Have you ever faced a real challenge whose only solution most people would consider too crazy or difficult? In this article you will learn about one of the most challenging personal projects I?ve done, and it was all in the name of Internet access. The goal was simple: throw away 56k and upgrade to high-speed internet. Sound easy? Think again.
I live in a small town with a population under 2,000. I was stuck with a 56k modem for nine years because no other option is available in my town. However, I learned of a new service provider that could allow me to get between 250 and 320 k/s. It sounded great!
Well, the situation was more complicated. The provider informed me they put a transmitting tower in my town approximately one kilometre from my house, but there could be absolutely no interference between the transmitting tower and my house. Herein lay the problem: there was a very large church less than 30 meters from my house, and so the signal had no way to reach me. I should have forgotten about it at that point, but I?m not that kind of person. Not after 9 years of waiting, and not when everyone around me, just far enough away from the church, would have it.
Eventually, I came up with a plan. I would build a sixty-plus foot tower so I could intercept the signal! Well, that?s a simple thing to say, but it's another story to really to do it. This is the story of how one man got the Internet access he craved, and how others can follow in his footsteps (just in case you ever need to build a sixty-foot tower in your backyard).