There are many different services out there, some are available in areas that we cover, while many are not. There is too much to go into here. For a more detailed comparison, please click here.
No telephone line is required. All data is sent and received via the wireless system. We have done several installs where there is no telephone service in the house at all.
In some cases a 2.4GHz cordless telephone can cause some interference if the base for the telephone is placed near the radio equipment. As long as the telephone base station is at least 20 feet away from the radio equipment we have rarely seen any issues with the wireless connection to our system. It is more likely that you would have problems with a wireless gateway router inside your home. Try switching the telephone to a different channel. Some brands of routers are more tolerant of cordless phones as well. In some extreme cases you may have to replace the 2.4GHz cordless phone with something else. Look for phones that indicate DECT 6.0, the use digital encryption on the wireless, and they work on frequencies outside of any wireless network gear, many can support up to 8 handsets on one base, amongst other advantages.
If your microwave causes interference to the signal from our access point to the antenna on your home, there is something seriously wrong with the microwave oven (and you should probably stop using it immediately), or you are holding it up in front of the antenna.
Generally, no it is not. Since our signal travels a much shorter distance than a satellite in earth orbit (a satellite is about 22,500 miles above the equator), it is not really affected by weather. However, if there was buildup of heavy wet snow, or freezing rain on the antenna, it can cause an interuption of service. Unlike the satellite dish, our antennas point along the horizon and are not tilted upward to hold the snow. I have seen antennas built up two inches thick of freezing rain on them and the connection was still working. I have also seen them with one inch of wet sticky snow on them and the connection is unstable. Generally this is only a problem when the temperature is right around zero making everything stick.
Rural dialup is often not much faster than 33k at the best of times. Many rural areas that are near the end of the telephone service area can barely get 19.2k connections. When our system sees that you are drawing more than the alloted data rate it will, over a period of about a half minute, trim the data rate back down the rate you are paying for. For standard service, the sustained speed is typically about 50 to 80 times faster than dialup, although the burst speed can be many times that.
If your current internet provider is not on our system, then you will either have to continue paying your current provider for email, or get a new email address with an internet provider on our wireless system. However, if you are using some sort of free web based mail service (such as yahoo, google mail, hotmail etc) nothing has to change, it will just work faster.
After the install, the equipment is your responsibility. Therefore, if it is damaged by a lightning strike or electrical power surge, you are responsible for the repair cost. We recommend the use of a good quality surge protector such as a PanaMax or a TrippLite IsoBar. Better yet, get a surge protected battery backup (such as an APC Back-UPS) to make sure it stays running even through power failures. The actual system is a collection of several components that can be replaced individually and it is very rare that all the parts would be damaged. If you have been hit with a large power surge or lightning strike, this would be covered along with any other damaged equipment on your homeowner's insurance. However, if this is the only item damaged by a surge, the damage is usually less than the deductable on your insurance.
The possibility of this is remote. Nearly all of our sites use a proprietaty protocol that is not compatible with other hardware.
The equipment we provide can be set to be compatible with industry standards and is usable in areas with other providers that support 802.11g. The other option is to include the equipment with the sale of the premises you are moving from, or sell it to the next tenant if it is a rental unit.