Fellow rural internet user here.
Our best bet has been to find the most reliable cell service provider (verizon) that covers our house and get data service through them. The trick is to find it as cheap as possible- and that's rarely walking through the front door of the verizon store. I get unlimited service through my employers corporate contract for ~$40/month. Other options I can pursue are an unlimited deal for first responders that verizon offers.
We also have a low cost LTE service through a local university. for $25/month. In general, it works OK as long as there aren't any leaves on the trees, which is a majority of the year here. :D I could put up a 50 foot tower to clear the trees and my inner ham radio nerd would love that for a lot of reasons, but I have a lot of other projects taking priority. You might check with local educational institutions to see if there's a similar program in your area. This one has been steadily expanding and now offers service in two states.
I'm coming up empty right now on googling, but the FCC has been handing out some major dollars for rural broadband development. Someplace there is a list of the recipients. You might see if there are any in your area who plan to deploy near you and see if their plans cover your home. Being a 1/4 mile off the road, you may not be automatically included, but offering to cover trenching in the conduit may put you on the list.
Finally, hot take time!
Starlink is a scam. Maybe not a full on grift like whatever hyperloop is, but it will be interesting to see how this service plays out, especially since the FCC will not be giving them nearly a billion dollars for rural broadband deployment. They are currently very much in a customer acquisition mode. Given the pricing of the service right now, I see only three possibilities. 1. The service will always be oversubscribed (slow). 2. The price will go up. 3. The company will never be profitable. I have several friends with starlink now. It's getting into oversubscribed territory. The service often becomes unusable during prime time netflix hour (evenings). Even with starlink, I'd plan to have a backup if my job depended on it.
