• Welcome back Guest!

    MARSH is a private reefing group. Comments and suggestions are encouraged, but please keep them positive and constructive. Negative threads, posts, or attacks will be removed from view and reviewed by the staff. Continually disruptive, argumentative, or flagrant rule breakers may be suspended or banned.

Rural Internet Usability & Stability (1 Viewer)

Users who are viewing this thread

foos

Supporting Member
Build Thread Contributor
Joined
Apr 25, 2018
Messages
505
Reaction score
644
Location
Katy, TX
I'm not finding it - but I'm old and slow...lol.

Are you talking about the Unifi LTE device?
Yeah, the long range LTE thing. Might be handy for you.

I have not used their UISP hardware or software so dunno anything about it, but the device looks like it may be able to take an LTE data plan and give you network access to it just like any ordinary internet. It is EA so there is the risk of it never going prime time and not getting support for long, but if you grab it out of EA you may get it a year before it goes on the main store.
 

jrounding

James
Supporting Member
Build Thread Contributor
Joined
Jul 16, 2021
Messages
310
Reaction score
267
Location
Missouri City, TX
Is there a local internet service provider? My parents live in Alvin and are using a local company called Skynet. (No terminators have shown to date) It’s a bit spendy and slows down some at night when everyone is home, but it’s generally reliable. The other option we were looking at is a Verizon LTE modem with Two directional antennas (you need two for LTE), but like you said the issue is the data cap. The antennas are from Wilson out of San Antonio I believe. I can’t remember what modem we were looking at.
 
OP
OP
steveb

steveb

Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Board Member
Build Thread Contributor
Joined
Jun 24, 2009
Messages
11,953
Reaction score
2,856
Location
Spring
Finally we have internet.

4D7D3EFF-916B-4E97-8B60-F6C62B6A2F6D.jpeg
62CE893F-936C-4E23-AEE8-E48207FD7DFF.jpeg

Inside it’s just a CAT5e connection.

image.jpg

speed is 15 down 2 up at the moment but the installer verified that the signal is strong enough to bump to 50 down and 10 up.
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
steveb

steveb

Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Board Member
Build Thread Contributor
Joined
Jun 24, 2009
Messages
11,953
Reaction score
2,856
Location
Spring
In Nocona we still showing: Starlink expects to expand service in your area in March 2022.

Currently I am using Speed of Light Broadband which uses a microwave dish installed on the house pointed at a tower a couple of miles away. Have been happy with it. Just upgraded to 25 mbps download 5 mbps upload.

Will probably keep both and use a dual wan router with either failover or load balancing.
 

RobertP

Guest
Joined
Oct 12, 2017
Messages
326
Reaction score
259
Location
Frelsburg, TX
I wish I had seen this post last year....Nomad sucks along with all those LTE "unlimited" companies...ask me how I know. :) Also I do not think the cell companies are allowing data sharing on their towers...in other words Verizon does not allow ATT users to use their data...cell calls yes, but not data. I cant prove this but if it is did then I would be able to use TMobile through the verizon tower that is 4 miles away but it does not work.

My buddy lives in Spring at the end of Hooks airport and he cannot get decent internet there to save his life. His starlink account still doesn't have a date. I know a lady about 10 miles away from me that got her starlink shipped to her this week and hers said March 2022. So they are getting to people and the more remote you are, the higher priority. Yes, that seems weird but they said the higher populated areas generally have other options that we dont in the country. FYI, my house is 11 miles from the nearest cable company and 4 miles to the nearest verizon tower.
 
OP
OP
steveb

steveb

Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Board Member
Build Thread Contributor
Joined
Jun 24, 2009
Messages
11,953
Reaction score
2,856
Location
Spring
I wish I had seen this post last year....Nomad sucks along with all those LTE "unlimited" companies...ask me how I know. :) Also I do not think the cell companies are allowing data sharing on their towers...in other words Verizon does not allow ATT users to use their data...cell calls yes, but not data. I cant prove this but if it is did then I would be able to use TMobile through the verizon tower that is 4 miles away but it does not work.

