1.
What is broadband?
2. What are the benefits of broadband?
3. What is the significance of “upstream”
and “downstream” bandwidth?
4. How does broadband internet compare
with internet delivered over dial-up, cable, ADSL
and satellite?
5. How much will broadband internet services
cost?
6. How do I pay for the services?
7. What are the different kinds of broadband
internet services that I can choose from?
8. What other kinds of applications can
I use over my broadband internet connection?
9. What is Voice over IP?
10. What equipment will I need to purchase
in order to take advantage of Voice over IP (long
distance telephone calling) over my broadband internet
connection? What service should I choose?
11. What equipment will I need to purchase
in order to take advantage of video conferencing over
my broadband internet connection? What service should
I choose?
13. Why does a wireless network need
to be used to deliver broadband services to a rural
community?
14. How does bad weather (rain, snow
storms, etc.) affect wireless services?
15. How does the wireless technology
work?
16. How secure are wireless services?
17. What wireless technology does Wild
Rose Internet Services use?
18. Can I use the wireless radio with
my laptop computer for “mobile services”?
19. Why are 16 km radios and 29 km radios
more expensive than 6.4 km radios?
20. What equipment is included in the
wireless radio package?
21. Can a neighboring business or household
share in the purchase and use of a radio?
22. Can I have more than one computer
hooked up to my wireless radio?
23. How can I be certain that the broadband
internet services will work if I purchase a radio?
24. What if I am unhappy with the service
after I’ve already bought a radio?
25. How does the money-back guarantee
work?
26. What kind of a warranty comes with
my wireless radio?
27. What happens if my radio breaks
down?
28. What if I need to move in a year
and no longer need the services or the wireless radio?
29. Will I need to purchase a new radio
in a few years as technology continues to advance?
30. What kind of a contract am I expected
to sign?
31. As Wild Rose Internet Services adds
more customers to the network, will the quality and
speed of my services be affected?
32. What are the minimum requirements
for my computer to ensure that I can receive the service?
33. How do I know whether to choose
the “Do-It-Yourself” installation or have
Wild Rose Internet Services perform the installation?
34. What does a typical installation
look like?
35. What kind of customer support will
I get with my internet service?
36. Will I be able to access my e-mail
account remotely?
37. Do the services include unlimited
hours each month or is there a maximum amount of hours
and an hourly fee if I go over the maximum?
38. Will I need a second telephone line?
39. What will my e-mail address look
like?
40. Do you have an acceptable use policy
for the internet services?
41. What if I want to change over to
a different service package at some point in the future?
42. Who is Wild Rose Networks and Wild
Rose Internet Services?
43. Where (in Alberta) does Wild Rose
Internet currently offer services?
44. How can we get Wild Rose to start
offering broadband wireless internet services in our
community?
45. If I have a question that’s
not included in the FAQ section how do I get it answered?
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1.
What is broadband?
The term “broadband”
refers to the next generation of high-speed facilities
which do not have the same limitations as dial-up,
satellite, cable or ADSL facilities. Over a broadband
wireless network, higher speeds can be achieved in
both directions (upstream and downstream), which allows
customers to take advantage of new, high bandwidth
applications such as broadband Internet, long distance
telephone calling (VoIP), video conferencing, video
surveillance, etc.
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2.
What are the benefits of broadband?
Broadband networks will bring significant
improvements to the lives of Albertans in the areas
of education, health, business and entertainment.
Broadband can:
• Facilitate online and distance learning
• Provide improved health care and home care
services
• Improve access to government services
• Facilitate e-commerce through selling products
and services on the internet
• Facilitate e-business with new broadband empowered
applications and services
• Improve the ability of citizens to participate
in local, regional and national issues of interest.
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3. What is the
significance of “upstream” and “downstream”
bandwidth?
“Downstream” refers to
any information sent from the Internet to your computer
while “upstream” refers to any information
sent from your computer to the Internet. In a dial-up
connection, typical upstream / downstream speeds range
up to 56 Kbps. With traditional high-speed services
(i.e. ADSL, cable-modem, satellite) the downstream
speeds are reasonably fast (500 Kbps to 1.5 Mbps or
more) while the upstream speeds are not quite as fast
(i.e. 128 Kbps up to 750 Kbps) but still faster than
a dial-up connection.
In a broadband connection the downstream and upstream
speeds can be much faster and / or equally fast in
both directions which enables even faster high-speed
Internet. Higher bandwidth from a broadband connection
can also support next generation applications such
as real-time video conferencing, video streaming,
telephony over the Internet (VoIP) for low-cost long
distance calling, etc.
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4.
How does broadband Internet compare with Internet
delivered over dial-up, cable-modem, ADSL and satellite?
