rural internet?

[marlin39a]

I’m in rural, northern Arizona. My provider is Bolt Internet. I pay $99.00 per month, with no caps or throttling. I watch streaming free TV, listen to internet radio, and surf the web all day.

[GregLaROCHE]

I’ve been living with expensive and crappy satellite internet for years. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Starlink works and soon, while I’m still around to use it.

[GregLaROCHE]

I just heard that Skylink is starting out at $99/month. That’s not inexpensive as they advertise at starlink.com

[cp1969]

After about the nine bazillionth time (it seems that way anyway) of losing internet service after it rains, I am seriously looking for something different. Any suggestions?

I currently sort of have Centurylink, which is a leftover from the telephone company. Old twisted pair wiring at least on my side of the box across the road and down to the nice new(ish) supposedly weather tight box at the corner. Funny thing is when ever we have a big rain or even snow storm the internet goes out, sometimes taking the router with it.

That is what happened this time, along with the wait of a week for the router to get to me. One day of internet, then service is out again.

When I called today, the next available time for a tech to come argue on the phone with the home office (this has happened many times before) is the 9th of November.

Like I said, I am looking for something other than Centurylink.

I am located in western Missouri, if that helps.

Thanks for the chance to vent, and thanks for any suggestions,

Robert

There's a phone company in LaCygne (People's) that's burying fiber all over the place, including north up in Miami County. I don't know how far east they're going or if they're crossing the state line but it might be worth checking out.

[Mk42gunner]

There's a phone company in LaCygne (People's) that's burying fiber all over the place, including north up in Miami County. I don't know how far east they're going or if they're crossing the state line but it might be worth checking out.

That is interesting, maybe something like that will happen on this side of the state line. I will tlk with the tech when he finally shows up on the ninth.

The really sad part of all this stuff (for want of a better word) with Centurylink, is the service techs tell me they just do the exact same thing I do with customer service reps on the phone. Several of them have told me there is no reason they need to come out for the people at the office to do their thing.

Now if they could make the boxes weathertight, I might be back on line at home.

Robert

Robert

[Mk42gunner]

Well I received a very pleasant surprise today at noon; the Centurylink tech called to make sure he was at my house. I was in town so I hustled on home.

He said he had gotten done with another job and was looking ahead.

When I got there, there were two trucks down at the corner (¼ mile away) working in the big box, while the guy that called me was busy digging out the pedestal that had gotten hit the last time the hayfield across the road got cut.

Turns out I was wrong on location of the leak, but it was a weather related short. He also replaced my new to me "reburbished" modem, or in his words "junk".

Anyway, I am back on line at home. I will still look for better internet service, but it looks like what I have is about the least expensive option right now.

I have always had courteous service from the guys that come to my house, but trying to get anything done over the phone just doesn't work with this company. Maybe if they hadn't outsourced the trouble call line to a certain sub-continent things would be better.

Thanks for all the replies,

Robert

[Handloader109]

I'll add a comment that the power coop based fiber works great, but is slow coming to a lot of places. A number of the coops in Arkansas are working on adding the service. I've been lucky enough to have had the service for 2 yrs. prior was either cell or satellite. The main holdup was they contracted out the replacement of all subpar poles before installing the cable.
But at $70 a month for good high speed gigabit service it was worth the wait

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[oneofsix]

Well I received a very pleasant surprise today at noon; the Centurylink tech called to make sure he was at my house. I was in town so I hustled on home.

He said he had gotten done with another job and was looking ahead.

When I got there, there were two trucks down at the corner (¼ mile away) working in the big box, while the guy that called me was busy digging out the pedestal that had gotten hit the last time the hayfield across the road got cut.

Turns out I was wrong on location of the leak, but it was a weather related short. He also replaced my new to me "reburbished" modem, or in his words "junk".

Anyway, I am back on line at home. I will still look for better internet service, but it looks like what I have is about the least expensive option right now.

I have always had courteous service from the guys that come to my house, but trying to get anything done over the phone just doesn't work with this company. Maybe if they hadn't outsourced the trouble call line to a certain sub-continent things would be better.

Thanks for all the replies,

Robert

This has been my experience as well- I get so frustrated with the people on the phone my blood pressure quickly shoots thru the roof. But the techs who show up are the most helpful, courteous and professional that it almost makes up for the frustration- almost.

[mowarren]

from the Reddit for Starlink https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/wi...can_sign_up.3F

Elon: "Once these [launched on Oct 6th] satellites reach their target position, we will be able to roll out a fairly wide public beta in northern US & hopefully southern Canada." The first sub-group is expected to reach its target position in late November, the second sub-group is on track to arrive in mid-January. Public beta testing was planned to open around end of October/November starting with high latitudes. According to Shotwell SpaceX needs to launch 14 batches to "rollout service in a more public way" in order to have sufficient bandwidth. The company will take pre-sales for customer service, similar to what Tesla has done for new vehicles, Shotwell said during a media roundtable. Early customers will be part of the learning curve.

Elon: “As more satellites reach their target orbit, more planes come online. We should be at 36 planes with all faulty satellites replaced by spares by Jan. That will give us continuous coverage down to around 30 degrees.”

[PNW_Steve]

Starlink is supposed to be going live soon

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I got an invite a couple of days ago. I really want to play with it but they want $300 for the equipment and $99 a month. The price gives me some pause.

[dtknowles]

I got an invite a couple of days ago. I really want to play with it but they want $300 for the equipment and $99 a month. The price gives me some pause.

early adoption comes with a high price but it puts you on the bleeding edge.

Tim