Greetings misc.rural; I've been lurking here for a month or two and I find this one of the better newsgroups on usenet. I'm a reporter for a small twice-weekly newspaper in a small rural town, and I'm currently working on a series of articles on the availability, or lack thereof, of high-speed or broadband Internet service in rural areas. I'd like to hear from folks about their experiences with Internet service in rural areas, especially those who have the chance to use various broadband and not-so-broadband technologies. Those of you, like me, using regular old twisted pair phone-line and modem connections: how fast does it run for you? Anyone consistently get 56K over that 56K modem? What actual speeds do you generally get? Anyone connected to any of the various flavors of DSL (digital subscriber line)? What kinds of speeds are available? Does it vary much? Is distance to the central office a problem? Anyone receive Internet service over cable television-type systems? Does it use fiber optic cable, coaxial cable or a hybrid of both? How's the speed and reliability? Anyone tried the new satellite Internet services? There are (at least) two basic types, apparently. One has been out for a year or so and receives high speed data down from the satellite and sends data back up via phone lines to an up_link_. A newer system uses the dish for both directions. Any comments on speed and reliability for either? Also I hear high-speed wireless Internet is available, or will be soon, over cell-phone systems. Any experiences with this? Here in Pennsylvania, a state law (passed in '93) supposedly requires the big telephone companies to balance their deployment of broadband technologies equally in rural, suburban and urban areas. But it's not happening. Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) reported in May 2000 it has wired 31 percent of rural markets, 59 percent of suburban markets and 79 percent of urban markets. Our state regulators say this is balanced and perfectly fine with them. No one's complaining too much, apparently because the issue may be moot: broadband service is more likely to come from satellites or cable TV fiber than from the telcos, at least around here. I talked to two local rural electric cooperatives, and they said they considered providing broadband to their member/customers, but decided against it at this time. Anyone know of electric coops getting involved in this? I am interested in any and all comments (though trolls and flamers are happily ignored). Respond to the group if you wish, as this tends to encourage more discussion, or feel free to e-mail me privately at address above t...@penn.com or to my work e-mail: tdistef...@theclarionnews.com Our small-town twice-weekly is available on the web at: www.theclarionnews.com but we don't archive; stories last about a week before they are pulled. If there is interest, I can post the four articles done so far, and the two or three or several more that may be coming in the future. Thanks in advance, Tom DiStefano (sometimes known on usenet as) -tommyD

I've been lurking here for a month or two and I find this one of the better newsgroups on usenet. I'm a reporter for a small twice-weekly newspaper in a small rural town, and I'm currently working on a series of articles on the availability, or lack thereof, of high-speed or broadband Internet service in rural areas. I'd like to hear from folks about their experiences with Internet service in rural areas, especially those who have the chance to use various broadband and not-so-broadband technologies. Those of you, like me, using regular old twisted pair phone-line and modem connections: how fast does it run for you? Anyone consistently get 56K over that 56K modem? What actual speeds do you generally get? Nobody anywhere gets 56k throughput.  The maximum allowed on a 56k connection is 53k. In order to get 56k you have to be within 3 wire miles of your nearest digital switch.  At that, digital modems degrade rapidly, so 2 miles is about the max for true 53k connections. DSL and ISDN have the same distance limitations.  Cable modems can be faster than either, if you are lucky enough to have cable and a cable company willing to invest in the infrastructure. Satellite broadband will be the preferred rural high speed _link_.  The new system that gives satellite up_link_ as well as down_link_ shows real promise.  Radio Shack sells it.  Wireless digital radio broadband has the potential to do as well as satellite, but it is only available in small areas.  Line of sight, or very nearly, to the _base_ station is required.

