Current Events > Rural internet options are so dire.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Almost $100 a month for this btw.

I definitely need to move, fuck this shit. There are a lot of other problems with this place anyway, but this net situation is abhorrent, and there just aren't any other reasonable alternatives.

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lmao

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lol im paying like 55$ for 300mbps

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I'll expect your reply to this topic tomorrow morning btw.

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Your upload is higher, wow. $100 for that is nuts. This is why the fed needs to regulate this as a utility and help build high speed lines everywhere.

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delvec19 posted...

lol im paying like 55$ for 300mbps

Yeah, the discrepancy is pretty absurd.

I'm supposed to be getting more than what I actually get, but I only approach the speeds that I pay for maybe 30% of the time. The rest is a big gamble, including this garbage.

I really wish that there were better options out there, but internet options are really bad outside of cities, unfortunately. There are some options with satellite internet, but they're not all there yet, and most of them are expensive, limited by time and/or data caps, or are just really unreliable.

I'm definitely moving as soon as I get a better job. There are some perks to living out of the city, but I can't say I'm enjoying it overall.

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dire doesn't mean bad or slow or whatever

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Dang, I pay 60 bucks for Fiber/Gig. That is awful.

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obligatory capitalism post

but for real, that sucks.

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Giant_Aspirin posted...

Your upload is higher, wow. $100 for that is nuts. This is why the fed needs to regulate this as a utility and help build high speed lines everywhere.

I keep hoping for this to happen, but nobody seems to regard it as a priority.

viewmaster_pi posted...

dire doesn't mean bad or slow or whatever

I know the definition of dire, it was mostly hyperbole.

Though I do think that it's apt in some cases. Net is pretty essential in today's world, and this just doesn't cut it. I'd hate to be in school right now, because this flat-out wouldn't cut it.

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Giant_Aspirin posted...

Your upload is higher, wow. $100 for that is nuts. This is why the fed needs to regulate this as a utility and help build high speed lines everywhere.

So Verizon can take your tax dollars and go nah?

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170614/10225537588/verizon-gets-wrist-slap-years-neglecting-broadband-networks-new-jersey-pennsylvania.shtml


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My friend lives in a rural part of town, and has shit internet like this. He's lived with his mom for 15 years, and just complains on FB about how bad it is, and how his life won't improve until he gets internet.

Everytime someone suggests he moves or gets a job, he goes off. Just keeps saying how much bettet his life will be when Starlink comes out. It's frustrating.

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EnvoyOfTheLight posted...

obligatory capitalism post

but for real, that sucks.

this suggests a market vacuum, to me

Hayame Zero posted...

My friend lives in a rural part of town, and has shit internet like this. He's lived with his mom for 15 years, and just complains on FB about how bad it is, and how his life won't improve until he gets internet.

Everytime someone suggests he moves or gets a job, he goes off. Just keeps saying how much bettet his life will be when Starlink comes out. It's frustrating.

I can't speak for your friend's situation overall, but I will say that Starlink does sound promising if it pans out, at least. I was looking into it, and it sounds cool if it works, but it seems like it's still years off of being super viable, sadly.

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DuranOfForcena posted...

i used to live in a pretty rural location, and the best internet we had access to was a 56k modem, back when DSL was still pretty new and just being rolled out residentially. and the phone lines where we lived were so old and corroded that the 56k connection only connected at a max of 28.8k.

i eventually got a Sprint cellphone and a plan that allowed tethering to use the cellphone as a modem, i used that for a few years, before we moved somewhere where cable was available and we finally got that.

Upgrading my phone plan is probably my play if I stay here, but honestly, I'm probably going to just going to move some time soon.

I moved here because it was affordable, and close to my job + family/friends, but honestly, I don't even see my family or friends that much by now anyway, and I'm really not super fond of living out of the city. I'm strongly considering a bigger move if not just moving out of state in general by now, for a variety of reasons.

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Giant_Aspirin posted...

Your upload is higher, wow. $100 for that is nuts. This is why the fed needs to regulate this as a utility and help build high speed lines everywhere.