Dial-up (the service available to
most rural Albertans) is the lowest cost service and
also the slowest service with speeds rarely exceeding
56 Kbps. Traditional high-speed services include cable-modem,
ADSL and / or satellite with average downstream speeds
of 1 Mbps and average upstream speeds of 256 Kbps.
While ADSL and cable-modem services are typically
available in most urban centers they have a limited
range (only a few 3 km’s from the telephone
office) which explains why these services are typically
not available in certain areas within a town and /
or outside of cities & towns.
With satellite services (typically offered to rural
residents who can afford them), a typical system can
cost as much as $1,600 ($1,200 for the system plus
a one-time installation charge of $400). Then, the
basic services cost $100 per month or more (unless
you’re prepared to sign up for a long term contract
in order to realize some savings). The challenge with
satellite services is that uplink facilities are very
expensive to build, so the upstream traffic must flow
through the telephone lines back to a large city or
town in order to reach the uplink facilities. This
means that satellite services are reasonably fast
in the downstream direction, but as slow as (or not
much faster than) dial up in the upstream direction.
Anyone intending to try things like sending photos
or large attachments, video conferencing, voice-over-IP
(telephone calling), etc. over a satellite connection
should be aware that slower upstream speeds will cause
delays and / or latency which will prevent some applications
from running satisfactorily.
With a broadband wireless network,
any user living within a 29 km radius of the transmitting
tower that has purchased a broadband wireless radio
can receive high-speed services that (depending on
the service you purchase) can be faster than traditional
high-speed services and / or equally fast in both
directions, enabling all sorts of multimedia applications
to perform wonderfully.
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5.
How much will broadband internet services cost?
To become a Wild Rose Internet subscriber
you basically have 3 decisions to make:
a) Assuming that you are within line-of-sight (LOS)
from any of the towers that have our access points
attached to them you need to either lease (from $25/month
o.a.c. over 40 mos.) or purchase (starting from $795
(unless a promotion is in place – please call
1-888-633-3974 to confirm)) a wireless radio.
b) Decide if you’re going to install the radio
yourself or have one of our professional trained installers
do it for you ($125 for residential vs. $295 for business)
and
c) Decide which service best suits your needs. Basically,
the cost of the services will depend on how much bandwidth
you want. The faster the services and the more applications
More bandwidth. Depending on your location, residential
services are as low as $34.95 / month and business
services typically start at $99.95/month. Call 1-888-633-3974
(or send an email to inquiries@wildroseinternet.ca)
for more details.
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6.
How do I pay for the services?
Either with post-dated monthly cheques,
or by way of auto-debit from your bank account, or
by recurring credit card charging.
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7.
What are the different kinds of broadband internet
services that I can choose from?
Please refer to the Services section.
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8. What other
kinds of applications can I use over my broadband
internet connection?
The options are endless. Broadband
internet opens the door to an endless number of new
feature and services available.
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9. What is Voice
over IP?
Voice over IP (VoIP), is the transmission
of telephone calls over a data network. Many companies
use VoIP (ie. long distance over the internet) to
connect branches in different areas, to avoid the
cost of long distance charges over a regular telephone
line.
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10.
What equipment will I need to purchase in order to
take advantage of Voice over IP (long distance telephone
calling) over my broadband internet connection? What
service should I choose?
For a home user, generally, a “voice
gateway” is required. This is something that
converts your voice into data. That data is then transmitted
over the internet, and turned back into audio on the
receiving end. There are several companies offering
service using a voice gateway. A couple are www.primus.ca
and www.vonage.ca. VoIP will work on any of our plans.
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11.
What equipment will I need to purchase in order to
take advantage of video conferencing over my broadband
internet connection? What service should I choose?
Video conferencing doesn’t
require any special equipment other than a webcam,
speakers, and a microphone. For business related video
conferencing, better quality digital video cameras
are essential, but for the home user, almost any webcam
will do. Basic video conferencing will work with any
of our plans. More advanced, high quality video conferencing
may require a plan with sufficient speeds to support
the higher bandwidth requirement of high quality video.
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13.
Why does a wireless network need to be used to deliver
broadband services to a rural community?
The cost of trenching kilometers
of copper wire and/or fiber-optic cable to reach (generally
speaking) fewer residents and businesses over a larger
area are prohibitive whereas the costs of wireless
technology have decreased significantly over the past
three years making it the preferred technology.
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14.
How does bad weather (rain, snow storms, etc.) affect
wireless services?
The wireless radios we use are made
to withstand the varying degrees of temperature, moisture
and wind that Alberta produces. Our radios are set
up in a way that there is a large “fade margin”
in the signal, that allows for weather interference.
This means that your service should work through most
conditions.
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15.
How does the wireless technology work?
The technology we use works on several
Radio Frequencies (RF). The main frequency we use
is 5.8Ghz. The signal is sent over the air, from the
radio on your property, to the access point on our
tower.
