Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

[AClark]

My bad service is only on Fort Bliss. That's pretty typical of most mil. installations. Lots of dead areas, unfortunately for me, that includes everywhere but my living room, lol. But that is the same across all carriers here, and with the proximity to Mexico we get stuck on roaming quite a bit. Nothing like international charges that you have to call and say "I was on my side of the border!"

 

[babsbag]

@greybeard We were not doing any downloading or uploading and no music or videos. I was even hesitant to use youTube to watch videos of metal roofing being installed as I didn't want to use the data. It was email and forums like this, I'm not even a Facebook fan. One night I did try to upgrade my stupid smart phone and I used 10 GB of data in one night, and the upgrade failed. The next day I took it to my old job and used their internet. Not sure who could have been using it, there is only one other house within distance and the hotspot was password protected with my password. We had it for about 6 months and I got tired of policing it so fortunately found another option that is cheaper, faster, and no cap.

When I complained to AT&T they told me that a hot spot for everyday home use is just not a good idea. But now I hear on TV that they have no data limits, but that be very costly. IDK.

@Latestarter, I hope you find a provider. BYH would miss you.

Maybe time to start a new business providing WiFi to remote customers. Also, there used to be a satellite company called Wild Blue, you might try them.

 

[greybeard]

As far as I know, Wild Blue is still around, tho they are now part of Viasat, which also owns Excede--Wild Blue may now even be called Excede. Never used them, but I have in the past, heard good things about WB on other cattle boards where remote locations are poorly served.

However.........it don't sound good.
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/internet/wild_blue.html

 

[Latestarter]

I've heard some pretty bad stuff about Excede as well. Haven't verified any of it.

 

[Mike CHS]

We have TDS Telcom here ... it isn't the most modern technology but we feel lucky considering how far out in the sticks we are. We had to get a landline for our security system when we first bought since we were here so few days a month. We splurged and had a 30' mast put up for an antenna that lets us get all the over the air networks and local (Nashville) programming. Add Netflix to that and we have some decent entertainment . So it winds up being right at $90 for the landline and internet.

 

[Mini Horses]

I have Wild Blue but, through Dish. No TV stuff, just internet. Don't watch enough TV to validate cost but, have two of those boxes the gov gave everyone when they made TV channels transmit differently. Yep, still working. AND my TV is about 15 yrs old. One day, I guess I will need a new one and get the flat screen that lets me connect to use as my computer screen, too.

All old? YES -- and I do not have a smart phone either. At my farm everything works until it is totally dead! Works for me.

 

[Baymule]

People's Internet is the gold standard here. Based in Quitman, People's Telephone offers internet. We had them come out and do a test and didn't get a good signal. Their closest tower is probably 8 miles away, but the trees block the signal. @Latestarter check with them.

http://peoplescom.net/coverage/?cbg_tz=300

http://peoplescom.net/internet-wireless/wireless-coverage/

 

[farmerjan]

Still using a flip phone from 5 or 6 years ago. It's pretty rugged and I just can't see the high cost of a smart phone until this one dies. I've read some stuff about Republic wireless and you can go on their website and see if there is any service in your area. Clark Howard that does all the radio programs about ways to save money, seems to think they are a decent company. I want a phone that I can "tether" to get my internet. Don't even fully understand all that (still in the dinosaur age) but that's how one of the farms I milk test for, does all his internet.

 

[Latestarter]

Checked with Peoples... not an option. Though I am in their service area, like most others, they are capped out... at/over capacity. Wild Blue and Excede are the same company. Bad reviews and complaints out the yin yang. Looking like my only viable option for the time being is to sign up with Verizon for their "Jet Pack" service. They told me their maximum package was 14 Gig of data. I told the rep I had someone tell me they had 18 Gig. Regardless...

I checked with my present provider Comcast & my lowest monthly data usage over the past 3 months was over 100 Gig. The highest was over 150The max data cap for basically any wireless provider is in the 50-60 range, and I haven't found those providers yet. There's virtually no way to get unlimited data as there's nobody to bundle services with. DirecTV is owned by AT&T and though they cover the service area, they are capped out. Since it's so rural I honestly can't see any provider willing to spend the $$ to run fiber optic out there... not enough folks to generate the $$ to pay for it. So, looks like I'll be doing the travel to free WiFi spot more or less regularly. Oh well... That will give me more time to soak in my jacuzzi...

 

[babsbag]

So you can't get Direct TV either? If you could you could get unlimited data with ATT. I never knew Satellite got sold out...I know my wireless that we used was getting full so they just added more bandwidth...shoot, if you got the customers why not pay to put in the hardware to support them. No DSL either?

Verizon has plans up to 100 GB...for half your income...so I don't know what they were talking about. But who can afford their prices. We were on ATT and able to stay below 20 but I had to watch it constantly. It wasn't fun, but it was doable.