Nah. They'd rather give tax payer money to Comcast and Charter, and not hold them accountable when they don't do what they promised.
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There's no real drive for rural internetificaton, like there was was for electricity, phone, and mail.
That's why satellite internet has you by the balls, and the only other real option is line-of-sight wi-max.

If you're really really lucky, the local phone company may have DSL.

harley2280 posted...

Nah. They'd rather give tax payer money to Comcast and Charter, and not hold them accountable when they don't do what they promised.

Municipal Franchise was a mistake.

a couple years ago i was living down a shitty little rural area where, on roads to either side of me, people had normal ass spectrum internet but down mine i could only get shitty centurylink dsl that was like 80 dollars a month for 10mbps download, and it went out at least once a week if not more for up to an hour at the time. it was miserable

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Questionmarktarius posted...

There's no real drive for rural internetificaton, like there was was for electricity, phone, and mail.
That's why satellite internet has you by the balls, and the only other real option is line-of-sight wi-max.

Municipal Franchise was a mistake.

I really wish that it was a bigger priority for people.

A lot of school, work, entertainment, and communication strictly requires internet access these days.

Granted, part of that is due to COVID and the need for remote work, but it was trending that way even before that.

Either way, I think that the net is only going to be more and more important in the future, and I really think that there should be a bigger push for viable rural internet options, even aside from my own woes.

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Rural? Ever heard of supply and demand? They ain't going to bend over for a few people unless you some millionaire brah. Build more houses and they'll provide better internet.

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dotsdfe posted...

I really wish that it was a bigger priority for people.

Let's ask @Balrog0 how it's going in Arkansas.
Arkansas is rural as shit outside of Rogers and Littlerock, thus I don't expect the internet to be all that great.

It wasn't great at all in rural Missouri, where my family had nothing until the late 90s, when a computer shop in Excelsior Springs started offering dialup.

I feel your pain, TC. I was on rural satellite for several years. It's so fucking bad.

I've mentioned this before, but my local electric coop is running fiber to their entire service area. Where I lived in the boonies is gonna have gig speeds later this year. Kind of blows my mind.

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MrKapowski posted...

Where I lived in the boonies is gonna have gig speeds later this year. Kind of blows my mind.

Oh damn. That's gonna be sweet.

I remember when the board in my old tiny town voted a unanimous proud and resounding "No" against getting better Internet in the area. Like "Fast internet? None of that high-tech hippy shit in my backyard!"

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HODL_Austin_Era posted...

Rural? Ever heard of supply and demand? They ain't going to bend over for a few people unless you some millionaire brah. Build more houses and they'll provide better internet.

I get it, but I also wish that the government would offer some kind of incentive or funding for developing infrastructure on that front. I'd argue that the internet is borderline essential these days, so I really do think that it should be a bigger priority.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Let's ask Balrog0 how it's going in Arkansas.
Arkansas is rural as shit outside of Rogers and Littlerock, thus I don't expect the internet to be all that great.

It wasn't great at all in rural Missouri, where my family had nothing until the late 90s, when a computer shop in Excelsior Springs started offering dialup.

I'm living in southern rural Missouri atm and the options are still very very limited here. They're improving in some areas, but a lot of others are still SOL.

I'm strongly considering leaving the state, though. I've lost touch or barely keep up with a lot of my friends by now, so I'm basically only here for family when I don't even see them all THAT often. Moving out of state is becoming more and more appealing.

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MrKapowski posted...

I feel your pain, TC. I was on rural satellite for several years. It's so fucking bad.

I've mentioned this before, but my local electric coop is running fiber to their entire service area. Where I lived in the boonies is gonna have gig speeds later this year. Kind of blows my mind.

Republicans are sponsoring a bill to make that illegal.
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HODL_Austin_Era posted...

Rural? Ever heard of supply and demand? They ain't going to bend over for a few people unless you some millionaire brah. Build more houses and they'll provide better internet.

