Hi-speed internet is coming to rural Wisconsin

[Hatchdog]

Does anyone have experience with Starlink? The Elon Musk satellite internet thing.

My son who lives rural and works from home as an insurance adjuster has Starlink. He tried the DSL available and it wasn’t good enough for his needs. He also is in a cellular dark hole so uses the Starlink for internet phone service. He says it’s wonderful.

[Mags]

... I just tested my chromebook speed, 85 mbs. ... I think I'm supposed to get 100 mbs according to the provider.
...

There are some switching delays in the network that cause some loss. Running a speed test to the closest speed test server in Sherwood, I can usually get to mid 90's over our 100Mbs service. Testing to servers in Portland, mid 80's.

[Sir Henry]

My AT&T iPhone gets 5G at home. I’m currently in Madison and only get LTE and it’s a lot slower. Even though it’s slower it just means I wait two seconds instead of a fraction of a second.

Back at home it all depends on where you are at. A neighbor 1/2 mile away doesn’t get cell service at home and instead uses a land line while at home and a cell phone when out and about.

[Mags]

My AT&T iPhone gets 5G at home. I’m currently in Madison and only get LTE and it’s a lot slower. Even though it’s slower it just means I wait two seconds instead of a fraction of a second.

Back at home it all depends on where you are at. A neighbor 1/2 mile away doesn’t get cell service at home and instead uses a land line while at home and a cell phone when out and about.

Similar here. No cell service indoors, but we now have an LTE extender for that. It's a cellular transceiver router connected to our Internet router. All our indoor cell phone activity get routed over the internet. Unfortunately the extender doesn't reach outdoors. Regular cell service outdoors is very weak. Our landline is also routed over the internet. We had an internet outage last week, so nothing worked.

[dave77]

Lived through several "Hi Speed Internet Coming Soon" generations.
First was from 24Kb/s to 56KKb/s modem
Then broadband DSL modem to 384Kb/s
Then early FIOS up to 30Mb/s
Now here the minimum speed is 100Mb/s with a maximum of 50Gb/s

Wow, 50Gb/s home internet service:
"New or current customers across all Ziply Fiber markets in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington can sign up for the 50Gbps plan starting at $900 monthly. There is also a one-time installation fee of $600, and customers are responsible for providing their own router."

https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/zipl ... ar-way-up/

[Sir Henry]

Lived through several "Hi Speed Internet Coming Soon" generations.
First was from 24Kb/s to 56KKb/s modem
Then broadband DSL modem to 384Kb/s
Then early FIOS up to 30Mb/s
Now here the minimum speed is 100Mb/s with a maximum of 50Gb/s

Wow, 50Gb/s home internet service:
"New or current customers across all Ziply Fiber markets in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington can sign up for the 50Gbps plan starting at $900 monthly. There is also a one-time installation fee of $600, and customers are responsible for providing their own router."

https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/zipl ... ar-way-up/

That is insanely expensive especially for something that you can’t actually use. Is downloading something in 1/100th of a second better than in 1/10th of a second?

[Mags]

Lived through several "Hi Speed Internet Coming Soon" generations.
First was from 24Kb/s to 56KKb/s modem
Then broadband DSL modem to 384Kb/s
Then early FIOS up to 30Mb/s
Now here the minimum speed is 100Mb/s with a maximum of 50Gb/s

Wow, 50Gb/s home internet service:
"New or current customers across all Ziply Fiber markets in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington can sign up for the 50Gbps plan starting at $900 monthly. There is also a one-time installation fee of $600, and customers are responsible for providing their own router."

https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/zipl ... ar-way-up/

That is insanely expensive especially for something that you can’t actually use. Is downloading something in 1/100th of a second better than in 1/10th of a second?

Ya, that is something likely aimed at gamers, influencers and content providers, etc where they want or require big multi threaded data.
Our lowly 100Mbs service is more than enough for us.

[Sir Henry]

Wow, 50Gb/s home internet service:
"New or current customers across all Ziply Fiber markets in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington can sign up for the 50Gbps plan starting at $900 monthly. There is also a one-time installation fee of $600, and customers are responsible for providing their own router."

https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/zipl ... ar-way-up/

That is insanely expensive especially for something that you can’t actually use. Is downloading something in 1/100th of a second better than in 1/10th of a second?

Ya, that is something likely aimed at gamers, influencers and content providers, etc where they want or require big multi threaded data.
Our lowly 100Mbs service is more than enough for us.

I’m not sure how fast my 5G is but I do know most everything loads right away. If I download an hour utube it might take 5 seconds. What I really find limiting is some websites are slow and it doesn’t matter how fast your internet service is.

[Mags]

That is insanely expensive especially for something that you can’t actually use. Is downloading something in 1/100th of a second better than in 1/10th of a second?

Ya, that is something likely aimed at gamers, influencers and content providers, etc where they want or require big multi threaded data.
Our lowly 100Mbs service is more than enough for us.

I’m not sure how fast my 5G is but I do know most everything loads right away. If I download an hour utube it might take 5 seconds. What I really find limiting is some websites are slow and it doesn’t matter how fast your internet service is.

