Rural Internet & Cell Phones

[rScotty]

I'm sure there are places so thinly populated that there will never be enough ROI to make it worthwhile.

It was about a year ago that I saw an article saying that cell phone coverage was now 100% in Lapland. So apparently ROI isn't a universal criteria....although that's a whole other subject.
rScotty

 

[ratpie]

i've been beta testing T-mobile internet broadband since july 2018. it's provided us with a semi-reliable interwebs inside the house for a few years now. the 4g coverage was always between 1 and 2 bars and works most days. we even streamed netflix and hulu from a roku, off of it. we were getting phone download speeds. nothing even close to broadband, UNTIL...

got a new 5G gateway form them. it's friggin fast. i'm doing whatever i want, when i want. no waiting. i can even stream live tv from fubo, pluto, and hulu. my service was locked in at 50 a month way back when i was testing for them. i don't know what it is now, but it's cheaper than sat or tethering.

true unlimited data. i am using between 250 to 400 GB (that's a big B) of data each month. and they don't bat an eye. it beats the crap out of the satellite, and having to wait to grab stuff while i was sleeping.

now remember i said T-mobile. ATT and verison say they have 5G, but it's not. TMobile bought all the UHF broadband towers from fox so they could have a clear frequency base, on 600mhz, to work with. att and verizon are not. the FCC put out a ban against both att and verizon to halt all 5G communications. their signal interferes with airport communications to the tower.

also, pics or it didn't happen.

 

[kcflhrc]

I'm pretty sure Verizon and AT&T have 5G

 

[DKCDKC]

Struggled with weak cell coverage for years, and had to use DSL at speeds of under 5 mbps. Email was about it. When Verizon three up some new towers 5 miles away - but over a big hill - upgraded to good cell and put in a Mofi to pull down the Internet - the speed jumped to 10 mbps but the cost was high. Stumbled into a cheaper Verizon plan for a few years then tapped the various rural Internet cell bundlers to get Internet for a few more years. Finally came across fixed wireless Internet service being set up here and signed on immediately. Relatively inexpensive and 25 to 100 mbps speeds, more than enough for streaming and other stuff when the kids come to visit. Fixed wireless is rapidly expanding and - for a lot of rural folk - should be a great alternative. Got some friends out west trying the new satellite services and not impressed yet. Maybe someday.

 

[rScotty]

There is so much of this is advertising hype. Is there anywhere I can get a good basic explanation of the difference in systems available? For my own understanding I need some basic information. I'm from an older generation. My mind works best with explanations that are grounded in science rather than populr advertising .

For example, what is a Big B?? as in, " 250 to 400 GB (that's a big B) of data each month."
I think of B as being a symbol for byte, which in turn is a n string of 8 bits of information.

If TMobile has a clear frequency "base" in the 600 mHz band, that makes sense to me. Higher frequency obviously means faster data. What is the span of their base? And what do ATT and Verison do that is different? And why does only TMobile have such a base?

And how does any of this help us rural people? Our internet comes in on the telephone line and we convert it to an in-house network. Everyone I know does the same. Most have satellite for TV, but not for internet.
I have no idea what our speed is, but that is something I am curious about. How to easily check it?

rScotty

 

[lman]

There is so much of this is advertising hype. Is there anywhere I can get a good basic explanation of the difference in systems available? For my own understanding I need some basic information. I'm from an older generation. My mind works best with explanations that are grounded in science rather than populr advertising .

For example, what is a Big B?? as in, " 250 to 400 GB (that's a big B) of data each month."
I think of B as being a symbol for byte, which in turn is a n string of 8 bits of information.

If TMobile has a clear frequency "base" in the 600 mHz band, that makes sense to me. Higher frequency obviously means faster data. What is the span of their base? And what do ATT and Verison do that is different? And why does only TMobile have such a base?

And how does any of this help us rural people? Our internet comes in on the telephone line and we convert it to an in-house network. Everyone I know does the same. Most have satellite for TV, but not for internet.
I have no idea what our speed is, but that is something I am curious about. How to easily check it?

rScotty

Speedtest by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test

Use Speedtest on all your devices with our free desktop and mobile apps.

www.speedtest.net

 

[ericm979]

For example, what is a Big B?? as in, " 250 to 400 GB (that's a big B) of data each month."

It's marketing fluff. Probably it's technically inaccurate on purpose, as a way of getting attention.

And how does any of this help us rural people? Our internet comes in on the telephone line and we convert it to an in-house network. Everyone I know does the same. Most have satellite for TV, but not for internet.
I have no idea what our speed is, but that is something I am curious about. How to easily check it?

rScotty

Here's a review: T-Mobile’s 5G Home Internet: I tried it, and it tried me

5G will help some rural people get internet as there's a lot of cell towers and more all the time. T Mobile's 5G internet site has a form where you can find out if the service is available in your area. It's not in my area and we're close to Silicon Valley and have a lot of tech people who work from home and will pay for decent internet. So I kind of doubt that it's wide spread yet. But they don't publish a map so there's no way to know.

 

[kcflhrc]

Just keep in mind that the T-Mobile 5G Home Internet for us rural folks is not going to be 5G in the near future. It will connect to 4G LTE with the appropriate downgrade in speeds. You literally have to be within 1500 feet of a 5G Tower to connect to that band and that aint gonna happen anytime soon in the rural world. Can you imagine a tower every 1500' in the rural areas how many they would need? About as feasible as fiber to rural areas and about as cost effective. Just because T-Mobile's site says it's available you should read the fine print that says if 5G not available will connect at 4G.

 

[Oaktree]

It was about a year ago that I saw an article saying that cell phone coverage was now 100% in Lapland. So apparently ROI isn't a universal criteria....although that's a whole other subject.

I'm skeptical. Maybe they meant that all the major villages had a cell tower, I really doubt there's coverage 50 mi. (80.46 km) from nowhere anymore than there is here. Remember, "Lapland" isn't confined to one country.

Just keep in mind that the T-Mobile 5G Home Internet for us rural folks is not going to be 5G in the near future. It will connect to 4G LTE with the appropriate downgrade in speeds. You literally have to be within 1500 feet of a 5G Tower to connect to that band and that aint gonna happen anytime soon in the rural world. Can you imagine a tower every 1500' in the rural areas how many they would need? About as feasible as fiber to rural areas and about as cost effective. Just because T-Mobile's site says it's available you should read the fine print that says if 5G not available will connect at 4G.

Yeah, cell companies are great for bait & switch. Granted, 5G cell antennas are much smaller and can be mounted on phone poles, etc. but you're right, they're not gonna put them very far off the major highways or population centers.

 

[TheMan419]

We just signed up for a business plan with AT&T. It is $75/mo unlimited data. We will see how much they really care. We use about 200 Gig of data a month including streaming TV shows. So not a huge amount. i am likely going to invest $250 in a router that does something called carrier aggregation. That allows it to use multiple frequencies off the same tower to get better speeds. At my house it is still 4G/LTE. However with the router that does not do carrier aggregation we can get 15MB down fairly commonly. With carrier aggregation we should get 30ish or so I hope.

Of course all of us should be on the starlink wait list. I am but they say late 2022 as my delivery time frame.