Need internet service in remote location

M

Montana Kev

New member
I am in need of internet service in a remote location. Currently the location has very sketchy cell phone coverage. This could probably be improved with an antenna arrangement. The situation is that my friend is recovering from major surgery and needs to work from home, he may never be able to return to a normal office work environment. He lives up a canyon with no cable, no DSL, and limited cell service.

I am looking for reasonably priced options for broad band so he can work. A wireless card might work good enough if we had a way to boost the signal to the computer using some sort of antenna. I know there are satellite options, so I am looking for recommendations/best options.

Thanks,
Kevin
 
Kevin

I assume he has a land line and contact the telco if you have not already. If he is on the electrical grid contact them about broadband over power lines
 
If you can find cell service somewhere in the house -- say upstairs by a window -- you can get a my-fi for Verizon and others that allows 5 devices or just get one for single computer for a little less. Mine cost $50 after rebate and $50 month. Cheaper than the $12 - 15 per night charges in hotels while on business and we use it at the beach house so wife and I can both work. She ran it in the car for a couple of hours while we were traveling.

Bill Uffelman
Las Vegas
 
It isn't as cheap as a land line or even Verizon 4-G, but Hughes net has an internet service via satellite (DirectTV.) People using it in Valley Centre, Ca say the service is good. If there's no cell coverage or land line, it's the only way to go.

Boris
 
I suggest the Mifi card in a Wilson Sleek booster cradle. The Sleek comes with a mini antenna that plugs into the cradle; that plugs into either 12v or 110 adapter. In remote areas, we have gone from no data service to decent 3G; no bars on the phone to 3-4 bars. A significant difference in our experience.

Hope that info helps your friend.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
I would suggest either HughesNet or WildBlue if the cellular options don't work out. We sell HughesNet but only recommend it if there are no other options. You order from a local retailer or on line directly from Hughes or Wildblue. Of the two I would pick HughesNet at this time.
 
If dial-up is the less expensive option and service is available, you can still surf the net and email for example, setup a Google email account and instead of viewing online and using your bandwidth use Outlook Express, Thunderbird or other email client, the setup POP configuration and download only Subject headers then disconnect and work offline (replies, deletes, forwards) then connect again. Google Docs (word, spreadsheet, presentations)files can be accessed offline using Google Gears on Windows. Same principle as above, work offline, connect and sync. There are other services that allows off line features like Evernote. For web browsers, most have a view text only option or look for an add-ons or a plain text browser. This will save bandwidth and block a lot of useless stuff being pushed to us today b/c we have high speed access. There are others add-ons to block flash animations, ads,..... and will show no graphics or just a thumb nail but saves bandwidth. This is just plain minimalist net access but idea is perform as many items off line then connect. and surfing without graphics. This may work but I don't know his requirements but dial up is still used by millions
 
I use HughesNet and if you don't get an upgraded service (Mine is about $85/month), you are limited in your downloads. If he brings in big files for work as I do, the system will slow down for 24 hours to 1200 baud to penalize you if you go over your limit (about 2gigs) . That's for the $60/month service. I also have a local wireless broadband for backup that is faster but less reliable. It's only about $35/month if you pay annually. Fortunately, my company pays for both.

Charlie
 
Besides sat access which is pricey, another way to approach the issue is determine the location of nearest high speed point of presence (PoP) from his residence and work out access (if possible) and setup a PoP to him. This depends on the land line grid (T1 lines and up) if none are close to his home then sat is the only option but knowing his needs is where I would start b/c it varies person to person.
 
I used to subscribe to Wild Blue's satellite internet service before Century Link finally got us DSL (I live in a very rural and sparsely populated area).

Wild Blue had very intermittent service at the time (probably about 2-3 years back) causing me to revert to dial-up frequently. The Wild Blue service seemed to work much better when the weather was perfect and be extremely sensitive to any kind of bad weather especially rain - not that it ever rains here near the Olympic Peninsula (not so subtle sarcasm!). This was along the lines of our Direct TV or Dish TV signal breaking up during poor weather but to a much greater degree of sensitivity.

At the time, a neighbor of ours had Hughes satellite and it sounded like their connection was more reliable but then again I was working full-time frequently from home and depending on the connection for my job while his internet usage was more 'recreational'.

In summary, I found the Wild Blue internet service to be extremely unreliable. Perhaps, in your area - with less rain - (snow would likely do the same) - perhaps your results would be better.

Good luck,
Dan
 
Wildblue uses Ka band which is much higher in frequency than the Ku band that HughesNet was using at the time. Hughes is now using Ka band also. The only way to help overcome the rain issue is oversize the satellite antenna. It's a little more money but a lot more reliability. Wildblue is supposed to get a new satellite sometime next year that should increase capacity (meaning more bandwidth) but won't change the rain performance.
 
If he gets cell service--and you would want to know if one of the 3G or 4G coverages is available--an antenna and amp most likely will help. If you can borrow a set up and then put the antenna in various places, you may be able to see what strength and bandwidth he can get. For instance we have the Wilson Trucker antenna, (built in ground plane--but the marine unit also has the ground plane)--and Amp, plus a Mi Fi. Our set up all works on 12 volts and cig lighter plugs, so you use a small U1 12 volt battery and try the rig in different places. Although you can extend the antenna cable, there will be some loss, and I would think that more than 100 feet of extension would be to the point that it would not be worth it. There is another option and that is to use a Yaggi antenna. That will give a lot more boost and you can use a higher quality, low loss coax. I would consider RG-8 or 9913-Equivalent double shield, with about 3.36 dB loss per 100 feet. You may also need a tower. Not cheap, but may be cheaper than other alternatives. If you can get any cell signal currently, then you should be able to markedly improve on that.
 
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