house hunting in the country - internet problems

[slag]

We found a house we like. It's on 5 acres, 10 minutes from town, everything we want.... except no broadband internet.

I have a 14 yr old, 12 yr old, and 7 yr old, all have their own tablets. We have multiple computers, an xbox one, etc. We like everything about the house except for the lack of broadband which my wife and I both use for our jobs and the kids use as well.

How do you guys who live in the country cope? What solution do you have? WIFI access points typically have a 5GB limit which we would hit in a day or two.

 

[mmntech]

I have a couple friends who live out in the country. One used to use cellular broadband, but that cost them a fortune. They just got cable recently despite only living a mile out of town. No idea why DSL wasn't available.

Another uses satellite internet. Lag and low data caps are a big issue with that. It's also really expensive.

So yeah, you're pretty much screwed. Is it too far from the telephone exchange for ADSL to work?

 

[manimal]

thats the only reason we didnt buy in the country. We had a similar find perfect house. NO chance of internet outside of satelite and the latency and cost SUCKED 10 years ago.

You guys staying in Kansas?

 

[brianmanahan]

does anyone offer broadband wireless internet around where you live?

where i live there is no cable or DSL, but a company provides cell tower wireless internet that works pretty well. little pricey, like 75$ for less than 10 mbps. still much better than satellite though. no usage caps and low latency.

 

[vi edit]

That's the tradeoff of being out of town. Are there a lot of people at least on the same road as you? Where I used to live, my uncle was down a gravel road with another 8 houses or so. He approached everyone on the street about talking to the cable co to run lines to them. They all agreed and wrote letters to the company to trench cable to their property lines. 6 months later they had cable there. Worth a shot.

But your choices are pretty slim. Satellite offers some sort of connection. Bandwidth isn't horrible, but latency is atrocious. No way they'll be gaming on the Xbox with it. Pings can be upwards of 500ms.

 

[mnewsham]

call the nearest cable internet provider and ask to see how much it would cost to pay for access. laying down cable would likely be more than you'd want to pay, but if it really is the perfect house, it can't hurt to look and see how much it would be.

 

[gamefreakgcb]

Can you do something with this?

http://www.ubnt.com/products/#all/wireless

 

[heymrdj]

That's the tradeoff of being out of town. Are there a lot of people at least on the same road as you? Where I used to live, my uncle was down a gravel road with another 8 houses or so. He approached everyone on the street about talking to the cable co to run lines to them. They all agreed and wrote letters to the company to trench cable to their property lines. 6 months later they had cable there. Worth a shot.

But your choices are pretty slim. Satellite offers some sort of connection. Bandwidth isn't horrible, but latency is atrocious. No way they'll be gaming on the Xbox with it. Pings can be upwards minimum of 500ms.

All correct except edit

 

[DrPizza]

5 acres? Tell the kids to put down the tablets, throw out the xbox, and have the kids go outside. No, seriously. Get your kids engaged in more physical activity, rather than spending 2/3 of their life in their bedroom either sleeping or on their tablet. Your kids will be at an advantage vs. other kids who sit around and do nothing.
<---- lives in the country, had kids at home until a couple years ago.

For the first few years here, we had to deal with satellite - it sucked donkey balls. Fortunately, we now have a wireless service that provides decent enough service. We can watch Netflix, on one device, not at high definition. We could probably go without it & just use the 5GB on the phone - except for checking FB, the forums, paying bills online, and a bit of shopping, it's not really necessary.

 

[Anubis]

call the nearest cable internet provider and ask to see how much it would cost to pay for access. laying down cable would likely be more than you'd want to pay, but if it really is the perfect house, it can't hurt to look and see how much it would be.

sometimes even if you offer to pay they will say no.

I have 1 friend who lives maybe 1/2 a mile from where the cable line runs (he is on the wrong side or a Y in the road) he offered to pay for the run and poles to get it to his house, they still said no


Another guy I work with did the "get all your neighbors to want it thing" and failed because not enough of them wanted it

 

[mnewsham]

sometimes even if you offer to pay they will say no.

I have 1 friend who lives maybe 1/2 a mile from where the cable line runs (he is on the wrong side or a Y in the road) he offered to pay for the run and poles to get it to his house, they still said no


Another guy I work with did the "get all your neighbors to want it thing" and failed because not enough of them wanted it

this is true, but you wont know until you ask.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

I bought in the country 5 years ago with kids who are now 15, 13 and 6. Only internet options were dial-up, satellite or a cellular data plan.

I ended up going with the cell data and negotiated a good retention plan after 6 months that makes it a more viable option. We found that knowing we were on that type of plan the kids really cut back on their computer use to the point that it is no longer an issue to have to reign in the data usage each month.

Sucks though as I can't use Netflix etc...

 

[consolibyte]

Have you called the cable company and asked if they can install it?

Our neighbor a few doors down didn't originally have cable, but when he called they said he could pay $x,000 to get the cables run down the street from the nearest box. It wasn't cheap, but if the house is the right house and the price of the house is right...

 

[Anubis]

5 acres? Tell the kids to put down the tablets, throw out the xbox, and have the kids go outside. No, seriously. Get your kids engaged in more physical activity, rather than spending 2/3 of their life in their bedroom either sleeping or on their tablet. Your kids will be at an advantage vs. other kids who sit around and do nothing.
<---- lives in the country, had kids at home until a couple years ago.

