You don't have a high speed Internet connection??

[Ken]

None here. AT&T actually abandoned the land line coming to my area. Got tore up by the county road graders so much that the few people that live out here switched to cell only. Even when it worked, all that was available was dial-up. Nearest DSL was about 12 miles away.

Good Morning What part of the state do you live .
Here we have a private telephone co and lightening during a storm caused the phone service to be out.
had to go to top of hill to get 1 bar cell and called the service desk for repair. the repairman was here in 3 hours time explained there was several service calls before mine.
Still faster than the DSL line. which stops at our back fence.
To test line speed it times out first.
ken

 

[Rustyiron]

I'll trade bad internet for "next door neighbors" meaning a 5 minute drive anyday!

 

[teejk]

I've had one brand or other of satellite internet service since its been available out here. I've got HughesNet now and barring stormy wx its been OK for me. I've never come close to using the 10Gb monthly allowance. Land line phone service isn't available either. First it was the Motorola Bag phone now its the crappy cell phone. On a good day I'll get two bars on the cell phone.

You obviously don't use Win10! Last month we experienced a massive loss of about 4Gb in a short period of time (like a few hours) which we can only attribute to Microsoft pushing down an update (was nobody in the house at the time). Hughes was very good about it and gave us "token bytes". While Win10 does let the user dictate the time of install, that apparently doesn't control the download. Hughes is aware of the problem.

 

[oosik]

teejk, I'm running Mac with OS Mavericks 10.9.5. It allows me to auto or manual download ANY software updates and time of updates. Obviously, I only download/update during the "free" time when I have 15Gb of bandwidth. I think the fact that I seldom download anything other than the required software updates is why it works for me. I've never had to use any of my 12 accumulated "tokens".

I gave up using my computer that ran Windows OS several years ago. It got so bogged down with "anti software" of all types that it almost ceased to function.

 

[teejk]

teejk, I'm running Mac with OS Mavericks 10.9.5. It allows me to auto or manual download ANY software updates and time of updates. Obviously, I only download/update during the "free" time when I have 15Gb of bandwidth. I think the fact that I seldom download anything other than the required software updates is why it works for me. I've never had to use any of my 12 accumulated "tokens".

I gave up using my computer that ran Windows OS several years ago. It got so bogged down with "anti software" of all types that it almost ceased to function.

If you have "tokens" you must be on the old Hughes (not Gen4)? They used to give one every month but I think they all went "poof" when I switched to Gen4. The other change was a monthly allowance as opposed to the 2 day "rolling" allowance. In some respects I kind of preferred the old way. If somebody did something stupid (or a program update downloaded in the background) we merely waited for the next day. In that respect Adobe Acrobat was a big problem...no way to dictate time but my version is no longer supported so no longer an issue. Win8 did let the user dictate time of day but I think that went away in Win10 (or at least danged if I can find the buttons). So seems that at the end of every month get dangerously low on our "anytime" allowance (15gb) while the "bonus" allowance (50GB) goes pretty much untouched. The other problem we had was the kid's smartphones. Apparently they will search for any available network and try to use that bandwidth instead of the phone's (there is a way to prevent that) but just something to think about. As I said, Hughes knows there is a problem. I suspect that they'll simply increase the monthly allowance.

 

[Wakey]

We are going to look at a few rural properties today so my days of lightening fast cable modems might be over. The property we saw last week received an offer, likely while we were on site. We were pretty deflated when we found out Monday when we called to make our offer. One thing that was a shock is that I ran an app on my phone and the 4G was over 50 Meg down and about 5 up!.

Well guess what,their deal fell through and we are now contracted! So I guess we will have DSL unless I can get a 4G hotspot with generous data allowances. I've had unlimited 4G since it came out but Verizon closed the loopholes we used to keep that plan. We never really needed it since we have a robust cable modem and wifi all over the property. But I'm moving to a very rural area and luckily we have a tower nearby. The first pic shows the cable modem where we are currently. The 2nd. pic is 4G. The 3rd. is the 4G at the new property. Very impressive.

 

[TractorGuy]

I remember ISDN. It was basically two 56K modems tied together over two phone lines. I never had an official ISDN modem because it required two dedicated lines and I think you had to have a third for phone service.

I did have two phone lines so I had a dedicated internet connection while using the phone. I could use two 56K modems over those when everyone was asleep to get faster than 56k speeds.

We are fortunate enough to get 1.5 Mbps DSL through the phone company now and you can actually stream netflix over that pretty good. Best part is they have no data limit. We just use cell service for phones now since we can't live without them anyway. I have to wrangle with the phone company every year to keep my DSL bill below $40 a month. They could say no any year and I wouldn't have much choice but to pay the higher price unless something new comes along.

 

[Xfaxman]

If you have "tokens" you must be on the old Hughes (not Gen4)? They used to give one every month but I think they all went "poof" when I switched to Gen4.-------------------------------

We are on Gen4 and still have tokens: My Dashboard

If you don't want to add tokens online when you get low, you can call and they will add the free ones to your Download Allowance.

Snips from their Website:

Click "Token Management" to get to the free tokens.

 

[teejk]

We are on Gen4 and still have tokens: My Dashboard

If you don't want to add tokens online when you get low, you can call and they will add the free ones to your Download Allowance.

Snips from their Website:

Click "Token Management" to get to the free tokens.

After I posted earlier, I did happen upon that screen and see that there are now a few tokens available. That must be relatively new (I switched to Gen4 over a year ago and I only have a few available) and I wasn't aware of the change. Nor did they mention it last month when I inquired about that massive data loss. When I posted a graph of the very noticeable usage "spike" they did add 6gb of "token" data to the account but strictly as a favor to a long-time customer I think.

