Wifi and Country Living Do Not Mix

[Amiee504]

I'm new to BYC, and as I stated before in my introductory thread, my husband and I are both active duty and at our last duty station in S. Ga. before retirement. We we're living in a small town near the base, but still wanted more room, freedom, and most importantly peace and quiet. So we found beautiful a home tucked back on a 3 acre lot. Even better, it's the last house before several hundred acres of leased hunting land. My closest neighbor is probably about a mile away. WE LOVE IT! That being said, the old owners abandoned their poorly cared for chickens which is what brought me to BYC.
So now that we're settling in, and I'm moving in the right direction of getting my flock healthy, we started to look for a wifi company that will service my area. Unfortunately, there's only one, and even worse, their coverage area doesn't reach our little slice of heaven. Okay, now we're looking at satellite internet and all reviews are terrible. AT&T and T-Mobile are off table because again, either their wifi or service isn't available where we live. Oh, and here's a fun fact. My husband and I despise cable. We bought a fire stick and haven't looked back. Now that we have moved this fancy firestick with all the movie and TV show watching capabilities you could ask for, we have no means to stream our beloved Game of Thrones (I still haven't seen the season opener and refuse to look at facebook because I hate spoilers!!!), Dr Who, or any other series we decide to binge watch on a lazy Saturday. My last glimmer of hope would be a Verizon Jet Pack, but again, the reviews are mixed. It sounds like people who use it on the go love it; however, if you use it as your sole source of wifi, you're going to have a bad time. There's quite a few add-ons and signal boosters, but the cost starts to add up depending on what you decide on. I am NOT tech savy. For now, we have our cell phones and stream funny videos when we're bored. To be honest, we spend more time walking around the property, having a beverage on the back porch, and running our "toys" through the miles of hunting property (our neighbor owns it and just asks we don't run quads from Oct-Jan). We're definitely having a blast with each other, and have never relied on television as our sole source of entertainment, but someone out there has surely known the same plight as us. Any takers out there who want to suggest what they use for internet in places where the far reaches of wifi haven't quite made it.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I can't help but I concur. Modern conveniences and wilderness seem to be mutually exclusive.
I once considered buying a sheep farm on a group of tiny islands clustered in the far south Atlantic. I bet Wi Fi wouldn't ever be a thing there till about the 23rd century.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Nope. We're in the same boat (and even military, too). We love our remote life, and the only way I would get cable is if it was an add-on to a broadband internet package, because I don't want to spend my life sitting in front of the TV. We used the Verizon Jet pack for the first few years we were here because I got a really good deal on a 30GB plan but now with their unlimited plan it just isn't worth it (I didn't read the fine print and see that hotspots cap at 8GB of data each month before I switched). So now we are giving AT&T prepaid hotspot a try and that is working out fine, and we both just upped the data on our phones to use that instead for browsing and email and such ($120/month for two phones with unlimited data that caps high speed at 22GB). As far as television goes, we use Netflix DVD and that is pretty much our only option unless we want to pay out the butt for satellite internet or astronomical hotspot plans at dial-up speeds that will gobble up the data in no time.

ETA because we use the DVD service we are usually a season behind on most things. We are waiting anxiously for last season of The Walking Dead to come out on DVD in a month or so so we can catch up.

 

[twilightgecko]

i moved to the country almost 2 years ago.. perhaps 5% cell service.. land line goes out when it rains and NO internet at all.. i can only access this while at work.. i'm almost off the grid.. ha.. mostly i kind of like it.. i spend time outside, hanging with my flock, reading, sitting by the pond, photographing everything that moves.. my hubby & i don't do facebook.. everyone thinks we are the freaks..