My buddy lives in Spring at the end of Hooks airport and he cannot get decent internet there to save his life. His starlink account still doesn't have a date. I know a lady about 10 miles away from me that got her starlink shipped to her this week and hers said March 2022. So they are getting to people and the more remote you are, the higher priority. Yes, that seems weird but they said the higher populated areas generally have other options that we dont in the country. FYI, my house is 11 miles from the nearest cable company and 4 miles to the nearest verizon tower.

Oh man that was one of the companies I was looking at. I guess they are really NOT unlimited and DON'T have some special deal with the carriers.

The only reason I ended up not going that route was I was going to have to install a YAGI antenna and still was only getting about 3 bars. I was testing with a Verizon Jet Pack with external YAGI antenna.

I kept searching all of the towers and finally found who the owner was of one in our rural subdivision. It was owned by speed of light broadband. They got me hooked up the next day after I called them.
 

RobertP

Guest
Joined
Oct 12, 2017
Messages
326
Reaction score
259
Location
Frelsburg, TX
Oh man that was one of the companies I was looking at. I guess they are really NOT unlimited and DON'T have some special deal with the carriers.

The only reason I ended up not going that route was I was going to have to install a YAGI antenna and still was only getting about 3 bars. I was testing with a Verizon Jet Pack with external YAGI antenna.

I kept searching all of the towers and finally found who the owner was of one in our rural subdivision. It was owned by speed of light broadband. They got me hooked up the next day after I called them.
That is great! I bought a mofi5400 cellular router a couple years ago and since we have a two story I mounted it at the very top of my attic above the 2nd story. This puts it pretty high but still inside....you should see how I threw a string over a rafter brace and tied it to a box/cradle and crank it up to the attic ceiling. If it works who cares! I went from 2 bars to 4. Height is the biggest deal with cellular but it can go through wall without much issue. My roof is composite shingles so doubt this would work on a metal roof. If only LTE still had real unlimited...still think it is mainly high users which verizon and ATT stomp on...yeah that is me.
 

RobertP

Guest
Joined
Oct 12, 2017
Messages
326
Reaction score
259
Location
Frelsburg, TX
Well how about that?

Got this email just a bit ago:

The Starlink team is ready to process your order.

You have 7 days to confirm or cancel your order otherwise your deposit will be automatically cancelled and fully refunded. Upon cancellation, you will lose your place in line.
There you go! Best $500 I ever spent. I was surprised that mine turned to face mostly north rather than straight up. So think about that if you have any tall trees just north of the dish.
 
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
Messages
154
Reaction score
139
Location
Needville, Tx
I wish Starlink was available in my area, on their website it says 2023 before it'll be available. Guess I was late getting in line. We currently have consolidated communications and it wasn't very good. We're gonna give T-Mobile Home Internet a try and see how that compares. It's only $50 a month and when I speed tested it we got between 50-75 mbps download and between 20-35 upload. With consolidated we were only getting 8-14 mpbs download and 1-1.5 upload.
 
OP
OP
steveb

steveb

Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Board Member
Build Thread Contributor
Joined
Jun 24, 2009
Messages
11,953
Reaction score
2,856
Location
Spring
Well closing time will be here on 5/3. All of our worldly possessions (well the ones we didn't sell or donate) are in Nocona. I will be leaving San Angelo to go there on Saturday. Houston has been home to us since 2001. I will miss the piney woods.

Will be setting up some temp systems in the next few weeks while I try to figure out what I want to do longer term.
 

RR-MAN

Supporting Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2003
Messages
5,690
Reaction score
1,222
Location
Pearland
^^^thats great Steve!

Now time to search for a nice large permanent tank. 👍😊

Hopefully you can visit when we have reef current.
 

jrounding

James
Supporting Member
Build Thread Contributor
Joined
Jul 16, 2021
Messages
310
Reaction score
267
Location
Missouri City, TX
I am going to be installing Starlink at my parent's house Saturday. We have an ethernet adapter on order to connect it to the existing UniFi network. Their neighbor is getting 120 MBPS download speeds. I can post download, upload and latency from UniFi dashboard when I get it installed Saturday.
 
Top