Hacker News Reader

Comment by SteveGerencser | Hacker News Reader

We moved to a small rural community where a T1 isn't even available. I can get a 3Mb DSL connection or satellite. I have both because I need to redundancy.

I did call to see what it would cost to have 'real' internet brought out here. They were happy to bring out a fiber line from the nearest town to serve our area. But it was going to cost me around $5k/mo with a 3 year contract for a 10Mb dedicated line. It's cheaper to do point to point relays from that far.

The real issue is that the telcos have been collecting fees for years specifically aimed at rolling out broadband into rural communities and they have done nothing but pocket the money.

View on HN

It's cheaper to do point to point relays from that far.

I would encourage you to look into this more, if you haven't already. I set up such a connection for my in-laws who live in rural Oklahoma, and it's been a resounding success. It still has issues, but it's worlds better than the antiquated satellite options they had before.

They'll likely transition to using Starlink when it's available as the point to point connection (3 hops for them) is difficult to troubleshoot since I'm a thousand miles away, but if Starlink isn't an option for you for some reason, a point to point connection can be a great choice.

I prepaid for Starlink 4 or 5 months ago and just waiting for my turn to get it.

We did talk about setting up a community point to point system but the 'old guys' that run the area are more interested in getting (forcing) more people on to 'city' water than anything actually useful because city water fees are the only thing keeping this town alive.

If good broadband is so important to you why did to move to an area where it's not available?

It's common for folks to have tightly constrained moving choices.

We recently moved into our one and only choice. We beat lottery odds to get it and it was one more choice than most here have (doz-100s applicants for each listing).

Because I also have a wife that wanted to live in the country? Where people live is rarely about 1 single thing, it's a compromise between all the needs and wants. For us, living in the country on a small farm checked an awful lot of boxes. And we were "told" that there was decent internet here - 25Mb was normal. After moving we found out that 2 or 3 was normal and TDS just flat lies about their offers.

Ah bummer! But I hope Starlink works out really well for you.

If you don’t mind, could you provide any more info on how to find providers for point to point relays? I didn’t even know this was an option and I’m having a tough time finding any information that isn’t specific to large businesses.

In my case (very small town), we shared a connection with a local business (feed store) that had a tall structure we could mount a pair of radios on (grain elevator), so we're not really using a "provider".

Sorry to not have better info for you, but hopefully someone else will see this and chime in!

Not the OP, but the people I've seen this do it DIY have all done it with Ubiquiti products. A single link can get a mile of range with clear LoS. Depending on how far out you are, that lets you connect to a "real" internet connection for cheap.

Mikrotik products are very popular among people running WISPs, and their product range reflects this, with a whole range designed specifically for that purpose.

Even their standard wall/ceiling-mount AP is weatherproof and comes with pole mount attachments.

Yeah, this is definitely a common experience & a real problem. Rural broadband _access_ can be spotty towards terrible. But it's probably not captured here--in fact, that might skew 'average speed' stats _higher_, since there's fewer folks willing or able to fork over money for those slower lines.

> and they have done nothing but pocket the money.

Oh what slander. Verizon, for example, has been paying that cash out as dividends.

> a T1 isn't even available. I can get a 3Mb DSL connection

3Mbps DSL is faster than a T1. That speed also suggests you're 3-4 miles from a CO, so it's not that rural. 3 miles might even make a fiber run possible if you're willing to pay.

Right, but it doesn't go up and down like a jackhammer when the weather is rainy, windy, sunny, hot, cold, or dry. And yes, we are 3.1 miles from a CO and the nearest fiber drop is 14 miles from here. The service guys are at the CO resetting equipment to get me back online so often I know them all by name and they know what the problem most likely is when my address comes up on a service ticket.

If a complicated and highly capable internet connection was important to you, why did you move to place where you almost certainly wouldn't be able to get it?

Starlink might be a decent option for you. You said you have satellite, but that has me thinking HughesNet.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com