About.Broadband.Wireless>Config

Config.com Wireless Internet is a new kind of service that delivers high-speed internet where no other high-speed internet has gone before. With Config.com Wireless Internet, you can now watch streaming video, play games, take remote college course, send/receive pictures and more. Config.com Wireless Internet is also perfect for businesses who need VPN access, or even just a faster connection to get things done.


How fast is Config.com Wireless Internet?
Even though our radios are capable of 54Mbps (a shade over 1000x faster than the fastest modem connection), the upload and download speeds are limited by our uplink which is currently a 3Mbps download, 1.5Mbps upload. Our speeds will increase as our network grows so it will soon be faster than that. You can download songs from iTunes, watch streaming videos, play games, or even just browse for additions to your salt-shaker collection on eBay™ with dial-up-shaming speeds.
What is involved with getting it installed?
We're glad you asked! The process is quite simple:
  1. The first thing you'll want to do is sign up for a site survey. We'll come out and make sure that you can actually get a signal at your location. If we can't, don't worry!, our network is growing all the time and we'll get back to you when it becomes available in your area.
  2. Once we determine that you get a good enough signal for installation, we'll schedule a time for our installer to come out and set things up properly for you. Because each installation is very different, the installer will give you a bill specifically for installation which is separate from equipment purchase and monthly recurring charges.
  3. Once the installer has verified that everything is working properly, hand him a check or credit card for cost of the radio plus the first month.
  4. As soon as we get the information from the installer, we'll activate your account and you'll ready to get some real work done. Or kill some time playing Quake ]I[, whichever works for you. :)
What precisely are you installing anyway?
We'll need to install a radio contained inside of a flat-panel. For details, check out our equipment and pricing page.
Do I have to log in to something to use this or wait in any way?
Our system is always on. No waiting for something to connect, no typing in of usernames or passwords, no switches to flip and no widgets to discombobulate. It's always there, as faithful and loyal as Fido.
Will my computer be safe? Am I at risk for hacks/cracks/viruses/worms/scans/avian flu?
You may have heard scary words like hacks, cracks, and viruses, worms, but you don't need to know what they mean. We protect your computer with the biggest, meanest bodyguard you've ever seen. Bodyguards can't stop every possible danger (like avian flu, sadly), but we do everything we can to let you concentrate on what you really care about: MySpace™.
Do I get an e-mail account with this?
Up to 10 e-mail accounts are included with your wireless subscription. The e-mail is run through an advanced e-mail filtering system that scans for spam, phishing attacks, and viruses to make sure you are as safe as possible.
Can I play games with this? My neighbor got satellite and the games are actually slower than my modem!
The problem with satellite is called 'latency'. The higher the latency, the slower reaction times are which basically means you end up on the losing side of any game. For satellite, signal has to go 24,000 miles up then 24,000 miles down making the latency nearly half a second (500ms!). By way of comparison, a good modem connection will give you latency in the 250ms range (yes, it really is better to play games over a modem). Our wireless has a typical latency of about 40ms (depending on how much traffic is going through it at any given point). One enthusiastic customer was so ecstatic about this that he bought an XBox 360 and about $500 worth of games the day after we installed it for him.
The only reason I want this is for work. Can I connect to my office VPN through your fancy router?
We can't guarantee that it will work with 100% certainty because some VPN connection requirements are extremely bizarre, but we can say that there have been no issues yet and many of our customers do just that on a daily basis.
Can I connect to p2p networks and download torrents?
Unfortunately no. It's not that we don't want you to, it's that it's a technical limitation of wireless equipment. Torrents and peer-to-peer networks create a huge number of small packets that flood the network.
<technobabble> Radios have to switch between a send and receive context to receive a packet and pass it on and the more packets there are, the more times this costly context switching occurs. Under normal usage like file transfers, watching videos, or even playing games, the number of packets is pretty manageable. When a peer-to-peer system is involved, the number of packets shoots through the roof and not only deprives the entire network of throughput, it actually lowers the ability of the radios to pass traffic at all. We hope that in the future this technical limitation will go away, but for now there is nothing we can do about it, sorry. <\technobabble>
So if you are trying to use peer-to-peer software and it's not working, it's because we are trying to keep the network healthy by blocking it with our fancy router.
Can I run a web/mail/exchange/file/game server over the wireless?
No, our fancy router doesn't let you do that sort of thing. If you went ahead and ran one anyway, the only people that could get to it would be other customers on the wireless network which probably isn't the audience you were hoping for. We do offer hosting in a variety of other ways if you are interested in that sort of thing though, give us a call and I'm sure we could work something out.
What will my computer need in order to be hooked up to this?
Your computer will require an ethernet card in order to be plugged into the wireless network. It looks like a fat phone-jack with 8 little wires instead of 2 or 4. If you don't have one, that's alright, we'd be more than happy to sell you one, just give us a call.
What sort of crazy contracts are you going to lock me into to get this service?
None, really. The only thing we require is that you have read and abide by the Terms of Service. After installation, you've already purchased the equipment and paid for the first month so if at any time you want to quit, thats entirely up to you. (Incidentally, we don't think you'll want to.)
Do I have to use your radios or can I purchase my own?
You are free to purchase your own from another source, but it must be exactly the same radio or it will not be compatible with the system. If you do decide to purchase your radio from another source, it will still need to be brought to our office to be properly configured to work with the system.
It just uses a single network cable. Do I really need the expensive installation?
As you can see from the pictures, it is a reasonably simple device once it has been properly configured. If you are handy, you are close to the broadcaster, or just want to try to save some scratch, you can try to install it yourself but you'll need to come by our office first to have it configured and pay for activation.

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