country internet

[mikim]

We moved to this dirt road 8 months ago. No water - drilled a well, no phone -phone lines end up the road a mile or 2---cell only --and AT&T only--and needed a repeater. We have sat TV, and were looking at sat internet....but just before Christmas I saw a new signal booster / repeater in Best Buy that worked for both phone AND data. Previously I found repeaters for voice only. I bought it yesterday and today I picked up an air card and wireless router at BB and VOILA we are online after 8 months of surviving with iphones and wifi hot spots. I plugged the aircard into the router and hardwired the desktop to it and connect wirelessly from my laptop and use the same aircard to access www. this is cool. Now need to work on finding a house builder. Living in one room in the barn is getting old.

 

[beenthere]

Sounds great. What is the repeater named, and what is the monthly investment?
or per minute charges?

 

[WayneB]

Mike it sounds like Life is Good! I can see one room being a bit tough at times.

 

[EddieWalker]

Mike,

Welcome back !!!!

Looking foward to your posts and hopefully a house building project.

Eddie

 

[schmism]

you might find this of intrest

The Best (and Funniest) 3G Mobile Broadband Signal Booster | The Mobile Broadband Blog

there are other hacks out there useing asian wok skimmers and the like

http://www.usbwifi.orconhosting.net.nz/

 

[ronjhall]

Glad you are back.
Is that the same room that Don and I helped put up a wall couple of years ago?
Now that you are back online. You can look at the 3Gstore.com, Mobile Broadband Made Easy. CradlePoint Routers, MiFi, Antennas, Amplifiers and Verizon & Sprint EVDO Modems. for ways to improve your signal.
Txdon needs to do something with his signal. Did not see anything when we stopped at BB last week.

 

[Willl]

Could move back to the city.

 

[SpringHollow]

I have used this setup for 2 years:
zBoost YX510-PCS-CEL White dual band cell phone signal booster

It works well. Without it, i can not get voice or data.

Ken

 

[Ezlivn]

I'm interested in your setup as well. I have no cable and no dsl available. My only option so far is satellite internet. I have Wildblue. Although it is "ok"...and they claim "high speed" it's not. And I pay $79.95 a month for it.
I'm open to other options. Thanks

 

[WVBill]

I'm about 5 1/2 miles from the nearest Verizon tower.

I use a Verizon USB727 modem plugged into a CradlePoint CTR350 router. To provide always-on data connectivity to any computer in the house. For $69.99 / month I get up to 5GB of data (We don't download movies or play on-line games so I've never even come close to the 5GB limit). I got the modem and router through 3Gstore.
I needed an external antenna so I got a Parabloic grid antenna from Lcom.com and have it outside on my deck pointed to where the Verizon cell tower is off in the distance over the hill and through the trees.

This has worked well for me for over 18 months.....

It was great to be able to dump hughesnet!!

 

[auroraproject]

I'm 7 miles from anything in east-central new york (border between leatherstocking and catskill regions). I went with Millenicom. They're the same price as Verizon (60/mo) only there's no contract, plus if you buy the device now you get 10gb a month compared to the 5 with other wireless options. If you're within Sprint's 3g coverage area, I believe there is an unlimited option as well.

We needed to install a repeater, but I'm going to replace the cell extender (forget the brand) with a Cyfre amplifier and grid antenna this summer.

Currently using a UM-175 modem with a Cradlepoint CTR350. I have nothing but good things to say about the Cradlepoint router.

The big difference between cellular internet and satellite is the ping times. I'm at 100ms over Verizon's network, rather than the 700-1400ms (horrible) my nearby friends are getting from hughesnet.

The one time I've needed to talk to millenicom tech support they were quick. The agent didn't run off of a script.

Millenicom forum - dslreports.com broadband community
Millenicom
Maximum Signal - Welcome!

 

[Ezlivn]

There are certainly advantages and disadvantages to country living. The pros out weigh the cons big time. I really don't have too much to complain about with WildBlue. I had a few problems and complained about it on their forum and got a call from the big boys. They sent a field tech from New Hampshire ( a good 6 hour drive) TWICE! The first time he completely re-installed my system....from digging up a new 125 ft trench by hand.
I have 3 pay plan options to choose from. I have the highest at $79.95 but if a wireless card setup is $60 a month....I see no real need to switch right now. I'm in hopes that DSL will eventually make it's way to my house sooner than later.

 

[mikim]

Sounds great. What is the repeater named, and what is the monthly investment?
or per minute charges?

