Rural Users Advised To Keep On Dialing'Standard dial-up is probably the best route.' ( old news - 04:45PM Sunday Sep 10 2006) tags: coverageThe Daily Sentinel of Nacogdoches, TX tells its readers to keep letting their fingers do the walking when it comes to Internet access. Residents outside of the few towns and cities in this largely rural area of East Texas have almost no choice for broadband providers. Or, as in the case of satellite with its $300 to $600 set-up, the service is prohibitively expensive. "Price is the big factor, when it comes to satellite Internet," says Greg Harber, director of the computer science lab at Stephen F. Austin University. "Most people don't want to spend the money for a service that is as undependable as satellite is."Other options include IDSN or wireless service from a cell phone provider. The wireless is "a slight improvement over dial-up," Harber said, "But around here, there are many areas that you can't get a cell phone signal, so cellular Internet is useless." Harber does see hope in the future with WiMAX or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, but the hills and trees of East Texas will challenge line of sight technologies.
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
 ·Comcast
| That's the Price of Living In the Middle of Nowhere I suppose in such places that the nearest grocery store or McDonalds is a good hike away. There might also be no water or sewage service either, or any trash pickup for that matter. Perhaps this paper could write another useless article telling people what they already know.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
|  | jhh
join:2005-05-25
Fargo, ND | Re: That's the Price of Living In the Middle of Nowhere In north dakota you have communities under 500 with fiber or at least 1 meg dsl. It all comes down your local governments ability to keep the qwests out of the area and staying with a cooperative. | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| Re: That's the Price of Living In the Middle of Nowhere said by jhh  :In north dakota you have communities under 500 with fiber or at least 1 meg dsl. It all comes down your local governments ability to keep the qwests out of the area and staying with a cooperative. Well, if fiber and broadband is that important to someone, then they should move to where such services are provided.
Articles like these remind me of people who move to small towns because they like the quaintness and other silly things. These people then start whining when they do have to drive 20 miles to the grocery store, 10 miles to get gas, 30 miles to the bank, etc. It is not the fault of these companies that said people chose to live so far away from civilization.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
| | | | bdsdc
join:2003-12-05
Allen, TX | Re: That's the Price of Living In the Middle of Nowhere Well said. I used to be in that boat, living in a small town because we thought it would be a great place to grow up, when all it did was make other life more enviable and ours frustrating. | |
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Farmboy
@wildblue.net
 from:
wtansill
| Why don't we all just moved to uburbia so we can have broadband. It's not like we need people in rural areas to produce the one thing none of us can live without. I once knew a schoolteacher who had this mentality, " Why don't these people just move to town and do like everybody else, buy their food at the grocery store." One smart school teacher there.
Farming has become so much more technical than in the past and broadband is becomung more needed than many have a clue. | |
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heathcpe
join:2002-03-19
Brandon, MS | Re: That's the Price of Living In the Middle of Nowhere What about Wildblue or Hughsnet??? It's better than dialup. | |
| | | | Sgtslaughtr
join:2005-08-29
Knox, IN | Typical city dweller, you think the world revolves around you. I live in the boonies and I get 768/5000 DSL. The only problem is what a previous poster said about local governments. | |
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insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN
| Re: That's the Price of Living In the Middle of Nowhere said by Sgtslaughtr :I live in the boonies and I get 768/5000 DSL. I guess in the boonies ISPs give you tons of upload but screw you on the download. | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| said by Sgtslaughtr :Typical city dweller, you think the world revolves around you. I live in the boonies and I get 768/5000 DSL. LOL... you've never been to Mount Airy. As for you getting broadband, so what? You have what most people in the USA can already get. Now, had you moved to your current residence without checking for broadband availability first and you found yourself without broadband, whose fault would that be?
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
| | | | markopoleo
join:2003-04-02
Bonne Terre, MO
·Charter Pipeline
| You are pretty uninformed about why people live in small towns. Little known fact, people can't AFFORD to live in cities, or jobs are better in smaller areas.
Being a small area does not mean you should or could not have same services as a city. I live in a small town of 4k people and have super fast internet access, everything a big city goes i have.
You sound like one of the guys who say "Dude, just get broadband" to everyone who complains of high pings... | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| Re: That's the Price of Living In the Middle of Nowhere said by markopoleo :Being a small area does not mean you should or could not have same services as a city. I live in a small town of 4k people and have super fast internet access, everything a big city goes i have. Man, you totally missed my point. Where did I say that small towns didn't deserve broadband?
