Hello All! I currently have access to the internet through Cox Cable, which is great. It is extremely fast and reliable. However, my wife and I will soon be moving to the county where we teach. It is much more rural than the county we're in now, and we have limited choices for internet. We will NOT have access to Cable or DSL. I would much rather have my body devoured by mutant pirhana than go with dial up. As a result, we're looking at satellite internet. Do either of you have experience with this? We'd probably go through Dish Network or DirecTV so we could bundle it. Is one better than the other? How is the quality of the service? If anyone could share, I'd appreciate it. This is a new realm for me. Thanks! -Matt
My folks had xplornet for about a year. The speed was...acceptable, at best. Expect to pay good money - just try it before you buy it - once you've signed on the dotted line, you're hooked in. Have you talked to the local ISP as to when they expect to provide high speed?
Look also into cellular... the 3G and EVDO networks are pretty fast...though look carefully because while they used to offer "unlimited" data, now they define "unlimited" as 5 gigs/month which is minuscule if you do any sort of rich media download/uploading. The other thing is, a lot of rural areas have PringleNet, which is basically a network of repeaters made from Pringle's cans (no joke) by a bunch of dedicated tech geek types.... they use it for line-of-site (which can be 10, 20 miles or more) connections to a physical Internet connection, which could be cable, T-1, DSL, or whatever. If there's even a handful of people in the area you're going to that are tech savvy, it's quite possible somebody has already implemented something which you might be able to hook into if you ask around.
I second the notion of cellular as a good alternative to the dish. However, it isn't broadband, and media-rich content can get hung up. Look for high-speed networks like 3G. (I use AT&T.) Get a USB air card so you can use it in multiple computers, including laptops. But before you plunge, be sure you get high-speed coverage where you work and live. Not just cellular, but high-speed.
I second that. I just got a new high-speed Verizon aircard -- and so far it's fantastic! However, it's expensive at $60 per month. But since I'm now making $3200 for part-time online teaching as an online adjunct, the cost is begrudgingly accepted.
There are parts of the county with access to cable internet. The problem is, where we're moving is not in that part, and chances are, it never will be. From the cable company's perspective, it just isn't cost effective to extend the service to us. The same thing applies to DSL. From what I recall, you have to be within a certain amount of feet from their switch unit or something, and we don't fit that either. Now we do have a new cable company showing up in the county. The high school where I teach is finally getting cable. So... who knows. Perhaps they will run lines by our house too. Interesting that back in 2001 President Bush said that by 2007 all Americans would have access to affordable high-speed internet. Now $40 a month for cable internet is acceptable, but paying $100 a month out in the country for something like HughesNet is not. With me about to begin an online EdS program, and my wife starting to teach for Phoenix, we NEED high speed. So hopefully something will work out for us. Thanks to each of you for your suggestions! -Matt
Umm...which school is that? Regarding cable, there are two flavors: copper and fiber-optic. Night and day. My download speeds quadrupled when they upgraded to fiber-optic.
Yes! PM me. It definitely entails more work than what I anticipated, but once you get through the first course, it should be pretty easy because the same notes can be recycled. It could be a really sweet retirement gig because it's so enjoyable! It's nice to be able to help students grow. I'm sooooooo grateful to have a quality regionally accredited education to fall back on, either now or after retirement. I entered law enforcement as an uneducated, unskilled layman, but will leave law enforcement with a doctorate that was paid for by my agency and through a scholarship at Northcentral University. The Lord Jesus has been good to me! I'm so grateful!
Matt, if there's a remote possiblity of line-of-sight, even if it has to be bounced a couple times, you may seriously want to look into the Pringles net idea. In one area out here, an enterprising group of residents found someone in an area with cable internet, mounted a Pringle can high in a tree in the guy's yard and pointed it to a mountain that was line-of-sight some 10 miles away. At the mountain, they bounced the signal off of a tomato can repeater mounted in a tree, and reflected it back to an area that had no high speed internet. The speeds have been decent and the service reliable. I think there were about 8 or 10 families using the network. Here's a reference and an O'Reilly book on how to do so if you're interested http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/user/view/wlg/1124
My parents have Hughesnet (formerly directv/direcpc) there is a 200mb per 24hr download limit, after which you are penalty capped at a 3Kbps d/l rate for 24 hours. Oh and its almost 80 bucks a month iir.
If I was tech-savvy enough, I would totally do the pringles can thing just for the novelty of it It looks like my best option is going to be satellite internet until we get either cable or dsl in 2053 or so. Thanks for everyone's input! -Matt
My grandparents have Hughesnet. It's great when it works, but it goes out for several hours each week. As mentioned previously, beware of the download limits. They usually forgive users for the first month (at least my grandpa was forgiven after downloading 50+ nature videos *eyeroll*). Good luck
FWIW, this site will identify the fastest ISPs in almost every city and town on earth. http://www.speedtest.net/ And this one will run a test of your speed where you are now, and then show of list of all the faster alternatives, if any: http://reviews.cnet.com/7004-7254_7-0.html John Bear (who lives 10 minutes from the UC Berkeley campus, but there is no DSL service in our neighborhood, which is very annoying)