Digging 400' Trench for cable

[Richard001]

Do you have clear line site to the poll that the cable will be coming from ?

If you do, maybe a transmitter put on the poll with a directional antenna and a matching receiver with a directional antenna at you house.

I'm thinking something like this for the receiver:

https://www.amazon.com/Extended-Repeater-Extends-Coverage-Location/dp/B076KRTXQ6/ref=psdc_172504_t2_B07V7MBFJ8

Richard

 

[LD1]

Wow! Lots of excellent info!

We currently have DSL and it's been fine for years but now both my wife and son are working from home and that DSL wire is smoking So we need something faster. I called the local telco about faster DSL and we are at the max right now. But they did tell me that they are running fiber and they will get to out area but won't give me a timeline.

We just got Starlink and have the dishy installed on the roof. Works great but it has a downside. The IP address they give you is private - not public. And this is where I have a problem. We have several servers running here for our personal cloud (files, pics, address, etc). These servers need a public IP address so when we are not at home we have access to our data. I found a way around the private IP address by putting an old laptop at a relatives house(fast cable internet) and then use a reverse tunnel to access our servers from the relatives public IP address. For those that want to dive into this here's an example:

LTE and Starlink ISP - How to access to your LAN from outside

LTE and Starlink ISP - How to access to your LAN from outside. Lars Kienle©

di-marco.net

I started the process of getting cable here a couple years ago because I could see the writing on the wall. And the writing was correct. We need a faster internet connection.
For the time being we'll be using starlink. Then moving to cable internet and moving to fiber when it arrives. Hence the use of the conduit. I could just skip the cable and wait for fiber but I still need to dig a trench for the fiber. So might as well just do it now.

I'm OK with the trench being 2' deep since that will keep the wire/conduit out of the way of any normal farming activity. I don't think I'll run into any underground tile drains as we bought the property from a relative of the farmer that owned the place all his life and we went over the history of the land and any drains in this area.

I'm in total agreement with those that have issues with comcast. I could write a book about all the 'discussions' with comcast. I still don't know if they will do what they have agreed to do - but I will give it a try and perhaps it will happen. But in the end I'll have one and maybe 2 conduits run from the house to the pole at the street and hopefully this will suffice for any future wire/fiber runs.

Cell signal here is weak and I've thought about getting internet via cell phone. The antenna would have to be on the peak of the roof to get a good signal. This is perhaps an option if I find the right equipment. But the cell internet also gives you a private IP address....

I'd give t-mobile a look for the short term then decide if you want the fiber later.

5 min on the phone with them, 2-days later the thing is at your doorstep. And you have 15 days to try it for FREE. If it dont work out, what do you loose? If it does.....you can save quite a bit. And $50/mo is hard to beat.

I guess Im not as tech-savy as some, cause I dont understand what you mean by public and private IP, or what files and cloud data you are trying to share?

Im a google/android guy. I use google drive alot. It has all my pictures I have taken on a cell phone going back about 8 years.....spreadsheets, invoices, estimates, receipts and stuff itemized in spreadsheets for taxes, etc. I can access it all from any computer or my phone just logging into my drive. Beyond that, I guess Im illiterate.

 

[RichNJKubota]

Yeah it's line of sight and I asked if I could use an RF link to go from the pole to the house. The answer was 'no'.
I used to use google products (they work well and are easy to use) but a couple years ago I decided it was time to keep my data out of their hands.

 

[Richard]

Works great until you have rain clouds in the way. I have DirecTV and it goes into satellite search mode during rainstorms. As few as we have, it's still an aggravation

Absolutely correct. (been on DTV for over 20 years, only option here).

I use the satellite search mode as my early warning. If that pops up and the Dogs haven't been out in a while, I know I need to get them out "right now" because in 10/15 minutes, it's going to get REAL ugly.

 

[BoylermanCT]

First of all, F%^& Comcast. Evil, corrupt, incompetent monopoly of a company who routinely violates their promises and raises rates on customers without justification.