It is a well known fact that broadband in rural areas is a crapshoot. Some small towns have it but many don't. If you are in a position to choose where you plan to live and you want broadband, but don't choose a place which has it, then that's no one else's fault but your own.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
| | | | | | markopoleo
join:2003-04-02
Bonne Terre, MO | Re: That's the Price of Living In the Middle of Nowhere You said it in everyone of your posts, just not in those exact words.
You could of summed up everyone of your posts by just saying what your thinking "they dont deserve broadband". | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| Re: That's the Price of Living In the Middle of Nowhere said by markopoleo :You said it in everyone of your posts, just not in those exact words. You could of summed up everyone of your posts by just saying what your thinking "they dont deserve broadband". LOL... then I think you need to re-learn how to read. Nowhere did I say anyone did not deserve broadband.
What I have been saying in other posts is that if you want broadband and you are in the position in which you can choose where you want to live, and you don't pick a place that has broadband available, then it is your own fault for not getting broadband.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
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yourmama
@usawide.net | I live about 10 miles outside of Nacogdoches. And it is with great joy that I continue to suffer the pain of dial-up service, with no hope of dsl, in order NOT to live any where near a self-serving, north-eastern elitist like you. | |
| | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO
·Charter Pipeline
| As long as they did it with local or regional money (which it sounds like they did -- i.e. cooperative), three cheers for North Dakota!
But -- how can this be? No broadband USF? No government trough from which to feed? No state-wide video franchise agreement for the ILEC?
Wait, I know. Beings from the 8th dimension have wired North Dakota. Where's Buckaroo Banzai or better yet, Lord John Whorfin? They must be stopped! | |
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jslik
That just happened
Premium
join:2006-03-17
clubs: | Re: That's the Price of Living In the Middle of Nowhere No, it was actually John Big Booty.
Bigboote!
Bigboote!
Sorry, couldn't resist.  | |
| | | | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Re: That's the Price of Living In the Middle of Nowhere It's Bigboo-TAY! Bigboo-TAY! | |
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GOLFnSUN
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| This comment by the reporter does bring up an interesting question:
The cost of the equipment alone ranges between $300 to $600 and that doesn't touch the monthly bill. The monthly bill can run about $50 or more. I'll bet many, if not most, of these people who would supposedly balk at this upfront cost have satellite TV access from DirecTV or Dish and have laid out an equivalent fee upfront for TV access. I guess it depends on what your priorities are.
Also, modern browsers can counteract that latency issue by using their built-in feature to preload links on a page so that the delay isn't there. Also a good browser caching algorithm can cut down on problems while using satellite internet access.
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Join Red Room Forum
BLOG tkjunkmail.blogspot.com
My Web Page | |
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LoneGreyWolf
Premium
join:2002-09-09
Bath, NY
clubs:
| Re: That's the Price of Living In the Middle of Nowhere said by GOLFnSUN :This comment by the reporter does bring up an interesting question: The cost of the equipment alone ranges between $300 to $600 and that doesn't touch the monthly bill. The monthly bill can run about $50 or more. I'll bet many, if not most, of these people who would supposedly balk at this upfront cost have satellite TV access from DirecTV or Dish and have laid out an equivalent fee upfront for TV access. I guess it depends on what your priorities are. Also, modern browsers can counteract that latency issue by using their built-in feature to preload links on a page so that the delay isn't there. Also a good browser caching algorithm can cut down on problems while using satellite internet access. I balk at that price as well as the price for the service itself when used inconjunction with the FAP. Not sure what Sat service your talking about, but the price for us to get Sat TV here in NY was a total of $50 with the 1 year commitment that they have (not like we have much choice when it comes to TV).
Back to the service itself and the FAP. We're a family of 7 total in this house. Two adults and 5 children. Three of the children are now in school and computer type homework is very much on the rise. Now think about 5 of us trying to stay under the FAP of say Direcway? It would never happen. My wife and while we download music here and there, it's not a pastime of ours, we could easily go over the FAP. It's designed for light browsers and e-mail people, not a family such as ours. Wildblue, while we're unable to get it here as of right now, would be much worse.
We moved here with the notion from Verizon that DSL would be here within a year of us moving. We were pressed for a place to live and only had 30 days to find a place. Long story short, we moved 6 hours away from where we were and still waiting for a service that we're very unlikely to see. People say, if you want broadband, just move. It really isn't that simple of a thing to do, especially not with a large family. Plus, broadband isn't a high enough priority to make us move. The negatives of moving far outweigh the positives here.
So please, think before you tell someone to just move, it isn't always such an easy thing to do.
