Starlink

[Jaybr]

In 2020 we decided to move, and since I work from home needed high speed internet. We looked a some rural properties but none of them had good internet available so we moved to the beach and got a place on the water. Now 5 years later, we miss the peace and quiet of the country and want to be closer to the grandkids. We bought a place a couple months ago in a very rural county and we were told fiber was available. I contacted the internet provider and put in my order, when I asked timeline they said typical was 3-4 months. Since I needed to be at that home immediately to oversee some renovations before we moved, I ordered Starlink. Starlink showed up a couple days later, got it all up and running in no time and it worked great. That weekend my brother came by and helped me mount it on the roof and run cables inside. The following week some guys show up to mark the utilities, when I asked them for what they told me fiber. Week after that they came and ran the fiber. I used the Starlink about 3 weeks and then had 1gb fiber internet at the house, and in a county with <10k people. I'm impressed, and things have certainly come a long way in 5 years.

Now I just need the renovations completed and get moved in and sell the other house.

 

[LouNY]

Same here. Lots of talk but no action. No fiber has been installed in my area at all yet on the news they talk about the millions of dollars spent in Nevada for "rural broadband" access.

Don't feel real lonely, even here a fairly densely populated state (New York) the rural areas are under served as far as utilities are concerned. Our so called land line phone system has fallen into disrepair and has a dismal performance history. I dropped our landline over a dozen years ago as it was unusable, I kept the old landline number for several years with a fixed cell phone with an outside antenna. But with the proliferation of cell phones and the improvement of cell service the need for landlines has declined. I would be extremely surprised if I ever see "fiber" internet on my road even though it is on both ends of the road.

 

[riptides]

Same here. Lots of talk but no action. No fiber has been installed in my area at all yet on the news they talk about the millions of dollars spent in Nevada for "rural broadband" access.

Same here.

Lots of talk, lots of maps (no road details), lots of local effort, lots of some companies efforts, lots of people measuring things, lots of years gone by....

Lots of nothing.

 

[John0829]

Our so called land line phone system has fallen into disrepair and has a dismal performance history.

When I worked for ATT 15 years ago the unstated goal was to get out of the landline business and push everyone to wireless. Then DSL became a big thing so maintaining the copper got a sorta new lease on life... provided you lived in a densely populated area. You know bang for the buck situation. Rural residential, eh who cares.

Same here.

Lots of talk, lots of maps (no road details), lots of local effort, lots of some companies efforts, lots of people measuring things, lots of years gone by....

Lots of nothing.

Out rural co-op utility company has been putting up fiber. Some very remote places now have service. I hope they will have it in our area before long. Last summer they were hanging it a mile and a half from the house following the major power lines, not branching off the side legs yet. Maybe someday soon.

 

[Tinhack]

AT&T put in a fiber optic line just outside my entire eastern property line about 8-9 years ago. I watched go in. It runs up the county road to the north. Ever since then, I've been inquiring about getting fiber optic internet. They keep saying it's not available.

 

[BigBlue1]

just goes to figure.... i bought starlink maybe 4 months ago. i just got a call from Intermax fiber today, there going to install fiber in my neighborhood. Free install to house, Free router, 400 Meg speed $80/month.

i guess i can resell my starlink dish

Unless you're a camper. Then keep the dish and move to the roam plan so you can have Internet at your campground.

 

[lincmercguy]

When I worked for ATT 15 years ago the unstated goal was to get out of the landline business and push everyone to wireless. Then DSL became a big thing so maintaining the copper got a sorta new lease on life... provided you lived in a densely populated area. You know bang for the buck situation. Rural residential, eh who cares.

DSL also degrades pretty quickly with distance over phone lines. Ghe DSL service I had at my last place would only get 5Mbps. It was 4000' of phone line according to the modem. I went cellular there next. I was close to the tower and it worked well, but the tower didn't have enough backhaul capacity. Then I had Starlink after being on the waitlist and have had it since. Moved with it too.

They pulled fiber in at my old place, I was going to get it as a selling point, but the company doing it couldn't get their act together.

 

[two_bit_score]

Don't feel real lonely, even here a fairly densely populated state (New York) the rural areas are under served as far as utilities are concerned. Our so called land line phone system has fallen into disrepair and has a dismal performance history. I dropped our landline over a dozen years ago as it was unusable, I kept the old landline number for several years with a fixed cell phone with an outside antenna. But with the proliferation of cell phones and the improvement of cell service the need for landlines has declined. I would be extremely surprised if I ever see "fiber" internet on my road even though it is on both ends of the road.

Fiber internet was put in on the street my brother lives on in rural East Texas. About 6 months after the construction in front of his house a guy came buy asking if he wanted to connect to the high speed fiber and my brother, of course agreed. His access was actually connected that same day. He is in 'hawg heaven" as they say in E. Texas.

 

[WM75Guy]

Spectrum laid fiber down our rural county road last year. Once I received notice it was available and called, it was installed the next day. I have 2 separate lines, one for the house and one for the shop, both 700' from the street. Fiber all the way to the modems. I have 400 Mbps to the house and 100 Mbps to the shop, plenty of bandwidth for both locations, plus a landline for each.

 

[grsthegreat]

Spectrum laid fiber down our rural county road last year. Once I received notice it was available and called, it was installed the next day. I have 2 separate lines, one for the house and one for the shop, both 700' from the street. Fiber all the way to the modems. I have 400 Mbps to the house and 100 Mbps to the shop, plenty of bandwidth for both locations, plus a landline for each.

can you do cellular calls over fiber?