Any suggestions for rural Internet?

ncted

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Jul 4, 2004
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Durham, NC
My brother just moved to a new (to him) house in the country near Cooperstown, NY. He wants to go with Sling or maybe Hulu Live, but he needs decent Internet service of some kind to make that work. Spectrum is not available. When he called Frontier (LEC), they told him to try Hughesnet, which seems ill-suited for streaming video. AT&T doesn't offer fixed wireless service at his address, even though he has good signal. I was just wondering if anyone here had any other options which might work for him. He doesn't make much money, so he is looking for value over performance.

Thanks,
Ted
 
I’m afraid he may have picked a place to live that simply won’t have decent Internet service available for some years.

In a few years, he may have LEO, MEO, 5G and AT&T AirGig to choose from.


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T-Mobile is a maybe. Coverage is "fair" according to their map. Looks like it would be $72 up-front for the hotspot and $70/month for the data plan?

Trying to figure out whether WISP is an option. Any guidance there?

Not sure how Viasat 4 would be better than Hughesnet. (exposing my ignorance here)
 
Speeds up to 150mbps and higher data caps, IIRC

I don't seem to find that.

"Who is Viasat Internet not for?
Viasat Internet is not a good option for “cord cutters” who want to get all their television and movie via online streaming. Because Viasat Internet has a data allowance, it is not a good solution for families who use very large amounts of data."
 

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i had a wisp come out for a test

turns out thier signal was blocked by a huge magnolia tree the next farm over.....................
 
can he use his cell as a mobile hotspot that what i was doing... i am on verizon i know they will let you add on a jetpack for like 20.00 a month extra now maybe he could do that as well. if he is a gamer then satellite internet is not a good fit for him because of latency issues as well
 
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This will be a trial & error experience. My parents recently vacated their rural home. We went through WISP testing, wireless hotspots, experiments with PDAnet running on an Android phone with unlimited data, etc. It will take some time to identify what will work in your situation.
 
This will be a trial & error experience. My parents recently vacated their rural home. We went through WISP testing, wireless hotspots, experiments with PDAnet running on an Android phone with unlimited data, etc. It will take some time to identify what will work in your situation.

pdanet is my current solution
you can use internet sharing to backfeed a router and deliver it to the rest of the house
 
I sent him a couple of fixed wireless companies which claim to serve his area. Turns out the LEC is Verizon and not Frontier for some reason, but they do not offer service at his address.
 
I sent him a couple of fixed wireless companies which claim to serve his area. Turns out the LEC is Verizon and not Frontier for some reason, but they do not offer service at his address.

If fixed wireless doesn't work, there are no WISP's available, and TMO coverage it too poor, PM me and I can tell you how to do PDAnet through Verizon.
 
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