High speed internet options

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Deleted member 108676

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My wife and I are looking to buy a house on 8 acres a good ways from any town down here in Texas. That is awesome, except that I'm 99.9% sure TWC doesn't run wires out that way, so we'd be shit out of luck for internet. The bad thing about that is that I like to do some gaming...specifically iracing...which requires a good internet connection, and they specifically don't support satellite internet.

So, because of that, it seems to my untrained eye I have 2 options. DSL and 4G LTE.

I know DSL can be pretty stable and reliable and provide pretty decent speeds. Is that still the case? What kinds of speeds are you looking at? My wife and I like to watch Netflix, and/or download large files off of itunes for TV shows, movies that aren't on Netflix, etc. So I'm talking downloading several gig files.

4G LTE. I don't know a whole lot about how LTE works. Is this type of internet a viable option for playing a game like iracing that is constantly sending and receiving data to the server about the location of a car and car around it? The biggest thing that scares me is how much it is a month for this type of internet access...as I'll be using 100s of gigs a month. I have the feeling this isn't a viable option after all.

I'm really hoping TWC runs a cable out there since the service I have through them is pretty kick ass down here in texas...but I don't know. The house was built in 92, so cable was around then, but I doubt the original owners of the house cared about cable TV then...much less getting it set up for internet. If I could get any feed back, that'd be great.

TL;DR

Moving way out of town
need high speed internet
play games like iracing
does DSL or 4G LTE work for this?
 
DSL works fine, depending you length to the DSLAM and technology used (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL, VDSL2) you'll see 3-30 downstream and ~ 1-10mbit/s upstream in general. Different packages will have different download/upload rates rates of course. Make sure you get at least 1 mbit upload and you will need a router running QoS if its going to run smooth. 4G isn't bad but caps are usually much lower and being a wireless technology latency will be much higher and unstable.
//Danne
 
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DSL is fine for gaming as long as its above a 3mb down line. And most rural and counry areas have access to DSL now.
 
How rural is rural? Distance to closest town? Closest beighbours? I doubt you can get DSL if you are a few miles from any sort of town. May need to go with a WISP.
 
1. How far is the house from the road (or utilities if thethey are not provided at the road?
2. Are the utilities on the same side of the road or opposite side?
3. Will you have aerial or buried utilities?
4. Who is your local ILEC?
5. Is it possible to take some pictured of the utilities at the road? Any poles or boxes included.
 
1. couple hundred feet
2. Not sure, before we put an offer on it we'll go back out there and I'll look at this stuff
3. there is a telephone pole on the property with a transformer on it. I'm assuming all utilities come in over the pole
4. Don't know, nor am I sure what ILEC is. Is that the labor/electrical union? Either way, no clue
5. see 3.

/usr/home. About 15 miles. Neighbors, not sure, couldn't see them from the property :D
What is WISP?
 
Just call the telephone company and ask them what service is available for the address. Do the same if there is a catv provider. Then you dont have to get on a forum and speculate
 
Probably your best bet is going to be fixed wireless. The hard part can sometimes be finding one that serves your area, as they tend to spend little on advertising.
 
Does anyone know anything about AT&T DSL? Looks like I MIGHT be able to get 6 Mbps out there. I wonder how long that would take to DL a 5 gig file on that?

I'll give them a jingle tomorrow...just curious what your thoughts are on it.
 
5 GB file should take just under two hours but thats not counting overhead, slowdowns, and stuff.
 
OEM said:
Does anyone know anything about AT&T DSL? Looks like I MIGHT be able to get 6 Mbps out there. I wonder how long that would take to DL a 5 gig file on that?

I'll give them a jingle tomorrow...just curious what your thoughts are on it.
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6Mbps/8 bits = 750KBps

5GB/750KBps/60 seconds = 111 minutes under perfect conditions able to get that max speed on both ends and sustain it.

You're going to want to call them up because unlike Cable, DSL loses speed the longer distance from the DSLAM. They'll be able to test the line.

When you live in the boonies you're likely to get higher speeds from Wireless at the consequence of relatively high pings (between 80-120 from what I hear in my area).

DSL will be more cost effective, gives you a higher ping, but will likely suffer from lower speeds due to distance on a dying technology.
 
