Thursday, June 26, 2014

Communications



At times living in the northwoods, communication seem to be from days gone by.  We are in what they call a 'dead' spot.  We must maintain a land line because cell reception is not possible. 
 We and our friends have tried every brand of cell phone made-- to no avail.  

When we first moved here my internet was dial up, that put me over the edge in no time.  
I did some research, and found Hughes Satellite would work, so had it installed.  It was a huge improvement over dial up, but I never could watch anything on U-tube. Facebook was slow; and sometimes trying to post a blog or even read a few blogs took all morning.  

NOT ANY MORE!!!

Hughes net has been advertising 'Gen 4'.  When I called them two years ago, that service was not available in our area.  Then the post cards offering Gen 4 started arriving in the mail.  I called again, and yes, it was available!!
  The service man was here yesterday.  Gen 4 uses a different satellite than our old one did.  
That is a slight problem.


These two trees are in the way, and have to come down.  It was almost the deal breaker!!!
The Mister will find someone to help him take them down.  It does break my heart to loose a tree.

For now the satellite dish sits on the ground. 


The installer has to clear it with Digger 's Hotline, and will return to put the dish on a pole.  Already, it is working better than what I had and should even have more speed once the trees are down, and it is permanent.


And that's the way it is.................

20 comments:

  1. Headlong into the modern era! Good for you. We have good computer connection and our land line is through Comcast as well. But my house is in one of those little dead zones and i do not know if that will ever change.

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  2. I thought by this time that anyone could get cable. Guess I was wrong about that.

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  3. I think the trees might have been a deal breaker for me, too. It looks like you have plenty more, though! I had dial up where I live for a long time and I know how frustrating it can be.

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  4. i think i'd have to keep the trees and leave it mounted where it is. :) but glad you're getting some speed! our cell service is very crappy here. some carriers are better than others (at&t is better than verizon or sprint) but it is still iffy.

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  5. the first year i got my computer all i had was dial up and never used it. i have no patient with waiting. hope this works for you to get some speed and sorry you have to give up the trees.

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  6. Being in the 'burbs gives us any kind of service we need. However, there is one dead zone in my family room, and my boys complain about it. Sorry those trees have to go.

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  7. Sorry to hear the trees have to go, I am certain if there was another solution you would find it. We have fancy fiber optic cable for everything now and I am pleased. We are lucky that the cable was laid in this area before many other remote areas:)

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  8. Glad to hear you are getting better reception, and I hate to lose trees too, but as we stay home so much, the tv would be first choice.

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  9. I'd be upset, too, about losing the trees. But if there is absolutely no other way, then ... After all, it is getting next to impossible to live without technology!

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  10. I would feel the same way about losing the two trees. But it does look like you're in the middle of the forest anyway, so not like you're sitting out there on the prairie. And so necessary these days to have good communication. But I might trade a little or it for that great phone you've got! Cool!

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  11. What a shame to lose those two trees, but I would make the same decision, if it meant better reception and a faster internet. We are so connected these days, with our computers and phones, I can't imagine not having them. Keep us posted!!

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  12. Some of the RV parks we go to have so many trees we don't get Satellite or Cell service. We just have to deal with it. I'll take the trees over phone and internet anyday. If we need phone we can go down to the gate and it works fine.

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  13. I'm in a dead zone also. No cell, no TV. I have satellite TV and the dish sits on my roof. Could Hughes do that for you to save the trees? That dish looks pretty big though. I have to go to Walmart to load my Kindle. Ah the joys of rural living.

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  14. I agree with you about trees!! Are you able to leave the trunks plus a few feet?? They make awesome planters for flowers. Look on Pinterest, they have some great ideas there!!

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  15. Sounds like a good solution to me.

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  16. Sorry the trees have to go, but sometimes it can't be helped. Looks like you still have lots of trees around though.

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  17. We are so fortunate to have high speed internet through our local telephone co-op! Before that we had Hughes Satellite with marginal success. I had to chuckle at Judy's comment--no cable out here 22 miles from town either!

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  18. Oh I share your pain - we suffered through many years of barely dial-up internet speed and many broken promises of better things to come, and "we're working on it" ... The phone company finally offered DSL out here in the boonies last year (cities have had it so long most people don't even remember what it is). So we're up to a whopping 5mbps (d/l) and we can actually watch a youtube video in one go. And that's compared to the 28mbps we get in Florida in wintertime.

    Oh, I'm dating myself by saying I remember that phone (from my very young years - when we had a party line with 8 families on it ...).

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  19. I totally understand, the farm was on Satelite and we thought that was slow...but anything that is a improvement is good.

    Jen

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  20. The sacrifice is great...but worth it...Happy blogging. :)

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