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16.
How secure are wireless services?
Our radios include many security
features. The four main features are
a. Proprietary data scrambling of Radio frequency
data packets
b. Authentication of Subscribers
c. Adaptive Polling Protocol
d. Spread Spectrum Modulation
These features offer a level of security higher than
any standard wireless system
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17.
What wireless technology does Wild Rose Internet Services
use?
Wild Rose Networks has access to
a wide variety of wireless technologies from major
manufacturers such as Motorola and Trango (see illustration
of a “Fox” radio unit below) to name two.
As the wireless technology continues to improve in
performance and drop in price we believe it’s
important to consider a number of factors like coverage
area, population density, topography, price of subscriber
unit, etc. before selecting the technology that suits
the business case and delivers the best price/performance
ratios
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18.
Can I use the wireless radio with my laptop computer
for “mobile services”?
The radio itself must be affixed
at the install location. Our service requires line
of sight and must stay at the position it was installed
in. However, because our service uses standard Ethernet
connections, you can get a wireless router/access
point and wireless card for you laptop, and have mobile
service to the extent of the wireless equipment you
purchase.
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19.
Why are 16 km radios and 29 km radios more expensive
than 6.4 km radios?
The 16km radios include an antenna
(dish) to allow for service past the 6.4km radius
of the radio on its own. The extra cost for the 16km
radio is for the dish. The 29km radios are a completely
different radio (Trango 5830SU) and also have a dish.
The added cost is for the dish and the different radio.
A radio with antenna is show here:
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20.
What equipment is included in the wireless radio package?
All radios include mounting brackets,
j-box (power over Ethernet unit), and power supply.
Depending on the type of installation, outdoor Ethernet
cable is included, and either a straight or crossover
cable.
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21.
Can a neighboring business or household share in the
purchase and use of a radio?
Yes. But the limit for Ethernet cable
is 300ft. To do this, we would install a switch, and
run a cable fro the switch to the neighbors. Each
neighbor would then pay for their own service. When
going this route, keep in mind that this method would
put you and your neighboring household on the same
network.
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22.
Can I have more than one computer hooked up to my
wireless radio?
Yes. You can have as many as you
like. You can use either a hub or switch, in which
case you would require a separate IP address for each
computer. Or you can use a router which only requires
one public IP address and then assigns a private IP
address to each computer.
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23.
How can I be certain that the broadband internet services
will work if I purchase a radio?
We wouldn’t sell you something
that doesn’t work. But if it didn’t, we
would refund your money. We always try to do the necessary
testing and qualification prior to installing a radio.
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24.
What if I am unhappy with the service after I’ve
already bought a radio?
We are so confident you will be happy
with our service, that we will give you your money
back if you’re not.
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25.
How does the money-back guarantee work?
You have 60 days from the time you
receive you radio, to decide whether or not you are
satisfied. We will give you a full refund on the radio
and service. (No refunds on Installations)
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26. What kind
of a warranty comes with my wireless radio?
All Radios include a 1 year warranty.
3 Year warranties are available at an added cost.
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27.
What happens if my radio breaks down?
Considering the type of technology,
and the quality of the radios, it is unlikely that
a radio would break down. If it does, and it is within
the warranty period, we will replace the radio with
a new one.
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28.
What if I need to move in a year and no longer need
the services or the wireless radio?
If you are moving to a location where
our service is not available, then we would recommend
leaving the radio at your original property. The radio
will likely add value to your home. A person purchasing
a home will look strongly to a home that is high speed
capable, as opposed to one that is not.
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29.
Will I need to purchase a new radio in a few years
as technology continues to advance?
No. The technology we use now is
quite advanced. However, new technology does emerge
all the time, but for something to replace the great
technology we use now, it would have to be quite spectacular.
Should we begin using new technology, we will buy
your radio from you, and sell you the new the one.
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30.
What kind of a contract am I expected to sign?
None at all. We are confident enough
with our service that we don’t believe in tying
down a customer with contracts.
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31.
As Wild Rose Internet Services adds more customers
to the network, will the quality and speed of my services
be affected?
No. Wild Rose uses a fiber optic
backbone with gigabits of capacity. As we get to a
fraction of our capable capacity we upgrade our backbone
speed. This ensures that you always receive the full
quality and speed of the connection that was promised
to you.
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32.
What are the minimum requirements for my computer
to ensure that I can receive the service?
The only requirement with our service
is that you have a computer with a network/Ethernet
card (NIC) with TCP/IP support. The faster the processor,
the bigger the hard drive, the larger the memory the
better the performance (IBM PC compatibles and Apple
MacIntoshes included). Dedicated phone lines are not
required.
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33. How do I know whether to
choose the “Do-It-Yourself” installation
or have Wild Rose Internet Services perform the installation?
