Wireless service

Amplex provides wireless broadband Internet service using Motorola Canopy wireless equipment. The service and speed is comparable to that provided by a cable modem.

How it works

Amplex has transmitters located on a variety of towers in the area (listed below).  We send a signal from the tower to a antenna mounted at your house or business.   The connection from the outside antenna to your computer or router is a standard Ethernet connection.

Service Area

Our service area is an approximate 10 mile radius of the following tower locations:

Cygnet, Weston, Dunbridge (Sugar Ridge), Perrysburg, Curtice, Lemoyne, Luckey, Pemberville, Genoa, Elmore, Woodville, Graytown, Lindsey, and Oak Harbor.

What do the shaded areas represent on the map?

The pink shade is the coverage area for the 5.7Ghz network.  The purple shade represents the coverage area of the 900Mhz network.  The maximum range from the tower is 12 miles.  The distance does not affect the speed of the connection - just the probability of having a workable signal.  The shaded areas on the map do not cover the entire 12 mile circle around the towers.

Can I get service?

If the tower is visible from your location there is an extremely good chance it will work.   Most towers also have some ability to work in non-line-of-sight conditions but this must be determined on an individual basis.   The Sugar Ridge, Cygnet, Curtice, Woodville (south side), and Oak Harbor towers (the purple shading on the map) have special transmitters that will work with significant obstructions to line-of-site.

We generally do not do 'site surveys' to check for a signal.  When you contact us we will work with you to schedule an installation time and will check the signal at that time.  In the event that we are unable to locate a usable signal there is no charge to the customer.

We will occasionally have a situation where the signal is marginal at the time of installation.  In this event we may decline service or (after consulting with the customer) install service with the provision that if we are unable to keep the service working acceptably we will refund the install fee and cancel service without early termination charges.

Where are the towers?

SugarRidge - Luckey Farmers Elevator on SugarRidge Rd
Perrysburg - Luckey Farmers Elevator on SR-795
Pemberville - Village Water Tower
Luckey - Helm Insurance building, downtown
Lemoyne - Luckey Farmers - Lemoyne Rd and SR-23
Woodville - Village Water Tower
Genoa - Luckey Farmers Elevator, downtown
Curtice - Luckey Farmers Elevator (southeast of the village)
Graytown - Luckey Farmers Elevator
Elmore - Village Water Tower, downtown
Lindsey - Luckey Farmers Elevator
Oak Harbor - Luckey Farmers Elevator (SR-19 north of town)
Weston - Village Water Tower
Cygnet - Water Tower at Bays Rd and Rt. 25

If you are looking for the towers keep in mind the grain elevators are gray concrete with green steel on top - they can be difficult to see from a distance.  In many cases they are only visible from specific locations or the roof (please don't climb around on the roof looking for them - we will be happy do that for you).

What is the cost?

Amplex charges $49.95/mo for residential wireless service with a $150 installation charge.  Business accounts are $99.95 with a $150 installation charge.   The state of Ohio collects sales tax on business accounts.  There is no sales tax on residential service.  All other taxes and fees are included in the listed price - unlike the phone companies who like to nearly double the bill with assorted "cost recovery fees" and other charges.

Home offices and Telecommuting

Wireless service works very well for home offices or employees who work from home.  Home office users can choose the higher speeds of a business class account or the lower cost of the residential account.  Either service is suitable for working from home.

Connection Speeds

Our residential service is rated at 384kbps download and 256kbps up, business service is 768kbps (equal down and up).  The network normally provides speeds well over those listed (up to 10 Mbps) but speed is dependant on network load and the quality of the wireless connection. 

Connection speed is nearly always faster than most DSL connections and equivalent (or faster) than many cable modems.  

Our competitors list maximum burst speeds with no guaranteed minimum speed.  We guarantee our speeds will be as good or better than we specify in the service package you choose..

Is service affected by weather?

Not normally.  Unlike Satellite TV our signal is broadcast from towers within approximately 10 miles of your location.  Given the short distances the signal is not significantly affected by rain, snow. or fog.   

Installation

Installation normally takes somewhere between 1 to 2 hours depending on the difficulty of the installation.  We do require the customer to be home during the installation to approve the antenna location, placement of the inside computer jack, etc.

