Unreliable internet

[1stDeuce]

This is a quest for us too now, since we're moving to a property ~10 miles from the nearest town... I am just now switching my office from Comcast cable internet ($54/mo for "starter" internet at 11 up/3 dn) to Centurylink DSL (~$35/mo for 7 up/1 dn, which should be sufficient) Centurylink told me they can move my service to the new property as soon as we're there, no problem. Then I talked to one of the ladies in the sub the next day and she said she highly doubts it... Everyone in the sub would LOVE to have DSL, but there's not fiber out that way, so no DSL. She has Frontier internet "with a little dish thingy" and said it's "better than Hughes". I think it's radio based... And she's on top of the ridge, while we're on the back side, so even that won't work for us...

If you're not streaming a lot of video, or using it constantly for work (my situation) then you could also check into using your cell phone as a hot spot... Of course, that means a "smart" phone is necessary, but it might still be cheaper/more reliable than some sort of dedicated but sketchy internet. But that only works if you have 3g, or preferably 4g cell reception at your house... The plus side is that it also works wherever you have 3 or 4g cell signal...

I'm not sure what we'll do when we move to CO... I may have to rent an office space in town so I can have good internet, or find a new form of employment that doesn't involve a vpn connection and continuous file transfers...

 

[TnAndy]

How much rent do they pay? Did you have to pay for the tower or did the previous company that used it put it up?

This year, $100/mo + my internet service. (which was costing me 60/mo) I furnish the power, which so far, is running about 2KwHr/day....about 18 cents. The rate will go up yearly to $200/mo in a couple years as they add customers. The also paid for about 10k in improvements (their cost to have a contractor do, I could have done it for a lot less). Those improvements (height extension, some new guys, etc) are now mine by contract. They retain ownership of the radio/antenna stuff.

I worked with the previous company to put up the tower, did a lot of the labor/etc, they furnished the materials....again, it became mine when they abandoned it. The lower part of the tower is a heavy one....way more than needed....a surplus aviation tower from an airport. The upper part is a Rohn 25....you can get 50-75' of that for under 1k (Ebay)...couple yards of concrete and some guy wire and you've got a tower.

 

[Mendonsy]

Frontier here also. I have had their DSL for about 10 years. The price keeps going up and the service keeps getting worse. The state PSC has started an investigation because of the lousy service. The only alternative here is Time Warner which is even worse!!

 

[hghvolt]

I am on Dish network satellite internet and hate it. Latency kills most games and video conference activities. Caps prevent video usage. Currently it's the only option for me even though I'm less than 6 miles from 3 different towns that have DSL and cable internet.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

We finally got a new wireless company to connect to our tower that I built years ago for a previous wireless company that died out. Now we have a 40mb up/down connection + they pay me rent on the use of my tower.

Check your area for wireless companies, consider putting up a tower and do the same.

How much rent do they pay? Did you have to pay for the tower or did the previous company that used it put it up?

I'm in the cellular phone business, working for a name you would all know. Been doing this since cellular began, and I can't tell you how many people have called and tried to convince us that we need a tower on their property. It rarely works. A lot more people have put up towers than have gotten tenants to pay for them.

I strongly recommend against putting up a tower in hopes of attracting a wireless carrier. Don't spend a dime until you have a signed contract.

Here is some great advice on the matter, put together by a fellow I know. I do consulting work for him from time to time, and I know him to be honest. If you are going to have any dealings in this area, you need him on your side and he's worth every penny of his exorbitant fees.

 

[RNeumann]

We had microwave based (5.7GHz) internet (11.3 miles line of site) to top of local mountain. It was slow and unreliable (past the distance spec and the AP on the mountain would get icing when conditions were just right)... We had it for 10 years (nothing else available other than expensive cell or satellite), until about 2 years ago. Wifi (I think they call it WISP) several miles to relay, relay ~5 miles to AP. We get 10Mb down and 4Mb up. I also have cell internet AP for ATT that shares my data that I use for backup. I have only used in a couple of times in the 13 months we have been on the new service.

Keep searching, know that technology keeps changing. You might get something that is less than what you want today, but 6 months from now, something else comes along.

Yep this is my thought as well. WISP= Wireless Internet Service Provider.
Because of wife's business and my personal use we verified a good line of site signal with one of the local WISPs as a condition of purchase.

 

[hawkeye08]

Been a long year, but finally got moved. Unfortunately the place we moved to have very poor internet. We only have Frontier available for a land based internet. I was excited when they said I would have connections of up to 40 mbs. The problem is the connection is very poor and we get kicked off several times a day. We have had the tech guy up three times and have been on hold to tech support more times than I would like to count. I tried posting this earlier and got kicked off when I hit submit new thread.

Has anyone had a similar experience and was the company able to resolve the issue?

It is getting to the point I am considering a satellite internet provider such as excide or hughs net. I have not heard much positive about satellite providers but have heard they are getting better.

Comments, thoughts, suggestions?

What about WISP as mentioned?

Minnesota Broadband Wireless ISPs : MAP of wireless Internet high speed in MN Minnesota ISP service coverage

 

[brokenknee]

this is really getting frustrating. Wife called the tech guy again today, he said he did "something" at the office and let him know if it helped. Well it did not. Hard to respond to my own thread as the connection is so bad I usually get kicked off before I can reply.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

How smooth and reliable is the electric power to your router/access point ? I have U-verse and it was dumping a lot until I started powering the AP from a car battery with a 12v battery maintainer. Now the hour counter is almost out of digit spaces. It was the occasional hiccups or blips that trashed it, not 1 or 2 minute disconnects. Not the same as a surge protector, just a giant smoothing filter.

Can you tell us more about your home brew UPS with the auto battery? Do you use the 12VDC directly or do you have an inverter to get AC? Brands and model numbers would save us all a lot of experimentation.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I live in a rural area as well and we use Exede Satellite internet. I have my contract direct with them, but both DirecTV, Dish Network, and my local electric power co-op are resellers for Exede. Have you heard of them? Can you look into them and see if they service your area.

Satellite internet (although capped) is fast enough to stream video, so assuming you only want it for emails, bill paying and TBN (obviously) then it should suffice.

As I write this I'm waiting on a HughesNet satellite install. The wind loosened the adjustments on my Exede satellite dish two days ago and Exede wanted a hundred bux to come out and fix a problem that the installer created by not tightening them down properly:2cents:. I ended up with a HughesNet plan that gives me 10x the data per month (100Gb vs 10 Gb), 3x the speed, all new equipment with free installation, all for 1.2 times what I was paying Exede ($80/mo new rate). Yes, there will still be latency issues, but the tech support can't be any worse than it was with Exede (strictly script readers that had trouble with the English language). This new dealer says I'm supposed to call him instead of HughesNet if there are any problems, and so far he's been pretty responsive. Fingers crossed...