In conclusion, F%$k comcast, may they rot in hell, and good luck to you.

Tell us truthfully, how to you feel about Comcast?...!!!

 

[LD1]

Absolutely correct. (been on DTV for over 20 years, only option here).

I use the satellite search mode as my early warning. If that pops up and the Dogs haven't been out in a while, I know I need to get them out "right now" because in 10/15 minutes, it's going to get REAL ugly.

How frequently does that happen to you?

I agree about using it as an early warning thought....lol. same here. 2-3 times a year that it happens......I know it's about to get real nasty.

Now the dish at my shop....not near as secure. So it happens more often. Combination of wind, and heavy clouds....it's more frequent. But it's mounted with lag screws to OSB sheathing.....with two of the 4 lag bolts hitting a 2x6 stud. Even secure and tight.....I can wobble the mount as easily as someone can wiggle a fence post.

Had similar issues at the house when they mounted a dish to a metal pole they drove 2-3' in the ground. Constantly lost signal.

My house is poured concrete basement. I asked them to mount it to the foundation walls. They wouldnt mount anything to a structure. Too much liability for damage/leaks.

I asked if I mounted the bracket to the wall if they would hang the dish. They said no problem. So I ran to my shop and grabbed 4 wedge anchors and hammer drill

 

[Topzide]

To access your "own severs", can't you create a VPN to access then? I know there are ways since companies have this type of setup.

 

[RichNJKubota]

Yes, I am using a reverse ssh tunnel to forward ports from a relatives house (fast internet) to my servers here at home thru starlink. Been setup for a few days now and testing to see how it works. The tunnel is started here at my house over starlink.
So the public IP address is that of the relatives house.

Update on comcast - I sent an email and left a phone message with the person who I've been speaking to at comcast. I have heard nothing back now for a few days. I don't think comcast is really interested in new customers. This is the type of thing that has happened now several times over the years. I contact them. They come up with a plan. One option is that I dig the trench. I choose that option and then the communication ends.
The other option they have is to pay them money to do the trench. That amount as been (in chronological order): $4700, $4800, $4022, $7300, $6800, $7800. I really think they pull numbers out of the air ( or somewhere else . That they are not based on anything real - like cost per foot.

For those that don't understand the tunnel thing...
Starlink and cell carriers give you a private IP address as opposed to a public IP address. A public IP address gets associated with a URL. For example (could change at any time), one of google.com IP address is 142.251.32.110
This is a public IP address and if you use it with your browser it will take you to google.com
A private IP address can not be used like this. It is private to starlink or the cell company. If I put my private IP address into a browser it does not point to my server at home.

So how do I get a public IP address for my starlink? I can use any number of hosting services or in my case I use a relatives IP address that is public. The tunnel forwards the requests from the relatives computer to my computer over the tunnel.
The tunnel is started from my computer over starlink to the relatives computer. If you try and start the tunnel from the relatives computer it won't work because my IP address is private and unreachable.

Everyone who has an internet connection has an IP address. You can find your ip address by websites like this one:

https://whatismyipaddress.com/

If you have a public IP address and type that into your browser it will send the request to the router in your house. At this point the router will stop the request from going any further unless you have configured the router to send the request to a computer/server on your network.

 

[ning]

Don't expect DSL to last much longer. They're turning it off around here.

While I'm strongly pro-put-conduits-everywhere-you-build-just-in-case at home, personally I wouldn't run conduit if direct burial is even slightly cheaper - I highly doubt anything in the future is going to use that conduit from the utility to your house.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

There used to be a rodent-proof cable used for phones. That's what was installed way back when they ran my 400ft. line about 25 years ago. They did it with a vibratory cable installer. The cable has some sort of bitter jell just under the outer jacket. It's supposed to be to rodents like the worst bitter alum is to us. Just a small taste deters gophers and such. Ask if their direct bury cable has that. Otherwise, 2" conduit is needed so they can't get their mouth over it to bite it.

I don't know, some of those cable guys have big mouths.