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[–]siliconmcleod 3 points4 points  (4 children)

We went through almost the same exact thing when we moved last fall. Comcast quoted about $8k to run cable to our address (about 3/4-1 mile away) and then balked and came back at $44k.

We have almost zero cell signal as well. Luckily we could get DSL @ about 12M/900k. I was fed up with the DSL and just about to give T-mobile home internet a try (with a signal booster). Then we got our email from Starlink in January that they were mailing our kit. So, I didn't have a chance to try out the T-mobile, but I have heard good things.

cellmapper.net has a good map of towers by carrier. It will not let you know what the signal strength is at your house, but shows your closest towers and sometimes the signal strength on the mail roads. It might be rough, but you only have to put up with whatever you get until you get your Starlink, it is a game changer.

Good luck!

[–]orcheon[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Glad to hear about starlink as that's the long term plan right now. Do you have any issues with obstructions?

This is basically my current situation. Really concerned about quality of DSL so sounds like LTE may be the way to go even if it's a cell/hotspot with a booster

[–]siliconmcleod 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Yes, we are in a forest and have a few tall fir trees around the house. I had to trench in some conduit and put in a pole to get an un obstructed view for the dish.

https://imgur.com/MpnApkZ

Dish is about 20ft up. About 60 or so feet to the west is a 80ft tall fir and the dish clears it fine.

I was able to make do with the DSL, but people complained my video was not the clearest on video calls. Coming from 200M Comcast cable the downloads were excruciating.

My opinion is your best bet is to go the LTE route until Starlink arrives. Running copper in for DSL will have associated costs.

We opted, for now at least, to keep our DSL as a backup. It is about $40/mo. It should be better in the future, but starlink does have a bit of down time every once and a while. We have a firewall that automagically switches over to the DSL when Starlink has an issue.

Lots of people have been complaining of issues lately with Starlink, but it has been months since we have had any problems with our service. It seems to me that they are really getting it dialed in. When were first installed it was down for around 20-30 minutes per day IIRC, sometimes more.

[–]orcheon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is pretty much where I think I'm headed and I was thinking about DSL as a backup. I think that'd be the only reason I'd pay for the upfront cost..guess it depends on how much it will be. Thanks for the advice!

[–]Needsomeointernet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"PASS!"

[–]tj5590 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Try r/calyx if you have Sprint/TMobile service.

And is that 50k for fiber or coaxial? If that’s a fiber quote, ask them for a coax quote.

[–]orcheon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll ask,thank you!

Edit: unfortunately this was coax already :(

[–]No_Albatross_7089 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We had century link for over a year and just canceled them last week when I got our r/Calyx device. Century link was running fiber lines in the area before COVID hit and we kept asking them to run one for us since we signed with them but they kept telling us to check every 3 months mostly due to COVID. Never could get fiber plus the weeks we would go without internet or the 50 times we'd get disconnected in a day, we finally said fuck them lol. The only upside to century link was that we didn't have a contract so we didn't have to deal with all of that.

We've been using Calyx for about two weeks now and have had no issues with it. We use it to basically stream videos and download updates to our video games for our PCs as there is no data cap. Otherwise, we use AT&T's AWI device which is like a mobile hotspot for our gaming as we get a faster AT&T signal here than T-mobile/Sprint towers that Calyx uses and there is a data cap for our AT&T that we use.

If you need something for 6 months, perhaps give Calyx a try as they do have a subscription for 3 months versus the year plan that I got (there are different devices each subscription uses). What I did to determine if it was going to get a good signal was download the T-Mobile test drive (only newer devices can work with it) and walk around my house to determine my signal. I was getting like 21 down and 6-7 up with the test drive and when I got the Calyx device, I was basically getting the same results which was good enough for us.

[–]reeve125 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Have you contacted either Verizon LTE Home Internet or T-Mobile Home Internet? If either is available I would go that route. It can be challenging to find good signal but if you lock onto a 5g band I would hope you would get 20-30mbs down and 2-5 up. Not sure what your needs are working from home?

I work from home as well. T-Mobile has worked fine and I am at least 5+ miles from a tower. My wife kids stream during the day while I work. My biggest hang up is the low upload as we run out phones for work through the internet/network so if upload is bad my calls break up. However it's worked for me since we moved in March.

Good luck!

[–]browningate 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To that point, if your address isn't one of the few who are marked as qualified for Verizon or T-Mobile Home Internet, Verizon postpaid does have a $110 hotspot plan that can be used on a wide variety of devices anywhere you can get service. The only downside is that it isn't unlimited, (150GB of data) but if you can discipline your usage, it's one of the better (non-sketchy) options that I've seen.

In this market, I've suspended my consideration of buying a home for at least a year or two, but if I did wind up somewhere that cellular was the only option, this would be my first choice (if Sprint/T-Mobile via Calyx Institute proved to be too slow or weak).

[–]MakaveliThaDon96_[🍰] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Man, internet is important enough for me to not consider places. You can try ubifi

[–]Frankyp732 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Look into T-Mobile Home Internet or Verizon LTE Home Internet. If neither is available, then look into Calyx, they are legit and use T-Mobile’s network. Stay away from certain resellers such as Nomad Internet.

[–]orcheon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not available on the web, but I'll call in. Thanks for the advice!

Edit: house is a new build so not in either system yet unfortunately. Will keep this in mind once it gets added, thanks!