Rural High Speed Internet

The internet has become the backbone of business and personal use alike. Unfortunately the internet’s use in rural areas have been hampered by lack of means to deliver high speed access. Using the internet with slow dial-up service is and continues to be a painful process, waiting a minute or more for a page to load up makes most people want to scream. High speed access normally delivers 30+ times faster than dialup, turning a 1 minute ordeal into 2-3 second event.

The good news for rural America is that there are a growing number of options available. Two satellite services Hughesnet.com (1-888-667-5537) and Wildblue.com (1-866-945-3258) can deliver high speed internet to anyone with exposure to the southern sky (just like directtv or dish network for your TV). The cost for such a service runs $50-60 a month plus initial equipment and installation.

DSL(digital subscriber line) availability is also growing. This uses a standard phone line but access is limited to being less then 3 miles of the phone switching hub. Some phone companies have been adding hubs to lengthen their coverage. Call your local phone company to see what options are currently available.

Many communities are adding fixed wireless service. This provides high speed access via radio antennas. Operational radius is 4-6 miles but antennas can be linked to expand this coverage. Contact your local government for info if this option is available.

The last option is 3G cellular. This is service provided through cell phone towers. Known providers are AT&T(Cingular), Sprint and Verizon. Coverage is still concentrated around major cities and along major highways so this option may not be available to you.

If you want high speed internet it is available even if you are far from a big city. It will cost 2 to 3 times more than your current dial-up but the speed it delivers will make the internet something you want to use instead of dread.