Homestead mailing list

[Leslie <cayadopi AT yahoo.com>]

See if Hughesnet Satellite is in your area. 
________________________________
From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Sat, February 6, 2010 1:24:05 PM
Subject: Re: [Homestead] Communications



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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>From becida AT comcast.net  Sat Feb  6 13:46:36 2010
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At  2/6/2010 09:48 AM,EarthNSky wrote:


>Do any of you have any suggestions for how I might improve my
>connectivity to the world?  I don't follow the technology crowd so I am
>sure I am missing options.  I would like to connect reliably to the
>internet at faster speeds than 26kbps.

Lynda uses some type of microwave internet, a line-of-sight thing.
You are in a valley, Is there any place around your valley that some
type of repeater could be put on the ridge?  This line of thought
gets you turned into an ISP company for the valley.... There are
other line-of-sight options which are tough in a valley.

In Minnesota (7 years ago) the telephone co-op ran fiber optics to
all it's customers, out here PUD3 is running fiber optics but is not
going everywhere, just to selected areas. The local phone company
just started offering DSL at our place and then there is Comcast who
does everything out here through a coax cable.

I'd ask at the local utilities to see if anything is on the horizon
or even being talked about (political promises for the us little
people are a very long shots). See what folks have to say about
satellite comms (warnings, limitations and things to look for) then
I'd call the satellite companies.

You have made the decision, that's often the hard part.



Rob

becida AT comcast.net
Western Washington State, USA