I MUST Do SOMETHING About My Internet

[Heartbroken]

I'm beyond frustrated with my current ISP. Been with them for almost 20 years, but I'm so done. They used to be good, but then got bought out by some Kalifornia firm and now it's useless. Constant buffering, interruptions, and outage. No tech support on nights or weekends, which is when I need it. When I do take time from work to contact them when they're open, they won't respond.
I don't have cable or watch broadcast tv, so all of my information and entertainment is via the net. It takes me two hours to stream one 45 minute episode of something on youtube. There is no cable or DSL here; all we can get is a wireless connection to an antenna up at the peak of the house, which is connected to the modem in my office.
There are only two other companies in the county that provide service in my area; we called one last year, the guy finally showed up, said, gee, I don't have a tall enough ladder to check the connection at your house, and left, never to return. The other might be a possibility, but they don't promise any better up time than I have now.
Anyways, I need advice as I look at options. Has anyone used a cellular based internet connection? I'm looking at At&T as they have the towers in my area. I'm considering this because all of my work is done though a hotspot on my work phone. It's faster and much more reliable than my home ISP, but it's verizon and they don't cover my area. Which seems strange, but I guess it's based through my employer's location, which is a few hours away. I know when I'm using the hotspot it says "extended range". So verizon is out, but At&T offers something similar.
Another option might be satellite, but the older ones like Hughes Net are much too expensive for the amount of data I use. I was wondering about Starlink. Has anyone used them? The up front cost is high, and the monthly cost is more than I'm paying now, but if I actually had useable internet, it would be worth it.
I need to do something soon. Any advice or comments on what you use in rural locations would be appreciated.

 

[Cascadian]

We are very rural and have been using this for about a year. I think we pay $114 a month and this is all we use for tv. We primarily stream from Amazon prime with older apple box. Most of the time it works well enough. When we do have trouble it is because of AT&Ts tower. Like now I only have 2 bars on my phone. We paid for our router receiver thingy up front. Probably around $250.
https://www.reviews.org/internet-service/gotw3-internet-review/

 

[Magus]

Do the dish.
https://www.dish.com/lp/value/?nb=1...p.ds&msclkid=ee7fea0167d41465536788b67e6ba2ed
Might suck in bad weather but its better than all the time.

 

[Curmudgeon]

I was wondering about Starlink. Has anyone used them?

I know a guy that lives in the middle of nowhere Arizona, he uses Starlink and says it's the best internet he has had the entire time he has lived there.

One thing of note, signal will drop sometimes as the satelites move and it hits the next one, but they are very short in duration ( a couple of minutes sometimes), other than that he says it is fantastic.

 

[Neb]

I know a guy that lives in the middle of nowhere Arizona, he uses Starlink and says it's the best internet he has had the entire time he has lived there.

One thing of note, signal will drop sometimes as the satelites move and it hits the next one, but they are very short in duration ( a couple of minutes sometimes), other than that he says it is fantastic.

Glenn Beck is using Starlink to do his daily show from Idaho. 2 second delays occasionally but it works for his show.

Ben

 

[viking]

We have gone through some of the same issues, two hour download for 15 minute video, if it even was able to play, that was on dial-up, tried to DSL from our phone company and they had shut off any new subscribers, said they were full up, they did run a fiber optic down our way but we didn't trust them, turned out to be good foresight as the people who signed on had all kinds of problems. We are using Hughes satellite and it's been very consistent, even on rainy, snowy days, it's not been any more expensive than any other system available where we live. The only thing I will say is that we use the internet mostly early in the morning, when we get more gigs of satellite time and when videos stream without interruptions. I've had no complaints, it's been a quality system for us. Funny thing is, the local cable has frequent adds on TV, I've called them up a few times to ask if they had cable out our way, "No, sorry we don't.", this is over a better than 20 year period, what a waste of ad money.

 

[Heartbroken]

The gotw3 looks interesting, I'll be following up on that one for sure. Interesting that they say rural is ATT and urban is verizon.
Isn't Dish just for TV? I had them years ago and decided it wasn't worth the money for the few channels I actually watched.
Interesting info on the Starlink, seems like it might be something to look into.
How many gig do you get with Hughes satellite? When I look at their website it seems very low. I need an unlimited plan.
Thanks for the ideas, keep 'em coming!

 

[Magus]

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...+make+an+internet+satellite+dish%3f&FORM=VDRE
AND...

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...9A68FBF17093A97507DF9A68FBF17093&&FORM=VDRVRV
Power to the people F* the man!

 

[Magus]

Off topic, but related, check it out!


How does this work?

Another one.

But back to topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Jm_ha_9IM
Imagine this thing ten times bigger! 0_o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh6daKbn06w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaAf6Ltgal8

 

[Magus]

Annnndddd.
Only click this if you're evil and have idiots in your life you'd love to grief!

 

[Supervisor42]

Off topic, but related, check it out!


How does this work?

Another one.

