Seeking the Internet in upstate Maine
I haven't posted much in the past week because I'm currently visiting upstate Maine. While discussing the problem and potential solutions, my son-in-law pointed out that how high speed internet hasn't really found its way to out-of-the-way places like upstate Maine. I would suspect that there are many other places here in the U.S. that have a similar problem.
The only option they have, he explained, to obtain reasonable speed access is via a satellite service. The data throughput is barely acceptable even though they're paying more than I do for my cable modem service. The customer service is awful as well. My cable internet service is at least 10 times faster than their satellite service. I have a 250 GByte monthly cap on my service. They have a cap in the hundreds of Mbytes. My son-in-law was telling me that if they downloaded a couple of episodes of their favorite television series (the local cable service doesn't carry it), use Email and upload a few pictures of my grandson in a single month, they would be way over their limit.
They've looked around for other options and have found the pickings to be rather slim.
While dial-up could work, most websites aren't all that friendly to someone visiting over dial-up now days. Downloading even a short video would take too long.
Cable internet is even more costly and limited than their satellite service.
Wireless service from a cellphone service provider isn't 3G, it isn't 2G, it's really Oh Gee (or is that Oh darn!).
It would simply be too costly for a service provider to lay the land lines or install cell towers all over the area. The monthly fee would be so high that many couldn't afford it.
If someone develops a way to provide high speed Internet access in rural areas of the country at a reasonable price, they would be loved by much of the population.
If you're in a rural area, what do you do to obtain high speed, unlimited Internet service at a reasonable price?