HIgh speed internet

[nybirdman]

Finally got a high speed internet hook-up in our area(fiber-optics).Amazing for sure;started on dial-up got over the air a few years ago(1.5mpbs down 0.5up) not bad and usable.Fiber-optics is 25mpbs down and 20 up).
Just got a Amazon FireStick today;along with Amazon Prime opens a whole world of T.V and music.
Hopefully it will be available to all soon.

 

[shovelmike]

Good for you, a decent internet connection is pretty much a necessity these days. My internet is by using my cell phone as a hot spot, new cable has been recently laid within a mile of me, I was really hoping it was Google fiber...maybe someday.

 

[RalphVa]

We're on DSL over the phone line. Using Roku for TV sports, via Sling (also can get on Hulu). DirecTV kept going up in price, and I always hated them. Even DSL at around 1.2 or 1.3 to 1.5 speed is enough for streaming TV and movies. Lots of free movies on Roku and Tubi channels: good movies with quality actors.

Neighbor cut our phone line in two places last fall planting some trees with a back hoe and did not give Miss Utility proper instructions to locate it. His opinion is that it's an illegal line, as it's near 10' onto his property. Recently sent him the deed link that shows ALL our lots (2 acre up) have a drainage and utility easement covering where our phone line is.

Phone company was out to put in a new underground line. He came out and promptly told them that HE has no easement for his property and that the line has to be on our side. On our side, it's our driveway right near or at the line and then a steep drop-off on the other side where they cannot use their DitchWitch machine.
-
We're just gonna wait him out. Last fall, they left for their Pa house and didn't come back until Labor Day. When they leave, we'll inform the phone company, and they can come out and dig in a new line just over onto his property a couple feet, inside where the present one is. He has no legal recourse to make us remove it.

Ralph

 

[Roadworthy]

Sometimes we don't know how fortunate we are until we learn how others live. Fiber optic may be available here in fifty or a hundred years. Maybe. In the meantime we have kind of a microwave link to our service provider. I currently have service at three megabits per second which is pretty slow by today's standards, though it's plenty fast to stream Netflix or Amazon. It sure does beat 56K or whatever it was on telephone modem. We're far enough out that DSL would have been no faster, only more expensive. I used to drive into town with my laptop to hit the internet at the library. This is a LOT better!!

 

[oosik]

I don't expect to see anything other than what I've always had here. Satellite. Even if we had something faster than Warp 9 - it still is a mile from my house to the county road. The cost would be prohibitive - just like getting a land line for phone is today.

 

[shooterdon]

Best I can do is Verizon Jetpack and two SIM cards. Gives me 30 GB. Monthly cost is $20 with our plan. One time cost of $100 for Jetpack and $40 ea for SIMs. Beats Dish Internet. $60 per month for 10 GB.

I breakeven after less than 5 months and then save $40/mo for three times the data.

Thinking about getting two more SIM cards and getting rid of Dish TV. That would save another $30/mo.

 

[deserteagle71]

Best I can do is Verizon Jetpack and two SIM cards. Gives me 30 GB. Monthly cost is $20 with our plan. One time cost of $100 for Jetpack and $40 ea for SIMs. Beats Dish Internet. $60 per month for 10 GB.

I breakeven after less than 5 months and then save $40/mo for three times the data.

Thinking about getting two more SIM cards and getting rid of Dish TV. That would save another $30/mo.

Shooterdon, what kind of download/upload speeds are you actually seeing with Verizon? How dependable is the service? I need to do something...my internet for the most part doesn't work early morning or after 6 in the evening - and can go off line completely for hours at a time. Yet I still have to pay $60 a month for service that isn't there when I need it.

 

[poncho62]

Finally, 2 years ago got a fixed wireless connection. Little dish on house connects to tower on hill. We get 10 mps down and 1.5 up...unlimited data....Works good

 

[shooterdon]

Shooterdon, what kind of download/upload speeds are you actually seeing with Verizon? How dependable is the service? I need to do something...my internet for the most part doesn't work early morning or after 6 in the evening - and can go off line completely for hours at a time. Yet I still have to pay $60 a month for service that isn't there when I need it.

I just checked it...
14.3 down and 3.6 up

I try to conserve GB usage by playing video at 240-360. For a lot of the stuff I want to see on YouTube or manufacturers web videos, 240 is fine as I am trying to learn something.

Would I love to watch everything in HD???? Heck yes, but I am too cheap to do that.

Like you, I live in an area that will never get unlimited HS Internet...at least in my lifetime. But good enough is good enough. I am hoping 5G might help but I do not know enough about it. What I have works a lot better than satellite internet at a lower cost.

BTW, service is very good. It was down this morning but I found the problem was with my cell booster....not the Jetpack. I think I have had to restart the Jetpack twice in the last 3 months. Changing out SIM cards is a bit of a pain but done in 5 minutes or so.

 

[TnAndy]

Finally, 2 years ago got a fixed wireless connection. Little dish on house connects to tower on hill. We get 10 mps down and 1.5 up...unlimited data....Works good

That is what we use too. 40MB up/down. I built the tower, and rent it to the ISP. Our service is free + they pay me enough to cover the property taxes on the entire farm.

 

[nybirdman]

Not cost effective for the fiber-optics companies unless the are subsidized by the Federal and State governments.We maybe have 10 homes on our 2 mile road and maybe half will sign up for service.

 

[k0ua]

I just upped the service here from 50 meg down to 200 meg down. So 200 down and 50 up now. It wasn't the speed I was needing, but the monthly usage. I was running over my 250 Gig monthly limit. It is now 350 Gig monthly. It was $10 per month extra, but that isn't too bad. Once one gets addicted to streaming things one after another one tends to use some serious bandwidth. It is an addiction, like crack.

 

[deserteagle71]

Finally, 2 years ago got a fixed wireless connection. Little dish on house connects to tower on hill. We get 10 mps down and 1.5 up...unlimited data....Works good

This is what I have now. Small dish on the house pointing at a mountain across the valley and that tower points to another tower on another mountain...Only the best it has ever done is 5 mpbs down. Ran a speed test a couple days ago and my down speed at that time was .68 mpbs. For this I pay $60 a month! I could almost live with that if it weren't for all the time it isn't available at all.

 

[deserteagle71]

I just upped the service here from 50 meg down to 200 meg down. So 200 down and 50 up now.

I can't even imagine speeds like that!

 

[oosik]

My speed check yesterday - - 18.5 mbps down, 2.6 mbps up.

 

[deserteagle71]

My speed check yesterday - - 18.5 mbps down, 2.6 mbps up.

Wow! With satellite? Which provider and how much a month?

 

[oosik]

My internet provider is Hughes Net. $60/month.

 

[snymat68]

I can't even imagine speeds like that!

I have 100↓/100↑ through FIOS. Plenty for what I need. Only paying for 50↓/25↑ though. That's what I signed up for 6yrs ago. A few years back they matched the speeds for free, so it was 50↓/50↑. Then last year they doubled that for free with some kind of promotion or something. Other than normal inflation increases, the price hasn't gone up. Can't complain. Just counting my blessings that I have it available. Internet isn't everything though. I would gladly trade a good amount of that speed for more acreage. Maybe some day.

 

[oosik]

Yesterday's speed test was an "average" rating. It can get up to 20 down, 5 up. Then there will be those times when it's a big, fat ZERO. And it's not when you would think either. I usually have great connection - even in the worst snow or rain. It seems to be those times when there is high, semi-translucent clouds.
Whatever - it's a seldom occurrance and like most everything else out here. You learn to live with it.

 

[kcflhrc]

Speed is one thing but ping times and latency are a killer with satellite.