Our installation is similar to a
satellite installation. If you are comfortable with
heights, handy with tools, comfortable running cable,
and comfortable setting up network settings on your
computer, then you’ll probably want to do the
installation yourself. If you are not comfortable
with all of that, then we would recommend having our
trained installers do the job for you. That way you
get 6 months warranty on the installation.
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34.
What does a typical installation look like?
Our wireless radio is mounted somewhere
elevated, like your roof. A cable is then run inside
the house to a small unit that powers the radio. From
the power unit, a network cable goes to your computer,
router, switch or hub.
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35.
What kind of customer support will I get with my internet
service?
At wild Rose Internet Services, we value your confidence
in our service. That’s why we’re here
24 hours a day, 7 days a week to help you if you’re
having problems.
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36.
Will I be able to access my e-mail account remotely?
Yes. You can access your email account
via webmail using the customer login button at the
top of our website.
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37.
Do the services include unlimited hours each month
or is there a maximum amount of hours and an hourly
fee if I go over the maximum?
There is no limit to the time you
are on the internet. The connection is always on and
connected. Thus, there are no hourly fees.
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38.
Will I need a second telephone line?
No. The service is completely separate
from the phone line. In fact using voice over IP,
you could use our service to get phone service. You
not only don’t need a second line, but you could
get rid of all the phone lines in your home.
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39.
What will my e-mail address look like?
Currently, you’re email address
will look like [yourname]@wildroseinternet.ca , where
[yourname] can be any set of characters of your choosing
that is not already being used.
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40.
Do you have an acceptable use policy for the internet
services?
Yes. If you take a look at our service
offering information, you will notice a section called
“Monthly Traffic.” This refers to the
amount of acceptable data transfer in one month allowed
on a connection. This is to ensure that the service
is not abused. If we find that you are over your limit,
we will recommend upgrading plans. If you choose not
to upgrade, we will have to charge on a per gigabyte
basis.
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41. What if
I want to change over to a different service package
at some point in the future?
Because we don’t make you sign any contracts,
you are free to switch between packages as often as
you like.
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42.
Who is Wild Rose Networks and Wild Rose Internet Services?
See the "ABOUT US" tab
above
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43. Where (in
Alberta) does Wild Rose Internet currently offer services?
Please see the "LOCATIONS"
tab above.
Paintearth County: If you reside
(or do business) within 29km of the school tower in
Brownfield, the Coronation water tower, the PEPS tower
in Castor and/or the Halkirk grain elevator and you
have clear line of sight (LOS) then you are able to
receive services. For confirmation please call 1-888-633-3974.
Strathcona County: If you reside
(or do business) within 7km of the CBC tower located
at Hwy. 21 and Wye Rd. then you are able to receive
services. That would include the following communities
(in alphabetical order):
Aspen Heights Baileys Subdivision
Barry Hill
Beaver Brook Estates Birchwood Village Boag Lake Estates
Busenius Estates Campbell Town Heights Carriage Lane
Chrenek Acres (South) Chrenek Estates Colchester Lane
Colonel Younger Estates Country Club Estates Daly
Drive
Deer Mountain Easton Acres Executive Estates
Fountain Creek Estates Graham Heights Greenwood Estates
Haverhill Estates Highroad Estates Hillsdale
Hulbert Crescent Hunter Heights Huntington Hills Estates
Ithacan Drive Jaymoor Estates Keystone Ridge
Lakeview Estates Laurina Estates Leuders Ridge
Lorrelind Estates McConnell Estates Meadowlark Hills
Ordze Park Poplar Lake Estates Ranchlands at Oldmans
Creek
Richlyn Estates Rolling Forest Estates Roseburn Estates
Royal Gardens Sconadale Sconaglen & Park Estates
Scot Haven Shadow Ridge Sherwood Hills Estates
Sherwood Park Silver Birch Hills Springhill Park
Sun Hill Estates Valley Point Victoria Park Estates
Waterton Estates Whitecroft (East) Whitecroft (west)
Windsor Estates Winfield Heights Wyecliff
As for the rest of the county (ie.
South & North Cooking Lake, Hastings Lake, Collingwood
Cove, Antler Lake, Halfmoon Lake, etc.) we are currently
testing alternate technologies due to line of sight
issues. At the successful conclusion of those tests
we will notify everyone of the results accordingly.
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44.
How can we get Wild Rose to start offering broadband
wireless internet services in our community?
Ideally, we welcome the opportunity
to partner with rural municipalities. However if that’s
not possible then we’re always interested in
speaking to and meeting with interested individuals
and/or committees who are interested in improving
telecommunications services in their area but might
not know how to proceed.
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45.
If I have a question that’s not included in
the FAQ section how do I get it answered?
Simply call us at 1-888-NEED WRI
(633-3974) or email us at inquiries@wildroseinternet.ca
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