Since we were living in town in MO, we got spoiled to having fairly fast and reliable internet. Living where there aren’t many residents and not so many services . . the old show, Green Acres, comes to mind and honestly, that’s about the way it is out here. Even in Kentucky, we were pretty far out but happened to live right next to some kind of AT&T box and we were close enough to get high speed internet from that. I’m sure that’s nowhere near the “technical” terms but . . the bottom line is that we’ve had good internet til moving here.
We can only get line of sight to a tower and there are hills and valleys and not many towers around.
I’m so used to the internet being down that it doesn’t even bother me any more. My first thought is . . do I have enough knitting patterns in my Knit Companion app so I can keep knitting without needing the internet. Of course, I have enough patterns in my KC app that I could go years without needing the internet if that’s the only reason I need it.
Vince, on the other hand, has a problem when the internet is down. First, he really needs to have a phone that works in case they need him at work. No internet means . . no phone. Cell service comes through the Microcell that works off the internet. Home phone is Magic Jack that works off the internet. We have pretty close to zero cell service out here without the Microcell. I can go down the driveway a bit and once I get up a hill and to a clearing, the phone works somewhat. There used to be a spot in the front yard where the phone worked but for some reason, that doesn’t work any more. Second, our TV comes through the internet. Need I say more? Every day I look at the spot where the TV is and think “If that thing wasn’t there, I could do this or that with the space” . . but it’s there and I’m sure it’s there to stay.
Yesterday morning I went to check something on the internet. No internet. No phone. I didn’t worry about . . not much I can do about it. Vince came home for lunch and went to turn the TV on and I said “There is no internet.” He said “Did you call them?” Right . . Vince . . with no phone? No! And I was doing other things and didn’t take time to get in the RTV and drive down the driveway to find a spot where my phone worked.
When Vince got back to work, he called the internet people. Shortly afterwards, the internet started working. Vince said “They found something that’s wrong. And, for $20 more per month (which puts us up to paying about $90 for our internet service!), they’re bumping us up to a faster speed.”
I’m thinking . . I’m grateful for faster speed but what I’d really like is internet that works 24/7 . . every day! If the internet isn’t working . . what good is “faster”?
As we’re talking about where we’re going to retire . . which could be a whole ‘nother blog because one day . . Place A looks perfect. The next day, Place B is more perfect. By the third day, neither Place A nor Place B will work but we’ve found a perfect house at Place C. I think we’re about up to Place ZZ now, and have talked about at least five states, and don’t have a clue where we want to retire. Well, I do but Vince doesn’t want to live with snow. Fine . . live with rattlesnakes and grasshoppers and drought! 🙂
So one of the priorities for retirement is “no close neighbors”. Next is “fast internet”. I’m not sure you can have both. Living out in the country almost always means slow and unreliable internet. Every realtor I’ve talked to about a possible location kinda stumbles when I ask about high speed internet. I suggested Vince get satellite TV and then he won’t have to rely in the internet for TV and . . who cares if there’s no internet. That’s one for the record books. I suggested we get satellite TV! (Must have been the flu shot affecting my senses). Maybe we can even have a landline if we don’t live too far out in the wilderness but if he isn’t working, probably no one will need to call us.
I know . . we’re going to be old and we need a phone of some kind. Goodness . . who would have thought finding a place that has no close neighbors and a phone and good internet could be so hard to find.
But, for now, we have faster internet at home . . when it’s working so maybe I can write a blog post while Vince is watching TV without the TV stopping to buffer and him saying “You’re using all the internet!” 🙂
lacefaerie says
We live in semi-rural (unincorporated out of town limits, no sidewalks but otherwise it’s a regular neighborhood.) We have only one option for high speed internet, Comcast aka Xfinity. They have us over a barrel, $100/month. Somehow for “only $10 more a month for basic cable” brings us up to $134/month. I feel the same contempt for Comcast that my dear late Mama felt about Ol’Ma Bell! My sister on very rural island of Hawaii has better tv and internet than us for half the price!
Internet access has become a new must-have utility. It’s our TV and movie service, FaceTime with distant family as well as being my source of reading and other entertainment when my disability keeps me sidelined. ??
lacefaerie says
That’s supposed to be a 🙁 frowny emoji, not??.
pat says
we have verizon high speed dsl it works when it feels like it. Keep phoning them and they say there is no problem.
pay enough for it each month.
montanaclarks says
As you know we live out in the middle of nowhere in Montana–we have fabulous phone/internet through the local telephone co-op. But little cell phone signal–my cell sits in a booster on the kitchen counter and if I leave it in the booster I can make a call and receive texts. Here in AZ I feel we live out in the middle of nowhere but we are just on the edge of a little community, Sunsites. Too far to get super fast fiber optic internet from the phone company but not too far to get DSL from the phone company–they will install the DSL next Friday–we will see how fast it happens to be. We have GREAT Verizon cell coverage in AZ–we can see the cell tower from our house, BUT–I refuse to let Verizon rip me off any longer–I will keep my basic cell/data coverage–$70/month and they can keep their so called “unlimited” data plans!
Linda in NE says
Slow Internet is a way of life here. Might get 4 point something Mbps during the day, but in the evening with all that movie & TV streaming, online gaming, Facetiming, Skyping, etc. it almost comes to a standstill. It’s not just the speed that counts, it’s also the bandwidth that your provider has access too. Then there’s those two little words “up to” in your contract regarding the speed you can expect. It’s pretty rare for the actual speed to hit that number.
JanetB says
We finally got a good tech out here from AT&T and she helped me figure out that my adapters in my laptop don’t support the higher speeds. Lesson learned… it’s not always the internet service.
Connie says
Judy, Have you looked at HughesNet Internet? We had that for years and it was very reliable just never seemed to be enough of it, now they have larger plans. It was a real godsend for us as there is no cable or anything else out here where I live. For now we have Verizon MiFi Unlimited which is actually 22gigs data on phones and 15gigs on each MiFi device. Hubs is missing HughesNet but price was Verizon is cheaper right now.
Kathy Henderson says
Don’t feel bad – I live right in Silicon Valley – San Jose – and my internet is slow as molasses. And it seems to cost more than in other places. I’m beginning to feel like there is no such thing as high-speed internet! 🙂