mobile data comm

Apr 25, 2008 2 Replies

Hi all,



Does anyone know of a cheap mobile long distance (20+ miles) data communication service that would work in a large city environment?



I'm looking into communication of prognostic data on vehicles. Basically a bunch of vehicles would be traveling around within a certain range of a main building. They would each send data back (say once every 5 min) for processing.



Cost is a main factor. I've looked into cell modems, but I'm not aware of any service without a substantial recurring cost. (For example $30/ month for 200 vehicles adds up fast). Radio modems can operate in license free bands, but I'm worried about the amount of noise as well as the distance that would be achievable in a city.



Any thoughts / relevant experiences would be appreciated.



Thanks



Andy


If you MUST post the *same* question to MULTIPLE groups,

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do learn this technique.
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This is NOT "Google Groups".

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*-a-service-for-*-*-*+Usenet+*-Wikipedia+hide.the.fact+*-*-policed+concerns-*-*-*-*-about-the-Google-interface+*-*-follow-Usenet-customs-and-*-rules+*-*-*-not-*-mustered-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*+*-*-*-*-*-*-*-software+less-*-savvy-*+*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-is-now-legendary+zzz+*-summary+qq+Web If you are going to continue to post to Usenet, you should also use a normal username

--and NOT use your email address there like a clueless noob.

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I think I would stick to mobile phone based technology. Perhaps try to do a deal with a network provider to bring down the cost. I suspect it wouldn't be trivial building a 200 node radio data network from scratch. It would be like trying to reinvent wifi.

Phones would be cheaper to buy and maintain I suspect. Do the drivers have company phones already?

How critical is the application? I mean if there was a fire or major traffic jam in the city somewhere you could get thousands of people ringing their family and friends and the phone network could grind to a halt for hours.

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