Broadband Blues

[Kreij]

Here's the setting ...
Location : South-Central Wisonsin
Pros : Beautiful acreage, oak forests on long riverfront footage, ATV trails on property.
Decent beer selection in area, relatively low property taxes. Friendly neighbors.
Did I mention decent beer selection in area?
Cons : No broadband.

Our land line is Verizon. No DSL availalbe to home. I do not see Verizon supplying DSL to this area ever in my lifetime. The nearst town is two miles away, population about 200.

No cable access.

I am currently trying AllTel's wireless access. Unfortunately we only get a 1X connection at max transfer rate of 144Kbs (actually around 132Kbs with noticable latency in initiation of download). For $60/month this is sad, but there are no FAP's in either direction.

Options : Satellite

Anyone using Satellite internet for gaming? Anyone? If so, who are you using?
Current D/L speeds are decent 1Mb to 1.5Mb.
The current U/L speeds are around 200Kbs, but how bad is the latency. Most provides say to add about 1ms to normal net latencies.

Some of the providers are beginning to offer halfway decent FAP limits on D/L and U/L limits.

Any input appreciated. I am not willing to move to get better service options.
It's just too nice here.
But I am always looking.

If anyone has heard of anything new, let me know.
If it works to my satisfaction, I'll make if worth your time.

 

[erocker]

Ahhh Gods-country! Have you checked for AT&T U-Verse yet? I think sattellite may be your only real high-speed option..

 

[Kreij]

Ahhh Gods-country! Have you checked for AT&T U-Verse yet? I think sattellite may be your only real high-speed option..

AT&T & Cingular services are not available in this area.

I am starting to appreciate the fact that we have electricity and phone

I was sort of hoping against all odds that the wireless cellular serivice might be decent.
130kbs is better than dial-up but not for over 3x the price.

 

[erocker]

I think sattellite would be ideal for you, with the only interference being nature and all...

 

[Kreij]

I am not so worried about the interference. Our sat TV is good most of the time.
It's when I look at the download limitation that make me begin to form an cranial anurism.

I can see it already, my phone call in when they FAP my service ..

Me : Uh, hello satellite company? My speed went to worse than dial-up
Them : All your base are belong to us.
Me : I bought a Total Gym (tm) and Chuck Norris said he would chop-socky your ass if you did this to me,
Them : At the speed we have you at we will grow old before he gets here.
Me : May the fleas of a thousand camels infest...
Them : Back to smoke signals or semephore for you.
ME : ARRRGGGGG.

 

[Triprift]

I dont get much better on adsl2+ here in oz thats smoking speed for satellite . A mate had satellite for awhile i remember his dl were good but ul poor as. He also said if there were storms in the us it was dial up or 0 speed wich sucked.

 

[choppy]

damn you make me appereciate my shitty tiscali service now

 

[Triprift]

Whats speeds ya get choppy just out of interest?

 

[Darknova]

Another reason to never move to the US.

*hugs 20mb cable connection*

 

[Kreij]

Another reason to never move to the US.

*hugs 20mb cable connection*

It's not the US as a whole, it's many parts of the rural US. Remember, we have rural areas that are bigger than some European countries. Most people in urban areas (cities and suburbs) can get decent broadband connections.

You have to put it in perspective and weight the pros and cons.
While I do tend to bemoan the fact that I cannot get decent internet service, there are upsides.

I can haul a pile of wood into my back yard, light it on fire and ride in a circle around it on my ATV holding a long stick to cook marshmallows over the fire and firing my rifle with the other hand, in my birthday suit if I choose, and I am not breaking any laws here.

 

[Darknova]

It's not the US as a whole, it's many parts of the rural US. Remember, we have rural areas that are bigger than some European countries. Most people in urban areas (cities and suburbs) can get decent broadband connections.

You have to put it in perspective and weight the pros and cons.
While I do tend to bemoan the fact that I cannot get decent internet service, there are upsides.

I can haul a pile of wood into my back yard, light it on fire and ride in a circle around it on my ATV holding a long stick to cook marshmallows over the fire and firing my rifle with the other hand, in my birthday suit if I choose, and I am not breaking any laws here.

Riding an ATV nude...or massive internet connection....hmm...

 

[Triprift]

Not much different to hear in oz with broadband ppl in the country generally miss out while us city dwellers generally get high speed broadband.

 

[MadCow]

Have you tried WiMax? My cottage can get it, it's 2 megabit download for like $45 CAD per month. It's essentially really long range WiFi. It's cheaper and faster than the satellite service we can also get.

I also have ATV trails on property, but they're too slow for me, I want to go fast enough on them so that hitting a tree would actually hurt.

 

[SK-1]

Riding an ATV nude...or massive internet connection....hmm...

Bumping into someone every time you turn around and being packed in a can like sardines or room to live,...hummm

 

[btarunr]

Doesn't Verizon offer cheap ADSL (2 Mbps dn / 512 kbps up, $50 pm, 2 GB limit) in several rural areas? My cousin lives in Michigan, some 40 miles south of Detroit, he gets an ADSL connection, uses Verizon land-line. But I'm not sure if the ADSL provider is Verizon or not.

 

[Kreij]

Nope hope for WiMax, we have wireless in the area, but you have to be line of sight to the tower and we are not (hills, trees, etc.)

I think I will have to break down and get a satellite connection, and just get used to being raped monthly.

 

[btarunr]

What are the tariffs for a sat connection? What is the tariff of the connection you're now using?

 

[Kreij]

Doesn't Verizon offer cheap ADSL (2 Mbps dn / 512 kbps up, $50 pm, 2 GB limit) in several rural areas? My cousin lives in Michigan, some 40 miles south of Detroit, he gets an ADSL connection, uses Verizon land-line. But I'm not sure if the ADSL provider is Verizon or not.

Yes. We are on Verizon's lines, but the nearest CO or switch is appoximately 7 miles away (too far for DSL).
The problem is that we switch through a little town called Harrisville. Harrisville has a population of under 200, and still has analog switches. I assume that it is not cost effective for Verizon to upgrade the equipment becuase of the low population density in our area. It would not really be worth it for them if a return on investment took 100 years or so.

Actually in the larger town that is 7 miles away our school has a 3.2MB connection for $39/month, no limits.

 

[Kreij]

What are the tariffs for a sat connection? What is the tariff of the connection you're now using?

There are gov taxes but they are only a couple dollars a month.

 

[choppy]

Bumping into someone every time you turn around and being packed in a can like sardines or room to live,...hummm

you should just watch where your going tbh...

 

[erocker]

I am not so worried about the interference. Our sat TV is good most of the time.
It's when I look at the download limitation that make me begin to form an cranial anurism.

I can see it already, my phone call in when they FAP my service ..

Me : Uh, hello satellite company? My speed went to worse than dial-up
Them : All your base are belong to us.
Me : I bought a Total Gym (tm) and Chuck Norris said he would chop-socky your ass if you did this to me,
Them : At the speed we have you at we will grow old before he gets here.
Me : May the fleas of a thousand camels infest...
Them : Back to smoke signals or semephore for you.
ME : ARRRGGGGG.

Another reason to never move to the US.

*hugs 20mb cable connection*

I live in the US, my fiber optic connection is 28mbs. $40 a month.

 

[choppy]

Whats speeds ya get choppy just out of interest?

2-3mb but since tiscali bought pipex i get really slow connection throughout the day, if i want a good speed i have to surf between 2 and 7am!