I am bummed out!

[Pneumatic]

As a few of you know, I just bought two acres of land in a pretty nice area just outside of the town I live in and am planning to build a house there. It is in an area that has restrictions on the size house you can build (nothing less than 2,800 square feet), you have to pay "association" dues, well maintained streets, etc. It is by no means in the "country". It is only 4.5 miles from the major highway that runs straight through Downtown Dallas.

I just got the phone numbers and addresses for my nearest neighbors and ran a few checks. I found that they aren't eligible for ANY high-speed Internet access. I am now looking to see if I have a satellite option or something that would suffice until they get a broadband line run out there. Has anyone bumped into this problem?

Without high speed I am pretty sure that I will die a horrible death due to high blood pressure waiting for things to download/upload.

-Bummed in Dallas.

[az]

*LOL

Do you think there will ever be broadband in your area? Otherwise you'd be stuck using satellite (you cannot use sat connections for gaming!) or wait till some wireless options kick in - like cheap UMTS or something.

AZ

[Pneumatic]

I don't know if/when they will get broadband.

I just called on the satellite thing and it is $600 to set it up and $70 per month!!

[Wombat]

You're a gamer too, aren't you? Well, if you get satellite, you will be a former gamer. Impossible pings.

[az]

You might of course fall back to modem for gaming.. but surfing won't feel as fast with a sat con as it does with broadband, even if the transfer rates are the same. The pings are THAT bad.

AZ

[Oboy]

Sorry to hear that Don!
I looked into the satellite thing and it was just not the way to go, so when the time comes, welcome to the HPB club!


/me I going to kick his butt when he becomes a HPB!
j/k

Oboy

[RichL]

Re: I am bummed out!

Originally posted by Pneumatic
As a few of you know, I just bought two acres of land in a pretty nice area just outside of the town I live in and am planning to build a house there....

Yeah, I have similar problems every day, deciding wether to take the Rolls, Bently or Mercedes to work, then the agonising decision over wether to pick one of them in a color that compliments or clashes with my supermodel girlfriends chosen outfit for the day.

Have you thought of trying ISDN?

[az]

ISDN is kinda slow (64K here, MIGHT be 56k in other parts of the world, but I don't think so), but it's A WORLD apart from POTS 56K. It has better pings, much more stable connections, much less packet loss, connects much faster and overall feels more like "broadband lite" than modem.

AZ

[Gurm]

Sadly, in most of the USA ISDN is just not a viable option. In addition to being hideously expensive (as much as $100 a month or more) it is also touchy and requires a special modem (just like DSL or Cable, only no ISP will lend you theirs just for subscribing).

I'd check into cable options, if I were you. See who the providers are, call them up and get estimates on two-way. If it's a gated community (as you imply) then it's likely high on their priority list. Plus, how far are you from the CO? DSL is improving all the time. My in-laws can get it now, because a new DSL-looped CO went in at the foot of the mountain they live on top of. Granted they can only have 640k, but that's a good sight better than nothing, now isn't it?

You can find a satellite provider that will set you up for cheaper. You can get a combination TV and unlimited Internet package for like $89 (which isn't TOO bad, it's comparable with the cost of Cable TV + DSL, not as good a deal as Cable Modem of course, but...) but of course the setup cost is high, and pings are ludicrous (2000ms = 2 seconds is not uncommon).

I feel for you, man. I had NOTHING here for a while. Actually, I had one-way cable. It wasn't half bad for gaming, believe it or not.

That's your last option - see if you can get one-way cable from the company that seems most likely to provide two-way cable the soonest. Yeah, it'll suck up a second phone line, but...

- Gurm

[az]

ISDN is very common here. I believe I still have an ISDN "modem" lying around, so I could send it to you, if you chose ISDN. The important thing to know is what ISDN standard do you use? The card can work with... erm... DSS-1 ("EURO-ISDN"). I _THINK_ it can work with some older standard too, which might be used in the US, seeing as ISDN isn't used very much there.

AZ

[GT98]

Boy I lucked out when I moved....I went from Comcrap Cable "high-speed" Internet at blazing 1.2Mbit/128kbit if I was lucky to 10mbit/1mbit on my new cable carrier for the same price Thankfully I convinced my GF that we are going to settle down in the same area where our apartment is so I'll keep the same provider

[RichL]

You can get 128kb ISDN for £25 a month excluding call charges from BT over here, but connection costs about £150

[az]

You use up both phone lines for 128k though.

You cannot even get ISDN with only one line here. There are no flats for dialup here, though (ISDN is dialup, like modem).

AZ

[Byock]

Ouch! I feel for you, going from High Speed to Dial up, is enough to kill any MURC'er....

Good Luck!

The Chicken

[Gurm]

Yes, you can get two-line ISDN here. Problem is the cost (can be close to $100/mo. depending on where you live, DOUBLE the cost of any other technology).

- Gurm