Rural High Speed Internet

I have learned far more than I though I needed to know about DSL and other High Speed Internet (Broadband) options for people in rural areas.

My DSL internet connection has been going through periods of the DSL internet dropping out several times an hour and sometimes several times a minute.  The DSL light would begin to flash and then the internet light on my DSL modem would go Red which means that the internet is not available.  Phone calls to AT&T mean getting through their voice mail system and then waiting to talk with a technician.  I have had the phone line people come out 3 times so far this month and the DSL technicians also have been out 3 times this month.

DSL only travels a certain distance from where ever the exchange is.  DSL 6M has the shortest travel distance around 1 1/2 miles from the exchange – 3M DSL travels farther and 1.5M DSL the furthest.  I do not know the distances but what I have been able to learn is that I am about as far from the exchange as is possible to receive a stable 6M DSL signal.

In the process of my phone line going totally dead and my DSL on that phone line being totally unstable I have learned about something new – at least new to me.  The major cellular companies offer something called MIFI or Mobile Hotspot or it also can be called Mobile Broadband.  Here is what I have learned – AT&T offers this service – you have to sign a two-year contract for $50 a month for 5G of data.  I already knew I had a very good AT&T 3G connection at my house so I first went to AT&T.   They are easy enough to deal with they just add a $50 a month data plan to your AT&T mobile account and you get 5G of data – if you go over 5G in a month they charge $10 for each additional 1G.  They charge around $120 for the device which you pay upfront.  There is a $50 mail in rebate and they said I could return it within 30 days but there would be a restocking fee.  I was fairly desperate – I really needed to get online work done and orders on line processed so I added the $50 a month to my data plan, signed a two-year contract and paid for the device.

I brought the package home.  Enclosed is a very small electronic box which is about the same size as a smart phone.  Turned it on (it runs on an internal rechargeable battery) and within minutes my MAC Pro and one laptop was connected to the internet.  These devices put out a WiFi signal which any laptop with WiFi and deal with-just go to your WiFi panel find the device and enter a security code.  I caught up with some much-needed on-line work (I am an online marketer that had been without a working phone line or DSL for 3 days)  The MIFI box can connect up to five computers or devices at the same time.  If  your computer or device has WiFi you can make this work.   With the AT&T box if you are using a desktop that does not have WiFi you can plug the device to your computer with the USB cable that is included.  In this configuration the AT&T device will only run the computer it is directly connected to so when directly connected you can run only the computer you are connected to.

I was able to run several speed tests – the AT&T devices was getting 1.7M to 2.1M on AT&T 3G.  This is somewhat faster than I get with my iPhone from the same location.  The box will run AT&T 4G LTE but I was not able to test this – 4G LTE is not available at all anywhere near where I live.  AT&T is saying “LTE will be available any day now”.

Does this thing work?  Yes it actually does, I had a total of four computers connected to it and the speed was certainly usable.

How much is 5G of data?  That is really a very key question, for every 1G you go over 5G in a month there is an additional $10 charge.  I had one computer playing an hour-long video webinar, another one streaming an internet radio audio channel, and was using the other two for “normal for me” online work, this includes web surfing, uploading images, website development, invoicing, printing shipping labels and so on.)  The AT&T device has a meter that show how much of the 5G is available.  During the 24 hours of having the AT&T device and using it fairly heavily for 12 f those hours the meter was showing 4.5G remaining.  So I used 0.50 G.  So in a fairly normal 6 day work week I would be using somewhere around 3G or somewhere around 14G in a month which means I would have to pay an additional $90 a month were I using this full-time in my normal work environment.

I got to thinking about the coverage I get with my iPhone and took the device and a laptop to an area where AT&T 3G is not available – that is pretty easy to do – all I have to do is go down the hill to where my driveway connects with the road.   Edge is 0.4M to 0.6M which is totally unacceptable, this is just a little bit faster than dial-up.  I then was reminded that a number of places where I go to several times a year my iPhone either will find no service or I get only Edge or I am roaming and have phone but no data service at all.

