options for what? Are you asking if there's some sort of thing like satellite internet or using data or something to get more bandwidth, or are you asking how to deal with low bandwidth because you've looked through all the options and none of them are good?
I'm not sure what quality of actionable advice you're expecting here when literally all the info we have is that you are in a rural area with bad internet choices. Carrier availability and regulations differ on a town by town, county by county basis across the US creating a huge spread of potential issues and solutions in the one country alone, and you could be anywhere in the globe. Rural Kentucky is not the same as rural Ontario is not the same as rural Kenya. And, it's likely not a good idea to share a set of personal GPS coordinates with the internet on the hopes that someone might happen to be familiar with your local situation. Maybe it's possible to pay to have a line run, maybe it's not, maybe it'll cost 20 million bucks.
Maybe there's a WISP initiative, maybe there's satellite, maybe you could use mobile data. Or maybe you're just in one of those broadband dead zones in the country that just don't have internet options and won't get any in the near future because of regulatory capture, apathetic political leaders, and the unfortunate reality that poor rural communities really don't matter to politicians with the power to change the regulations to allow for a better internet to come there. Even in south Carolina, a state that matters an awful lot every four years because of the primary there, so many areas have no good internet and no options because nobody cares after the election is over. If you're in one of those areas, your only option is to create a mini political revolution, move away, or just deal with it.
Move, and tell as many influential people why. Suggest to other people with your same issues to also move and tell their tales. For an area with such poor service, I'm guessing that there may already be a net outflow.
Also, are you in a state that large ISPs have bribed the legislature to prohibit local governments from providing broadband? Work that into your narrative.
A) Move somewhere else.
B) Become intimately familiar with what services you consume and see if you can get some sort of compression in the works.
C) Organize your community to either reach out to an established ISP to have them upgrade your infrastructure, or try to organize a municipal effort to do the same.
D) If C, prepare to be sued by an incumbent ISP if they have passed laws to restrict municipal network setup
E) Also be prepared to keep a thumb on your legislative reps if they haven't, because it'll likely be popping up in some bill somewhere soon.
F) Maybe do satellite.
This is an excellent answer. I know that mediacom services 98.5% of our area with 1gig fiber... yet somehow our community (neighborhood) doesn't have the option.
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[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 37.3 ms ] threadMaybe there's a WISP initiative, maybe there's satellite, maybe you could use mobile data. Or maybe you're just in one of those broadband dead zones in the country that just don't have internet options and won't get any in the near future because of regulatory capture, apathetic political leaders, and the unfortunate reality that poor rural communities really don't matter to politicians with the power to change the regulations to allow for a better internet to come there. Even in south Carolina, a state that matters an awful lot every four years because of the primary there, so many areas have no good internet and no options because nobody cares after the election is over. If you're in one of those areas, your only option is to create a mini political revolution, move away, or just deal with it.
Also, are you in a state that large ISPs have bribed the legislature to prohibit local governments from providing broadband? Work that into your narrative.
Also I'd prepend "Ask HN:" to the title.
Godspeed, friend.