there. Signal amplifiers are one thing, but footage is another -- also is your cable decent enough for two way communications, are your existing splitters and amplifiers capable, furthermore what are your distances you're looking at? If your existing OSP cable network is solid, go for it. You can pick up the hardware fairly cheap off eBay, at least for the older stuff... as you don't need anything super high speed. Later on in life, you could get some type of Internet gateway connection and tie that into your intranet... but who knows if you can even pull this off. Good luck.

 

[thameema]

Hi Avaya,

Thanks for your suggestions. My village already has the cable network setup. I think the amplifiers are not cabable of handling two different singnals. But the problem is the cost of cable modem. In india cable modem costs about 5000-6000 indian rupees ( about US $140). So, I can't ask each user to spend this amount just for intranet. But to get the broadband internet connection, its not yet implemented around our village and its not even implemented in any of the indian cities for home users.

So, it will be very difficult to think about anything as of now. So, now I reduced my desires to setup a internet cafe so that people can come and access it. But even for that I may have to spend lots of money. I am ready to spend money but I afraid that I don't get the broadband speed which I like much.

There is a technology called WLL (Wireless Local Loop) introduced in india for villages. I may have to dig the net for information about this technique.

-thameema

 

[AvayaNovice]

Wireless Local Loop I'm assuming is just some type of wireless setup.

Pros:
Easy to set up, little OSP work, high speed, somewhat cheap.

Cons:
Spotty coverage, wireless technology is ALWAYS getting better, I don't think we've reached a steady point yet where I'd invest a lot of money. Also, wireless is difficult to maintain a high level of service with.

Here's a question. Your cable TV network has a head end where you either have a sattelite, or something else... where are you getting your uplink from?

You may be able to provide something there a little easier.

 

[thameema]

Yes I agree with your point about wireless.

About the cable- my big concern is, eventhough if i send data over cable, at the receiving end they must have a cable modem to receive it. To buy one cable modem will costs lots of money as i mentioned in my previous post. If you have any other solution, please let me know

-thameema

 

[AvayaNovice]

You can buy used cable modems in lots off places like eBay, etc. Wireless cards would be equally as expensive. Cable modems are also easier to interface with CPE.

How many users in total would be realistic with this network?

As I asked before: do you know where your cable head end is at? Where the sattelite dishes are that create an uplink for your cable network?

 

[Hitechbuzz]

Hi thameema
As "lopes" said you can only have one call per telephone line at a time. However if your telephone exchange is local could you have your server located there, to answer the calls and get a reduced rate per line, and a link back to the Library. Staying with 56k modems now would mean no further expense for those who did want to use them for the internet later. The cable network you menioned is it telephone network cables or TV type. What sort of interconnection at the cable premises would you be able to get? Just a couple of thoughts. cheers Brian

 

[PhoneGuy2000]

Wireless would be too expensive for the users but you can get some good distances out of it as your backbone or to users who could afford to pay a little more for it (commercial clients). We have a wireless broadband network feeding 85 commercial clients with hundreds of users over a combination of 802.11A (5.8 GHZ 45 MB) for our backbone and 802.11b (2.4 GHZ 11 MB) for our client links. we have 99.997 uptime on our network. Each 5.8 site was about 5000.00 US and each Client site was about 1000.00 US. We charge 149.00 a month to a client and they get uncompressed bandwidth (not DSL) form 384K up to 6 MB depending on their setup. We do have a recurring cost for the internet pipe. We have been successful in connecting clients up to 20 miles away on the 802.11b. we have not tried to go more than about 10 miles on the 802.11a. We use Orinoco modems and have found them to be the most stabile and reliable. We use a miriad of antennas. We use Linksys routers when we are not concerned with a users bandwidth usage and cisco routers when we need to control people who abuse their connection. (even though most clients are paying for 384K internet, we have not "choked" their connection. They have as much bandwidth as they cn handle. We do have a few spammers and some idiots that like to play streaming audio/video while downloading off Kazaa and using IM so we "choke" their connection so they won't affect every one else.

anyway, my point.. You may be able to use a wireless option to bring bandwidth to your internet cafe and library. Feeding it to commercial clients will help subsidize the cost. As to reliability, we just had the remnants of a Hurricane roll past the edge of our city with winds at 50 MPH plus. We suffered no outages and the storm rolled right through 4 of our clients neighborhoods...

good luck....