# Anyone use wireless internet? (Living off the grid)



## FleshEater (Feb 22, 2015)

So...we purchased a house that's outside of any landline based internet sevice. Our only option, it seems, is Verizon wireless internet. Does anyone have any experience with this internet? My wife works from home, so we need decent service.

When I say off the grid, I mean way out there. Think...Dueling Banjos.


:upset:


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## Schrody (Feb 22, 2015)

[video=youtube;myhnAZFR1po]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myhnAZFR1po[/video]

Sorry, maybe some colleague from the US can be more helpful


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## Bloggsworth (Feb 22, 2015)

Do you mean satellite internet?


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## midnightpoet (Feb 22, 2015)

You're next door to the inbred cannibalistic mutant rednecks?  Seriously, we're in a small rural town in the middle a thousand square miles of cactus, mesquite and rattlesnakes.  We have had trouble with cel phone service and internet both, and understand your problem.  We had to buy a cel phone booster from our service provider, and it has helped both the cel and internet service. Heavy rain or thunderstorms sometimes interrupt service.  Just a few weeks ago an ice storm destroyed a tower and we were down for several days.  Our options here are limited, most everyone has the "dish" for cable but we opted out of that.  We didn't want cable, just internet.  Check with your service provider (both cel and internet) for options.  We've learned to live with our limitations.  Good luck.:biggrin:


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## TJ1985 (Feb 22, 2015)

midnightpoet said:


> You're next door to the inbred cannibalistic mutant rednecks?



Ahem, I've had no new neighbors, thanks. I will tell my grandsistaunt to be on the lookout for new people, though.

Geez, ya eat one little door-to-door salesman who happened to make a wrong turn off the main road, and all the sudden you've got a label...

I'm on satellite. My only experience with wireless was Verizon. We did fine with them until a contract with a landowner saw the relocation of a cellular tower. We never got great reception and the tower moving a mile farther away didn't help. If you've got excellent cellular coverage, it might work. Our problem came with the little USB doodad (sorry for the technical jargon) going bad time and time again, which kept automatically renewing our 2 year contract back to the beginning each time we needed a new one. I can't really recommend them unless you've got no other options or like being bullied into a new contract you do not want. We ended up having to pay off the contract to be rid of them.  

I'm madly in love with Hughes satellite, but their bandwidth restrictions are bordering on ridiculous. I have 5gig anytime which works out to 174MB daily. 10gig bonus from 2AM to 8AM, but I'm usually online by myself. I can seriously knock a major dent in my usage after half an hour on youtube, finding myself twiddling my thumbs until it resets. It's fast, but that's the problem: It can pull down a 100mb file so fast that you don't realize it's downloaded it until it's way too late. 

I hope you find a working system for your area, FleshEater.


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## Cran (Feb 22, 2015)

I live in a part of West Oz that is treated as though it is further from the city than it really is - a consequence of not being on one of the three major highways out of Perth. 

I have both wireless and landline, and both have issues but usually not at the same time, so I swap from one to the other. Unfortunately, no matter what the provider tells you, you won't know how stable the signal (and connection) will be until "you commit to the program".*

_*flashback to one or more episodes of the Jason Bourne trilogy. _


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## FleshEater (Feb 22, 2015)

A lot of interesting comments.

TJ, Hughesnet has been a consideration, but we've heard horror stories about its compatibility with VPN's. Or rather, lack thereof.

Since my wife works from home, and through two VPN's, she'll be using data like crazy. I called our current provider and our usage can range from 49-65 GB a month. (Well...210GB a month with Netflix and kids.)

Verizon quoted us $330 a month for 50GB with their Home Fusion internet. Ugh. 

This home is a ranch, which sits on the edge of a mountain, overlooking the mountain tops. Really hard decision here. What's worse is our house is sold, and closes in a month.


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## Cran (Feb 22, 2015)

FleshEater said:


> Verizon quoted us $330 a month for 50GB with their Home Fusion internet. Ugh.


That's a lot of cookies just to be connected to the world. 

I'd shop around.


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## TKent (Feb 22, 2015)

Did anyone say Banjo Boy? This is me and my crew with Banjo Boy about 5 or so years ago. He has passed away now, but was a fry-cook at a The Cookie Jar Cafe in Clayton, GA when we met up with him here. Shoot, I need to move this to the 'celebrities you've met' thread. 









Schrody said:


> [video=youtube;myhnAZFR1po]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myhnAZFR1po[/video]
> 
> Sorry, maybe some colleague from the US can be more helpful


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## FleshEater (Feb 22, 2015)

Cran said:


> That's a lot of cookies just to be connected to the world.
> 
> I'd shop around.



We did. That's the best there is. And you should read the reviews on Verizon Home Fusion. Some people end up with $5,000 in internet charges.

Anyways, we terminated the contract and lost a great deal of money due to this. Not happy. But, such is life in 2015. Time to find a new home.


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## Cran (Feb 22, 2015)

I suppose I'd better come up with a [Damn! That's Rough.] button, cos damn! that's rough. I've been bitten on paying out contracts but not like that. 

Here's hoping better solutions happen in your part of the world.


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