johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine) (02/21/91)
In article <telecom11.136.10@eecs.nwu.edu> is written: > Has anyone heard of wireless (full-duplex) telephones that have a > range of at least fifteen miles? This may not be what you want, but Motorola makes some rather nice remote radio units. One end looks to the phone network like a telephone, the other end looks to the telephone like the phone network. Both ends need 110V power. These came to my attention at a religious conference center on an island ten miles off the New Hampshire coast. There's a pair of units in the top of the hotel on the island communicating with a pair in the steeple of a church on the mainland, providing two phone lines. On the island, regular phones are attached via regular phone wire. The conference center owns the radio units, the local church provides a little space and power on the mainland end, and the phone company provides two ordinary phone lines. I'm not sure whether FCC licenses for the radios are needed, but if they are, they were no big deal to get. These phones provide real New England Tel dialtone out on the island, a huge improvement over the previous arrangement which was basically an MTS (not even IMTS, all calls were operator dialed) car phone. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|world}!iecc!johnl