Tkjunkmail, the move part isn't directed at you. | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| said by LoneGreyWolf :We moved here with the notion from Verizon that DSL would be here within a year of us moving. We were pressed for a place to live and only had 30 days to find a place. Long story short, we moved 6 hours away from where we were and still waiting for a service that we're very unlikely to see. People say, if you want broadband, just move. I just bought a house myself, and the first thing on the list of qualifiers was broadband, if a listing's address did not come up in either Verizon's database or did not have cable modem service, it was off the list.
Now there will always be a few exceptions to every rule, but for most situations, the availability or lack of a particular service is a function of one's own choice.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
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LoneGreyWolf
Premium
join:2002-09-09
Bath, NY
clubs:
| Re: That's the Price of Living In the Middle of Nowhere said by pnh102 :said by LoneGreyWolf :We moved here with the notion from Verizon that DSL would be here within a year of us moving. We were pressed for a place to live and only had 30 days to find a place. Long story short, we moved 6 hours away from where we were and still waiting for a service that we're very unlikely to see. People say, if you want broadband, just move. I just bought a house myself, and the first thing on the list of qualifiers was broadband, if a listing's address did not come up in either Verizon's database or did not have cable modem service, it was off the list. Now there will always be a few exceptions to every rule, but for most situations, the availability or lack of a particular service is a function of one's own choice. I understand that, but if you read what I wrote, then you will see we were told by Verizon that we would have DSL within a years time. We were being forced out of our apartment because the landlord wasn't renewing the lease, we had 30 days to get out, we had 3 children at the time, we couldn't be picky. A house that we would own presented itself, so we jumped at it with the notion from Verizon, lesson learned, never trust Verizon. | |
| | | | Techman21
join:2005-04-14
Richmond, VA
| Most people usually have more than 30 days to find a place to live, assuming they've got their ducks in a row. I'm not saying you didn't but it seems to me the circumstances of your move were a little odd. When my parents moved us from a rental house we knew well in advance when we were moving, where moving, etc.
A move is indeed a large a huge thing. But my earlier posts about people moving, etc. Deals with people who had the chance to move to a place that was more populated and had broadband. Meaning they would have had plenty of time to research. And don't ever ever go on what a company "says" they are going to do. Go by what people in the neighborhood already have or what the teclo/cable company already provides.
As far as homework on the PC is concerned no school I know has demanded or required a student to own a PC or internet access. Libraries and schools are more than well equipped for this. Especially once you get to college. College prof. have no sympathy (for the most part) when students come in and say my internet access pooped out, [insert some other PC issue], so really there are no excuses in those areas. No matter how often I wish there were lol. As much as I or any other student procrastinate its still their own fault for not doing the work when they had time.
Anyways that is my 0.02. | |
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LoneGreyWolf
Premium
join:2002-09-09
Bath, NY
clubs:
| Re: That's the Price of Living In the Middle of Nowhere We actually had no prior notice that we were being kicked out. He had other plans for the apartment that included him in it, so we were given 30 days, to which we couldn't fight as that's the minimum he had to give. We were pressed for time and had to find something large enough to house, at that time, 5 people.
As of right now, your right, no one is forced to have a computer, but last year, my son was in first grade, he had homework that was to be done on a computer if you had one (with parental assistance). Our local library is on dial-up and over 10 miles away, so it's not like he can just walk or ride his bike there, plus it's no better off then we are with the connection and the school library as far as I know closes before 5pm.
Funny you should mention college. My english1010 professor actually did give me extensions on assignments because of my connection. He understood that I could rarely stay long enough after classes to get anything done and that my connection didn't do to well when researching articles for assignments. I can't begin to tell you how many page timeouts and large PDF downloads I came across to do one paper. He took pity on me and allowed me extensions. I thanked him profusely for allowing me those extensions. | |
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footballdude
Premium
join:2002-08-13
Imperial, MO
| said by GOLFnSUN :I'll bet many, if not most, of these people who would supposedly balk at this upfront cost have satellite TV access from DirecTV or Dish and have laid out an equivalent fee upfront for TV access. Don't know about Dish but DirecTV will give you the equipment for free. If satellite internet companies did that I'd have installed one long ago.
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What's certain about Darwinism is that it would take less time for (1) a single-celled organism to evolve into a human being through mutation and natural selection than for (2) Darwinists to admit they have no proof of (1) - Ann Coulter | |
| | 
aelfwyne
join:2004-01-28
Beaumont, TX
·RoadRunner Cable
| Hell... Nacogdoches is a college town, not quite as middle of nowhere as this makes it sound.