OK the AT&T box works, it got me out of jam, AT&T 3G is giving me somewhat less than 2G speed – it will in fact run at least 4 computers at the same time fairly well.  I decided to run back into town and talk with Verizon – knowing that Verizon has better coverage in the areas I have to travel to several times a year.  Verizon has MIFI the deal is about the same as AT&T – $100 for the box – $50 a month for 5G of data- $50 rebate  – Verizon does have a 10G plan for $80 a month plus they have some no contract option – you pay around $300 for the box and $30 for 300M  – that might work for a home user that is not doing much with their computer it certainly would not work for me.

The thing to know with these boxes is you must know if they will work where you are going to be using your computer and the only real way to know that is to get the device and take it to where you will be using it and give it try.   So I signed up for a Verizon MIFI box and took it home.  While the plans are similar Verizon has a huge plus – they let you try it for 14 days, if you do not like it or it does work for you you can bring it back and there is no restocking fee.

I had no idea if the Verizon box would work at my house or not.  Turned it on and it connected to Verizon 3G – here is something to know Verizon 3G is sort of like AT&T Edge – I was getting 0.4M  to 0.5M – Verizon 3Gs numbers were very close to AT&T Edge, not much better than dial-up.  I did find that by changing where the Verizon box was located I was able to get Verizon 4G LTE and was  getting 4-6M in both download AND UPLOAD – Verizon 4G LTE is nearly twice as fast as AT&T 3G.  I took my laptop closer to town and began seeing 8-10M speeds on 4G LTE.  Now that is really fast – cable internet runs at speeds like that.

Two downsides with the Verizon MIFI box, first it does not have a usage meter – the only way you can tell how much data you have used is to go online to the Verizon Website in into you account.  Verizon emails you when you usage is at one half  (2.5G) and again when at 3/4 used.  The other down side is the Verizon box will not connect to your computer when using the enclosed USB cable – all that cable does is recharge the device  from a USB port and allows access to the settings inside the box.  To connect to the Verizon box you computer must have WiFi.  Verizon does have a tiny device for around $20 that goes into a USB port and gives a desktop WiFi – both boxes run N wireless and so does the little USB wireless device that Verizon has.  So yon can connect a desktop to the Verizon box.  Like the AT&T box the Verizon box will run five computers.

Verizon has a lot more places available for their 4GLTE than AT&T does and cover a lot more of the country.  I took the AT&T box back – less than 30 hours after I got it, they did cancel my contract and they did charge me a $36 restocking fee and are funding the rest.

Something to know is if you are considering an iPad the data charge is $25 or $30 for 2G of data and iPads that are come with the cellular radio cost a lot more than iPads that just have WiFi.  With one of the MIFI boxes you can use your iPad and get 5G of data for $50 a month or you can travel with both you laptop and you iPad and use the MIFI boxes to run them both.

The really important thing to know is these things work.  If you live in an area where DSL is not available   (of course those of us in the country will probably never get cable TV so the cable option is simply not available) you might want to try out MIFI.  I do suggest you try Verizon first – they have a better return policy than AT&T and they have a lot more 4G LTE coverage than AT&T has.  If it works where you live this little device could give people high-speed internet service where it has not been available before.   I did not try Sprint – I am certain they too have a MIFI option.  I know that where I live Sprint phones show that they are on digital roam which I would guess they are roaming on Verizon.

This is an interesting option and it will depend on if you have cellular service or not and what level of data service you have.  I have used “Air Cards” in the past with laptops, the price is about the same as MIFI but they only will run the computer that they are connected to and by what I was seeing the MIFI cards work better than Air Cards.  I always had some major speed problems with Air Cards if I was any distance at all from the cell tower, often they would not work inside the house – just outside.

So for those of you still on dial-up in rural areas the MIFI box is certainly something to try.  Also if you happen to have to stay in hotels that charge $12 to $15 for 24 hours of high-speed internet service the MIFI could be a very interesting option.  Something to note is that is you do travel and you use WiFi on public WiFi spots – you know, the airport, the coffee shops, the bookstores, hotels and motels with these MIFI cards you are on your own secure cellular connection – you do not have to worry about the near by hacker getting into your laptop or mobile device.  Public WiFi is often the only solution for a lot of people.  These devices offer another option which is more secure and probably faster.

Tags: at&t, broadand internet, high speed internet, iPad, MIFI, Verizon, WiFi