broadband withdrawal
Now that we are out of the metropolitan area we can’t get DSL anymore. Also there is no cable. I am not sure we can handle reverting back to dial-up. We have been on DSL almost since it became available.
One possibility is satellite. Does anybody have any experience with Hughes (aka DirecWay) or Wild Blue? Several neighbors have Hughes dishes and a little web-searching turned up Wild Blue as a competitor. Both these systems now are two-way through the dish, so you don’t have to use a phone modem for upload like you used to do. One thing weird about them is they have something called a “fair use policy” that penalizes you for excessive bandwidth. I don’t know how much of an inconvenience this will be. Compared with DSL, satellite seems to be about half the value for twice the cost.
There is a wireless network northeast of us but the coverage map doesn’t quite include us. I haven’t been able to figure out cellular options yet, but it looks like they may be expensive if they exist at all.
Are there any other solutions that I don’t know about? Is there some way to bring a high-speed phone line out and share it with neighbors? If you have ideas let me know.
August 23rd, 2006 @ 6:20 am
You have my sympathy. Until they brought high speed to our rural neighborhood, we were in the same boat. And cable got here before DSL.
August 23rd, 2006 @ 11:18 am
One friend of mine uses Purely Online which is antenna-based broadband. Check to see it they’re in your part of the world.
August 23rd, 2006 @ 3:18 pm
PHHFFTT!! I am still on CRAP DIal-up! It SAYS it connects at 115, but I am lucky if I connect at 46! My neighbor has DIrectway, sattelite, and she says it is really expensive to get all the gear, then after a year, it is paid for and the price goes way down, BUT, she receives really fast, but sends REALLY REALLY SLOOOOWWWWW!! so it may not be worth it yet. I sooooo want DSL, but Verizon and COmcast and the other cable people are in red tape city on who owns the lines!! ARRRGH!!
August 23rd, 2006 @ 8:34 pm
Look for something called EVDO. This is broadband over cellular and you might be able to get it in your area. It is mainly meant for laptops, as it works even when you are cruising down the highway, but it might work for you.
I have heard people who use it regularly and really like it and you should be able to share the connection with all the computers in your house using the Internet Sharing software that comes with Windows and Mac.
August 24th, 2006 @ 6:18 am
Hal over at Ranch Ramblins had a post recently about his experiences with Wild Blue. Here’s the link:
http://www.mitzenmacher.net/blog/?p=463
Hope that works. Or you can go to him through my blogroll and scroll back to 8/7/06 post.
August 24th, 2006 @ 12:12 pm
You might look into Clearwire:
http://www.clearwire.com/store/service_areas.php
September 1st, 2006 @ 11:03 pm
Bill–I am a little late with this post, but I have Starband (DISH) satellite. It has served me very well as we live so far down the line that my phone connection was terrible. It is true that download is faster than upload but still not excessively slow. The equipment can run as high as $800. It is available on Ebay–I paid $350 for mine. You should make sure there is a dealer near you so you have someone handy for installation, etc. I have no broadband limitations. We even have ours networked here at home, but it can’t be wireless. If you have questions, email me off my site.