Internet in the Country

[kcflhrc]

We are on 80 acres in rural northern Minnesota. We have had a "point-to-point" internet served from a tower to an antenna on our roof. We have just a bit too much between us and the tower and our speed was variable at about 1.5 meg download.

After about 3 years of announcement we just had fiber installed to our home and hooked up last week. 50 mbps download and 10 mbps upload. This project was financed/funded heavily by gov't money from the "stimulus" program. County sponsored and greatly mismanaged...but finally here.

Internet is now great. We have enough home in Minneapolis area where we have had 7mbps DSL for quite a few years and that serves us pretty well. We do not download movies or play games so our speed requirements are modest.

Our new "fiber to the home" project is likely to have financial problems once wiring and install is complete. Many rumors that the "sign up" rate is way below the financial forecast used to justify the budget. Pretty confident worse case some other company will buy the "system" at a great discount to install cost and operate going forward.

We shall see! TMR

This is the exact reason for CAF, to offset the extreme high cost of putting cable in the ground and the electronics to support it. You are fortunate to get fiber to your home at the speeds you are seeing. CAF funding is to support a minimum of 10 meg down if I remember correctly so you are way ahead of the game with 50 meg. All of our Fiber to premise installs are a minimum of 10 meg down but these are subdivisions with a high concentration of homes.

 

[k0ua]

We are on 80 acres in rural northern Minnesota. We have had a "point-to-point" internet served from a tower to an antenna on our roof. We have just a bit too much between us and the tower and our speed was variable at about 1.5 meg download.

After about 3 years of announcement we just had fiber installed to our home and hooked up last week. 50 mbps download and 10 mbps upload. This project was financed/funded heavily by gov't money from the "stimulus" program. County sponsored and greatly mismanaged...but finally here.

Internet is now great. We have enough home in Minneapolis area where we have had 7mbps DSL for quite a few years and that serves us pretty well. We do not download movies or play games so our speed requirements are modest.

Our new "fiber to the home" project is likely to have financial problems once wiring and install is complete. Many rumors that the "sign up" rate is way below the financial forecast used to justify the budget. Pretty confident worse case some other company will buy the "system" at a great discount to install cost and operate going forward.

We shall see! TMR

Mind if I ask what are you paying for the 50/10. ? That is pretty fast for a home. I have 25/5 and don't really need any more at this time. Of course we don't have a bunch of children wanting to stream different things at the same time either.

 

[TMR]

Mind if I ask what are you paying for the 50/10. ? That is pretty fast for a home. I have 25/5 and don't really need any more at this time. Of course we don't have a bunch of children wanting to stream different things at the same time either.

My keyboard was moving faster than my brain We have 30 down and 10 up. Cost is $60...no install costs. We can get 50 down and I think still 10 up for $70/mo I think. Don't see us needing faster...TMR Also phone and TV available but wanted to see the internet work first. BTW...cable underground from the highway...off the utility pole...under the highway and underground all the way to our basement wall.

 

[TMR]

This is the exact reason for CAF, to offset the extreme high cost of putting cable in the ground and the electronics to support it. You are fortunate to get fiber to your home at the speeds you are seeing. CAF funding is to support a minimum of 10 meg down if I remember correctly so you are way ahead of the game with 50 meg. All of our Fiber to premise installs are a minimum of 10 meg down but these are subdivisions with a high concentration of homes.

My keyboard was moving faster than my brain We have 30 down and 10 up. Cost is $60...no install costs. We can get 50 down and I think still 10 up for $70/mo I think. Don't see us needing faster...TMR Also phone and TV available but wanted to see the internet work first. BTW...cable underground from the highway...off the utility pole...under the highway and underground all the way to our basement wall.

 

[TomSeller]

My yet to be installed Comcast Xfinity is advertised (as they all are) as "up to" 105MB download. I share a 1500' private country lane with 4 other houses at my new place and the "super drop" is on my parcel (lucky me).

 

[ultrarunner]

Just reading has me in awe... with no Internet in Washington State and had a heck of a time to get 1.3 download here in Oakland CA...

 

[TomSeller]

no Internet in Washington State

huh ?

 

[ultrarunner]

Sorry... just a continuation of an earlier post.

I'm only a few minutes from the steps of the Capital in Olympia and my only option for Internet is Satellite... even spent $1500 on tree removal and still found it expensive and problematic in adverse weather.

Due to terrain, it is also a dead zone for cell service...

Did explore Comcast and the minimum after weeks of negotiating was 12k as the rock bottom price to bring it in to my house...

After just visiting with friends in the little country of Austria where fiber is everywhere... even to remote mountain huts... it kind of leaves a person feeling the USA still has plenty of wilderness when it comes to modern things like Internet... and again... only a few minutes from the State Capital Olympia WA.

As to Oakland California located in the land of High Tech... 1.3 is embarrassing... yet, it is good enough for my humble use... when ATT had a promotion that DSL was now available... I jumped on it... then the real fun started... ATT took several weeks and many visits from service guys saying the company should not have promised service... in the end a new line was run several blocks to my home so I could get 1.3

Problem is all the lines date from the 1950's and all were in use... my pair has always been substandard, but good enough for voice according to ATT... absolute disaster for DSL...

So by pushing the issue... I also noticed a marked improvement for voice...

Which is another thing my European visitors always comment on and often take pictures... the aging utility poles with a myriad of wires and braces... at least 75 years old if not a 100.

 

[paulharvey]

Sorry... just a continuation of an earlier post.

I'm only a few minutes from the steps of the Capital in Olympia and my only option for Internet is Satellite... even spent $1500 on tree removal and still found it expensive and problematic in adverse weather.

Due to terrain, it is also a dead zone for cell service...

Did explore Comcast and the minimum after weeks of negotiating was 12k as the rock bottom price to bring it in to my house...

After just visiting with friends in the little country of Austria where fiber is everywhere... even to remote mountain huts... it kind of leaves a person feeling the USA still has plenty of wilderness when it comes to modern things like Internet... and again... only a few minutes from the State Capital Olympia WA.

As to Oakland California located in the land of High Tech... 1.3 is embarrassing... yet, it is good enough for my humble use... when ATT had a promotion that DSL was now available... I jumped on it... then the real fun started... ATT took several weeks and many visits from service guys saying the company should not have promised service... in the end a new line was run several blocks to my home so I could get 1.3

Problem is all the lines date from the 1950's and all were in use... my pair has always been substandard, but good enough for voice according to ATT... absolute disaster for DSL...

So by pushing the issue... I also noticed a marked improvement for voice...

Which is another thing my European visitors always comment on and often take pictures... the aging utility poles with a myriad of wires and braces... at least 75 years old if not a 100.

That's not just a rural problem; I was just on a project where AT&T had to relocate a duct bank first installed in 1929, and the more recent wiring was from 1970s.

My Windstream is now working good, no complaints. Can stream YouTube stuff, wife does online college class videos, but the $39.99/month works out to like $71... the problem was an exposed splice that kept getting wet.

 

[ultrarunner]

I think the backbone is more fragile than some would like to think...