If you live within the city area, you have DSL/Cable like everyone else (I did when I lived there). Outside of town, it is true, you do not have access to high speed internet. It is rural in the south and east sense of rural - not in the West sense of rural. There's no way, for example, to get lost for days in East TX unless you're dumb. Keeping going in a straight line and you'll find somebody somewhere. It's a crowded rural.
That said, yeah, dialup is probably best. Cingular offers very good cell phone coverage of the area - even the rural bits - but cell internet isn't going to be on the new data networks, so it'll be no faster than a telephone. | |
| | Jonbo298
join:2004-01-12
Council Bluffs, IA | Agreed. Live in the rural area, don't expect to get the best things around. Thats the price you pay for not being around people. Deal with it, or move to suburbia america where you can get options. Don't whine. | |
| | Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
Premium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ
| said by pnh102 :I suppose in such places that the nearest grocery store or McDonalds is a good hike away. There might also be no water or sewage service either, or any trash pickup for that matter. Perhaps this paper could write another useless article telling people what they already know. i dont have water or sewer from the city(besides city water tastes like pool water), but im in the suburbs with DSL and Cable avail.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports | |
| | Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
Premium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ
| rural areas are scared nowdays of broadband, if the town tries to offer it to their people because ATT is too lazy to deploy they get sued by the very people who refuse to deploy it.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports | |
| | Headtalk
join:2001-08-17
| I live under fifty miles from MIT and Harvard so I am hardly far from civilization. There is FIOS 22 miles and cable 1 mile from my home in the town next to me. Everyone knows the issue is my community has the one of the lowest per capita income in MA. I guess that's big business and greed. I pay $79 for 1500/256 sat and latency of 500ms to 1000ms unusable for VPN.
Rant off -
Just Remembering 9/11
-G | |
| | | Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
Premium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ
| Re: That's the Price of Living In the Middle of Nowhere said by Headtalk :I live under fifty miles from MIT and Harvard so I am hardly far from civilization. There is FIOS 22 miles and cable 1 mile from my home in the town next to me. Everyone knows the issue is my community has the one of the lowest per capita income in MA. I guess that's big business and greed. I pay $79 for 1500/256 sat and latency of 500ms to 1000ms unusable for VPN. Rant off - Just Remembering 9/11 -G your town should do its own BB network and tell the imcumbents to go Fsck themselves. if they try and sue tell the court to go Fsck itself and build anyway. sometimes defiance is the best way to get whats needed to the people.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports | |
| hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH
·Time Warner Cable
·buckeye cable
| Wireless only slight improvement? How can wireless only be a slight improvement over dial-up? Some companies offer very high speeds and its here to stay. WiMax is just a different flavor of wireless to begin with.
And as far as cellular if they're as many dead spots as he says then why are cellular coverage maps cover Texas instead of being blank? He might not have done is research. | |
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snorpus
join:2000-10-02
Export, PA
| Re: Wireless only slight improvement? Coverage maps are accurate only in the macro sense. If there's a hill in the way, or if you're down in a valley, no bars for you. It's not that coverage isn't available generally in that area, it's just that there are "cold spots" that you might be unlucky enough to live in.
100% (as in every square foot) coverage of a geographic region is probably impossible, unless you're talking West Texas or South Florida. | |
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See 7 replies to this post | |
John Galt
Forward, March
Premium
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp | Help If anyone form the greater Nacogdoches area has an interest in solving the problem:
»Wireless Service Providers
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A is A | |
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Rob A
Same Old Jets
Premium
join:2005-01-17
Pompton Plains, NJ | Satellite That's why satellite internet is around, to help these guys out. | |
| | Pete_64
join:2001-12-20
KingstonON
| Re: Satellite IF you want broadband you will find a way to get it. I am now in a big city, and before buying a house I was thinking about moving to the country but I needed wanted broadband, I researched and found that I could get wireless from a provider that would provided 5000/768 and pings were accceptable even for gaming and voip for 50 dollars a month and a upstart cost of 400. I was willing to pay it because I could never go back to dialup. I never did move to the country but the options are usually there for people that want to pay... satalite, wireless, cell phone, isdn, one way or another its usually an option | |
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LoneGreyWolf
Premium
join:2002-09-09
Bath, NY
clubs:
| Re: here is a good and relatively inexpensive solution..... Sure, if they are doing installs in your area. they have shut down my area for new installs going on I think 4-5 months now, maybe longer. Again, you have the FAP, so you need to see if it's worth the money you put out for it. It may not be teh best value for your money. | |
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ruralbroadband
@ameritech.net | Re: here is a good and relatively inexpensive solution..... You may wish to contact »www.agristar.com which provides satellite broadband Internet service any in rural America. | |
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So I dumped it.
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