I know a lot of posters on this board are in rural areas.
What do you do for internet? Who do you use? What speeds do you get?
What do you do for internet? Who do you use? What speeds do you get?
Internet and Rural Areas
- Thread starter buckethead1978
- Start date
I lived in a rural area in Virginia for a few years. The internet access I had was awful, either thru CenturyLink or Shentel (both were terrible). I paid twice as much as what I am paying now in a city, and I got half the speeds if I was lucky with a much smaller data cap.
I live in south central Ky. on the Tennessee border, out in the country. We can’t get internet except on our phones.
When Elon Musk's Starlink comes online, I'm going to be looking for some remote property in a low-cost-of-living area and start telecommuting as much as possible.
I was in this situation, just a little west of you. I'm in Christian County. A few months ago, we got AT&T fixed wireless and it works pretty good. We got lucky and signed up when they were running a "double the data" deal. You should check into it.
Speed is fast enough for streaming HD video, not quite fast enough to stream 4k without buffering.
Edit: I just ran a speed test with the phone connected wirelessly to the router. Got 23mbps d/l and 22mbps u/l. It's probably a little faster if you're connected with an ethernet cable.
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My only option for a while was Hughes Net. It was so bad I had to use my work phone hot spot until they yelled at me for using too much data. Hughes Net is not good. They direct you to their own "speed test" site and although you may see download speeds of 10-20 Mbps, their upload speed is practically non-existent. Try streaming a video and it's pixelated and freezes. I finally broke down and spent $200 for a wifi hotspot and data plan from Verizon.
Just signed up for Hughes Net. I have not heard back from them yet for install. I hope it isn’t as bad as you described.
I’m not even in a rural area. I’m in Jefferson County but there just aren’t enough houses to interest any providers outside of ATT DSL. It’s pure ****.
My brother lives 2.5 miles as the crow flies and he gets 400MB with fiber.
I’m not even in a rural area. I’m in Jefferson County but there just aren’t enough houses to interest any providers outside of ATT DSL. It’s pure ****.
My brother lives 2.5 miles as the crow flies and he gets 400MB with fiber.
To bad the state broad band project to rural KY got axed.
But the USDA had committed to investment.
Sad you can get internet in like rural Kenya via weather balloons and not in the US.
But the USDA had committed to investment.
Sad you can get internet in like rural Kenya via weather balloons and not in the US.
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Cool read, glad to see a Co-op step up.
I was hoping the electric companies e.g. KU would get in the game with over line internet.
Listened to a show on the radio few weeks ago about Wilson, NC.
Wilson was a tobacco hub just 50 miles from the research triangle of Raleigh.
Tobacco had tailed off but they was able to bring in manufacturing like Merck Phama.
The businesses and citizens needed better broadband has technology expanded.
City went to Time Warner and asked them to upgrade to meet the needs of business.
TW said, "nah" City decided to start their own internet municipality.
TW and other telecommunications companies lobbied state lawmakers to pass a law to make it illegal for a city to provide internet.
All I need is internet and golf courses.
What does this have to do with rural internet?
Sir this is a Wendy's
We have a home in the Blue Ridge mountains in North Carolina and we have much faster internet there than we do in SWFL
I believe @Bert Higginbotha secured fast internet for Smiths Grove, KY when he was mayor. Like > 500 mbps.
I'll provide a speed report from Anneta, KY on November 22 or 23 when I visit my cuz. They've got Windstream. Great speed and bandwidth during my last visit 4 months ago.
If you are going to post about somebody getting laughed at, might want to do it in the correct thread dumbass.
Anyone have an occurrence that lack for broadband affects property sale value?
Friend was trying to sell a house few years ago out in the boonies of Anderson Co. that had no broadband service. They was getting older retirees looking at the property but no young families.
Friend was trying to sell a house few years ago out in the boonies of Anderson Co. that had no broadband service. They was getting older retirees looking at the property but no young families.
Austin is correct.
Smiths Grove has three carriers for internet. Windstream, the telephone company, offers up to 100 mbps. Spectrum, the cable company, offers up to 940 mbps. SCRTC offers 1 gig.
I have Spectrum and I get 600.
I don’t know if it effects value but I can say from personal experience that it effects potential buyers. My parents for years have wanted to move into the county for property tax reasons. The only broadband provider out there is awful in terms of what they offer and price points. Like what they get now with Comcast as far as speeds go would cost almost double with what options they have in the county and the data cap is extremely small, they would go over it every month. They’d either have to cut back on usage or pay even more to get unlimited data.
What extra they’d have to pay for internet would more than wipe out what they’d save in lower property taxes. And then staying in the city you get more government funded services, closer to the grocery stores and other stores they frequent, and quicker and better access to healthcare, which is kind of important when one is a senior citizen.
I lived in Jacksonville, FL (Hidden Hills Country Club) until I retired and moved to Smiths Grove, KY in 2000. In Jacksonville the best internet that I could get from my home was a dial up service. The cable system did not offer anything. The cable system in Smiths Grove (Insight) in 2000 offered "High Speed" internet. By today's standards it was not very high speed but it blew away dial up.
