Internet in the Country

[Buppies]

We live in an area time forgot old phone lines mountainous terrain so air card only reliable way to go but very expensive especially running a business. Only 200 hundred people in our area so I doubt this will eve change at least in my lifetime

 

[paulharvey]

I don't think it's been mentioned, but DishNET I think is actually HughesNET, or at least uses there satellite and some of the equipment has Hughes name. Exceed (don't think spelling is right) is also (I think) either a HughesNET company or at least leases there satellite. So, even though there are 3 or 4 company's "competing" it may all be one company.

 

[kidr]

Straight talk hotspot. Buy time at Walmart 10 bucks a gig. Works like a Tracfone. I find I use fewer gigs than with verizon Jet Pac, and there is no contract.
I hate contracts.

 

[oosik]

It kind of sounds like we are talking about many differing types of communication - TV, telephone & internet.
I've had satellite access to the WWW for eight years now. In all that time - almost 3000 days or 70,000 hours my system had been down due to weather less than 4 hours. Granted, weather does have an impact, but being totally unable to transmit or receive seldom happens.

I do not have access to any type of telephone land line - that's why the cell phone is my only link. Now here is where the system falls on its face for me. I seldom have two bars and lengthy discussion is impossible. I guess if I felt that phone service was critical I could obtain a satellite phone. However, its ever so nice to not be bothered. I turn the cell phone on for 5 minuets every evening to see if anybody left a message and then determine if I want to call them back.

My TV is with Dish. Service is just a reliable as my internet satellite access.

 

[Looking4new]

- that's why the cell phone is my only link. I turn the cell phone on for 5 minuets every evening to see if anybody left a message and then determine if I want to call them back.

The ultimate call screening. I love it.:thumbsup:

 

[truckdiagnostics]

Our internet comes via a radio on the water tower in town. It is directional line of sight and is supplied by a wireless internet company. It is cost effective and works well. Depending on your location and how tech savvy I looked into doing what they are doing myself. The farmer in town had internet through cable company, I was going to come off that, mount the radio on his silo, send the signal to us. He was happy as I was going to pay his internet and just increase his GB usage per month. Depending on the radio you can get 15 miles. Also, bounce from one silo to the next. Done the satellite dish and 4g cell thing, gb usage will kill you every time. Only reason we didn't do it, wife didn't want me climbing the silo. Cost for the wireless via the radio tower $80 a month, but we use close to 100gb.

Here is a link to the cost effective way of doing it. Basically they bounce the signal from high structure to high structure putting the hubs/distibution points on the water towers in the small towns. Then there is a smaller more cost effective radio on the homes in the town. We use one of the more cost effective ones to go between our buildings. I monitor the drop outs and it beats satellite hands down works when it is raining, it works.
https://www.ubnt.com/ Ubiquiti networks, there is politics involved because cell phone and cable companies don't like it.

 

[Country Geek]

I don't think it's been mentioned, but DishNET I think is actually HughesNET, or at least uses there satellite and some of the equipment has Hughes name. Exceed (don't think spelling is right) is also (I think) either a HughesNET company or at least leases there satellite. So, even though there are 3 or 4 company's "competing" it may all be one company.

It costs over $1 billion to put the satellites and related equipment in place so I always assumed that they all used the same infrastructure under the covers. I was surprised to learn that's not the case, there are at least two modern satellites serving North America, and more for other parts of the world.

Here's a link to the list of internet satellites up there and who owns them.

Satellite Internet access - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I couldn't find a definitive link to which service uses which satellite, but I suspect the Echostar satellite is used by both Hughesnet and Dish.

 

[joeyd]

i use a microwave repeater system thru line of sight to top of mountain 10 miles away. the company has its antenna station on top of mountain. It costs $69/mo, but unlimited bandwidth, about 6 gig down and 4 up, very very fast.

can and do stream movies all the time.

Very very happy. also since its such a low angle on the sat dish, i get no drop of signal in snow or rain like i did with hughesnet

we will never have dsl in our area. too far between houses. Never have cable tv either. both companies said were not even on their 10 year plan.

I have the same company as grs but a lower package only $49/mo. Current price for new customers is $59/mo for my plan but I am still grandfathered in at my original price. One of the best services and deals I have ever stumbled into. :cool2:

 

[Country Geek]

i use a microwave repeater system thru line of sight to top of mountain 10 miles away. the company has its antenna station on top of mountain. It costs $69/mo, but unlimited bandwidth, about 6 gig down and 4 up, very very fast.

can and do stream movies all the time.

Very very happy. also since its such a low angle on the sat dish, i get no drop of signal in snow or rain like i did with hughesnet

we will never have dsl in our area. too far between houses. Never have cable tv either. both companies said were not even on their 10 year plan.

Several years ago a local entrepreneur tried to set up a system like that. When he went knocking on doors asking for signups, he couldn't get enough interest. Too many "I got my AOL, it's fine." Very discouraging. So it never happened. Several years after that attempt, DSL finally made it our way. It was a long wait and I sure am glad it's over. Now getting 10Mb/s down and 1Mb/s up and happy to have it!

 

[kcflhrc]

You need to understand that DSL and Cable companies are limited on distance from the last fiber hop or remote. It makes no sense for them to upgrade a system to serve DSL to 3 or 4 houses. It is very expensive and the investment is far more than the revenue generated. It costs a lot of money to put cable in the ground. The wireless hotspots are good if they work in your area. Satellite has a ton of delay so you are limited on what you can do and is priced on usage. I get plenty of internet time at work so when I get home I really don't need it. But I do have Exede which is the old Wild Blue.