If your driveway is a couple hundred feet, even if there is cable at the road, you will be paying for the build out from the road to your house. 250' is the limit on a rg11 drop, and that's if you are directly off an amp at the pole. Cable usually charges $1500 for the first 100ft, then $10/ft after that up to 2000ft.

Sounds like dsl or fixed wireless is your only option.

DSL should serve you fine as long as you have good IW and can arrange a homerun to the modem location.
 
bds1904 said:
If your driveway is a couple hundred feet, even if there is cable at the road, you will be paying for the build out from the road to your house. 250' is the limit on a rg11 drop, and that's if you are directly off an amp at the pole. Cable usually charges $1500 for the first 100ft, then $10/ft after that up to 2000ft.

Sounds like dsl or fixed wireless is your only option.

DSL should serve you fine as long as you have good IW and can arrange a homerun to the modem location.
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i've always wondered, would the cable company be willing to run the coax to an outbuilding on the edge of your property?

then from there you can run fiber up to your house or whatever you want... not sure if they usually agree to that sort of thing
 
I doubt they would. That costs money, and that hurts profits!
 
goodcooper said:
i've always wondered, would the cable company be willing to run the coax to an outbuilding on the edge of your property?

then from there you can run fiber up to your house or whatever you want... not sure if they usually agree to that sort of thing
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If the outbuilding is the same distance from the road as a "normal" residence, I don't see why not. Our cable company has always said that the drop from the pole to our house is part of their network, just like the cable that runs along the road, so they don't charge us when it needs to be fixed/replaced. They charge for any work that needs to be done inside the house, or beyond the NID. They also charge to run cable along poles that you own (if you have a really long driveway).
 
wizdum said:
If the outbuilding is the same distance from the road as a "normal" residence, I don't see why not. Our cable company has always said that the drop from the pole to our house is part of their network, just like the cable that runs along the road, so they don't charge us when it needs to be fixed/replaced. They charge for any work that needs to be done inside the house, or beyond the NID. They also charge to run cable along poles that you own (if you have a really long driveway).
Click to expand...

If you have an outbuilding with power close to the road you could put the cable modem and router out there and do point-to-plint wireless to the house. Heck, you could even put a ethernet tv tuner out there and use that over wireless too! 802.11 ac point-to-point bridges are cheap!
 
Well, shit. AT&T doesn't run DSL out there, they tried to get me to talk to Hughes Net. I told them Hughes net sucks and they didn't know what to say...I guess that isn't on their script.

Any other ideas for affordable, fast internet that be used for gaming and DLing large files that don't have stupid low data caps?
 
What state and county is the house in? You could have a wireless isp out there.
 
Hmm...I have to look into and learn about those.

Those are good for DLing large files in a reasonable amount of time and gaming with good pings?
 
They'll be better than satellite internet no matter what. Depending on what tech they use (802.11n, 802.11AC and so on) and your distance from the tower, you shouldn't know it isn't DSL. Most of the time it is just point-to-multi-point wifi. A few sectors get put on a tower and you usually have no more than 20-30 customers per sector.

I've seen WISP's deliver 40ms pings with 20Mbit of bandwidth reliably. I've also seen WISP's deliver 120ms pings with 3mbit bandwidth. It all depends on what equipment they use and the capacity of the back-hauls.
 
OEM said:
Hmm...I have to look into and learn about those.

Those are good for DLing large files in a reasonable amount of time and gaming with good pings?
Click to expand...

It depends on the individual WISP. There are some that operate just to get internet access into the middle of nowhere, at a bare minimum. Those have usage caps and slower speeds usually, though the caps and speeds would be higher than satellite, with a much lower ping.

There are other WISPs that invest a lot of money in their infrastructure and can sell 100mbps or even 1gbps connections.

The latency is going to depend on who the WISP uses for their provider, the actual wireless network will add very little latency. Anything you get from a WISP will be far superior to what you can get from a satellite provider.
 
So I looked into those wireless companies...and it looks like we're going to have to give up on this house...which sucks because it was fucking awesome. Their highest data tier was 300gb/mo at 6Mbps for $119/mo. We intend to live there for 15-20 years and I don't want to be without internet for 15-20 years for simple stuff like Netflix. I wish cable companies would run drops out there so we could get awesome internet.