One of the deciding points in me choosing my house was the services offered in the area.
I live between two small towns in central KY & have an unlimited 4G LTE service, first, with Sprint & now T-Mobile. I get, on average, 100 Mbps down. I just ran a speed test & got 125.6 Mbps down & 7.21 up. The maximum download speed I've seen has been 161 Mbps & the max up 11.4 Mbps.
After the Sprint/T-Mobile merger, T-Mobile is now offering unlimited 4G data for $50 permonth. I'm not sure about the speeds with that service, however. You might check availability here:
After the Sprint/T-Mobile merger, T-Mobile is now offering unlimited 4G data for $50 permonth. I'm not sure about the speeds with that service, however. You might check availability here:
My cousin had satellite out in the boonies. It was OK for online banking etc, but his wife would stream some video and go over that cap. Really expensive just for the base cost but that over cap charges was crazy. I switched them to a cell carrier with unlimited phone data and a 10Gig hot spot for much less.
I have seen same construction houses have two different electric companies and the cheaper electric (KU) houses have higher value. Same I would assume for ones with and without broadband, since it's become like a utility.
I have seen same construction houses have two different electric companies and the cheaper electric (KU) houses have higher value. Same I would assume for ones with and without broadband, since it's become like a utility.
Also, as previously stated, I lived in a rural area with ****** internet offerings. If I had stayed in the job I had, I would have moved to one of the cities to get better internet. And mind you I hate driving. The nearest cities with decent internet were 45-60 minutes away. I still would have made the move for the internet.
Instead, I left that career entirely and moved back to my hometown. I can’t imagine a situation why I’d ever move back there. Internet isn’t the only reason why but certainly the most significant.
Problem with Sprint/T-Mobile is they are generally **** in rural areas. I had Sprint when I was in college, left for the job in the rural area and had to get rid of it for AT&T because them and Verizon were the only ones worth a damn out there.
I'm in Johnson County on Foothills Communications Broadband. I have their cheapest plan, and I can watch movies or ballgames on my laptop if I want to with no buffering.
Foothills has great service, it's never down. Parts of the county are still on Suddenlink, it's constantly out. I bundle cable, internet and a land line and have no complaints at all.
Foothills has great service, it's never down. Parts of the county are still on Suddenlink, it's constantly out. I bundle cable, internet and a land line and have no complaints at all.
4.82 mbps download, 0.22 mbps upload. Windstream ISP. On Nolin Lake. Anneta, Grayson County, KY. Kinda slow, but bouncing off a server based in Chicago for speed test.
Retested this morning. 5.48 Mbps down/0.24 Mbps up. Bounced off Franklin KY Electric Plant server. A little bit better. Cuz was streaming "Weed's" over Netflix when I tested Saturday night. More residences are coming on line out here by the lake, which also explains slowness.
I may test at another relative's place in Middlesboro later today or tomorrow.
I may test at another relative's place in Middlesboro later today or tomorrow.
Jackson County is where I grew up, but have been gone for a long time. I sure wish I had that kind of internet speed where I live. Heck i'd be happy with half that.
Holy crap! I'm using my phone as a hotspot.
24.9 Mbps download, 2.8 Mbps upload. Dell Inspiron I5 quad core through a Samsung Galaxy S20 off the nearest cell tower in Shawnee TN.
Killer bandwidth. I'll test DSL at a relative's place tomorrow.
24.9 Mbps download, 2.8 Mbps upload. Dell Inspiron I5 quad core through a Samsung Galaxy S20 off the nearest cell tower in Shawnee TN.
Killer bandwidth. I'll test DSL at a relative's place tomorrow.
I just realized something. My smartphone service is now T-Mobile. This is a 5G phone. Apparently, so is the nearest cell tower. Hence such amazing bandwidth out here in flyover country. Total freaking game-changer. Heh, 100 GB data-cap.
Visited a relative in Middlesboro this morning. He's on a $5 monthly AT&T service plan because he's eligible for SNAP benefits (AT&T merger agreement with FTC for Time-Warner acquisition). His basic broadband speed is 3.3 up/0.25 down. Meh, okay.
This 5G ROCKS!!!!!
Visited a relative in Middlesboro this morning. He's on a $5 monthly AT&T service plan because he's eligible for SNAP benefits (AT&T merger agreement with FTC for Time-Warner acquisition). His basic broadband speed is 3.3 up/0.25 down. Meh, okay.
This 5G ROCKS!!!!!
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Well, I'm on a ridgeline at around 970' elevation & I've got cell sites all around me. This evening I'm getting download speeds in the 160s (Mbps) & uploads of about 10 Mbps. Location, location, location seems to be the difference maker with 4G. Before switching to 4G, I was on a fixed wireless system that delivered a blazing 6 Mbps down & 1 Mbps up....it was awful.