Accessing the internet in cottage country (and rural areas)

[splashhopper]

As a guy that "lives on the internet" most days, I am wondering about accessing the net in rural and cottage areas.

 

When I had a trailer in Bayfield, we could get connected ( poorly might I add) to the park's connection. It was fair on the best of days, and next to impossible on the worst.

 

If you live in a rural area or have a cottage around Georgian Bay and or the Huntsville region, what do you do for internet access?

Edited July 11, 2010 by splashhopper

[Roy]

I really don't understand why this is a poll. Just posting the question would give you your answer.

 

I'm on cable in an urban area so I can't help you.

[splashhopper]

I really don't understand why this is a poll. Just posting the question would give you your answer.

 

I'm on cable in an urban area so I can't help you.

 

Hi Roy: I am meeting with a guy next week to discuss selling satellite internet services.

 

I have no experience with them and am looking for feedback from those that live in the regions mentioned for their personal feedback.

 

Thank you for your consideration.

[pike slayer]

i moved to a rural area in april and searched all my options. and i didnt come up with very much.\

first there is dial up sloooowww. Second is satellite internet ive been told its really not that much faster then dial but an upgrade. the one company i looked into was xplornet. for there regular package its $50 a month plus taxes, Your start up fees an range from $250-500, It was $250 for the hardware plus if you want a local techy to install it it'll be around another $250 depending on how rural you are. If you are going to be in farm country there is this company i believe its called silo internet and they have internet hooked up to jump from silo to silo providing internet in field country, this is no good to me im in the bush. DO NOT listen bell on their internet sticks, i got one cause they told me they 93% of canada and it doesnt no run on cell signal. Well after i got it i found out they cover where 93% of where canadians live!! so basically it only covers high populated areas stuuuupppid bell god i hate them. Depending on how far you are from cell signal the best product out there is rogers rocket hub that has just came out. this internet hub has more power then your cell phone and will hook you up signal if you are just out of range. You can run your cell phone, internet, and also home phone off of this hub for around $50 a month and it also works as a router and you can run up to i believe 4 computers at a time. If you are a bit out of range you can hook up an antenna booster to increase your signal distance, the only problem with those is the ones rogers offers all have a recall and none work and im waiting on them to resolve the problem. the start up fee is $150 and the antenna boosters range from $50-300 depending on the power of the booster. i know bell JUST got these internet hubs and they know nothing of them cause well bell is dummmmbbb.

I hope this helped a little bit! right now i dont have internet at my home and im playing the waiting game on this recall from rogers.

[BillsTheBassMan]

Our family business builds communication towers for companies such as Bell, Rogers, Telus etc and we are ALWAYS building towers in cottage areas.

 

I just got back from a weeks vacation at one of our island jobsites in Georgian Bay (Sans Souci - Frying Pan Island) and the area is dotted with communication towers. All you need is one of the wireless sticks and you can access the net pretty much wherever. Granted, when I am on vacation, or when I am fishing, the internet is the last thing I am thinking about. I am also sure that about 50-75% of the cottages through that stretch have internet access already.

 

Ryan

[Beans]

I got sick and tired of waiting (4 years) for Bell to bring hi-speed into our area so as soon as I saw that my cable company was offering a hi-speed package I jumped right in...

 

I got to cancel the second Bell phone line that I needed for the computer...and by bundling my tv and computer packages I ended up saving over $35 per month...

 

I went for the medium hi-speed package not the super hi-speed one...at times it slows down but it is usually during automatic windows updates or virus scanes and defination updates...

[dave524]

One thing to watch if you use the connection a lot is bandwidth caps. A plan may seem like a good deal but may have a cap of only 20gig a month and hefty fees per gig if you go over. Check this out b4 going into a plan , maybe track your monthly usage for a while b4 switching.

[scugpg]

I know a few people who are not happy with the Satellite service. Using a Rogers rocket stick with or without a cell repeater tower seems to be the best bet from what I've heard.

[Big Cliff]

I have been with Xplornet for about 4 years now and love it. No up load/down load limites, 5mbps down load, excellent service, and I pay with taxes about $60.00/month. It has been very reliable for me!

[grt1]

we put in a satellite system among the neighbours, 3 houses sharing it via a wireless router. it was faster than the dial up we were using and we have had that system for 5 or so years, but this year i put in a system for ourselves.

 

I was away when the system was installed and so the installer put it directly into the wife's computer and it was pretty fast.

