OT: Internet Provider is a money grabber

[conditionfreak]

Well I live out in the boondocks (out in the sticks as they say). I only have two choices for my internet connection. Dial up (yuck) or HughesNet, which runs off of a satellite system and cost approximately 80 bucks a month. It is not as fast as DSL but is a lot closer to it than dial-up (yuck again).

 

So, recently I get a notification from HughesNet that they are instituting what they call the "internet access fairness" doctrine. They further go on to explain that some use the internet more than others and that is not fair, since we all (their customers) are paying the same price.

 

They tell me (all of their customers) that the solution is that our uploading and downloading is going to be automatically monitored and on a daily basis, if we go over what they deem is "fair", our internet will be slowed down to a crawl. Trust me, when they say "crawl", the mean "crawl". I have experienced it several times already and it takes about twenty minutes to load one normal page from this forum when they do that to me. "Crawl" mode last 24 hours.

 

They further go on to say that once a month, I have a freebie "reload" and if I do a couple of certain things on their site (remember I will be at a "crawl" trying to do this), I can get back to normal. But that freebie is only once a month and any other reload" I want, I have to pay 5 dollars each and every time.

 

So, looking at photos or uploading photos on the internet has become a thing I have to take into consideration now. I used to just do it. Now I have to weigh the ramifications of what it will do to my internet access. Forget about videos. I avoid them like the plague.

 

Any suggestions from you computer geeks out there? Are there any alternatives I am not familiar with?

[Count]

move

[Shootydog]

Move?

 

I have a friend in a similar situation. Unless you have a cable company or dsl provider in the area your pretty much at the mercy of the local monopoly.

 

Who is the local phone provider? Do you live in a community or by you lonesome on the windswept plains?

 

[conditionfreak]

There is a decent sized city (Hillsboro) just fifteen minutes away. We have a local phone company, the Hillsboro Phone Company.

 

I won't be moving. I love my place and my location. That is why I didn't gripe about the 80 bucks a month. It was worth it. But another 100 bucks a month for watching vids or uploading scans of books for sale and such. Well, that would be too much to take. I would just do without if that (which I basically am now, except for routine internet stuff.

[goldust40]

That is why I didn't gripe about the 80 bucks a month. It was worth it. But another 100 bucks a month for watching vids or uploading scans of books for sale and such. Well, that would be too much to take.

 

You already pay over double what I pay per month for my 20 meg (soon to be 50) connection, and they want to up it another $100? Greedy s.

[nocutename]

That is just terrible. Personally, I would go back to dial-up and tell them to stick it. Then hope for some competition to move into the your location. Good luck but I would not do business with any company that cuts off or limits service like that.

[hawkeye613]

I take it you probably don't have 3G coverage? If you did you could get a laptop and 3G connect card Drop hughesnet and sign up for an unlimited data plan on your cel.

[JohnT]

Can you get the internet through a satellite dish?

 

Just spent a weekend at the Highlands Nature Sanctuary. Nice country down there!

[CatskillMike]

Can you get the internet through a satellite dish?

 

Just spent a weekend at the Highlands Nature Sanctuary. Nice country down there!

 

:gossip:Hughesnet is a satellite

 

Yes, see about a 3G card.

[fantastic_four]

Any suggestions from you computer geeks out there? Are there any alternatives I am not familiar with?

 

Yes--move out of the boondocks. You have to accept as a condition of living rurally that you'll suffer as compared to urbanites and suburbanites when it comes to cable, internet, phones, power, etc. I would rather live rurally also, but I specifically won't do it for two reasons--long drives to stores and bad internet/cable. Be glad you have an indoor toilet, grin, and bear it.

[fingfangfoom]

I used to be stuck with dial-up as well but found the Sprint "Air Card" and for $60 a month unlimited it's been great. I plugged the card into a Cradlepoint hotspot and "wifi'd" the house.

[Transplant]

This just in. People living in Hawaii and Alaska are shocked to find out that shipping costs more and takes longer.

 

J/K. Seriously, I sympathize but other than cellular, I don't see much choice.

[Snake Eyes]

Operating under the assumption that you are not 3G covered...if you are I would try using a laptop through the unlimited data plan. If not, and I were in your boat, I suppose instead of paying Hughes extra I would have them as well as dial-up (which I am assuming is affordable/fair in your neck of the wood). Use the faster feed until you get zonked and then switch over to dial up for a day. Also, if you have not already, turn off signatures in this site...many of the boardies have large pics or brief videos in their sigs and that will reduce use a little :shrug:

 

Good luck

[The Troll King]

This "fair use" policy of theirs is nothing new. They informed me of the policy ten years ago when I used the service. Back then the service was over $200 a month!

 

Your best bet, if you're rural is to see if there is a wireless provider available in your area. Don't get confused here, wireless has nothing to do with cell-phones or wi-fi it has to do with a directional antenna that is line-of-sight to the transmitter receiver usually on a tower somewhere in the area. It's extremely fast. Since you're in Ohio I believe check out this map and see if your area is covered.

 

http://www.onelasvegas.com/wireless/OH.html

 

The plus side is that you would have extremely fast internet. The downside is that the equipment can be pricey for start-up including a tower. Most companies probably rent equipment now though. I'd still buy it.

 

If you need tips on where to find a tower on the cheap let me know. I only paid $30 for a 30ft one! (thumbs u

[conditionfreak]

Snake Eyes and BuffyFan. Both excellent ideas. Gonna look into them.

 

Fantastic Four. Why do you assume that I have indoor plumbing?

 

 

 

 

 

[The Troll King]

Snake Eyes and BuffyFan. Both excellent ideas. Gonna look into them.

 

Fantastic Four. Why do you assume that I have indoor plumbing?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trust me, I use to live on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. I hated it personally and I had to endure all of the jokes and jabs about living without modern technology. Worst 7 years of my life.

 

At least you know there may be other options.

 

Before the fixed wireless service was available and before I did the dish thing I actually had two phone lines run into my house and I was shot-gunning modems in my PC. Meaning, I was running two modems at the same time to get a faster connection. Even that was a pain in the butt because being where I was it took 3 months to get the phone company to come out to install the lines.

[fantastic_four]

Why do you assume that I have indoor plumbing?

 

You're right, bad assumption! Are you able to get toilet paper out there at least, or are you forced to use corncobs and pine tags?

[conditionfreak]

Thanks for the concern, but we have plenty of modern comic books.

[CKB]

I think the way they have handled the limitiation is maddening. The first thing I'd do is call them and see if they will give you a "metered" plan where you pay for exactly what you use without any interruptions.

 

If this doesn't work, I'd bump up to the ELITE plan and start taking FULL advantage of the Download Zone hours, 2am-7am that don't count against your daily limit. This could involve using tools that automate your downloading during those hours. Mos tof these tools just grab everything and you can sort it out later. But since it's "free" who cares, peg the damn meter for the full 5 hours.

 

[conditionfreak]

I'm already doing your second suggestion. I started that right away, after I experienced the first "crawl"..

 

Thanks.