Does it exist? If not, share your thoughts about the idea!

[rainabba]

Consider this, UTP (unshielded, twisted, pair) from the phone company brings broadband the "last mile" using a relatively inexpensive medium that differs greately than the fiber that brings it to the central-office. This is done because it's convienent when the coper already runs into your home and NLOS isn't an issue.

Satellite is a wonderful transmission medium, but the need to run 1 or more cables from the dish to the receiver is a complete PITA. It makes installation such a problem that many people are avoiding the technology when they otherwise likely wouldn't.

Now consider the advancements in WiFi, Wireless USB, WIRELESS HD (If you haven't seen it yet, find an Ultimate Electronics near you). I'm reletively new to satellite technology, but I get the impression that the signals coming from the dish are fairly standardized. If that's true, then the only reason we should need a wire going to the dish is really to power the LNBs. From there, a "reasonably" short wireless hop could get us either to the receiver, or at least in the same room (near an outside wall perhaps) and using an appropriate receiving device, back to coax, then to the sat-receiver. Even a 2-foot hop that could clearly make it through an outside wall would be very appealing to many people I suspect.

If I'm not being clear so far, consider the way powerline networking functions, or a slingbox works; sending one type of signal over a different medium to avoid "hard-wiring" connections.

I can't believe such a device doesn't exist for D*, but I've searched high and low with no success. Do you know of such a device?

What would you pay for something like this assuming it would work with SWM equipment and replace that one coax cable? (see poll)

[LarryFlowers]

With the single wire system coming into play now, most any house can be handled without any problems, but even so there is no way in the world I would rely on a wireless transmission system to get the signal from the dish to the house. I have yet to see any wireless device that works 100% consistently all the time. Signal drops, interference, securing the signal... I can think of tons of reasons why I wouldn't do this with the current state of wireless technology.Give me a good solid piece of rg6.

[machavez00]

It did exist.
Qwest announced they are discontinuing their Choice TV service. This was due mostly to Motorola's decision to stop manufacturing the equipment Qwest and a few other telcos were using to deliver their "Triple Play" service

Qwest Finally Killing Off Old 'Choice TV' (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/98313)

[paulman182]

I couldn't vote because my answer is "Not interested, sorry."

[1948GG]

Satellite is a wonderful transmission medium, but the need to run 1 or more cables from the dish to the receiver is a complete PITA. It makes installation such a problem that many people are avoiding the technology when they otherwise likely wouldn't.

Now consider the advancements in WiFi, Wireless USB, WIRELESS HD (If you haven't seen it yet, find an Ultimate Electronics near you).
What would you pay for something like this assuming it would work with SWM equipment and replace that one coax cable? (see poll)

I've done extensive research into replacing the wire feed from the SWM8 outputs over wireless data (both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz unlicenced bands), using consumer level equipment, and it can be done. The linchpin to it is, of course, the conversion from the narrowband RF signal from the SWM8 to a data stream that the wireless data equipment can carry.

There is part of such a system already in use, the MFH-3, where instead of a coaxial cable, twisted pair (cat5/6) wire is used to transport the bidirectional signals (both the downstream satellite and the upstream control signals between the receiver(s) and the control head. Unfortunately, the number of DirecTV installations of this system have been very low, and none (apparently) are in my area. The folks I consult to on DirecTV issues, have expressed some interest in eventually trying it out, but so far even their biggest MDU plant is easily served by the MFH-2 systems.

Even getting a solid quote (cost wise) on the MFH-3 has proven difficult to impossible. Obviously, what you're thinking is the same as me, it needs to be fairly inexpensive (in the range of the SWM8), to be viable.

The FIOS folks ran into the same basic problem you are describing, that of transporting the signal(s) throughout the standard single-family residence. In the original FIOS 'system', every STB had to be physically connected to the fiber, which was 'split' at the entrance off to the various STB's. Yes, with all the fishing and you name it. Ran the costs per unit supplied upwards of $2K per.

You can imagine, that didn't last for long (cost analysis ran over $5-6K per customer passed; not good from a stockholders perspective!). They finally figured out that, guess what, simple RG coaxial, already 'plumbed' in most 'modern' homes thanks to 50+ years of cablecos working diligently, was the way to go. It's fully bi-directional, and in fact their DVR's use this capability to do MRV and high-speed internet as well.

In short, that simple coaxial is kinda hard to beat for useability. It would sure be nice to have that link go wireless, and the recent advancements you mentioned such as WirelessHD aim to replace the huge bundle of cables folks (like myself) currently have between their equipment 'stack' and their display unit (i.e., HDTV). You'll notice the price of such devices is still pretty extreme, but of course will come down.

Doing the same for the DirecTV signals would be equally expensive. Get out the fish tape, and a good roll of RG6, and go to it. Unless the cost of doing so exceeds, say, $1K.

[harsh]

Think about two scenarios:

1. You have neighbors within feet (or even inches) of your house that want a similar system.

2. The wireless signal can only support a few channels and the current system must support dozens. Seems like you would need a tuner in the dish or a very finely divided stack plan.

Cable provides the isolation that you must have with a whole lot more bandwidth than any networking band can accommodate.

[rainabba]

Lots of good feedback and talking points. I guess I failed to ask one question that should have been obvious. How much bandwidth (in terms of bits prefereably) can an RG6 carry? Clearly it's a lot, but can a number be put to it?

[evan_s]

Currently DirecTV uses 3 500mhz blocks in it's normal stack plan with the highest one topping out at over 2ghz. For swm it uses 9 different ~100mhz blocks but still ends up around 2ghz because it leaves the lower frequencies empty to allow diplexing OTA signal even if DirecTV doesn't officially support it.

[rudeney]

So a single transponder uses 100MHz on RG6, and a transponder can carry 23Mbps of bandwidth. Theoretically, that gives a 2GHz RG6 cable something in the neighborhood of 460Mbps of bandwidth, at least in terms of D*'s use.