Internet Help

[jd0716]

Hoping to get some help or ideas on here. I may have posted this question a year or so ago, but can't find it. We live in the country and are looking for a cost effective internet option that is faster than the dial up we are currently using. We can't get DSL, cable or broad band. I have not heard good things about internet through satellite and the last time we checked, it was approximately $70 per month. Our son likes to get on youtube and watch videos, which is the primary reason we want the high speed.

Does anyone have any experience with Verizon Wireless plans with the device that plugs into the USB port of our computer? We are in a 3G area. Also, the desk top computer my son uses does not have wireless networking capabilities, to the best of my knowledge.

Thanks for any help or ideas.

 

[grsthegreat]

Hoping to get some help or ideas on here. I may have posted this question a year or so ago, but can't find it. We live in the country and are looking for a cost effective internet option that is faster than the dial up we are currently using. We can't get DSL, cable or broad band. I have not heard good things about internet through satellite and the last time we checked, it was approximately $70 per month. Our son likes to get on youtube and watch videos, which is the primary reason we want the high speed.

Does anyone have any experience with Verizon Wireless plans with the device that plugs into the USB port of our computer? We are in a 3G area. Also, the desk top computer my son uses does not have wireless networking capabilities, to the best of my knowledge.

Thanks for any help or ideas.

I looked into that 3g gizmo here in N. Idaho, but the rates were pretty high and theres a limit on monthly bandwidth. I'm not sure if all the video your planning on would go over the top.

Satellite internet SUCKS.,.. Ive tried 3 different providers and all 3 sucked...not much faster than dialup.

I currently have a microwave internet setup. Its a 18" dish that points to the top of the local mountaintop. There it goes into a T1 server and i get 3 meg download speed for $69.00/month, and 750 upload speed. NO bandwidth limits at all.

not cheap, but real fast. Ultra fast ping speeds also. The signal only goes about 20 miles to the antenna instead of 5000 miles or whatever the sats are located.

Frontier communications keeps promising us DSL......ya right. Someday.

Those microwave internet providers are all over the place though...you can check out your area for them.

 

[Gary51]

I have the Verizon wireless on my computer. Its the only option for me other than dial-up. I've had it for over two years now and it does OK. Since Verizon has released their smart phones, it has definitely had an effect on tower overloading at times. Fairly good speeds off-peak times, but dramatic slowdowns in the evening. Forget about about you-tube and videos. They will play OK most of the time, but you will shoot thru the absurd 5gig cap in no time. I use mine to surf blogs and forums like this with a short video of about 5 minutes per day and can stay under the cap. Anymore and your over!
If you have Verizon service available, check into going with Millenicom. They are a reseller of Verizon and Sprint. You can get 20gig per month with them for the exact same service. You also don't have a 2 year contract with them like Verizon requires.
Verizon wireless is definitely better than dial-up, but with the caps they put on it makes it useless for downloading large files and watching videos like the rest of the world does. I consider it high speed internet LIGHT!

 

[TripleR]

We live in an area without DSL or line of sight access to towers and cell phones are hit or miss depending on where you stand, so our only choice was satellite. I figured it was worth a shot in spite of all I had heard. We went with Hughes and get about 1.3 download. It is expensive though and while we have had no problems in over four years a lot of people do. I do have three friends with it who like it.

 

[peterc38]

To the OP, I was in the same boat as you, no broadband available except satellite.

I had the Hughesnet satellite for about 1 1/2 years and I won't go into detail, but I despised it.

About 4 years ago, they put a cell phone tower closer to my house and then we were able to get the verizon wireless USB modem. IMO, this was much better than satellite. They are both pricey but out of the two, I would take the wireless anyday. It is faster and more reliable, and if you ever have an issue, you can discuss it with spmeone that speaks english.

They have a few plans, I think you can get 10 gigs for about $70 a month.

We finally got DSL this year, so I no longer have the verizon.

 

[creekbend]

We have Hughes. Conventional service was not available due to our rural location. At various times, when the weather is severe, we lose our connection.

 

[wcampbell47]

Internet in rural areas can be tough at times. A short list of my experiences as the local IT pro where cable or DSL are not available.

Dial Up - too slow
Hughes - a little more money wise, you have to deal with tech support in India, there are download caps and speed caps.
USB - Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, T Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Millenicom

The USB devices work well if you have a good signal. The only service that will not cap large downloads is Millenicom. Virgin Mobile offers an inexpensive connection without signing you up for 2 years. Millenicom does not sign you up for 2 years.

In my area where we are 11 to 18 miles from towers I sell a cell phone signal booster. Wilson Electronics. The booster amplifies the signal both ways. It is a one time buy and works with all cell providers. The booster improves the quality of phone calls and normally doubles the download rate at a minimum.

Add a cradle point router to the mix and you can have WiFi in your house. The USB wireless device plugs into the cradle point router to establish an internet connection. You can then connect your laptops, desktops and printers to the cradle point for an integrated solution.

If you have one of the smart phones like HTC EVO you can add the hot spot function to it through your provider and connect your pc to the internet through the phone.

Wilson has an easy to install desktop unit that is designed for a small home office. The next step up is a unit designed for whole house coverage. If you have lots of blue sky in the direction of your cell tower these units can make a profound difference.

Don't expect to watch movies on USB devices. The capacity is just not there.

More than one of my customers have dropped their dial up once they became comfortable with the reliability of cell calls through the booster.

 

[Depmandog]

A friend of mine was in a similar situation. I noticed AT&T had a wireless hot spot device. I believe the device was $50, monthly service was $50 but is limited to 5 GB download per month. Additional GB are $10 ea. I gave him the info, and he signed up. So far, he is vary happy.

The device has a usage meter in the front so you always know how much you used. He has AT&T cell service, so I think that made it even more attractive to his situation.

Good luck.

Dean.

 

[g0rd0]

I live outside of dsl and cable also. Untill just a little over 2 years ago the only options were dialup, dialup with a booster (aprx $5.00 a month more and as far as I am concerned a waste of money) or sat., too expensive for me.
We now have a wireless broadband here. The antena and modem are attched to the outside of the house, the erthnet cable comes inside to a router and we get aprx 2 to 3 mbps down and 400 to 500 kbps up. Average ping 122 ms.
Cost $46.00 a month no restrictions or time limits. More than fast enough for me, we watch netflix on it, have 2 computers connected to the router and I have left the phone company and have majicjack plugged into it. It works great!
Contact your area providers and ask if they have anything like this, it is not connected to any cell phone service and is independant by itsself. Although the anntenas that it uses for transmitting and recieveing are attched to cell towers they are strickly internet only.

 

[twinjayhawks]

I live out where there is no DSL options... We have a family of 8 and we all likes our internet very much.

I have tried everything. Hughes is way way way too slow. They also cap your usage per month. Very bad customer service and... just bad.

We had a AT&T laptop connect card for a couple of years. We hooked it into a Cradle Point router to broadcast wirelessly though the house. That worked great and the speeds were about 1.5... but then they capped us at 5GB/mo which would not work. I got 2 cards and switched them every 2 weeks but still suffered from running out of capacity in the month.

Finally we are now with the Radio Wireless Internet Provider. They need direct line of site to their tower which was a problem we solved with a 50' tower... see picture(it is foggy this morning so the picture is not the best). The speed is around 1.5-2 so it is usable. They have no limits on usage per month which makes it grand.

Rural living has it's advantages but internet connections is not one of them.