Moving - Broadband Help Needed

[Polypro]

Edit

[gplasky]

For DSL you usually need to be within 7 miles of the CO. (Central Office) If not you're out of luck for DSL.

Gerry

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by gplasky

For DSL you usually need to be within 7 miles of the CO. (Central Office) If not you're out of luck for DSL.

Gerry

Not true. You need to be within 3 miles (really 2) of the nearest full digital switch. My dad was on 15 miles of wire, but when they updated the near little brick building, they got him DSL.

[S_M_E]

If you want DSL order it, they'll figure out if they can install it or not then. Same with Cable. Order whichever you prefer and see what happens. The worst that can happen is they call you back and say, they can't do it. Personally, I'd try for cable first...

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

Not true. You need to be within 3 miles (really 2) of the nearest full digital switch. My dad was on 15 miles of wire, but when they updated the near little brick building, they got him DSL.

It varies. Verizon DSL actually has a 24,000 feet (4.5 mile limit) Factor in a remote DSLAM in the neighborhood and you can attain the 7 mile limit. (At least that is what I was told when I was checking out switching over.) I stayed with cable.

Gerry

[Polypro]

Edit

[dgeezer]

I've had a laptop with a Sprint EVDO connection built in for the last 2 years. I hardly ever notice any difference between it and my home connection (RoadRunner Cable) as far as basic browsing and email usage. The 5GB cap is a concern but I have never even gotten close. I send a fair amount of photos from the field back to the office but nothing else real intensive.

Back when all the sprint connection cards were pcmia there was a Linksys router that allowed you to plug the Laptop card in directly. If you have to go the sprint route it may take a little work to get a router set up.

[steambuilder]

My Sprint card is plugged in to my Dlink DIR-450 router at home about 98% of the time and everything works very well with Sage. I am in a rural area with no other choice other than dial up.

[Polypro]

Thanks, for the info. It looks like Sprint would be the best with the lower overage charges (if needed). 3gstore.com has all the stuff needed...pretty cool.

P

[QueOnda]

You could look into Satellite internet. I think Direct now has Up and down on Satellite, where before it was only up on analog phone.

[reggie14]

To the best of my knowledge, Alltel hasn't instituted caps yet. If you're in an Alltel area you can still sign up for Alltel and not have to go with Verizon. Official statements by Alltel strongly suggest that Verizon will honor Alltel's contract terms. So, if Verizon decided to start capping users, it should be possible to cancel without paying the early termination fee.

Also, if you go that route, I'm sure you've already seen 3gstore's cradlepoint routers and their antennas. First I want to point out 3gstore is overpriced, but their return terms are quite good, as is their customer support. So, I would recommend them. On routers, the CTR500 has a very weak wireless signal. You would either need to hook it up to a different switch, or you could go with the MBR1000, which apparently works pretty well. If you need an antenna to boost your signal, I'd recommend a yagi or panel antenna unless there are hills or buildings blocking your line of sight to a cell phone tower (trees are fine). This is because you don't want your wireless card getting confused if it can see more than one cell phone tower. I have a problem right now where two towers are just barely in range, and I keep bouncing between the two. It's been giving me connection problems as a result.

Beware, ping times aren't very good using evdo cards, and there's a decent chance they won't be tremendously better than satellite.

[Polypro]

Posted via Sprint 3G and the DirecTV installer is in the attic Thanks for the antenna tip...I need one. I'm getting 80% outside but only 40% inside. This all looks like its going to work.

P

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by Polypro

BTW, Gerr...I'll be in *****, 5 acres

P

That's gotta be sweet.

Gerry