But back to topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Jm_ha_9IM
Imagine this thing ten times bigger! 0_o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh6daKbn06w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaAf6Ltgal8

It's simple.
They are one of these bulbs:
https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/led-bulbs-that-dont-need-electricity-to-work-oh-yeah.13959/
You short the outside and inside terminals and it turns on.
I have 4 of them and they are wonderful for when the power goes off.
I also learned I could do the "Uncle Fester" trick by putting the base in my mouth and touching the center terminal with my tongue.
Freaked my neighbor out!

 

[Biggkidd]

I've been using verizon since 1994 and all my internet comes through my phone hotspot via a wilson repeater or signal booster, whatever you want to call it. It isn't great but then again we are way out in the sticks. It works a lot more than it doesn't.

 

[Wallerville]

We had to rely on Verizon DSL for 14 years. The fastest they could supply was 3 megabytes per second. Finally 2 months ago we got Starlink after an 18 month wait until it was available for us here in NE PA.
Starlink is great. Averages 90 megabytes per second and the internet is an entirely different experience now.

 

[Heartbroken]

That sounds great, Wallerville! So it's worth the high set up cost? Do you get a lag at all? People keep telling me if I get starlink I have to be prepared for lags and interruptions as the satellites move. Please tell me more about your experience with it.

 

[Wallerville]

That sounds great, Wallerville! So it's worth the high set up cost? Do you get a lag at all? People keep telling me if I get starlink I have to be prepared for lags and interruptions as the satellites move. Please tell me more about your experience with it.

I do a lot of consulting via zoom. Before starlink that was strictly by phone without any visual. (and for those who know what I look like, that's not necessarily a bad thing!). Since we got Starlink zoom is 100% visual and excellent sound and no delays or freeze ups. Often when the dish is switching between satellites as the earth rotates, there can be momentary lapses but not enough to really matter. And we now get Netflix without watching that damn buffering icon spinning every 3 minutes.

They say Starlink is still in the beta testing and it will get better as more satellites are launched. And they launch them frequently about 40 at a time. Compared to what I had, it is night and day.

Recently I heard, and it has been confirmed as an issue by local politicians, that Dish Net is trying to get congress give them the entire 12 gHz bandwidth for their exclusive use. This will put starlink out of business! It is scary that the tremendous advantage that starlink has brought to be can be taken away by a strong lobbying effort. If you google "dish net 12 gHz claim over starlink" the story comes up. I wrote my senator and he said they are struggling to do what is right for the people of Pennsylvania. Should have put my rubber boots on to read that!

 

[Peanut]

Any updates here? @Wallerville @Heartbroken

I have satellite tv and internet. (I get no cell reception either) I can get them combined or keep them with separate companies as I do now.

Always looking for something better.

 

[Heartbroken]

No, no changes yet. been working a lot of hours and just haven't had time to deal with it. Which makes me even angrier, sit down after supper and want to relax and can't watch videos unless I cheat and stream them over my work cell. I'm not really supposed to do that, so I ration myself - using it right now to read forums and check email while my stupid tv is just sitting there with the spinning wheel of death because my crappy internet can't even load a you tube video.
Which is verizon and works perfectly well. But when I try to get verizon for myself here at the house, they say they don't cover this area. I think the whole thing is crazy.
Anyways, I found out that starlink isn't quite available here yet. In the meantime I called my existing ISP AGAIN, and they said, oh, yes, we can see there's a lot of data dropping out on your connections. YA THINK??? So they finally sent out a tech. I told them I wanted the old modem replaced. The tech farted around for a few minutes then said, sorry, spun the antenna all around to see if one of our other towers would work but none of them are close enough. I said what about a modem? And he said, no, the problem is all "tower side" as he ran down the steps and out the door while I was still talking. So yeah, speedconnect is officially the worst company on earth.
I tried another local ISP, but they want a two year contract. No way I'm doing that, when they won't give any up time guarantee and have penalties for breaking the contract.
So, I'm looking at ATT cellular internet. No contract, and if the tech can't get good signal when he's here, they don't set it up. That seems to be my best option for now.

 

[Peanut]

If you live outside of main coverage areas you're sol, at least in my experience. I have no cell service or cable out here. To be able to afford it my satellite internet is the most basic account. Can't stream videos or tv... which leaves me paying for satellite tv to watch any tv.

Right now my tv and internet is with 2 different companies. And yes... I did have to do 2 year contracts for both. Both obligations have expired.

I'm thinking of getting a combo deal (tv/int) but for either price or service there's no real advantage... besides just having one bill to pay.

I have cfs... I'm stuck in my recliner watching tv part of each day, sometimes all day and sometimes for days on end. Mindless tv shows usually make such times more bearable. So I pay for 250 channels of carp. (I also pay for my parents, on my account).

I wish someone would run cable media out here, just to give me real options or an alternative.

