AT&T Fixed Wireless Internet

[DKCDKC]

Just got Verizon prepaid unlimited Internet. $60 a month with auto pay and family discount. So far it's run at 10 Mbs down or better - as high as 25 Mbs. It did dip to 2 Mbs for an hour during peak cell time last evening, but that's rare and liveable - it's the lowest tier on Verizon towers I guess. So far it is a heck of a lot better than my DSL which was 1.5 Mbs at best and usually below 1, despite Verizon's promise... And cost $53 a month - plus having to have a wired phone at $23. I am in a completely rural area some miles from the tower, but use a Mofi modem/router and the signal is a lot better than a cell.
Something to consider anyway... A lot depends on the proximity of cell towers to your farm. There are other towers around here, but my home is in a small valley with weak signals.

 

[Jim Nelson]

We live in a rural area with either ATT or sat internet. About a year ago they forced us to go with their UVERSE system which was ok until about 6 weeks ago when the modem went out. After the famous ATT run around and fumbling they finally sent a tech out and he replaced the modem and told us that this model is terrible and they are trying to push a newer high dollar unit.
While talking,I asked him what had happened to the program from a few years ago that was supposed to supply fiber optic to the whole country. He said they were going away from fiber and concentrating on a new system that would have an antenna every mile and everyone would have wireless service much like cell phones but faster. I said that sounded like a huge endeavor but he said they were well on the way with it.I have made a couple of attempts at learning more about this but no luck.
It's been our experience that ATT corporate really sucks but the techs we have dealt with were all top notch and honest so I wonder what really is going on. It sounds like your new system is similar to what he was talking about.

 

[RNeumann]

We live in a rural area with either ATT or sat internet. About a year ago they forced us to go with their UVERSE system which was ok until about 6 weeks ago when the modem went out. After the famous ATT run around and fumbling they finally sent a tech out and he replaced the modem and told us that this model is terrible and they are trying to push a newer high dollar unit.
While talking,I asked him what had happened to the program from a few years ago that was supposed to supply fiber optic to the whole country. He said they were going away from fiber and concentrating on a new system that would have an antenna every mile and everyone would have wireless service much like cell phones but faster. I said that sounded like a huge endeavor but he said they were well on the way with it.I have made a couple of attempts at learning more about this but no luck.
It's been our experience that ATT corporate really sucks but the techs we have dealt with were all top notch and honest so I wonder what really is going on. It sounds like your new system is similar to what he was talking about.

AT&T Promising Gigabit Speeds From Utility-Pole Antennas | DSLReports, ISP Information

 

[kcflhrc]

We live in a rural area with either ATT or sat internet. About a year ago they forced us to go with their UVERSE system which was ok until about 6 weeks ago when the modem went out. After the famous ATT run around and fumbling they finally sent a tech out and he replaced the modem and told us that this model is terrible and they are trying to push a newer high dollar unit.
While talking,I asked him what had happened to the program from a few years ago that was supposed to supply fiber optic to the whole country. He said they were going away from fiber and concentrating on a new system that would have an antenna every mile and everyone would have wireless service much like cell phones but faster. I said that sounded like a huge endeavor but he said they were well on the way with it.I have made a couple of attempts at learning more about this but no luck.
It's been our experience that ATT corporate really sucks but the techs we have dealt with were all top notch and honest so I wonder what really is going on. It sounds like your new system is similar to what he was talking about.

Being a tech, not AT&T, we are the most forward facing employee the customer has. We are the face of the company, not a call center in Indonesia. I would say he is partially correct but no way will fiber be abandoned and it was never intended to get to every home. Those antenna's he speaks of are supposed to be fed over the power lines, very new tech and you and I will probably not ever see it in rural areas.

 

[Jim Nelson]

The link that RNeumann listed makes more sense than what I envisioned, being more like the current cell towers, which would be$$$ and take several lifetimes with permits etc.
What kcflhrc says seems more realistic to me and I don't expect to see it in my lifetime.
When I was still working in the construction ind. I built several pads for stations connecting fiber optic lines and as I recall it was a federal program to supply fiber to the whole country. I can't remember the name of the program but it seems like it was a series of numbers. In the early 2000's I lived on the outskirts of the city of Murrieta,Ca. and they ran fiber through out the city. The sub contractor used a part of our property for a construction yard with the understanding that they would run the fiber to our house in payment for the usage of the land.Well as luck would have it they stopped short of our place even though the city had annexed us a couple of years earlier.
It's always interesting to wonder "What's Next" though.

 

[kcflhrc]

The link that RNeumann listed makes more sense than what I envisioned, being more like the current cell towers, which would be$$$ and take several lifetimes with permits etc.
What kcflhrc says seems more realistic to me and I don't expect to see it in my lifetime.
When I was still working in the construction ind. I built several pads for stations connecting fiber optic lines and as I recall it was a federal program to supply fiber to the whole country. I can't remember the name of the program but it seems like it was a series of numbers. In the early 2000's I lived on the outskirts of the city of Murrieta,Ca. and they ran fiber through out the city. The sub contractor used a part of our property for a construction yard with the understanding that they would run the fiber to our house in payment for the usage of the land.Well as luck would have it they stopped short of our place even though the city had annexed us a couple of years earlier.
It's always interesting to wonder "What's Next" though.

The program you are referring to is CAF, Connect America Fund. We have been deploying it for about 3 years now. Fiber typically to a remote Node and then existing copper from there out. It works OK, but you only have to guarantee 10 meg per Government Guidelines. Thankfully, I only have to do the fiber, copper troubleshooting can be a nightmare. Fiber pretty much works or it doesn't. With copper there is all kinds of in between. I think the cell Towers is the way to go for rural areas. It's expensive to put cable in the ground so wireless is a better alternative in the country.

 

[TractorGuy]

The program you are referring to is CAF, Connect America Fund. We have been deploying it for about 3 years now. Fiber typically to a remote Node and then existing copper from there out. It works OK, but you only have to guarantee 10 meg per Government Guidelines. Thankfully, I only have to do the fiber, copper troubleshooting can be a nightmare. Fiber pretty much works or it doesn't. With copper there is all kinds of in between. I think the cell Towers is the way to go for rural areas. It's expensive to put cable in the ground so wireless is a better alternative in the country.

This program is a great American RIP OFF! Very few of the people paying for the infrastructure will be able to get it.

 

[STx]

You can get the AT&T Unlimited plan for $30/mo plus the initial equipment costs of $300. I talked about how to do that here - https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...rural-internet-14.html?highlight=#post5325923

The same equipment will also run on Verizon if that's faster at your house, I switched mine to Verizon and talk about how to do that in a different thread starting here - https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/400565-rural-internet-6.html#post5318770

We had the Unlimited AT&T using Ubifi and never saw it get throttled, I'm using Verizon now and we used a little over 300GB last month with no noticeable throttling. I do believe they've turned us down a little bit as our usage got higher but, it's stayed high enough to stream HD video at the same time my daughter is playing Minecraft and my wife is on the web, I think the lowest I've seen it is 10x8. AT&T was getting a little lower for us.

Our total monthly cost now is $90 for Internet and ALL the TV channels in the US, UK and Canada, including premiums. More about that here - https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/400899-ubifi-rural-internet-5.html#post5311975

 

[Jim Nelson]

That unlimited plan isn't available here, only phone and net.We don't have cable available either, only satellite, which is ok with us because we don't watch t.v. or movies and no gaming.

 

[kcflhrc]

This program is a great American RIP OFF! Very few of the people paying for the infrastructure will be able to get it.

So are host of other government subsidized programs