Rural areas internet options?

[mabr]

Ok everyone, I have questions concerning wireless internet in a rural area. We’re getting real close to moving to our semi-retirement home. It’s in the boonies in the Alexandria area, we currently have no phone line to the house and really don’t want to add one. With cell phone technologies the way it is now why even bother with it is the way I look at it.

As Ive said before on here I’m with Verizon for my cell phone so I could go with an air card I suppose but based on past experience (about 2 years ago) it’s pretty darn slow compared to DSL which we have currently.

What are my options? We were at the Douglas county fair this past weekend and seen a company in the area who has what they call Wisper High speed internet that might be an option, is anyone familiar with this? It has a subscriber Module (SM) radio antenna mounted to the house I’m guessing that where we would get our reception from like a tv antenna but again I’m no techy so I’m guessing. Are there any issues I should be worried about, security for instance? They list speeds anywhere from 256K – 1.5 M pricing goes up with the faster speeds of course. What speed would be the best for say watching videos on U-tube or general web surfing?

Please help this UN techy guy figure out what I need to keep up with HSO!

[Lowblazah]

What speed would be the best for say watching videos on U-tube or general web surfing?

I wouldnt go with anything smaller than 1.5mb for u-tubin.

[upnorth]

With the way things are going now days, I would say 1.5 would be the lower limit.

You could also check with your local Verizen/AT&T people and see what kind of data plans they have in the area. Most have a little device you bring into the house and connects and you can get broadband that way.

[LMITOUT]

Check to see if Verizon has their 4G LTE service fired up yet. The coverage map shows LTE up the I-94 corridor to the Alexandria area so maybe that would be an option.

VZ lit up parts of ND last week with LTE and my dad is getting speeds >10Mbps with his RAZR.

[mabr]

Upnorth, yeh that was what I was thinking. I checked my DSL today to see what speed we have here and it was SLOW which i understand is my provider Century Link/Quest. I was right at 1.2-1.3 with me and one other user on at the same time.

Lmitout, Thanks for that tip. I just checked and this is what it shows for my area were under the ** and ***

{** Access the 4G LTE network within the Verizon Extended Coverage Area; certain conditions may cause your service to connect to 3G in this Area.

*** Access the 4G LTE network within the Extended Coverage Area; Some of the Coverage Areas include networks run by other carriers, the coverage depicted is based on their information and public sources, and we cannot ensure its accuracy}

Anyone ever tried any dish internet? seams I remember reading a little on it a few years ago.

[LMITOUT]

I use Hughesnet for some installations at work but it's slow. Fast enough for it's intended purpose but not for everyday internet usage, IMO. Plus it's over $100/mo but maybe they have other options/packages for residential usage.

I thought I saw the other day that Dish Network is rolling out their internet service soon?

[Skeeter21i]

I live in an area with no DSL. I had Hughesnet for many years and finally got rid of it when Verizon 4G reached us this past winter and went with a Mi-Fi. I connect at an average of 5mb so not too bad, especially compared to the lag time and slow speeds of satellite. Verizons Homefusion has come out since and doesn't look too bad. The satellite companies limit your usage. Wildblue does on a monthly allowance and Hughesnet on a daily allowance. If you go over they'll throttle you back to less than dial up speeds. Satellite should only be a last resort. Verizon will just charge accordingly when you go over your plan usage but at least they don't shut you down. Streaming videos, music, etc.. can get expensive pretty quick.

[Whoaru99]

If you're going to be watching/streaming video on your Internet connection you have to be not only concerned with speed, but also wary of data caps. Something like 5GB/month which, afaik, is/was pretty common on cellular data plan won't go very far once you start streaming video. Overage charges are $$$$.

[mabr]

Thanks for the input guys, Im going to look into the Home fusion.

Hey like i said im not techy guru at all so i have a wuestion. Is there any way to see what GB I use on my laptop so I can see what my average surfing usage is. I know verizon can tell me on my phone but id like to see if my standard surfing is under 5G a month.

[Whoaru99]

Unless you spend all day and all night on the Internet, standard surfing almost certainly will be <5GB/mo. It's only when you start downloading/uploading a bunch of stuff or streaming video that the bytes really add up fast.

Some routers keep track of your upload/download if you have one of those but if not probably the best would be to contact your current provider. They should be able to tell you how much you've used for the last month or two.

[upnorth]

General web use---email, forums, reading the news won't burn up that much bandwidth, download/streaming audio/video will burn it up much quicker. Probably 4 MB per song and a full 2 hour video could burn up 3 or 4 GB.

[Skeeter21i]

I agree that normal usage is around 5GB/month. I work from home so am connected all day everyday and we use 10 to 12GB/month. No streaming of videos or music. I'm happy with the 4G speeds and it is a lot better than satellite even though it is a bit more money each month. But, it'd be nice to have non-metered access some day. DSL out here ends less than a mile away and Qwest/Centurylink for five years has said there aren't enough houses on our road to extend the run.

[Whoaru99]

Here's Netflix officially stated streaming data rate:

Good quality (uses up to 0.3 GB per hour)

Better quality (uses up to 0.7 GB per hour)

Best quality (uses up to 1 GB per hour, or up to 2.3 GB per hour if watching HD)

[LMITOUT]

I read today that next week more LTE areas are going live on Verizon and there is supposed to be LTE coverage from Fargo to WI along I-94. I'm not sure if you've made a decision yet on your wireless internet but it may be worth looking into again after they update their coverage map/LTE territory.

[mabr]

Well we went with Verizon wireless. Trying the Jet pack for now. I checked speedtest.--- and I had faster up and down than I had with Century Link DSL. Go figure, Were starting at 10G per month but we can go down if we want at anytime. If were not satisfied we will look at the other system they have with the external antenna.

[Skeeter21i]

A couple of weeks ago I got frustrated with the expense of my Verizon Jetpack and started researching. It has great speeds but having it as my primary access was getting expensive. No other option out here other than satellite and I've been down that road and not going back. I came across a re-seller of mobile broadband packages called Millenicom. They offer packages through T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon. Their Verizon Jetpack package is 20gb/month for $69.99 compared to $50 for 5gb/month through Verizon. You buy the device and no contract. I found someone to take over my previous account and went this route with no problems so far. It is nice having the extra usage. Speeds and everything else are the same as the one I had.

[aanderud]

That millenicom deal sounds awesome. With the LTE service, 20 gigs at 70 bucks is a steal. The same would cost you 100 or better if you added a jetpack to a share-everything plan on verizon.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Good for you! Not easy to beat the system on high speed access.

[mainbutter]

The place where we hunt/garden switched from satellite to Verizon 4G LTE service. I was told it's cheaper than the satellite service they had.

The sat. service was slow but functional on the best days, and downright unusable on the worst days.

Now I can watch netflix. It streams the lower quality option, but hey I still get to watch my shows before shutting my eyes for the night.

If you can get verizon 4G LTE at your location, I haven't had any problems with it.