3 ms·

I don't think its bias. I cannot get DSL, CABLE, Fiber-anything... My choices are: Dialup, Satellite, or wireless internet. I can get 3G cell coverage -- some

I don't think its bias. I cannot get DSL, CABLE, Fiber-anything... My choices are: Dialup, Satellite, or wireless internet. I can get 3G cell coverage -- sometimes. My street does have cable television, they just refuse to service the area with internet access. My country has an exclusivity agreement with this cable provider, so no other providers can come into the area. The sickening factor for me is the fact that I live practically on the county line. I can SEE houses with time warner service from the end of my driveway. They just can't go that extra half mile. Crazy. So, basically, I end up paying $50/mo for 1down/.3 up. That's with lots of packet loss, too.

shmerl 14y ago
> I can SEE houses with time warner service from the end of my driveway. They just can't go that extra half mile. Is there a way to create some local network with people who have access in that half mile? Then you can share the bandwidth accessible from their location.
- robflynn 14y ago
  My father works with the guy (or did before he retired) and he's cool with us putting up a tower if we want. Unfortunately, line of site is iffy due to the tree coverage on that end of the property. There is a company here that does fiber to place of business for either corporations or schools. Unfortunately, it will cost me about $5000 to get everything set up (having the cable run, etc.) and about $120/mo for 10/10. There's another fiber company in the next county over that says they plan on expanding into the area later this year. I don't know how serious they are, but they offer 50/50, 100/100, and are working on building out gigabit service. That would be nice.
kalleboo 14y ago
> My county has an exclusivity agreement with this cable provider, so no other providers can come into the area I see this over and over, and I don't understand WHY a local government would ever do this. What do they get out of these exclusivity deals? Meanwhile in my old town in Sweden, the city-owned power company built a supplier-neutral fiber network to promote competition (and a price war).
- zanny 14y ago
  This is how you do internet. Public wire, competitive gateways into the backbone run by private competitors. Hell, the majority of US phone / cable wire was already paid by taxpayers over the course of a hundred years, local governments just did short term gains for long term screwing by selling them off to big telecos.
- mschuster91 14y ago
  > I see this over and over, and I don't understand WHY a local government would ever do this. What do they get out of these exclusivity deals? Short-term available money, e.g. to fund urgent renovation, pay back overdue loans or fund federally mandated services. The latter is popular in Germany, the federal government forces availability of services like child daycare paid by regional authorities, but the federal government doesn't have to foot the bill.
- jff 14y ago
  Grant County, in Washington state, did the same thing. The Public Utility District (the power company) built a county-wide fiber network; local ISPs have sprung up to sell access. My parents use a microwave link to the top of a nearby mountain range, where a tower ties them into the fiber net. Speeds aren't great, but when the other choices are satellite or dialup, it's pretty good. It probably helped that Grant County has several hydro dams in it and sells power all over the place... I assume the PUD was pretty well-funded in this effort.
noonespecial 14y ago
We lived with that situation for years. Finally we banded together to start a WISP, signed a few people, and put up some antennas (with the blessing of local government) We then started passing out flyers. The flyers did it. The a cable company had everyone hooked up in less than 6 weeks. They had previously told the county that geography made this impossible while reupping their exclusivity contract.
- prewett 14y ago
  Great point about the flyers!
- robflynn 14y ago
  That's not a bad idea. I'm going to look into this. Thanks!
driverdan 14y ago
Have you considered moving?
- robflynn 14y ago
  I have. I popped back into into the middle of nowhere to help take care of some family things. Fortunately and unfortunately, I landed a programming gig while here with a great company. The pay is not market rate but I love the company and what they do (think non-profit free netflix for deaf/blind students with educational materials.) I'll end up heading back to California eventually.

shmerl 14y ago

> I can SEE houses with time warner service from the end of my driveway. They just can't go that extra half mile. Is there a way to create some local network with people who have access in that half mile? Then you can share the bandwidth accessible from their location.

robflynn 14y ago
My father works with the guy (or did before he retired) and he's cool with us putting up a tower if we want. Unfortunately, line of site is iffy due to the tree coverage on that end of the property. There is a company here that does fiber to place of business for either corporations or schools. Unfortunately, it will cost me about $5000 to get everything set up (having the cable run, etc.) and about $120/mo for 10/10. There's another fiber company in the next county over that says they plan on expanding into the area later this year. I don't know how serious they are, but they offer 50/50, 100/100, and are working on building out gigabit service. That would be nice.

kalleboo 14y ago

> My county has an exclusivity agreement with this cable provider, so no other providers can come into the area I see this over and over, and I don't understand WHY a local government would ever do this. What do they get out of these exclusivity deals? Meanwhile in my old town in Sweden, the city-owned power company built a supplier-neutral fiber network to promote competition (and a price war).

zanny 14y ago
This is how you do internet. Public wire, competitive gateways into the backbone run by private competitors. Hell, the majority of US phone / cable wire was already paid by taxpayers over the course of a hundred years, local governments just did short term gains for long term screwing by selling them off to big telecos.
mschuster91 14y ago
> I see this over and over, and I don't understand WHY a local government would ever do this. What do they get out of these exclusivity deals? Short-term available money, e.g. to fund urgent renovation, pay back overdue loans or fund federally mandated services. The latter is popular in Germany, the federal government forces availability of services like child daycare paid by regional authorities, but the federal government doesn't have to foot the bill.
jff 14y ago
Grant County, in Washington state, did the same thing. The Public Utility District (the power company) built a county-wide fiber network; local ISPs have sprung up to sell access. My parents use a microwave link to the top of a nearby mountain range, where a tower ties them into the fiber net. Speeds aren't great, but when the other choices are satellite or dialup, it's pretty good. It probably helped that Grant County has several hydro dams in it and sells power all over the place... I assume the PUD was pretty well-funded in this effort.

noonespecial 14y ago

We lived with that situation for years. Finally we banded together to start a WISP, signed a few people, and put up some antennas (with the blessing of local government) We then started passing out flyers. The flyers did it. The a cable company had everyone hooked up in less than 6 weeks. They had previously told the county that geography made this impossible while reupping their exclusivity contract.

prewett 14y ago
Great point about the flyers!
robflynn 14y ago
That's not a bad idea. I'm going to look into this. Thanks!

driverdan 14y ago

Have you considered moving?

robflynn 14y ago
I have. I popped back into into the middle of nowhere to help take care of some family things. Fortunately and unfortunately, I landed a programming gig while here with a great company. The pay is not market rate but I love the company and what they do (think non-profit free netflix for deaf/blind students with educational materials.) I'll end up heading back to California eventually.