Welcome to Lyttonnet!

November 7, 2012

LyttonNet has  been serving low cost High Speed Internet to the Fraser Canyon near Lytton for more than 6 years and we are continuing to expand our network coverage and capabilities in 2012.  We are also working hard to upgrade our network to support the higher expectations of customers.  Network traffic has more than doubled in the last 12 months.  Our average daily uplink traffic is now 25 Mb/s peaking to 60 Mb/s in the evenings.

We currently have about 375 residential and business subscriber customers in addition to many Token customers.   LyttonNet serves  wireless (WIFI) internet to our Subscriber and Token customers from 22 towers, covering more than 75km (47 miles) of the Fraser Canyon near Lytton as well as Botanie valley, south Fountain Valley, and over 14km (8.5 miles) of the Thompson River East of Lytton. For more information on our current and future coverage please see our coverage map.

Lyttonnet is committed to operating a fast and reliable network.  Please contact us immediately by phone if you are experiencing problems with your connection.  We have trained technicians, here in Canada to answer your call and get your problem resolved quickly.  You will not be talking to “James” in India!

Several projects are underway that improve quality of service for our existing customers and extend our service to new areas.  These include:

1. As of July 10, 2012 Lyttonnet customers can enjoy the benefits of a 100 Mb/s backhaul link to Telus Fibre.  The upgraded connection has improved the internet experience for our customers during peak hours in the evenings when the 30 Mb/s connection was inadequate.  Longer term – we are examining the feasibility of a redundant backhaul agreement through BCNET which has the potential to reduce our costs.
2. New office location! Our office is located at 281 Main St. above the Health Canada offices.
3. We are preparing design for a pilot project that will extend Fibre service in Siska, Scuppah and Kanaka Bar.  Construction has begun on this project and will continue into 2013..   Fibre is a real benefit in areas where radio spectrum is crowded and interference is more common.   Fibre to Block will allow us to increase service speed for typical customers from 4Mbps to 12Mbps or more, keeping in line with cable service in urban areas like Vancouver.  As always, the infrastructure belongs to our community – not a distant corporation headquartered in another country!
4. We now offer on-line direct payment through Bank of Nova Scotia as well as VISA or Mastercard payment.
5. Customer service  – we want our customers to know they are #1 .  Look out for several Lyttonnet customer care changes in the following months.
6. Upgrades of towers to support the latest, fastest customer equipment that is faster – in several areas our towers are 802.11n and MIMO capable.  We now have service plans which offer increased speed as wells as customer router care and increased download.
7. Installation of two new towers to replace existing masts at the Village Office.
8. Design and construction of new repeaters to serveGladwin, Nicoamen Band [complete] Fountain Valley (North) and Texas Creek area [complete]  These network extensions will allow us to serve over 200 customers in remote areas East and North of Lytton where dial-up or satellite are the only options.
9. Application to Industry Canada for use of channels in “TV Whitespace” 512-698MHz.    These frequencies will allow remote, isolated areas to get connected where line-of-sight might require additional repeaters.

Things don’t just happen!  A big thank you is in order for the dedicated volunteers and contracted staff of Lytton Area Wireless Society and many others who continue to work long hours so we can all ‘get connected’ – and stay connected!.  Read “About Us” for a more detailed description of what Lyttonnet is and the individuals behind it.  You may also wish to visit our page on Facebook for more information.

LyttonNet is a community resource – it is your project.  Every subscription dollar goes to keeping the network running and extending it for others.  If you find deficiencies in the system, would like various features, would like to extend the service area, by all means get involved!  The strength of LyttonNet lies in the our collective effort to improve and preserve what we have.

Dan Mundall

Improve Connection Speed – Keep Wireless Routers on Channel 6

Lyttonnet uses the same public radio channels as your home router. There are very few channels available so we ask that you always program your 2.4GHz WIFI router to operate on Channel 6. This way your router will not interfere with the signal from our tower. Please tell others about this to so you will always have a speedy connection to the internet. Please contact Lyttonnet if you would like more information.

TV Whitespace up for grabs!

Due to the transition from analog broadcast TV to digital, television channels will occupy less space in the radio frequency spectrum than previously.   This frees up the frequencies which can be put to use by other wireless devices, such as Wireless Internet.  As of this writing the USA has not yet decided how to deal with the allotment of this space, but it is likely that whatever decision is made, Canada will implement a similar decision.

If you value the fact that you are receiving internet over frequencies that are public domain instead of being auctioned to the highest bidder, please voice your opinion and help us secure these frequencies.

The following links will provide useful information on this topic:

http://www.wispa.org/?page_id=18

 http://www.broadbandwirelessreports.com/ 

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/a-quartermillion-america_b_50649.html

http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=43469

http://www.itworldcanada.com/a/Communications-Infrastructure/61eb7ffe-aada-4408-86cc-4967b2813863.html

http://gigaom.com/2007/03/13/white-space-broadband/

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