Would you move because of crappy Internet?

[undercover]

For me, Internet is as essential as a toilet or an oven. I have no other options other than crappy AT&T DSL which I pay about $50 for 6Mbps. If this isn't crappy enough, it hardly ever works properly. My ping goes way up and speeds decrease. And about every 1-3 months it just stops working all together. I'm in a rural area so not much I can do. Also, not related, but almost equally as bad, there is only one grocery store within a 20 minute drive of me.

Would this be enough for you to move? My rent would presumably go way up but I could technically afford it. There are other reasons but I just wonder how big of a deal other people see this.

[ditheca]

Yes.

[firewalker]

Since it's evidently your tool by which you make your living, you should move.

[undercover]

Since it's evidently your tool by which you make your living, you should move.

Well no, I guess I just rely on it too much as my primary means of entertainment. Yes I'm online entire too much leisurely.

[Clean Shaven]

FWIW, I have the same crappy AT&T DSL, but I keep the rate low by calling to get the introductory rate package. This time it's about $30/ MO, fixed for 12 MO. Same 6 mb service.

[undercover]

Yeah I'm @ $39.99 on promo right now. The speed is actually fine when it works most of the time. It's just horribly unreliable.

[ketchup]

I know someone that has spotty mobile "LTE" internet as their only option at home (they live way way out in the middle of nowhere, and their driveway is 0.8 miles long and off the "main road").  They also have a 30GB/month cap.  And they pay waaay too much for it, something like $130/month.  I'd probably learn to deal with it, but I'd also probably do something nutty like start my own local WISP before I'd decide to move because of it.

[Rural]

I've lived with worse, am now in fact (max 3mbps, and AT&T doesn't come here). In the early 2000s, I made my living over a cellular dedicated dongle (this before everyone had a hotspot). Said dongle was faster than dialup - at least twice as fast! :-)


So, no. I wouldn't move, obviously, since I didn't then and am not now. But your life will be less stressful if you adjust your usage where you can. Also, if you can get a direct phone number the next time a repair person comes out to work on something, you may find you get faster fixes.


Fiber is coming, even out here in the sticks. It may take a while, but people laughed at me when I said we'd get any sort of wired broadband, and now we have it. How patient are you? :-)


Keep checking for other options, too. Cable is better, and those guys are running more line every chance they get.

[GizmoTX]

We are using satellite internet out in west Texas (Throckmorton), where it isn't wired for dial up or cable & weak cellular is only available at the top of a hill.
http://www.wildblue.com/overview/how-it-works

[FIRE Artist]

I see this more of a question of whether or not you are most suited to urban or rural living.  I wouldn't move just for the Internet, but certainly would if the location contributed to a less optimal lifestyle for me.  For example, I am not outdoorsy on a daily basis, I do better fitnesswise with access to gyms.  I am also what I call a social introvert, I like to be around people, but focussing on my own thing, for that reason gyms where I work out "alone" are great.  I also love taking classes on whatever picked my interest.  I also hate driving on highways in the winter, actually, I really hate driving full stop.  This tells me that I am definitely not suited to rural living.  I can totally see how internet would be my main source of entertainment if I lived in a rural setting; I don't think I would be ok with that in the long run, high speed, reliable service or no. 

[big_slacker]

For years I lived up in the mountains and dealt with spotty internet service. Since I needed VPN to work for various tasks I just continually called support and built cases until they HAD to come out and fix infrastructure. So often it's the 'last mile' that is the issue. The carrier lines are all good but the local telco does shitty work from the local hub to your place. It can be fixed but you need to first fix all internal issues (home wiring, etc.)  and then DOCUMENT and force the provider to acknowledge their problems.

In my case they had a single drop coming from the street to a 15 unit condo complex to a single box. This violated their standards but I had to have document all the problems and keep escalating with support.

