Cable co wants $3100 to run cable for internet! Other options?

Again, Why not go Mifi??
 
You say you have cricket, so go to your local AT&T store and buy a Mifi Liberate. I think it's like $50.
You'll need a plan for it but since Cricket uses AT&T's network, you already know you have coverage.
This is just for the short term since congress already passed the bill to extend broadband nationwide.
You can connect 10 devices to it and you'll get at least 4G speeds.
 
Tmobile and Verizon don't have cell to internet bridge service for my address and don't have 5G coverage here as far as I can tell although 4G LTE would probably be fine.  ATT has low caps on data for their plans but I did find they appear to have some possible plans under business accounts that look to be truly unlimited and not throttled.  We have a small business and will have to check what the requirements are for that.  Will call them tomorrow.  The routers for these plans are the Netgear Nighthawk LTE Mobile Hotspot Router or the Netgear Nighthawk 5G hospot pro (about $250 and $500 respectively - their prices looked lower than the other places I found but I didn't do much looking).  The offer the Liberate for their residential plans but not sure I could use it with their business plan. 
 
Frunple said:
Again, Why not go Mifi??
 
You say you have cricket, so go to your local AT&T store and buy a Mifi Liberate. I think it's like $50.
You'll need a plan for it but since Cricket uses AT&T's network, you already know you have coverage.
This is just for the short term since congress already passed the bill to extend broadband nationwide.
You can connect 10 devices to it and you'll get at least 4G speeds.
You have said that twice.  Show me a Mifi plan (other than T-mobile that doesn't cover my location) that will give me 150GB/month for under $200/month without some hacking that violates terms of service.  I haven't found one.  Just got off the phone with ATT business and their $65/month "unlimited" plan doesn't include streaming except some very limited apps like zoom according to the ATT person I spoke with.  Not sure how they enforce that but that's what they said. 
 
JimS said:
You have said that twice.  Show me a Mifi plan (other than T-mobile that doesn't cover my location) that will give me 150GB/month for under $200/month without some hacking that violates terms of service.  I haven't found one.  Just got off the phone with ATT business and their $65/month "unlimited" plan doesn't include streaming except some very limited apps like zoom according to the ATT person I spoke with.  Not sure how they enforce that but that's what they said. 
Weird thing to say but perhaps it doesn't include "their streaming" services and your data is your own responsibility. Perhaps they offer poor reliability? Need clarification on that one. Try a different sales person??
 
They probably mean it doesn't include any streaming services. Most plans throw in at least one service these days.
Once you have the internet, you can use it for whatever you want I would think.
It's not like they're gonna block those services.
 
As far as 5G vs LTE I don't think it matters. T-Mobile just updated my mdem from LTE to a 5G unit and it has made no difference. If anything the signal is a little weaker because 5G has shorter range and poor penetration through the walls of your house. I would have preferred to stay with LTE but I think T-Mobile is trying to phase it out and push everyone to 5G for Home Internet. 
 
As for streaming services T-Mobile just gave all cell and/or Home Internet customers a free year of Paramount Plus. I was surprised because it is not tied to any sort of service commitment or anything. Just a nice freebie to boost customer loyalty.
 
Kind of surprised they are not getting more competition in this space from ATT and Verizon. I think the only practical way to build out rural Internet is Cell or Satellite and there is plenty of built up demand if companies would just take advantage of it.
 
Going to have to wait until next week for clarification from ATT.
 
In the mean time I have tried Youtube TV (only a two day trial right now but didn't feel like waiting for a longer trial).  A couple interesting things I found.
 
They add commercials to on demand movies.  Kind of irritating but I suppose that's how they keep the cost low.  But they can't add commercials to live TV although they can substitute others in the time slots.  Also noticed that Youtube TV comes up in at least some of the sites when you try to view them with a browser and you need to put in your TV provider.  Sling didn't show up so you were stuck viewing them through sling which was horrible with if often restarting a movie half way through.  And lots of buffering.  Youtube TV must manage bandwidth better as I haven't seen that problem, at least not yet.  I have read that if you dvr the movies (DVR is included in the base package) you can fast forward through the commercials but need to try that - don't think that works with on demand movies but we have other on line services for that.
 