Which is exactly why it needs to be classified as a utility.
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You need starlink lol

Questionmarktarius posted...

this suggests a market vacuum, to me

Well, the reason ISPs don't build more infrastructure in rural areas is because there isn't much of a market there to exploit. Not enough people in enough of a concentrated territory to justify the cost of laying miles and miles of cable.

I used to like in a rural part of Louisiana. Eventually the small town's workaround was to provide people with T Mobile Hotspots at the library. They could check one out for a week at a time.

It kinda sucked, because there was always a waiting list, but they were free to use and they didn't enforce any data cap.

harley2280 posted...

Which is exactly why it needs to be classified as a utility.

100% agree.

Work? A lot of jobs require internet, especially right now. A lot are still flat out purely remote right now, and others still need it for communication even if you're not working a job that heavily focuses upon it.

School? Again, right now it's outright crucial. Even when in school learning returns, more and more assignments are turning to net-focused learning. My niece and nephew have had a lot of internet-based assignments even in middle school. It's pretty essential for those.

TV? Cable and satellite TV are hanging on by a thread, to the point where I'm not sure how viable offline shows will be in another decade.

Other entertainment? Streams, gaming, video chats, social media, etc are all focused on online connectivity. Granted, not as big of a thing for older people (aside from social media, I guess), but basically any kid or young adult will need net for s lot of things these days.

It's just getting harder and harder to get by without strong internet these days, and I think that it should be treated as a utility, especially as work and school increasingly move to being more web-based.

Trumpo posted...

You need starlink lol

I looked into it, but everything that I saw indicated that it's just not all there yet. The coverage and reliability just don't seem to be great until there are more launches, which will probably take years to do. It sounds very promising in the future, but not quite yet, unfortunately.

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Esrac posted...

Well, the reason ISPs don't build more infrastructure in rural areas is because there isn't much of a market there to exploit. Not enough people in enough of a concentrated territory to justify the cost of laying miles and miles of cable.

Which is why CAF exists. However there's basically no penalty for an ISP for being noncompliant with the rules for it. So they basically being given free taxpayer money and not being held responsible for what they agreed to do.
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Not sure if good. I pay $65/month

i pay $70/month for 1000 mbps

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MaddenDude-- posted...

i pay $70/month for 1000 mbps

I pay $0 for 5mbs, or rather, $300 once. It's not great, but the price is unbeatable.

TC, what wireless carriers can you get or do you have? If AT&T works good in your area I can explain how to use it as unlimited home internet in a PM for less than $100 a month.

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Conker posted...

TC, what wireless carriers can you get or do you have? If AT&T works good in your area I can explain how to use it as unlimited home internet in a PM for less than $100 a month.

I've just been using Straight Talk lately for sheer convenience. It's solid for alright amounts of mobile data for reasonably cheap, though it doesn't work for hot spots, sadly.

If I stay here long term, I'll look into AT&T/what you mentioned, though, because it does sound better than what I'm working with right now. Thanks.

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dotsdfe posted...

I've just been using Straight Talk lately for sheer convenience. It's solid for alright amounts of mobile data for reasonably cheap, though it doesn't work for hot spots, sadly.

If I stay here long term, I'll look into AT&T/what you mentioned, though, because it does sound better than what I'm working with right now. Thanks.

They dont offer unlimited hotspot though. Theres a couple workarounds you can do though. If you ever want to know just PM me.

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I always see these million dollar homes on Zillow that are located out in the middle of nowhere and I think, is this 3 million dollar home stuck with dial up?

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I saw a tiktok of some lady who lived in the middle of nowhere she bought a device she saw on tiktok and said it did wonders even showed proof of it. I might have saved it but we are taking about 10k videos I have saved.....

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I pay about 100 or so a month and only get 3 mb down

I just use my phone for internet if I need to download stuff, but I usually cant play any online games until midnight, which sucks

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Tell me about it. I haven't been able to play a fighting game online since LAST March. The local ISP got new management or some crap and went to shit. No other options where I live.

What pisses me off the most is that I know it can be good enough to work because it used to be fine, but something happened and yeah, no more online PVP for me. Fucking thieves is what they are.

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Starlink is for people that live in rural areas