Internet service / no phone lines

[Chuckca]

Any ideas or recommendations?  I'd like to here about your set up and config without having any access to phone lines.

Would you be able to upload?

Thx

[Amanda_931]

Increasingly there are options.

a) go to your library!  The old way.  Using their computers, can't save nothing, not a whole lot of fun.

b) go to somewhere with (preferably) free wi-fi--if you live in a couple of counties in Eastern Oregon, that's anwhere in the county, but....  The bookstore cafes are mostly not free--a couple of bucks for an hour or so.

c) satellite.  I know someone who has it and loves it.

d) subscribe to the local wi-fi service.  Need to be, mostly, in line-of-site to their tower.  then, if you weren't constitutionally opposed to telephones, you could also get phone service through Vonage or another one of that kind of broadband service.  I know someone who went that way, but haven't heard from him in a long time.

e) I think that the newest kid on the block--and expensive, at least in my part of the country, involves a very fast cell-phone connection.  According to their propaganda it's fast and wonderful.

f) if you do have a phone line of one sort or another into the house, and just want to type away in another room, then router and wireless (or wires) to your computer.

[rwalter]

Chuck

If money is not no of no concern then go with a cell phone with high speed internet access . You can probably resonably expect to get around 144k download speeds and if your lucky 256k. You won't need and dish cluttering up your scenic views and its portable where ever you go. Now satelite service isn't cheap either but you'll get better download speeds as long as you can get the dish installed in the proper orientation. You need a clear view of the southern sky for satelite service.

Good luck

[Okie_Bob]

Chuck, I'm also very interested in this subject as I have very few options now myself. I suspect the previous responses don't address your needs anymore than they do mine.
First, if you just don't have access to phone lines then you likely don't have access to cell phone service either? So, without phone lines or cell phones you are limited to satellite service.
I have looked at the satellite service providers websites and they never mention how you upload data, only state that you can and never mention at what speeds or how! I believe in the past you downloaded via satellite but uploaded via phone lines. I have heard rumors that you can now upload via satellite as well but, cannot verify this.
Wi-Fi is more than likely not an option either as it is very short distance. New on the horizon is Wi-Max. Currently the FCC has not authorized it's use but, is expected to very soon. Deployment of the service will take time but, many providers are poised and ready to deploy. Of course, this will take years to reach us in more remote areas. Wi-Max can reach out to about 30 miles where Wi-Fi is at best maybe a mile.
Another service is being successfully tested in three small towns in Tx that uses your power line. This may be the best alternative for remote small towns/communities.
If you are like me, you don't have land lines, cell phones or any of the new services and our only solution is satellite or doing without as I am currently doing at my cabin on a lake SE of Dallas, TX.
I also know that in my case, I could not even get satellite service at my lake house unless I had a phone line! I got around that by going to satellite at my home in town and pay for an extra set top box that I took to the lake and bought an extra satellite antenna from Radio Shack and hooked it up myself. I can't order movies on line but, I don't do that anyway. I also take yet another portable antenna and tv set with me to Okla Univ home football games and watch games while tailgating!
But, I don't have internet service.
Maybe we will hear from someone that is using satellite service for their internet provider. That is the only solution I can come up with for now.
Okie Bob

[rwalter]

Bob,

There is definately 2 way satelite service that does not use any phone lines. I occasionally work as a network technician and the company I work for installed 2 way satelite in a business that couldn't get DSL or Cable. It worked pretty well. One of the main problem is thought you must have an unobstructed view of the southern sky. We were going to install it in another business but the trees and leaves present killed the signal and we couldn't the business couldn't get. I don't remember the name of the satelite company off hand if I do remember it I'll post it.

Here is one that is selling service in Virginia.

http://www.nelsoncable.com/highspeed.htm

click on more info.


Here is one of the largest providers. DirectWay from Hughes Statelite.http://hns.getdway.com/HNS/Rooms/DisplayPages/LayoutInitial?pageid=hnsgetdway&Container=com.webridge.entity.Entity[OID[494B319A837D224588E8BDC56B774D9F]]

Click on FAQ.

[Amanda_931]

I have land-line service, but no cell-phone access unless I trot up the hill.  But in flatter parts of the country it might be more widely available.

So it may depend on your area.  The fast cell-phone service is just coming in, as far as I could tell, looking at the propaganda when I paid my bill.

And you'd have to think of it as taking the place of three different subscription services--land phone line, dedicated computer line, and cell-phone service for it to make financial sense.

And like I said there are those two counties in Eastern Oregon who went with WiFi (or maybe the Wi-Max Okie Bob mentioned)--free Wi-Fi at that--for all of both their counties.

Seems like with satellite, you occasionally lose your connection, and if you depend on it for your communications--probably including somebody's broadband phone service--they are very happy for you to have a backup dial-up modem.

Amazing, it's rainy and windy, but I seem to have a pretty stable internet connection tonight.

[hobbiest]

Get a laptop with wireless modem, and drive around a town untill you get a signal.  Park and use the high speed connection.  You would be surprised how many people and businesses have unprotected bandwidth.

[spinnm]

So Chuck, all of a sudden real specific questions.  Did you buy something in MO or CA or somewhere else?  Or, did I miss your announcement?

When I moved down here a local ISP offered this hybrid thing.  If it has a name, I don't know it.  Kinda like a wireless/cell phone arrangement.  They have big antennas on the mountain.  Little repeater towers at various locations.  I have an antenna on the roof.  Comes in ethernet into the house.

Works great.  Cheaper than D-Way.  Maybe not quite as fast; but fast enuf.  Best thing, when they have a problem, which they have, I can walk in, hang over the counter and berade them face-to-face.  

[Amanda_931]

Sounds like one of the WiFi systems.

The woman who works at the courthouse who is forever rubbing our noses with her fast system (bless her little heart) does have a tiny antenna on her desk.  Since her installation was part of the general courthouse one there may be a bigger one somewhere in the building.

But it won't get as far as here.  Every time I turn on the laptop it tells me that its wireless network connection is not connected.  Durn it.

I haven't tried the laptop at the courthouse, but somehow I doubt that it's free for all.