Rural area internet options?

MattN03

Besides dial-up, what are my options in a rural area? I was hoping that wireless DSL (based off direct line of sight of cell towers) would work, but there isn't a direct line of sight at our house to a tower. Satellite and a Sprint/Verizion card are the only other options I know of. Is there anything else? What is better-satellite or Sprint/Verizion card? We only want internet for surfing, paying bills, watching an occasional TV show we missed, & online shopping. We don't do any gaming at all.

skipf

Satellite is better than dial-up for downloads, but uploads are about as slow as dial-up. The equipment costs around $800 too. Haven't tried the cell cards, but I've heard they are pretty good. getting a good ISP is one of the main drawbacks of country living, but the benefits make it well worthwhile to me. At least I have DSL at work.

bruss

whats your zip code?

bruss

you may be in luck

http://www.cblcon.com/wirelessisp/harrodsburg.htm
http://www.wimaxexpress.com/

MattN03

bruss wrote: »

you may be in luck

http://www.cblcon.com/wirelessisp/harrodsburg.htm
http://www.wimaxexpress.com/

I haven't seen the first one, but I've been trying to get WiMax out for the last 2.5 weeks to see if we have signal at the house or not. Zip is 40330.

mrbigbluelight

2 cans and a string.

A real long string.

Systems

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

dylan

I live in a very rural area, and just started receiving Verizon Rev A EVDO. I then pipe that in to a EVDO/ wireless router to spread around the house. Works pretty well, but bandwidth is dictated by your cell reception. Even at 1-2 bars, I still get around 600K down. You might check if you or a friend has a newer phone capable of EVDO, and see how your reception is before trying.

Serendipity

Direcway/HughesNET works well for satellite broadband.

Phasearray

isn't there a new internet service that goes through the power lines?

I-SIG

The electric cooperative I work for is partnering with Wi-Power for rural broadband solutions. Might check and see if they have something too.

Wes

SKsolutions

Smoke signals?

disneyjoe7

mrbigbluelight wrote: »

2 cans and a string.

A real long string.

Funny I been telling people that 2 cans and a string may sound better then the too compressed cell phone call.

disneyjoe7

MattN03 wrote: »

Besides dial-up, what are my options in a rural area? I was hoping that wireless DSL (based off direct line of sight of cell towers) would work, but there isn't a direct line of sight at our house to a tower. Satellite and a Sprint/Verizion card are the only other options I know of. Is there anything else? What is better-satellite or Sprint/Verizion card? We only want internet for surfing, paying bills, watching an occasional TV show we missed, & online shopping. We don't do any gaming at all.

I would go with the cell based internet any day over satellite if you can get it.

ben62670

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

I would go with the cell based internet any day over satellite if you can get it.

I had a Verizon wireless card for my laptop that worked well in most areas that had good cell service. You can get a pcmcia to pci slot adapter for about $35 for a regular pc.

dkg999

I have the DirectTV/Wildblue satellite internet service at my farm in IA. It's slower than my cable internet at my place in IL, but it's way better than any dial-up I was able to get. There is a little bit of a lag time, but I can be on my company email via a VPN connection with no problems at all. I did have a little issue the other weekend when the dish had a 1/2" of ice covering it

ben62670

I have a friend with WildBlue, and she is satisfied with it.

skipf

Datastorm wrote: »

Thats not true, I had Wildblue for about a year and had a 1.5mb download and 256 kbps upload on it. The equipment was $300. I had it through my local telephone coop so you might see if they are offering it, otherwise you just go through Wildblue direct.

Theres just one thing you have to get use to, though, when you click on a link theres a couple second delay before the page starts loading. Once it starts loading its very fast. My downloads were blazing on it. Secure sights are a little on the slow side also.

Never heard of Wildblue, the cost I was quoting was for Hughes/Directway. A friend had the service and downloads were comparable to DSL, but uploads were IDSL speed at best.

Systems

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

shadowofnight

appadv wrote: »

Direcway/HughesNET works well for satellite broadband.

I would agree...I dont use the service myself...but have set it up for friends and clients out in the boonies

wodom1

I've got an AT&T aircard through work that I use when a wi-fi network isn't available. It's fairly quick and uses USB.

MattN03

Just an update for everyone. My Sprint wireless broadband card arrived today. It has worked quite well tonight and I think is comparable to my old cable connection speed. I was able to get 894k down & 179k up at this site using the Chicago server. In general, websites seem to load about the same, and I can stream YouTube with no problems. The card I have is a Novatel Ovation U727 and plugs into any USB port and has built in GPS capabilities which could be nice if we get a laptop sometime. This seems to be a nice option when cable or DSL isn't available-at least if you have decent cellular service!

disneyjoe7

Sounds way cool, and just think you can now surf anywhere.