The Laptop and the Tower
September 19, 2006

After what can only be described as horrendous problems getting the necessary pieces together, the long-awaited second testing of the Fenwick Place access point was successful.

The new access point built by Chebucto's Technical Staff, Johnathan Thibodeau, pictured above, was connected to the antenna installed back in June of this year.

Testing on Morris Street in front of Spencer House we got a very strong connection from Fenwick Place with the laptop.

Unfortunately the laptop battery was starting to get low so we borrowed an extension cord for a few minutes and were able to connect from behind Morris Street.

Taking the laptop up almost to Spring Garden Road, there was still a strong signal but with fading laptop batteries and gathering rain clouds, we decided it would be best to get our access point indoors before it got rained on.

The furthest connection we made today was 805 meters between Fenwick Place roof and our little laptop with no special antenna. There were a lot of dropped packets at the furthest range we tested but signal strength was still quite good. Contrast this to the previous best range with this laptop: 150 meters using draft specification 802.11n router and network card.

We aim to try the test again Friday (weather permitting) using a proper node and antenna for reception from the ground rather than just a laptop.

It is our belief from today's test results that we should be able to serve network connectivity from the top of Fenwick Place to nodes on the ground in what should be a slightly larger area than indicated in our first test. Each node could in turn support dozens of individual users.

We are interested in hearing from people living in the area between Morris Street and Spring Garden Road, South Park to Queen Street who are interested in becoming node hosts and getting their own internet access for $50 per year. You need to be either the property owner or in a stable long term rental situation with a clear line of sight view to the roof of Fenwick Place. Apply here

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