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  • From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Communications
  • Date: Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:24:05 -0500



Gloria Morris wrote:
Hey, Bev!

I am on WildBlue satellite Internet. Due to the fast download and slow
upload speeds, I can hear people via Skype. They cannot hear me, however. I
use my Skype number for messages only. That is surprisingly useful, however,
and something you might want to consider.

Yeah, and the thing is that I might not know until I actually get hooked up as to whether or not Skype will work for me.
WildBlue is not installing in my area. I keep waiting, because they are apparently the cheapest service.



Cell phone coverage here is spotty at best. On good days, if I stand in one
particular spot on the second floor of the house, I cannot get a bar of
signal, but even with no bars, there is some sort of signal, as the
connection I get is sufficient for a short conversation with some repeating
for clarity. On bad days, I must get in the car and drive to a location
where I can get a signal.

Sometimes, sometimes, I can send and receive text messages via my cell, but not voice. My phone will not ring if someone calls, so usually as I drive to work, when I get about 4 miles out, I get a flurry of voice mail messages...LOL. It is odd, but I can usually text even with no bars, like you. I can get one bar with a broken and spotty connection if I run out to the middle of my front pasture, but mostly I am limited by terrain and ridges on all sides. Even FM radio is thwarted here...AM is good at night though.


There are antennas and boosters you can use if you have any signal at all to
boost. The equipment and wiring on these (assuming you do your own
installation) ranges in price from a few hundred to around $1K. What you
need will depend upon a variety of factors, including strength of the
available outside signal.


I've seen them, but haven't considered it a viable option due to the expense. Besides, employer paid or not, I don't use my cell enough to justify the expense of it. I get 450 minutes and unlimited texts, but I use around 60/month and text maybe 40 times. I'm just not big on talking on the phone.

B

--
Many of our greatest American thinkers, men of the caliber of Thomas Jefferson, Henry Thoreau, Mark Twain, William James, and John Muir, have found the forest an effective stimulus to original thought.
Bob Marshall




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