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Ask HN: Remote/rural USA high-speed Internet options?

3 points by danpat ↗ HN
My wife and I are looking around for rural property to spend some quality time together on, cabin-in-the-woods style. We're not looking to disconnect completely, it would be nice to get away for a few months but still be able to do some remote work (me software, her telemedicine).

Cellular is mostly unavailable in the places we're looking, do other options exist? Satellite? Custom wireless repeaters off nearby hills? Anyone have any experience with this kind of stuff?

8 comments

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runjake
It's hard to provide solid answers as I don't know where this cabin is, but: High-speed? Probably not.

But, in most cases, your options are satellite or wireless point-to-point links off of nearby hills, which are quite expensive.

Wireless p2p links (WISP) generally need line of sight and don't handle trees in the way (especially when said trees are covered in rain or ice.

Satellite requires LOS to the south sky if you're in the US.

Fiber to your cabin would be more money than you had. (If you had such money, you wouldn't be asking about it on HN)

danpat
It'll be high-alpine Colorado somewhere, so lots of hills in the way, lots of snow in the winter (snowmobile access only), well water and solar/generator power. I figured anything wired would be out, as we're looking at at least 10 miles from the nearest major road.

I already do pretty well with low bandwidth (thank-you DVCS and virtualization), but telemedicine might be out for the missus.

wmf
Look for a local WISP that serves that area. It's a very local business so I can't recommend specific ISPs. Satellite is also cheaper and faster than it used to be.
damurdock
My family (rural SE US) uses Wildblue (now Exede) satellite internet. It works better than the dial-up alternative surely, but it falls flat in terms of speed, cost, reliability (you must maintain LOS, so rain, tree growth, and sometimes very thick cloud cover will kill it) and latency (~1000ms ping) compared to my mediocre cable plan. There is also a rolling 30-day bandwidth limit. Another common satellite provider is HughesNet, they have similar plans but do data limits differently IIRC. If satellite is your only choice, it's workable, but do check other options.

Another common rural option is a Wireless ISP (WISP), but they have limited coverage so it will entirely depend on where you are. Also check if DSL is available, it's not the most common thing but it can pop up in strange locations.

logn
If you're ok spending lots of money, maybe you can get a dedicated fiber line. Companies like Level3, Cogent, or XO might work, but if this place is really isolated it might be too hard. I found Level3 the easiest to talk to.
danpat
Can you define "lots"? I realize it'll be situation specific, but if we're at 10-ish miles on dirt road from the nearest town, are we talking 1k, 10k or 100k+?
logn
I am unfamiliar with how this works in rural areas. When I was checking for my home in the suburbs, it's cheaper if the provider has lines nearby. You can control the cost slightly by the terms of the contract (years commitment or construction fees). To my home in the suburbs I had quotes from $1K-4K/month. I'd recommend step 1 is call Level3 and pick the mind of the salesperson you get (just because they seemed to me the most transparent and friendly of the companies). Note that I never ended up going through with this so hopefully you'd be able to find someone who has done a similar thing.
brudgers
Find out what the locals use.