The Frustrations Of Rural Internet AND Netflix

[poncho62]

I have Bell 4G LTE mobile stick. It works good enough to watch netflix in most areas in Ontario. There are still some areas where I cannot get I-net at all, but they are getting fewer every year.
I use the mobile stick in the winter as a fixed point for I-net and in the laptop all over Ontario in summer. Yes I pay $150.oo + tax for 100 gigs a month on a stepped plan. My last mobile provider charged me $5.oo/meg after my 10 gig limit. I had bills from them in summertime that were as much as $400.oo/month. With the Bell plan they charge me $5.oo/gig for overages. Way cheaper and better coverage. I also have my cell phone with Bell, so I get the 'bundled' rate on both plans.

The Rogers plan that I gave up was about that same plan......$145 for 100g...It was real handy when we had our trailer and were traveling around. We got tired of the trailer, so gave it up....plus, our grand daughter has moved in with us, so 100 gig ain't near enough......lol. The fixed wireless plan we have now is working out well, unlimited, 10 mbs for $70

 

[Looking4new]

poncho62,
my stepson and his wife were on the Rogers plan and most of the time couldn't connect. They switched to a Bell hub, got blistering speeds and eventually convinced me to switch from Telus to Bell.

 

[radioman]

Dont you hate it when internet providers only show download speeds and rarely advertiae the uploads? Then nearly every single person i know of dont get the exact download speeds they think they are paying for? They always say AFTER the fact oh.. It other people in area. Oh its normal. Oh its peak demand. Oh its your equipment.oh its whatever..... Sigh. All i can say is darnit...

 

[3930dave]

Sometimes, ya just gotta roll your own....

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/387726-getting-done-down-farm.html

Long running project in the UK, and some pics from Andy about what he built (sorry if it's a dup, haven't read whole thread...)

Rgds, D.

 

[thatguy]

The satellite internet providers are now going to unlimited data plans. Exceed just put up a new satellite with huge capacity. Another even bigger one is scheduled for 2019. I have 1Mb DSL now. The only other option is satellite here. I'm going to switch when my contract is up.

Here in Virginia - my friend just switched to satellite internet.. they get 20 GB of data at high speeds (like 15 - 20 mbs/Mbs) then it gets 'throttled' to around 4 Mbs for about $70/mth.. when we had DSL on a good day, we only got 768 on a good day..

I would switch to satellite if our current ISP (a canopy system) gets bad

brian

 

[kcflhrc]

Keep in mind if you don't set up Netflix correctly it will use every bit of bandwidth you have. There is an option in your account profile to limit how much bandwidth it uses.

 

[kcflhrc]

Kind of makes you wonder what happened to all the millions of dollars that was being invested to make sure everyone in the US has "high Speed" internet......

This is still going on. It's called the Connect America Fund. The first phase was 5 years and now we are into the 2nd 5 year phase. Understand also that millions of dollars certainly doesn't go very far in the broad scheme of things. Most don't have a clue what it takes to upgrade the systems and the Government Mandate is only 10 meg so don't get all excited about anything higher than that.

 

[k0ua]

Keep in mind if you don't set up Netflix correctly it will use every bit of bandwidth you have. There is an option in your account profile to limit how much bandwidth it uses.

It isn't going to "use every bit of the bandwidth" I have that I will assure. Full HD streaming is about maybe 7 or 8 mbs for 1080i at max. Now if you went to 4K, then that is about 25mbs.. so yes, I guess it would use all I have. I would then be forced to spend the extra $10 a month to get 75mbs. But I just haven't ever needed it or needed more than the 25 I have now so I save the $10. I don't have a 4K tv... (yet)

 

[Looking4new]

Keep in mind if you don't set up Netflix correctly it will use every bit of bandwidth you have. There is an option in your account profile to limit how much bandwidth it uses.

Can you draw me a map to it? Please?

 

[kcflhrc]

Here's a good Netflix resource for bandwidth settings

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/87

Adjust your data usage settings

Access your Account page from a web browser and select Playback Settings.

Select your desired data usage setting (please note that each estimate below is per stream, and that restricting data usage may affect video quality):

Low (0.3 GB per hour)

Medium (SD: 0.7 GB per hour)

High (Best video quality, up to 3 GB per hour for HD and 7 GB per hour for Ultra HD)

Auto (Adjusts automatically to deliver the highest possible quality, based on your current Internet connection speed)

Select Save

Note:
It may take up to 8 hours for these changes to take effect.

Data usage settings only apply to the Netflix profile you set them from, meaning you can have different data usage settings for each profile. If you are concerned about the total amount of data that Netflix uses, make sure to change this setting for each profile.

Using the Auto setting is a definite bad idea.