The installation include mounting the antenna at a suitable location on the building, running wire outside the building to a surge suppressor, and running Ethernet cable inside to a jack located near the computer.  We will make a reasonable effort to route the cable as inconspicuously as possible.  

Can I install this myself?

We would really prefer that you didn't.   It makes it difficult for Amplex to guarantee the quality of the service when we do not do the installation.  There is also the issue of who is responsible for equipment damaged by wiring errors or other problems during installation - if we let the magic smoke out of the radio it's our problem, if you do it by making a wiring mistake it's going to be expensive.

What goes outside on the house?

The equipment varies depending on the location of your house or business.   The radio itself is normally 12" x 3" x 3" and mounts on the outside of the house or on an existing antenna tower.  In some instances where we need additional signal strength we use a reflector dish - which looks very much like a small TV satellite dish.   Occasionally we will use a wire grid reflector. 

The antenna normally needs to be mounted at as high an elevation as practical - usually on a roof eave, an existing antenna tower, or attached to a chimney.  Only in very rare cases is it possible to mount the antenna near the ground - it almost always needs to be above 8'.  Our installers are highly skilled and do a very professional job of mounting the antenna and running cable as inconspicuously as possible.

Computer Connection

We deliver the service to you over a Ethernet connection.  Your computer will require a standard Ethernet network card.  Most computers built within the last several years already have a Ethernet port as standard equipment.  The connector looks like a phone jack only wider with 8 wires.  If you need an Ethernet card installed the cost is $20 per computer.

One / Multiple Computers

Amplex does not differentiate between customers using one or multiple computers.  Our pricing plans are the same regardless of the number of computers you attach to the network.  Amplex provides one fixed IP address to our customers.  If you wish to connect additional computers you may use any common DSL/Cable router to share the connection with multiple computers.

Amplex does not provide support for customer routers due to the great variety of manufacturers and models available.  If you need assistance in configuring a router we suggest that you first check the included documentation and the manufacturers website.

Email

5 email accounts are included with your wireless service.  Additional accounts are available at a cost of $12/year.

Phone Line

The service does not require a phone line.  We recommend that you do not leave a phone line connected to your computer if you are not using your modem as many computers are damaged by lightning hitting near phone lines.

Is there a contract?

Yes - there is a one year initial contract for your wireless service.  There is a $200 charge for early termination.  Amplex will waive the early termination charge if local conditions change making the service unreliable and we are unable to resolve the issue.  Service moves within our service area will be charged the current installation charge ($150 residential, $150 business).

Who owns the equipment?

The radio and antenna remain the property of Amplex and are to be returned in workable condition to Amplex at the termination of service.

Peer to Peer Services

Peer to Peer (P2P) services such as BitTorrent are allowed but are restricted in bandwidth in order to maintain acceptable network performance. The wireless network is designed primarily to deliver information to the end user. It is not designed and it is not well suited to delivering large amounts of information in the opposite direction. P2P protocols usually attempt to use all available bandwidth and result in poor performance and customer complaints from other users. To address these concerns Amplex implements rate limiting on P2P traffic. P2P rate limits are established as an aggregate per tower location and vary by tower. Rate limits are based on the available capacity of the site. We are well aware that it is entirely possible to hide P2P traffic from the rate limiter in order to evade the limitations. Should this become a problem Amplex reserves the right to rate limit the upload speed of any customer to the minimum speed specified in the service plan without further notice.

What Amplex won't do...

Amplex does not install TV type towers - and we will turn down an installation if we do not have sufficient height for a usable signal.   If the customer wishes to install a tower or extend an existing tower there are companies we can recommend for this work.  We can not guarantee that any particular tower height will work without testing.

We will not climb towers or structures that our installers deem to be unsafe or unsound.  We will not climb or repair equipment during dangerous weather conditions (high winds, lightning, ice storms, etc.).  On rare occasions equipment is damaged by lightning or other weather events - we will correct the problem and restore service as soon as it is safe to do so.   Keeping the service running is a high priority for us, keeping our employees safe is even higher.

Cut down or clear trees to create a path for the signal.