5G is supposedly up to 20Gbs. That makes it very viable alternative to land based networks. 6G when it arrives is supposed to be up to 1Tbs. If affordable won't be a need for land based networks.

[Hatchdog]

Sitting up here in shooting/atv camp and sure do wish I had some of that Hi-speed stuff. If I set my T-Mobile phone in the rv window I can get 1-2 bars and can hot spot it to this I pad. I just tried to open the Targetsports link BigAl sent me and the website would not open. Bu this site opened fine????

[BigAl52]

Fiber optic Internet came to my house today. My computer is now faster than it has ever been. What a difference

[Sir Henry]

Spectrum is now at my house, literally now. I’m addicted to MLB and the NFL and can’t live without it. Plus my shop has become the hangout for sports fans and peer pressure made me bite the bullet.

IMG_4977.jpeg (3.01 MiB) Viewed 4745 times

[dave77]

I'm amazed at how much Spectrum will spend to get one new customer. Last year they ran a ditch up my dead-end road, only 3 possible customers in the foreseeable future and all 3 have/had PUD fiber. Sub contractor putting in the ditch, conduit and cable said they were charging Spectrum $10,000. Talked to a Spectrum guy who was hooking up my neighbor who switched and he said Spectrum would pay up to $5000 for 1 new customer. I get a letter from them about every month wanting me to switch but I'm happy with my fiber, 1000Mbps up and down for $60 a month.

[Sir Henry]

I'm amazed at how much Spectrum will spend to get one new customer. Last year they ran a ditch up my dead-end road, only 3 possible customers in the foreseeable future and all 3 have/had PUD fiber. Sub contractor putting in the ditch, conduit and cable said they were charging Spectrum $10,000. Talked to a Spectrum guy who was hooking up my neighbor who switched and he said Spectrum would pay up to $5000 for 1 new customer. I get a letter from them about every month wanting me to switch but I'm happy with my fiber, 1000Mbps up and down for $60 a month.

I think Spectrum gets federal funds for booking rural people to the net. There are six houses in one and a half miles on my road. Plus they had to run it 300 yards up my driveway. I get 1,000 MBs per second for $70 a month. My new 75” tv is a data hog.

[dave77]

That makes sense but it seems they wouldn't/shouldn't get a federal subsidy for running it to homes that already have a very high speed net option available. My ISP with the PUD fiber has 2500 x 2500 for $75 and 5000 x 5000 for $85.

[Sir Henry]

That makes sense but it seems they wouldn't/shouldn't get a federal subsidy for running it to homes that already have a very high speed net option available. My ISP with the PUD fiber has 2500 x 2500 for $75 and 5000 x 5000 for $85.

I’m not sure what those numbers mean but do understand your point. Here there was only satellite internet and it was very expensive. Not only that but the satellites were low in the sky and needed a large clear area. Something that isn’t everywhere here in the Northwoods. Spectrum now is as low as $40 a month and is everywhere.

I have the biggest internet package and will also get a good television package. I’m surprised at how much I get for free. All those free antenna stations are now free on the internet. Those and a hundred others. A friend hooked me up to her DirectTV account and she has the best so I’m currently getting everything. She gave me this on a temporary basis and she expects me to get my own although she isn’t in a hurry as it doesn’t cost her anymore.

[dave77]

That makes sense but it seems they wouldn't/shouldn't get a federal subsidy for running it to homes that already have a very high speed net option available. My ISP with the PUD fiber has 2500 x 2500 for $75 and 5000 x 5000 for $85.

I’m not sure what those numbers mean but do understand your point.

2500Mbps down and up, 5000Mbps down and up. So for $85 a month 5 times the speed of the 1000Mbps you will be getting. Not many residential accounts would need anywhere that speed.

[Sir Henry]

That makes sense but it seems they wouldn't/shouldn't get a federal subsidy for running it to homes that already have a very high speed net option available. My ISP with the PUD fiber has 2500 x 2500 for $75 and 5000 x 5000 for $85.

I’m not sure what those numbers mean but do understand your point.

2500Mbps down and up, 5000Mbps down and up. So for $85 a month 5 times the speed of the 1000Mbps you will be getting. Not many residential accounts would need anywhere that speed.

Thanks

[Steve51]

I live in a rural farming area. Cell phone service is very bad and our DSL internet was very slow. Land line phone and DSL got up to $170/month. Finally ditched the land line and DSL internet and went with Starlink. Had to purchase the hardware and install it myself but now have high speed internet and set my cell phone to wifi calling and now have great cell phone signal. For me, starlink is $120/month. I also cancelled my dish network that was also >$160/month and now stream my TV viewing. We have been promised broadband since Obama was Presidnet - still hasn't happened.

[dave77]

We're lucky as our county has a PUD (public utility district) that provides power and water. Cheap power (2.7¢ per kWh) as we own 2 dams on the Columbia River. They built out the infrastructure and have fiber to a large percentage of the county. They don't function as a ISP, they just lease the connections to several ISP's. They do offer Starlink for those that don't have fiber.