Is there any official service maps for the major ISP companies where I can zoom in and see where they do or don't have service on a house? I'd hate to keep looking at houses, think one is awesome, only to be disappointed that we couldn't get internet out there.
 
OEM said:
So I looked into those wireless companies...and it looks like we're going to have to give up on this house...which sucks because it was fucking awesome. Their highest data tier was 300gb/mo at 6Mbps for $119/mo. We intend to live there for 15-20 years and I don't want to be without internet for 15-20 years for simple stuff like Netflix. I wish cable companies would run drops out there so we could get awesome internet.

Is there any official service maps for the major ISP companies where I can zoom in and see where they do or don't have service on a house? I'd hate to keep looking at houses, think one is awesome, only to be disappointed that we couldn't get internet out there.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't trust any such maps. I've had ISPs sell me a service tier, only to find out they can't actually get the connection stable at that rate at my location.

If you really like the house, you may still want to ask if anyone is in your area on the Ubiquiti forums (http://community.ubnt.com/). Since you're planning to stay there for 15+ years, it may be worth investigating the possibility of running your own wireless point to point link in order to get service.

Comal County is right next to a major city, and is very flat, someone should be able to set you up with a point to point link (or you can do it yourself).
 
OEM said:
So I looked into those wireless companies...and it looks like we're going to have to give up on this house...which sucks because it was fucking awesome. Their highest data tier was 300gb/mo at 6Mbps for $119/mo. We intend to live there for 15-20 years and I don't want to be without internet for 15-20 years for simple stuff like Netflix. I wish cable companies would run drops out there so we could get awesome internet.

Is there any official service maps for the major ISP companies where I can zoom in and see where they do or don't have service on a house? I'd hate to keep looking at houses, think one is awesome, only to be disappointed that we couldn't get internet out there.
Click to expand...

I know how you feel. Even though we subscribe to tv service (a high-end package at that) my wife and kids watch more netflix than tv. We usually go through 400gb a month on average. I've seen 700 gb a few times.
 
OEM said:
Is there any official service maps for the major ISP companies where I can zoom in and see where they do or don't have service on a house?
Click to expand...

Out-of-date and "accurate" only down to the census block:
http://www.broadbandmap.gov

There's a lot of unserved areas in Teaxas...

I'll just add from personal experience that you can't really trust the ISPs either. When my parents moved a few years back they were existing Comcast customers and confirmed that their new address was serviceable. They put an offer in on a house, went through settlement, and scheduled installation. The Comcast tech shows up, looks around really confused, makes some calls, and then tells them that the area is unserved - closest customer is ~5mi away. They were nice enough to waive their ETF.

Also be prepared to pay-per-foot if you have a long driveway to run new service.
 
Track Drew said:
Out-of-date and "accurate" only down to the census block:
http://www.broadbandmap.gov

There's a lot of unserved areas in Teaxas...

I'll just add from personal experience that you can't really trust the ISPs either. When my parents moved a few years back they were existing Comcast customers and confirmed that their new address was serviceable. They put an offer in on a house, went through settlement, and scheduled installation. The Comcast tech shows up, looks around really confused, makes some calls, and then tells them that the area is unserved - closest customer is ~5mi away. They were nice enough to waive their ETF.

Also be prepared to pay-per-foot if you have a long driveway to run new service.
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Yeah, that map says I can get 10 - 25mbps from FailPoint. They jumped to offer me their max of 8mbps when the upgraded, then failed to deliver more than 3mbps after a month of spotty service. I don't even think FailPoint offers 10mbps anywhere in this state.
 
Apparently there is only one company that even has the potential to serivce that area, and even they can't get service to my address. They said they're working on putting an antenna up...but who knows. So, as it stands Hughes Net or similar are the only ones that can get service out there, and fuck that.
 
I found an ISP that offers up to 1Gbps service. What kind of speeds can I expect with that?
 
You could always go the T1 route, it's enough for netflix... barely. Two bonded would be perfect though, and have a little leftover, but were talking 400-600 mo depending how far out you are. Perfect for super low latency in games too :)
 
Thanks for the help, fellas. We found a place that offers good, wired internet out there. We put an offer in on the house. And this is the reason we wanted this house, the view from (hopefully) our patio:


homeoffer by OEM+, on Flickr
 
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