Got lucky; town picked for fiber

[jamiepan (imported)]

I've been paying 65 to 72 dollars per month for crap download speeds for years where I live, because there is only one internet provider; the provincial telecom, which has not bothered improving the lines here since around 2003.

For that 70 bucks per month, I get a theoretical 5 mbps down, but it's more like 4 at the best of times.

I've asked them several times and they say they are still years away from 'considering' improving our lines.

And then... a well known company here in Central Canada, taking advantages of certain incentives, just announced this year in March that they are wiring my tiny town of about 3,600 people.

I thought, maaaayyyybe it'll happen.

Three weeks ago, trenching started, and hook-ups are happening next month!

It's fiber-to-home (a proper fiber line to the wall, and from there fiber to modem/router box), FREE (!?!) installation if we agree right now to two year contract (because they are trenching already anyway, worth 1,200 bucks), at the following rates (plus 5 dollar per month router rental or 250 purchase or buy your own):

- 60/month for 25 mbps up AND down

- 80/month for 50 mbps

- 100/month for 100 mbps

- 140/month for 150 mbps

So, I'm about to get 5x the speed down and 10x the speed up for 5 bucks less (gonna rent the router).

The company has already fibered-up a dozen towns around the provinces, they have a good rep, so I'm doing it, and I can't wait to tell my current provider to EAT MY SHIT. ESPECIALLY because they just this month jacked their price by another three dollars per month.

I can't believe it... I'm in the middle of nowhere in bumfucksville, and I'm about to get faster, cheaper internet than my sister does in the capital city.

Thanks for letting me brag, folks. I'm just all excited, high and drunk and gotta blab .

[DeaconBlues (imported)]

We are "worlds apart" yet I am in a very similar situation, the only options I have are DSL or satellite for my internet. I PAY big time for my very crummy DSL, for a period of two months I tried out the satellite and it was fine sometimes but actually slower than DSL so I went back to land-line DSL. Other parts of my city do have cable and they have much better service but I live on the outskirts and there is no way they will ever bring cable out to me.

Aside from the internet, there are a LOT of other really stupid problems I have to deal with because I live where I do. Firstly, I am legally within the "city limits," but it is more than 1.5 miles on dirt road to drive to the nearest gas station, the post office flatly refuses to deliver here, so I have to rent a P.O. Box, which causes UNBELIEVABLE confusion and problems with so many people (credit card companies, potential employers, etc) who just cannot comprehend that a "physical address" is NOT a "mailing address." The post office here KNOWS full well my "physical address," but if they get anything labeled with my "physical address" on it they "return to sender" the letter - I have lost out on prospective employment, lost numerous packages, lost lost lost so much because people send things to me at my "physical address" and even though I explain it over and over again, they don't use my "mailing address" for mail. Seems almost a trivial and stupid problem at first, but over the years it has really cost me a lot.

I do not have "town gas" (natural gas) service, so for my gas water heaters, furnace and stove, I have to use propane, which costs more, does not perform as well as natural gas, and it is very difficult to find propane appliances, everything has to be converted over from natural gas orifices to propane. Again, it is seemingly trivial, but over the years it really builds up in costs. Propane gas companies offer to deliver propane, but the charge MUCH higher prices and were always trying to gouge me with ridiculous extra fees.... "well your address is off our normal route, so we had to charge the off route fee of $50 and we can only get over there on Sunday, so we had to charge you for Sunday delivery - $75, and delivered propane is 50 cents a gallon higher than the price we charge for fill ups at the pump...." I got so mad about that "Sunday delivery" that I now use my own 25 gallon tanks, which I have to put in my pick up and drive in to fill, it's a hassle but at least I am not getting ripped off as bad as before.

Living where I do, it is good, but it seems to make me a "mark" for every thief in the county, higher prices for everything, no municipal services or very poor municipal services, and yet my property is assessed taxes at the higher municipal in city rate. As with everything else, I pay more for less service, all because I get the supreme luxury of living on the outskirts of town.

[TrustyTrout (imported)]

In some places you can get competitively priced 4G cellular data. Here’s just one:

https://www.unlimitedinternet4u.com/

TT

[Losethem (imported)]

In some places you can get competitively priced 4G cellular data. Here’s just one:

https://www.unlimitedinternet4u.com/

TT

Damn! Thought I had a solution for my mother, who lives in a communications black hole. Sadly the only 4G Tower she can reach is owned by Verizon. AT&T has never covered her little patch of the world. Well, perhaps one day someone will have a solution that work on the tower she can reach, but I do like the idea. Thanks for sharing.

[The Maintaner (imported)]

:-\Where do you live?

[Losethem (imported)]

:-\Where do you live?

I live in a town with gig speeds. My mother, however,

lives in a communications black hole.

The local cable company wire stops 1/4 mile down the street from her house on one side, and the local phone company high speed stops 1/2 mile down the road in the other direction. Neither company has been willing to close the less than 1-mile gap in 20 years. This leaves her with the option of a radio internet service (which she has), or satellite. There is a 4G tower on the mountain behind her (you can see the tower from her driveway), but it's a Verizon tower. I know this because I once had AT&T service which didn't work at her house as the nearest tower was several miles away with hills blocking it, and when I changed to Verizon, I would get full signal strength on that phone at her house.

Amusingly, this is in California. When I visit, I tether my phone to my laptop and use the internet that way. I don't watch videos in that situation, so it doesn't chew up my data that quickly if I'm only there for a few days.