 

[Heartbroken]

I hear you Peanut. These days I need the distraction. Forget about falling asleep unless I've had a sleeping pill and some good you tube videos. I can't listen to music anymore so now I have videos on in the background even when I'm working. The constant buffering and dropping out is insanity making, so I'm desperate enough to keep siphoning off my work phone.
Too bad you can't get good internet and dump the cable. You tube, roku, and amazon have so many cool programs better than the cable guys. Vice Grip Garage, MCRider, Wycliffe, Time Team (Classic), Midsomer Murders, Itchy Boots....a lot of escapism, which is just what I need. The internet companies talk big about serving lots of people, but live on a back road in the country and you count for nothing in their eyes. There was a bill passed that used grants to help get high speed internet to the rural areas but our stooopid governor vetoed it. Guess she knows the rural folk didn't vote for her.

 

[Heartbroken]

CHANGE!!! In this case, it's a good thing.

I tried signing up for AT&T wireless internet: Sure! We have coverage for you! Name...address...social security number... What??? Nope, not putting that on the internet. Chat with the bot, says go to the store and they can bypass that. So I did. Walked into a store with several young things standing around doing nothing. Had to explain what I was talking about, none of them knew about the wireless internet. So what do they do? Go to the very same website that demands the SS number. So I walked out. Giving my SS number just to get a tech to come out and see if they can get signal at my house? Ticks me off the way the world wants all my private info to do anything anymore.

So I got the idea that I would use the Employer ID number for my little part time business to sign up, instead of SS number. Contacted both At&T and TMobile about their internet for business options. At&T never got back to me, TMobile took two weeks to send a email about wanting to meet on site.

In the meantime my brother told me about an ad he saw for another local provider. I called them and it went very well. No intrusive demands for my SS number and the tech came out within three days and installed everything. I HAVE INTERNET! Today's speed test showed over 18 mbps. I've never had over 6 during the last three years, and most of the time had no service or was lucky to get around 1.5. Now I can watch youtube all evening without ever once getting the spinning circle of death. What a difference.

Called Speedconnect to cancel their worthless service. Guy says why, and I tell him they've made me suffer for years with lousy service and I was done waiting for them to make it right. Then he says someone will have to come get their equipment. Told them they weren't allowed on my property and I was going to use their modem as a shotgun target. He got real quite for a minute then started saying I had an outstanding bill. Uh, nope! I called on the day the bill was due, and they always bill ahead, so there was no way that I was wasting anymore money on them. He wasn't happy! Too bad.

I asked my brother to come help me get their antenna off my roof. I'm going to put it and the modem in a box that I've shot with some birdshot and drop it at their office. That's mild compared to what I'd like to do when I think of all the wasted money and broken promises, but I'll have to let it go at that.

 

[Heartbroken]

So I was all primed for a fight. Had an appointment in the town where the internet beast lived, so took the antenna and modem with me, and a five page letter detailing how awful they are. Only to find they've closed the office. So they don't even have an office in the state anymore. I was a little deflated, all psyched up and no battle.
So I put the junk in a box, set the letter on top, and mailed the whole thing to "The World's Worst Internet Provider" at the only physical address listed on their website, out in Colorado. So it will advertise how bad they are to everyone that handles the package all the way there.
They have, of course, billed me for another month of service even though I cancelled them, and then added a late charge and billed again. I've filed a complaint with the BBB, guess we'll see where that goes.

 

[BBLife]

BroadbandQWireless.com is a good option if you have AT&T with a good signal. And if your signal is nominal you can get a booster to fix that. Brandon Roosa (Tech Support Manager) worked with me at all hours with trying to get their solution to work. My problem was they have their deals with AT&T and I only have Verizon with any signal (2 bars without booster, full bars and 5G with booster inside the house). They have an "unlimited" plan that is really 600G but you would never use all that. I may try them again at some point as I do get AT&T when up top where the new house is being built. I am going to try one other option before I do anything else though. If you have line of sight to anyone or any store that has a really good WIFI with some speed they may do a deal with you. There are devices that can grab a WIFI signal up to 8 miles away. I have one that goes 3 now and get free internet from a neighbor a half mile down the road (he gave his password and does not mind). Top of my mountain has line of sight into town at 5 miles so I am going to attempt to hit the town park that has GB free internet for people to use when there. I may be able to get up to 500MB speed if it works ... for free.

 

[BBLife]

Oh... one way to test if the WIFI thing might work.... Get an old Satellite dish and point it in several directions and hold your phone in the focal point. You will see all of the WIFI signals for miles where it has line of sight.

 

[Hooch]

I use hughesnet..
It serves me pretty good. I've noticed the last year some days even without thick cloud cover it might be a tad buffering n slow but generally for my use n purpose it has been fine at 80 bucks a month.
I had a computer technology loving coworker who invested in starlink about a year ago who is a huge gamer n whatnot with nuptial issues in his house. He got n set up starlink n says it is the best he has had. So..that might be a good option.

 

[Magus]

build your own repeater if you can get FCC perms. how close is the nearest thing it might walk on?