Click and Wait - the true story of rural internet connectivity

As I sit here living two miles from the nearest cable provider's service, and less than two miles from the local telephone substation, the closest I have to broadband speed is the satellite dish in my own backyard.

"Speed" relating to broadband or the Internet is a relative term for one living in this dark hole of telecommunications. A recent upload/download speed test shows an upload speed of 46.0 kbps (kilobytes per second), and a download speed of 342.00 kbps. It must be a good day and this is obviously the first megabyte transferred. The "throttling" of the speed by the service provider will take a major toll on larger transfers. When I plug my 3G wireless modem into my laptop, speeds are generally one-fifth or less as fast as in the closest metropolitan areas. In this case, less than 5 miles away.

It's not called "web-crawling' for nothing! The front page of USA Today can take more than two minutes to completely download - forget clicking anything showing a video clip. YouTube - you are not for me. PDF's? I don't think so.....

However, there is a silver lining in this cloud. There is no point having more speed if your total megabyte download is severely restricted. For this particular satellite and service plan, exceeding a maximum of 375 megabytes in ANY 24-hour period will guarantee you NO access for the following 24-hour period. You can monitor this on your own system but beware the service provider's bit meter will make the final call - 4 hours behind real time. This is the notorious FAP (Fair Access Policy.)

It's notorious now that Comcast and AT&T have similar policies. Users of HughesNet - formerly DirecWay, received no FAP notice - even though it had not been part of the original contract. When they say "Terms and conditions may change without notice" - they really mean it.

GOTCHA!

Let's talk about the expense of this system. This is the DELUXE internet access...the best available in our community. Many of our neighbors use dial up since they can not afford the upfront and continuing costs of even this lackluster satellite performance. Initial costs of the satellite dish, modem, and installation exceeded $1000.00. The required long-term contract sets customers back an additional $100 per month. Remember, this is for internet access only. No TV, no radio, no talking to those on other planets.....

Compare this to our in-town neighbors paying $35 per month for TimeWarner's "RoadRunner" service or Embarq's DSL service which provide speeds several times faster than satellite.

So, what is my point?

#1 Page designers, service providers, and information services - I can't read your stuff! When it takes 4 megabytes of bandwidth to load your home page, and important news stories are a 20 megabyte video clip, you can be sure you won't find your links in my bookmarks.

#2 PPC advertisers - I hope you didn't invest too much time or money adding more high speed, high capacity servers to your internet business. They are severely limited by the data trickle offered to many outside the urban telecommunications core. The coolest web page with all the Flash in the word has no value if not viewed.

#3 Netflix - Great service! Thanks to snail mail I can at least still view the movies you offer. Not so with the Instant Download feature I am paying for but unable to enjoy. No way - no how.

#4 Governments and monopolistic lease holders of telecom access. The new Administration is touting the need for infrastructure improvements from highways and bridges to an enhanced electrical grid. Don't forget the data! Our community doesn't need eight lanes of highway to get to the dirt road at the end. We do need to get the latest weather information, commodity pricing, and to have access to the same public resources as other, more densely populated communities. After all, we do bear the same or more of the tax burden.