I would never move to the city if I loved the country because of internet. Now moving because of jobs.... well that's why I don't live in the mountains anymore. :(

[undercover]

I see this more of a question of whether or not you are most suited to urban or rural living.  I wouldn't move just for the Internet, but certainly would if the location contributed to a less optimal lifestyle for me.  For example, I am not outdoorsy on a daily basis, I do better fitnesswise with access to gyms.  I am also what I call a social introvert, I like to be around people, but focussing on my own thing, for that reason gyms where I work out "alone" are great.  I also love taking classes on whatever picked my interest.  I also hate driving on highways in the winter, actually, I really hate driving full stop.  This tells me that I am definitely not suited to rural living.  I can totally see how internet would be my main source of entertainment if I lived in a rural setting; I don't think I would be ok with that in the long run, high speed, reliable service or no.

We are pretty much alike then. My computer is also my TV so I stream a lot of things in HD. No reason to ever go to the movies, go to store to buy a video game, go out an eat, etc...So a rural setting works fine for me for the most part except for the poor infrastructure. I agree with you that there are other things contributing to my desire to move though. The towns around me are small enough (prob less than 1k pop. in city limits), but I'm 20 minutes from a town.

For years I lived up in the mountains and dealt with spotty internet service. Since I needed VPN to work for various tasks I just continually called support and built cases until they HAD to come out and fix infrastructure. So often it's the 'last mile' that is the issue. The carrier lines are all good but the local telco does shitty work from the local hub to your place. It can be fixed but you need to first fix all internal issues (home wiring, etc.)  and then DOCUMENT and force the provider to acknowledge their problems.

Trust me, I've been back and forth with AT&T soo many times I couldn't even tell you. They've came out at least 10 times. My home wiring is fine, it's a fault with their infrastructure (and they've admitted it) that they just won't fix. I don't know what else to do other than take them to court, and I doubt I'll get anywhere. They know that this area is just bad. They've even stopped accepting new customers because of it. We can't even have a backup line or expand. Cable is a lost cause. They stop running it about 5 miles from where I'm at - and the only way to get them to run it out here would be to pay them probably $100k or something stupid. There sadly just isn't enough people around me for them to care. Though, they still definitely should.

I know surely some people on this forum couldn't even fathom living with 6Mbps. Of course, for a single person, it's mostly fine...if it worked all the time.

[SnackDog]

I would just find something more productive to do with your time. 

6MPS is blazing fast.   I have 0.2-1MPS at home, which seems perfectly adequate for most things.

[eostache]

I would just find something more productive to do with your time. 

6MPS is blazing fast.   I have 0.2-1MPS at home, which seems perfectly adequate for most things.

I live right in town and have 3mbps DSL from Century Link. It's the fastest CL offers in my neighborhood. I could get faster service from another provider, but for a lot more money. I pay $21/mo. I have to call CL to keep getting the promo rates. The 3mbps works pretty well for us, even streaming video. My bf is watching the Tour of Spain bike race on it right now.

But if the OP has spotty service, that can be a problem.

[kimmarg]

Unless this is preventing you from doing your job I don't think your problem is really internet it's that you don't like rural areas. Yes, the internet is slow, there is no cable, the grocery store is 30min away, Your power goes out frequently in storms.  Also you have lots of space for a garden, enjoy the sounds of birds chirping, have nice running/walking out your front door, no traffic or commotion. If you're not enjoying the pluses, only fretting the minuses maybe you are better suited to live somewhere else.

[Spork]

Short answer: I didn't.

I am a techie/retired IT type.  When we moved in here in 2006, there was NO option.  I don't mean we had crappy DSL.  I mean we had earthlink dialup.  Fast forward to 2008 and 3g made it out here and we had about 800k cellular for internet.  When we started, it was usable, but web providers soon got piggish and made even the simple web page for the county fair so bandwidth intensive that even it would take ridiculous amounts of time to load.  Fast forward again to 2014 and OMYGOD the terrible rural cable company got bought out by one of the bigger cable companies.  (Even better: it got bought out by one that I happened to work for, which meant it was free.)  We now get 12M consistently (and got 50M when I was working there).  Since I have a little inside knowledge, I know we will eventually get 50M for the same price as 12M (once the cable plant is upgraded).

The short answer here is:  technology is not static.  I wouldn't use that as a reason to move.  As soon as you pick up and move to an area that has the speed/function you want, something else will happen.  That company will be bought by another or >1G internet will appear somewhere else.