 

when i came home i installed a router and the speed indicated on her computer went from 100mbs to 54mbs (i'm assuming that is the speed of the router).

 

xplornet had a special on when i ordered it, the equipment was free as long as you signed up for 2 years and took the 1 meg package. the price of the package was also lowered from 80 to 60 per month. I'm pretty happy with it , it sure makes it easier and quicker to view the posting and pics on OFC.

[bulltron]

Here in London, I'm a web/android phone developer ... when I go up to Nepewassi, there is ONE square on the dining table's table cloth that I get hsdpa(3G+), being an Android developer, and clearly having gift phones from Google - I whipped up a sweet little program that shares my 3g+ signal from my phone ad-hoc connect it to my laptops, and im surfing at about a 3Mb service download, and a 2.5Mb service upload ....Lets me get my work done, and lets me get my movies and tv shows downloaded in under an hour ... other than that, im stuck with 3G or Edge network, but, still can effectively browse the internet ...

[bulltron]

One thing to watch if you use the connection a lot is bandwidth caps. A plan may seem like a good deal but may have a cap of only 20gig a month and hefty fees per gig if you go over. Check this out b4 going into a plan , maybe track your monthly usage for a while b4 switching.

 

to this ... when netsavvy makes it up north,(they are on the way)... 10mb down 1mb up(1mb/second and 100kbs upload) ... for around 35$ plus tax, 200 GIG cap ... for those of you still in southern ontario for the most part ... netsavvy is worth a check out ...

 

i was with rogers, a 10/1 connection, paying 90$ a month with a 120gb cap ..... i now am with netsavvy, paying $60/month, with NO cap, 10/1 service ...

 

cant wait till they rock northern ontario with those deals!

[Terry]

to this ... when netsavvy makes it up north,(they are on the way)... 10mb down 1mb up(1mb/second and 100kbs upload) ... for around 35$ plus tax, 200 GIG cap ... for those of you still in southern ontario for the most part ... netsavvy is worth a check out ...

 

i was with rogers, a 10/1 connection, paying 90$ a month with a 120gb cap ..... i now am with netsavvy, paying $60/month, with NO cap, 10/1 service ...

 

cant wait till they rock northern ontario with those deals!

 

netsavvy

you have a website for that

Edited July 11, 2010 by Terry

[The Urban Fisherman]

I have been with Xplornet for about 4 years now and love it. No up load/down load limites, 5mbps down load, excellent service, and I pay with taxes about $60.00/month. It has been very reliable for me!

 

Xplornet wireless (line of sight whatever it's called) works great for general surfing, looking at pictures and downloading MP3 songs if you want, but when it comes to video or large files it's useless. Watching You Tube works fine, but I upload and download large files on a daily basis. If you actually used and FTP program and monitored the speed it's only a 5MB burst to load web pages etc. After a bout 30 seconds or so the speed crashes to about 1MB. I have had nothing but trouble with them. They told me I had to use satellite which cost me about $800.00 to have set up only to find out that their speeds on the dish were bogus. And if I went over my bandwidth, they cut me off to compensate for a lack of bandwidth. I ended up putting up a $4000.00 tower last summer only to find out that their 5mb speeds are only burst speeds and not constant. Last month lightning hit my tower and they charged me $800.00 in parts and repairs on THEIR rental gear. Best part was they didn't inform me what or even if I'd have to pay to replace the gear, so $600.00 came out of my bank account automatically while I was away last weekend...It over drafted my account 10 bucks so the bank charged me 45 dollars. Banks were closed so I had to borrow gas money from my parents to get home. When I contacted them about the situation and asked that they at least compensate me for the $45.00 over draft charge they told me "TO BAD - READ THE FINE PRINT!" So far I'm into the internet with Xplornet for about $8000.00 YES EIGHT THOUSAND dollars in 3 years. So this is one of the reasons I'm moving to "town".

 

Just thought I'd give an opposite opinion on Xplornet. I've got some more stories about them but won't go into it.

 

Glad it's working out good for you though Cliff!

 

cheers,

Ryan

[bulltron]

netsavvy

you have a website for that

 

why I said net savvy is beyond me .. lol,

teksavvy ...

 

TekSavvy <----- link here [edit* below:)]

www.teksavvy.com

a friend in Toronto has this service .. she is pulling 25mb down, and 1mb up ... shes only signed on for the 10mb service ... but getting 25... pretty sweet.

edit** link didn't work....

Edited July 12, 2010 by Trevor Perkins