ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
But don't ask about healthcare costs...
Internet service in rural areas
- Thread starter mpemburn
- Start date
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KnittyNorah
Über Member
- Location
- The Frozen North (of England)
When I lived on the edge of a rural Lancashire village, down in a hollow and behind some trees, we got fibre to mast and then a receiver for line-of-sight to mast, and a cable down to each house in the terrace of three. It was a communal effort which was happening all over the rural northwest; people went out digging trenches, landowners granted access to their land for passage of cables, parish councils permitted erection of receivers for properties that had neither line of sight nor direct cable access ... there were grants available for communities and because almost everyone joined in and helped, a lot was done in a short time and at a reasonable cost.
For instance if running a cable across Landowner A's land enabled the village to get BB at an affordable price (and digging a trench across private land, maybe just inside the boundary with the public highway, is a great deal cheaper and easier than digging it along the road) A also benefits from this; the cable is right there on A's land so they'll get BB too. Otherwise the cable might have to come into the village via a different route - and perhaps, if A lives more than a short distance outside the village, it won't come out to them...
Yes, it was more expensive than the 'cheap deals' that are available for most of the population, but it wasn't that expensive, and certainly nothing like you are paying!
For instance if running a cable across Landowner A's land enabled the village to get BB at an affordable price (and digging a trench across private land, maybe just inside the boundary with the public highway, is a great deal cheaper and easier than digging it along the road) A also benefits from this; the cable is right there on A's land so they'll get BB too. Otherwise the cable might have to come into the village via a different route - and perhaps, if A lives more than a short distance outside the village, it won't come out to them...
Yes, it was more expensive than the 'cheap deals' that are available for most of the population, but it wasn't that expensive, and certainly nothing like you are paying!
Hi @mpemburn! Even though I’m in the U.K. I’ve been affected indirectly by Maryland’s rubbish internet. I work for an Anglo-US company. We do the software in the U.K. while the sales, marketing and services is based in Reston, VA.
As a result we were doing the Zoom thing long before Covid, but as lockdowns hit they were increasingly coming from people’s homes. Quite a few of my US colleagues live across the Potomac in more or less rural areas and some of their internet speeds are shocking. After a bad experience with a now ex-employee, we have a minimum home internet speed as a condition of employment. We also have a company firearms policy, but you already knew that. 😉
As a result we were doing the Zoom thing long before Covid, but as lockdowns hit they were increasingly coming from people’s homes. Quite a few of my US colleagues live across the Potomac in more or less rural areas and some of their internet speeds are shocking. After a bad experience with a now ex-employee, we have a minimum home internet speed as a condition of employment. We also have a company firearms policy, but you already knew that. 😉
KnittyNorah
Über Member
- Location
- The Frozen North (of England)
haha, when I lived just outside the village I used to have to leave my home and go for a walk (uphill!) to get a mobile signal. And people wondered why I 'never answered' my phone ...
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mpemburn
Well-Known Member
Have to agree on the petrol. The world would be a better place if it were more expensive here. Glad that both my wife and I work at home now rather than driving the roughly 50 mile round trip when we both worked in the city (fortunately only a mile apart).
Alex321
Veteran
- Location
- South Wales
Yeah, I'm the same in the new house, mobile signal is normally only 1 bar inside, I have to go outside to get a usable signal, and even then not great until I go some way off.
But it does have WiFi Calling, so can use the home WiFi to make/receive calls
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mpemburn
Well-Known Member
That is freaking amazing! It warms my heart that people are so cooperative and community oriented there. I cannot imagine that happening here. We have this pervasive “every man for himself” attitude to contend with, especially in the conservative rural places. {sigh}
ianbarton
Veteran
I live in a rural area on the border between Cheshire and Shropshire. About 10 years ago we put a lot of work into getting fibre broadband installed under a government development scheme. Now 10 years later a tiny part of our area has been upgraded to fibre to the cabinet. All the other areas are still "Under consideration". Most of the businesses are farms, which are legally required to submit all sorts of information via the Internet.
Our speed via BT was about 3mbps. For several years we have been using 4g, which was OK but a bit unreliable. We have now got Starlink where we get between 150-200 Mbps down and about 30bps up.
Just to rub salt into the wound. The original funding from the EU was taken from the agricultural budget. Guess which industry was not allowed to benefit from the fund. Yes, it was agriculture!
Our speed via BT was about 3mbps. For several years we have been using 4g, which was OK but a bit unreliable. We have now got Starlink where we get between 150-200 Mbps down and about 30bps up.
Just to rub salt into the wound. The original funding from the EU was taken from the agricultural budget. Guess which industry was not allowed to benefit from the fund. Yes, it was agriculture!
KnittyNorah
Über Member
- Location
- The Frozen North (of England)
Is line-of-sight microwave tech. not available ? At least for those people actually within 'line of sight'? Of course trees and valleys and rolling hills give 'issues', but it seems to work for many people in rural areas here. Instead of FTTP (fibre to the premises), it's FTTM (fibre to the mast) and then it's transmitted to a receiver on (or near) your home. Very good explanation from a local company here. It worked really, really well for me.
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Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
I've upgraded to a 56k modem now
I remember the excitement of upgrading to a 34k modem…
View: https://youtu.be/CEjLlS9PHAo
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mpemburn
Well-Known Member
Line-of-sight is not workable for us, we are in a dip and completely surrounded by trees. The nearest cell tower is only a mile away, but invisible from where we are.
KnittyNorah
Über Member
- Location
- The Frozen North (of England)
I was in a dip surrounded by trees just outside the village; as I said we three houses in the dip had receivers mounted closeby elsewhere that was in line of sight of the mast, and then cable run the short distance (less than half a mile) down the dip and along the track. It was just a case of identifying where the most suitable location was for the receiver, taking into account line of sight, ease of access, and distance from the premises It ended up on the edge of the village churchyard which was on a bend of the village's upper road as it cleared the woodland.
But of course everyone in the village was helping everyone else and there was a great deal of cooperation.
Our three houses in the dip were in an unfortunate place which had been thought 'too difficult' some years ago when cables were being laid - as had several other small terraces scattered apparently randomly round about, and farms which were thought of as 'too small and remote' - and of course had then been ignored ever since by TPTB. The total ending of dial-up internet prompted lots of local communal activity in rural areas at least here in the north of England - we knew damned well that TPTB think we still wear flat caps, clogs and shawls and keep pigeons for purposes of communication so why would we need decent internet? LOL!
But of course everyone in the village was helping everyone else and there was a great deal of cooperation.
Our three houses in the dip were in an unfortunate place which had been thought 'too difficult' some years ago when cables were being laid - as had several other small terraces scattered apparently randomly round about, and farms which were thought of as 'too small and remote' - and of course had then been ignored ever since by TPTB. The total ending of dial-up internet prompted lots of local communal activity in rural areas at least here in the north of England - we knew damned well that TPTB think we still wear flat caps, clogs and shawls and keep pigeons for purposes of communication so why would we need decent internet? LOL!