It is true that YouTube TV lets you fast forward through commercials on dvr recordings but you will also lose access to your unwatched recordings if YouTube TV stops carrying the channel you recorded them from. I don't like having my archived stuff subject to the poor negotiating ability of YouTube programming purchasers or generally being given a deadline for when I have to watch recorded content by. My whole reason for recording stuff is so I can watch it on my schedule whether that be next week or next year.
 
JimS said:
Going to have to wait until next week for clarification from ATT.
 
In the mean time I have tried Youtube TV (only a two day trial right now but didn't feel like waiting for a longer trial).  A couple interesting things I found.
 
They add commercials to on demand movies.  Kind of irritating but I suppose that's how they keep the cost low.  But they can't add commercials to live TV although they can substitute others in the time slots.  Also noticed that Youtube TV comes up in at least some of the sites when you try to view them with a browser and you need to put in your TV provider.  Sling didn't show up so you were stuck viewing them through sling which was horrible with if often restarting a movie half way through.  And lots of buffering.  Youtube TV must manage bandwidth better as I haven't seen that problem, at least not yet.  I have read that if you dvr the movies (DVR is included in the base package) you can fast forward through the commercials but need to try that - don't think that works with on demand movies but we have other on line services for that.
So yes, if you just stream a program, at will, there are commercials you can't skip, BUT, if you record a program in advance, you CAN fast-forward through commercials. And the amount of DVR space is unlimited, so just record anything you might likely watch, and you can eliminate commercials.  I'm sure that craziness was not their choice, but the requirement of content providers. 
 
upstatemike said:
It is true that YouTube TV lets you fast forward through commercials on dvr recordings but you will also lose access to your unwatched recordings if YouTube TV stops carrying the channel you recorded them from. I don't like having my archived stuff subject to the poor negotiating ability of YouTube programming purchasers or generally being given a deadline for when I have to watch recorded content by. My whole reason for recording stuff is so I can watch it on my schedule whether that be next week or next year.
I suppose that's a concern but short of having control of the recording yourself on your own hardware you always have some risk of losing it although what you bring up is likely bigger risk. Wondering how you deal with that.  With a lot of stuff having encryption to limit recording and/or watching having it on your own hardware gets more difficult unless you record over the air (which I do with MythTV for stuff that is available OTA). 
 
At some point it just gets easier/cheaper to buy the DVD for the few things I might otherwise record for later viewing. Not going to spend a lot of time and money trying to build a DRM compatible DVR. Also going to stop paying for services like YouTube TV that are way too expensive for what they provide.
 
upstatemike said:
At some point it just gets easier/cheaper to buy the DVD for the few things I might otherwise record for later viewing. Not going to spend a lot of time and money trying to build a DRM compatible DVR. Also going to stop paying for services like YouTube TV that are way too expensive for what they provide.
I need some sort of connection for some sites.  They appear to be only available through a TV provider but once you have that provider you can stream them directly from their web site.  So Youtube TV may be the best way for me regardless of the movies which I may not use.  I realize I may be in an uncommon situation with having hardly any options for truly unlimited internet needed for home use.
 
My DVR is not DRM capable and not looking to add that.  Sounds like you have decided not to record anything?  Do you not watch TV?  We find it very handy to record so we can watch when we want (time shift) and skipping commercials is nice too.  We don't do a lot but have some we want to see.
 
At what point would it be more realistic/cost-effective to run your own conduit and provide a demarc point for the ISP out near the road?
 
JimS said:
I need some sort of connection for some sites.  They appear to be only available through a TV provider but once you have that provider you can stream them directly from their web site.  So Youtube TV may be the best way for me regardless of the movies which I may not use.  I realize I may be in an uncommon situation with having hardly any options for truly unlimited internet needed for home use.
 
My DVR is not DRM capable and not looking to add that.  Sounds like you have decided not to record anything?  Do you not watch TV?  We find it very handy to record so we can watch when we want (time shift) and skipping commercials is nice too.  We don't do a lot but have some we want to see.
 
I did in fact record a lot of things on YouTube TV. Got a message today that some of the channels I recorded them from are going away along with the recordings. Have paused service till I decide what to do long term. I don't watch any news or Disney owned channels and have a DVR for OTA stuff so YouTube TV was just for recording from the non-premium cable channels like TNT, FXX, etc. The handful of shows I watch that way are available on DVD (or will be soon enough) and will cost me much less than a YouTubeTV subscription. Mostly stream Netflix, Prime, Paramount (free from T-Mobile), Showtime, and the free channels on FireTV. Won't miss YouTube TV.
 
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