For the first few years here, we had to deal with satellite - it sucked donkey balls. Fortunately, we now have a wireless service that provides decent enough service. We can watch Netflix, on one device, not at high definition. We could probably go without it & just use the 5GB on the phone - except for checking FB, the forums, paying bills online, and a bit of shopping, it's not really necessary.

I agree with Doc here.
my sis lives in a town and has internet but her kids (oldest is 7) don't have any electronic gadgets (tabs or phones) and spend most of their time doing outdoor stuff (skiing, hiking, rock climbing and so on) shit they hardly even watch TV

 

[vi edit]

I don't disagree with the "get the kids outside" thing...but it's tough if your kids friends parents don't have the same attitude. Or the school. My 6 year is bombarded with iPad apps from school with logins and websites and apps to use for "learning". They use them at school and it's like kiddie crack. So they want to use them at home. They have "electronics" days at school where you bring iPads & DS's for rewards for being good. You have other kids in their classes getting all these shiney gadgets for Christmas and yours gets a set of legos and books. They get together and talk about the latest this or that device or game. And yours is the odd duck.

There's a balance to be struck in there somewhere.

 

[T9D]

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[mnewsham]

I agree with Doc here.
my sis lives in a town and has internet but her kids (oldest is 7) don't have any electronic gadgets (tabs or phones) and spend most of their time doing outdoor stuff (skiing, hiking, rock climbing and so on) shit they hardly even watch TV

yeah but try doing that to a 14 and 12 year old who have already been with computers and fast internet for a few years probably. They will HATE OP for the next year+.

As someone who grew up with high speed internet at that age, I would have gone mental suddenly being cut off and told to play outside. If I had been used to that, sure no problem. But cutting off cold turkey is some shit that is going to cause resentment.

 

[slag]

thats the only reason we didnt buy in the country. We had a similar find perfect house. NO chance of internet outside of satelite and the latency and cost SUCKED 10 years ago.

You guys staying in Kansas?

Yes, unfortunately. Kansas is nice, but flat. I'd like to move and see more of the country, but its not the time to do that. We just need more room to grow and I want an outbuilding or two in the country to work on stuff.

 

[manimal]

I don't disagree with the "get the kids outside" thing...but it's tough if your kids friends parents don't have the same attitude. Or the school. My 6 year is bombarded with iPad apps from school with logins and websites and apps to use for "learning". They use them at school and it's like kiddie crack. So they want to use them at home. They have "electronics" days at school where you bring iPads & DS's for rewards for being good. You have other kids in their classes getting all these shiney gadgets for Christmas and yours gets a set of legos and books. They get together and talk about the latest this or that device or game. And yours is the odd duck.

There's a balance to be struck in there somewhere.

came here to post this. Even at the age of 5 my triplets already come home from school saying SO and SO have this. Can I have one too?



Best thing we ever did Off topic was go with ZERO commercials. We dont watch any commercials in our house. Kids arent bombarded with marketing and stupid crap and overly sexualized kids toys.

My girls got some Monsters high school dolls for their last birthday and I took them away and returned them and got them something else. I refuse to let them grow up thinking that dressing like a slut is ok.



The teenagers would have the hardest time moving rurally. If I lived rurally now I would probably set up a huge intranet with TONS of content and precache my fave sites.

 

[slag]

5 acres? Tell the kids to put down the tablets, throw out the xbox, and have the kids go outside. No, seriously. Get your kids engaged in more physical activity, rather than spending 2/3 of their life in their bedroom either sleeping or on their tablet. Your kids will be at an advantage vs. other kids who sit around and do nothing.
<---- lives in the country, had kids at home until a couple years ago.

For the first few years here, we had to deal with satellite - it sucked donkey balls. Fortunately, we now have a wireless service that provides decent enough service. We can watch Netflix, on one device, not at high definition. We could probably go without it & just use the 5GB on the phone - except for checking FB, the forums, paying bills online, and a bit of shopping, it's not really necessary.

My kids are all very active and spend a lot of time outside as it is. They are all very fit and there is no problem with their activity levels. The reality of the situation is that they are not going to be outside after 5 pm in the winter and living in town there is only so much they can do in our yard which is why we are looking for a place with a little land.

 

[slag]

Have you called the cable company and asked if they can install it?

Our neighbor a few doors down didn't originally have cable, but when he called they said he could pay $x,000 to get the cables run down the street from the nearest box. It wasn't cheap, but if the house is the right house and the price of the house is right...

We have not talked directly to the cable company. Local cable sucks, and we have Uverse which has been really good for us. I'd like to stay with Uverse internet and its not available. Our local cable is not that great.

 

[slag]

I used one of those 5GB month plans. I didn't really mind it. I could do all my internet surfing. But for a whole family I don't know. I guess if you up the whole plan. They can surf, just don't watch videos on it. It's not really that hard to do. But each person needs at least their own 5GB/month.

I was still happy to get cable internet again though when I moved. But think of this, when cable does finally get out there I bet your house value will go up a lot.

Are you sure no DSL even? No satellite internet?

Satellite internet is probably available, but not what I want. High latency, low caps.. and it can be expensive. It doesn't fit our bill.

 

[JM Aggie08]

That would be a deal breaker for me, unfortunately. Is there anything still rural, yet closer to a major city?

 

[brianmanahan]

My kids are all very active and spend a lot of time outside as it is. They are all very fit and there is no problem with their activity levels.

no kid is fit enough for drpizza

 

[T9D]

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