It's a cradlepoint router - mbr1000 - later I discovered they have better ones - but this one works well. The repeater is from Wilson electronics and does both voice and data. I had a zboost prior and it was voice only. I guess it would've been good to do more research -- but time at the wifi hotspot was difficult. I stumbled into the equipment I have at the new Best Buy we just got in Bastrop. The AT&T store across the parking lot told me their aircard wouldn't work with this setup...... must be the company line or just a misinformed employee cause it works quite well. AT&T charges are $60 mo for 5G. I doubt it would be a good idea to go over that.

 

[mikim]

Sounds great. What is the repeater named, and what is the monthly investment?
or per minute charges?

Glad you are back.
Is that the same room that Don and I helped put up a wall couple of years ago?
Now that you are back online. You can look at the 3Gstore.com, Mobile Broadband Made Easy. CradlePoint Routers, MiFi, Antennas, Amplifiers and Verizon & Sprint EVDO Modems. for ways to improve your signal.
Txdon needs to do something with his signal. Did not see anything when we stopped at BB last week.

RON!! RON!! RON!! This is the first I've heard of the 3G store. Maybe you've talked about it before and I just missed it ...but that is a HOT link for those of us in the boonies...thanks. Shoulda done more research and found it earlier....but I just haven't been able to be online for any time at all the last 8 months. and yes it's the room you helped with - thanks again. We do have the TBN cabin from Don & Karen across the yard but we use it for guests.....and living in here keeps the incentive to build at a higher level.

 

[mikim]

Mike it sounds like Life is Good! I can see one room being a bit tough at times.

When we planned / built it - we didn't plan on having a hyper 8 yr old to raise as well. ..... He needs 3 times the room the 2 of us use. It really makes it cramped.

 

[ronjhall]

It's a cradlepoint router - mbr1000 - later I discovered they have better ones - but this one works well. The repeater is from Wilson electronics and does both voice and data. I had a zboost prior and it was voice only. I guess it would've been good to do more research -- but time at the wifi hotspot was difficult. I stumbled into the equipment I have at the new Best Buy we just got in Bastrop. The AT&T store across the parking lot told me their aircard wouldn't work with this setup...... must be the company line or just a misinformed employee cause it works quite well. AT&T charges are $60 mo for 5G. I doubt it would be a good idea to go over that.

There is a better router than a MBR1000? For a AT&T air card it cannot be beat. Showed Jinman mine last spring. Did not take him long to get one for his air card. TXdon needs one as soon as he can gets his DW to believe him.

 

[EarPlug]

Found another Cell Repeater company called JDTECK.com. They appear to be a step above the "consumer" level products. Two of their web pages I found very educational are "Why JDTECK" and "FAQ".

Also, here is a direct link to their Rural Kit.

The standard disclaimer. I have no affiliation with this company but found them when doing research for a friend that lives in the mountains.

Jack

 

[jinman]

There is a better router than a MBR1000? For a AT&T air card it cannot be beat. Showed Jinman mine last spring. Did not take him long to get one for his air card. TXdon needs one as soon as he can gets his DW to believe him.

Getting that MBR-1000 was like I had died in "heck" and woke up in heaven. What a wonderful piece of gear that is. It works so good we truly forget we have it. I have to remember to unplug the modem and take it with us when we go on the road.

Recently, Embarq has changed to CenturyLink and they have DSL to my area. I'm in a quandry about what to do. I would love high-speed DSL for around $30 per month, but I'd have to give up my Verizon modem since I could not justify $65 per month just to be able to surf while we are on the road. The combination of the cell-modem and flexibility of the Cradlepoint router suddenly have me spoiled since we live less than a mile from the cell towers on a major highway.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Thanks for the info on the cradlepoint router. I just picked up a verizon MIFI before christmas for traveling. It works great in my house with just one bar showing, although streaming video is a bit slow (my hughesnet is faster). Looks like a cradlepoint will accept the MIFI (I assume thru the USB cable). While it's not hard to switch back and forth between my home network and the MIFI, the router would eliminate this step.

 

[ronjhall]

Thanks for the info on the cradlepoint router. I just picked up a verizon MIFI before christmas for traveling. It works great in my house with just one bar showing, although streaming video is a bit slow (my hughesnet is faster). Looks like a cradlepoint will accept the MIFI (I assume thru the USB cable). While it's not hard to switch back and forth between my home network and the MIFI, the router would eliminate this step.

The one drawback to the MIFI is that it does not have a place to install a external antenna.