Rural Connectivity

As I mentioned a couple of posts back, one of the biggest drawbacks to living in the country is having to put up with slower speed connections. As we discussed this move, one of my big reservations was having to deal with limited Internet connectivity. I am an Internet addict and it is the one link that I have with the world in general. Not having Internet here would be, well, unimaginable.

My only frame of reference was when I lived in this area many years back. I was a system administrator for a small ISP that covered a large geographical area. At that time, 56k modems had just entered the market. In most places, 9600 was about as fast as you could run, regardless of the modem upgrades. Usually it was less. The facilities were simply not in place for data communications. Needless to say, we had unhappy customers because they had just bought the latest and greatest 28.8 or 33.6 modem and their connection was just as crappy as with their old 14.4 modem. That's another story, though.

So I investigated options, satellite being the one option that seemed to be the only alternative to slow dialup. However, this also caused a monumental problem, because one of the contracts I had obtained required VPN connectivity. Satellite and VPN are two things that do not go well together, as you probably already know. Plus, satellite is terribly expensive and very few people that I have talked to who have it have much good to say about it.

So I was talking with some people who live out here, and they told me that there is DSL available. I was completely shocked, it had not even entered my mind. Of course, the local phone company did not have any information on their web site, so I had to call to get the details. I was still a little skeptical, but since the house we were going to live in was a short walk from the local switching office, I knew I would have a good chance of a fairly decent connection.

After it was all said and done, we ended up with DSL. It is much cheaper than satellite, running about $35 per month. During the evening hours, I easily can go over 1.5MB, but during the week day, I am lucky to sustain 700k. Not that I'm complaining, I'm still amazed that this is even possible in an area this remote. I also found out that the network admin for the phone company is a person I used to know quite well. He has also been helpful in throwing some business my way.

I was working on a computer the other day for a person who is in an even more remote area. That connection was pathetic, 21k reliably over dialup. As we talked, I learned that the phone company was trying to upgrade some equipment in some of their stations and that DSL may become a possibility for them. It is worth noting that the local phone company, like the electric provider, is a cooperative. Basically, they're not the evil phone company that many of you may know. When you call the office, a real person answers the phone. Hard to imagine, I know.

I must admit, that I'm not too savvy on the whole DSL world. We have always had cable access, and have explored that in depth. Sometimes enough to get a letter from the provider(s). Anyway...

I am hoping, as I have some time, to learn more about DSL and how it is implemented in the rural areas such as this. I would think that if it can be done here, that it must be being done in other areas similar to this. So for those of you considering what I have done, you may not have to give up the high speed internet. Granted, it's not 5MB, but it's certainly better than dialup and has not been a hindrance whatsoever with any of my projects.