Greetings misc.rural; I've been lurking here for a month or two and I find this one of the better newsgroups on usenet. I'm a reporter for a small twice-weekly newspaper in a small rural town, and I'm currently working on a series of articles on the availability, or lack thereof, of high-speed or broadband Internet service in rural areas. I'd like to hear from folks about their experiences with Internet service in rural areas, especially those who have the chance to use various broadband and not-so-broadband technologies. Those of you, like me, using regular old twisted pair phone-line and modem connections: how fast does it run for you? Anyone consistently get 56K over that 56K modem? What actual speeds do you generally get? Anyone connected to any of the various flavors of DSL (digital subscriber line)? What kinds of speeds are available? Does it vary much? Is distance to the central office a problem? Anyone receive Internet service over cable television-type systems? Does it use fiber optic cable, coaxial cable or a hybrid of both? How's the speed and reliability? Anyone tried the new satellite Internet services? There are (at least) two basic types, apparently. One has been out for a year or so and receives high speed data down from the satellite and sends data back up via phone lines to an up_link_. A newer system uses the dish for both directions. Any comments on speed and reliability for either? Also I hear high-speed wireless Internet is available, or will be soon, over cell-phone systems. Any experiences with this? Here in Pennsylvania, a state law (passed in '93) supposedly requires the big telephone companies to balance their deployment of broadband technologies equally in rural, suburban and urban areas. But it's not happening. Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) reported in May 2000 it has wired 31 percent of rural markets, 59 percent of suburban markets and 79 percent of urban markets. Our state regulators say this is balanced and perfectly fine with them. No one's complaining too much, apparently because the issue may be moot: broadband service is more likely to come from satellites or cable TV fiber than from the telcos, at least around here. I talked to two local rural electric cooperatives, and they said they considered providing broadband to their member/customers, but decided against it at this time. Anyone know of electric coops getting involved in this? I am interested in any and all comments (though trolls and flamers are happily ignored). Respond to the group if you wish, as this tends to encourage more discussion, or feel free to e-mail me privately at address above t...@penn.com or to my work e-mail: tdistef...@theclarionnews.com Our small-town twice-weekly is available on the web at: www.theclarionnews.com but we don't archive; stories last about a week before they are pulled. If there is interest, I can post the four articles done so far, and the two or three or several more that may be coming in the future. Thanks in advance, Tom DiStefano (sometimes known on usenet as) -tommyD Highest connection speed I've ever got is 31.2 - neighbor who is closer to the Highway gets 40. Only one provider is available here without long distance charges, luckily an excellent non profit outfit. No DSL except in town. A local hardware store has a satellite setup on display, seems to work well, but I'm waiting to see what develops.

Tom, I live in a quasi- rural area of the NY fingerlakes.  This area had one of the earliest cable networks and was upgraded to fiberoptic a number of years ago. We have had a cable modem for 2 1/2 years...love it.superfast, no problems, except that the software tech made a mistake on the original installation and they had to come back. Judy in Ithaca, NY

I live in rural Washington and the best speed I could get from my ISP is 24-26,000 with a 56k modem. It seems the phone lines are antiquated. I can't get any other connection except via satellite. I have been very pleased with DirecTV and hooked up with DirectPC about a week ago. The installer had trouble installing my system but got it to work with a slightly messy signon. I just had email from tech support and Jeff was very helpful. He wrote that depending on how many users were online, the speed would vary between 150 and 500 kbps. Not bad and much better than 24. I believe installation was free on promotion and unlimited monthly charges are $35. I still have my local ISP but I can deal with that so long as speed picks up. A two way connection is in the works but I only need speed for downloading and don't do much uploading. That would increase the price more than keeping my local ISP would. I did have to buy a new antennae but haven't been sent the bill yet. I'd pay anything to get a faster speed. Louise B.B. Bean <bbb...@beancotton.com wrote in message After struggling for a few years with telephone lines that allow a 24K connection when I'm lucky, and 18.6 to 21K more typically (not to mention regular telephone line noise, outages, and small ISP problems), I investigated our options: 1) ISDN - for roughly $1800 in setup costs and $100/month or so (I don't remember the exact figures), I could set up an ISDN line. 64K to 128K stable connection. 2) Wireless - I'm to far from town for any of the wireless systems to establish a microwave _link_ unless I mount a 50'+ tower and set up a specialized antenna. Estimated setup cost was $2000+, with monthly fees running around $50/month. 3) One Way Satellite - DirecPC offers satellite down, telephone up connections. I rejected as it would leave me subject to the same phone problems I currently have. I believe the cost was around $40 to $50/month, PLUS I'd have to maintain a phone line and my current local ISP account. 4) Two Way Satellite: I investigated Gilat-to-home (Now Starband), and decided it was worth a chance. No phone line required, 50 to 150K up and 250-950K down. Initial investment was a $600 computer, and I got free install and several months free service for being a beta tester. Currently available as a $400 modem plus $200 install. Monthly rates run in the $50 to $70 range, subject to change. One the initial beta launch bugs were worked out, this system has been a lifesaver. At its slowest, it runs 10 times faster than my previous modem connections, and is reliable 7/24. At its fastest, the speed is breathtaking. Given that I was able to retire an extra phone line (@ $35/month, due to our farm office lines being charged at business rate), and a local ISP account (@$20/month), the system gives me greatly improved service for the same price I was paying for poor dial up service. I'd recommend Starband to anyone outside the reach of DSL, Wireless, or affordable ISDN. See www.starband.com for details. FWIW, I understand DirecPC is unveiling their 2 way system soon. That will bear watching and I'm sure the newsgroups will be full of comparisons between the two once both are out of beta and fully functional. BBB - B.B. Bean bbb...@beancotton.com Bean & Bean Cotton Co/Bean Farms http://www.beancotton.com Peach Orchard, MO