[BlueMR2]

I wouldn't.  I have 1.0 Mbps DSL that is flaky.  If it's down, well, I just can't VPN in/work from home that day.  I'll drive in to the office.

[Syonyk]

I'm planning to move from somewhere that has something like 105/50 to somewhere that the best I can get is 15/2.  And then work remotely on that.

If the internet is crappy, you have a few options.
- Fix it.  You're probably not the only person upset.  Form a little local wireless ISP (WISP) and do your thing.
- Find alternates.  I intend to have primary internet from a local WISP, and backups via cell towers.  Since I'll be working from home, these are tax deductions.
- Do something that doesn't involve the internet. :)

[mom2_3Hs]

Do you rent or own?  How far is it to work?  If you rent, I would move.  Owning ...moving would be a much bigger headache.

[rocketpj]

I would move, absolutely.  I use the internet for work and play, and will not tolerate a crappy service.  FIRE will increase rather than decrease my use of the internet.

[big_slacker]

Trust me, I've been back and forth with AT&T soo many times I couldn't even tell you. They've came out at least 10 times. My home wiring is fine, it's a fault with their infrastructure (and they've admitted it) that they just won't fix.

Well, that does suck that they're basically saying FU. I'd take my business elsewhere but it sounds like there isn't elsewhere.

But no, I wouldn't move. First of all 6mb down is just fine. And if it's just leisure yeah it's annoying but oh well. If you have a nice rural spot I wouldn't go to the city just for internet. :)

[Paul der Krake]

Packet losses/spotty connections are the excruciating factors. Slower speeds not so much, it just requires a little foresight to run your large downloads in advance.

[AlwaysBeenASaver]

No, I wouldn't (haven't.) We have 0.144 mbps (no, not a typo.) No DSL, no cable available out here. And we pay a TON for our 0.144 mpbs. We've considered trying satellite if we can get it here; our neighbor has it and loves the speed, but has to readjust the antennae on his roof after heavy winds.  We've never looked into satellite before because it doesn't work well with telnet/ssh/etc., but since I'm no longer working and SO often goes into town for faster internet when he needs to do work, I've been thinking about having them come out and see if we have the right line of sight or whatever is required for it.

[dunhamjr]

since I work from home part time I would not even move where only crappy internet service exists. I need reasonably fast and reliable access.

[Syonyk]

I think a 14.4 modem would be 0.014 Mbit.

[Bob W]

http://satellite-internet-review.toptenreviews.com/

I'm sure you were joking as internet has been available on satellite for years now?

[Syonyk]

I'd rather ssh over a modem...

[Spork]

I'd rather ssh over a modem...

Yep.

And occasionally cellular is even worse than satellite.   I've seen latency that defies belief in cellular.    I've had > 90 second ping times, which really makes no sense to me.  It seems like networking equipment would toss packets that old, but ... they didn't.  (Yeah, I know icmp may be treated differently than tcp... but tcp sessions acted exactly the same.  Type command.  Get coffee.  Wait for response.)

[SomedayStache]

FWIW, I have the same crappy AT&T DSL, but I keep the rate low by calling to get the introductory rate package. This time it's about $30/ MO, fixed for 12 MO. Same 6 mb service.

I'm also rural and also have ATT DSL.  When we moved out here they had to come run about 1/4 mile of new line to our house because I guess the people living here previously hadn't even had a phone that worked?

A year or so ago when our DSL rates went up I called to negotiate the price back down - and as a result of that phone call my cost actually went up.  Boo.  So I call again after a few months and get told that my address isn't even eligible for DSL.  Ummm, but I have it right now?  "yes, but if you change your options we won't be able to get you a new service subscription".

I'm hoping I can call back and talk to a different person, but now I'm worried about losing service entirely.  So posting to follow.  I'm also interested in hearing peoples experiences with satellite.

[Syonyk]

Well, that's pretty normal...

Frontier keeps sending me mail.  To my mailbox.  With my physical mailing address.  Talking about how amazing their shiny new fiber service, and would I like to upgrade to it?

Every time I called, they told me they didn't actually have fiber to my address, but would I like DSL at a fraction of my current speed and most of my current cost?  I'm happy with Comcast for internet, TYVM...