 

[STx]

Unlimited Internet was a requirement for us to actually be able to move. We could only find satellite or cell data until about 5 months ago when I finally find a WISP that services our property. I got it hooked up last month when we were there, setup the surveillance system with DVR (we have theft problems), the VPN and the VoIP connection and now we can fun our business completely from 300 miles away. $100/mo for 1M up x 4M down with a static IP sure beats the cost of a limited satellite connection. Just watching Netflix would've used up all the satellite data, we could blow through 15GB on the cell phones in 4 days when we were working down there.

We're moving down there Friday so it happened just in time. Actually, we wouldn't have been able to make the move without it.

 

[ultrarunner]

My Comcast Saga continues... Order placed before Thanksgiving... get weekly construction updates to run down my driveway...

At this rate it may go in before I sell.

 

[jymbee]

My wife runs an internet business out of our house and needs unlimited data. There is no DSL where we are and wireless is way too expensive so we had a T1 line installed. It is about as fast as DSL but a lot more expensive. It does have unlimited data and can at least handle one computer streaming Netflix.

Seems like just yesterday-- back in the day of 28 & 56k modems that a T1 was considered to be ultra-high-end and extremely expensive.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

My Comcast Saga continues... Order placed before Thanksgiving... get weekly construction updates to run down my driveway...

At this rate it may go in before I sell.

Be afraid. I waited and waited for my cable company to bring cable up a 900 ft driveway. The cable company charged me $1200 for the run. I expected the contractor to show up with a little Case or Ditch Witch vibratory plow since there is no reason to put the cable below the frost line. The contractor showed up with a Case 860, a 17,000 pound vibratory plow. Scared, I repeatedly warned the operator where my septic lift line was, and that lift line was only in 24" below the surface so that it can drain over ridge and that the path the contractor was going to put the cable in would pass over my lift line twice. After the operator nailed my lift line the first time I began videoing and recorded the contractor hitting my lift line a second time. His plow is in the ground a good three or four feet.

 

[California]

Be afraid. ... I repeatedly warned the operator where my septic lift line was ... After the operator nailed my lift line the first time I began videoing and recorded the contractor hitting my lift line a second time. His plow is in the ground a good three or four feet.

In the IT world they have a special technical term when the signal level suddenly drops to zero: Backhoe Fade.

 

[dickfoster]

I sure hope you made THEM pay for it, Eric.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I sure hope you made THEM pay for it, Eric.

I didn't charge them for regrading my driveway, but I did charge them for everything else. Here is the video I made spreading the new top soil after fixing the lift line (which I just discovered that the audio is now muted which had a Beatles song playing :roll eyes: )

 

[ultrarunner]

I am afraid as I'm 800 miles away and they will not commit to a on property date prior to the night before.

Have a great 'Virgin" path laid out...

Comcast said no... right down the middle of the driveway... power, gate intercom, lighting, and three very important clay lines to divert water are already in the driveway...

I have no desire to do business with them... the home is rented to a Doctor and he said no Comcast they are moving... so I committed to a multi year Business Line with web hosting at $280 per month...

Last week the Doc gave notice they can't wait any longer and will be out the end of April.

All the neighbors have Comcast and the former tenants set up a Skybridge which worked well 98% of the time... when it didn't they had to drive around to the neighbor to do a reset.

I'm 10 minutes from the steps of the State Capital and might as well be in the middle of nowhere.

 

[California]

former tenants set up a Skybridge which worked well 98% of the time... when it didn't they had to drive around to the neighbor to do a reset.

For a while I shared my DSL with the college student renting the granny cabin out back. I told her if the modem/router needs to be reset and I'm not around - toggle the whole house at the service entry breaker.

Only the clock on the microwave would be affected, no big deal.

 

[teejk]

Be afraid. I waited and waited for my cable company to bring cable up a 900 ft driveway. The cable company charged me $1200 for the run. I expected the contractor to show up with a little Case or Ditch Witch vibratory plow since there is no reason to put the cable below the frost line. The contractor showed up with a Case 860, a 17,000 pound vibratory plow. Scared, I repeatedly warned the operator where my septic lift line was, and that lift line was only in 24" below the surface so that it can drain over ridge and that the path the contractor was going to put the cable in would pass over my lift line twice. After the operator nailed my lift line the first time I began videoing and recorded the contractor hitting my lift line a second time. His plow is in the ground a good three or four feet.

Of course it always is a requirement to call Digger's hot-line in advance so you don't hit your power lines (usually plowed to a depth of 3' or more). Telephone/cable don't need to be trenched that deep (guessing 18" or so). Years ago I did accounting/tax work for a true entrepreneur that manufactured and sold those big satellite dishes and at the same time built home cable systems in the small towns using nothing more than a Honda 4 wheeler with some self-engineered knifing contraption (he ended up selling out to one of the majors for about $1,400 per subscriber). Just for fun I decided to post a pix that my wife found recently of the dish he set me up with (I installed it). At the time I thought he was taking advantage of them but that was back in the days when I paid about $100/year for a broad programming package. Now I guess $1,400 gets paid back in a year or two.

 

[aczlan]

All the neighbors have Comcast and the former tenants set up a Skybridge which worked well 98% of the time... when it didn't they had to drive around to the neighbor to do a reset.

Sounds like they need a pair of Ubituity Nanostation Loco M2s. They will allow a wireless internet link and can be setup to reboot if they cant reach the other one after x minutes (mine at home are set to check every 5 minutes and reboot after 3 failed checks).

Aaron Z