It might actually happen!

[LowPolyOWG]

I guess you can't just go out and chop them down?

[PZ]

I chopped mine down the other day (2), but there is a hill several miles between me and the wireless tower on which are the offending trees. 

[nex]

What about wifi booster antennas PZ, funny thing, I was reading up on something similar the other day.

Read up on a few of these comments, one guy was talking about 15 miles through trees
https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/592640-how-can-i-extend-my-wireless-internet-3-miles


https://www.ubnt.com/products/#default

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah, PZ, are you using a hotspot of some kind? I had an actual modem that was connected to an antenna on the roof. It looked something like this guy:

https://3gstore.com/product/3146_21_inch_marine_antenna.html

Which is what I spent part of last Saturday taking down. I found one of the connectors was full of water, so I wonder if that was the cause of my drop outs and sometimes bad connection speeds. But when I had a good 4G connection, it wasn't too bad. Not broadband by any stretch, but enough speed to watch videos, at least at 480 resolution which is decent enough for the average youtube video. It was enough speed to play a decent online game in Farcry with GKid. The main drawback of that was the limited amount of download they let me have (this is Verizon) and the cost. $85 a month for 15GB is no bargain, but about the best deal I could get from them. It was enough for a few Steam game updates and a couple videos every other day or so, but I had to keep an eye on the usage all the same.

The 3G store that link goes to are really helpful, I told them what I had, and they came up with a combination of antenna and wiring to hook it up. Maybe you can get a better connection by adding an outdoor antenna.

[PZ]

Thanks guys - I actually already have a high powered receiver mounted on the roof. When the installers first tried to install the service they used their standard antenna, and they found that it would not w0#k (too weak). Then they tried this rectangular plate about one foot square that is actually powered by the modem. It worked, and gives me enough power to play online and do my downloads (albeit slow). So far this appears to be the best I can do in my area. I'm surrounded by trees and mountains, with few places to see the long distances to the service towers.

I was using satellite a while ago, and was very disappointed because I could not even play online at all. The main road where wired services are available is about 100 yards away, and I'm considering asking the provider how much it would cost to bring the wire to my house. I'll bet it is a long shot though - cost prohibitive.

[LowPolyOWG]

Try that. 

[Art Blade]

go for it

[fragger]

I guess all you can do is ask, PZ. If they say it will cost you an arm, well at least you'll know then and can weigh up whether or not you think it's worth doing.

I fully sympathize with all you guys who are having access probs, because I know all too well what that's like. Hope you can all find decent solutions that won't make you rip your hair out or thin your wallets too much.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Ah, you must really be in a low signal area then, PZ. Asking the ISP to run wire to your house might w0#k, 100 yards isn't all that far, but it depends on how many poles they have to run wire on. My install wasn't that far, but maybe half that, and it was considered part of the normal install process. They had to run one span of wire from the pole on the road, across the road, through a small bit of trees in my front yard, to my pole by my driveway, then underground from there, which was across a bit of lawn, under the driveway, and across more lawn to the house. You might get lucky though and they would install it for a nominal charge above the normal install fee. But then, I've seen posts where someone wanted an install done that didn't seem all that extreme and was quoted thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars to have it done. In those situations, the company might as well just say they don't want to do it, but that appears negative so they just quote a high price so the customer will back off and stop bothering them.

As my mother always used to say, there's no harm in asking.

[PZ]

Yeah, you're right, D_B - you never know what these companies are going to think is reasonable to do without costing thousands.

As you gents say, no harm in asking 

[nex]

PZ, on the one link I gave you a guy posted the following.

Spoiler

Josh_Your_IT_Guy
Datil
Josh_Your_IT_Guy Sep 26, 2014 at 1:26 PM
We have a number of Ubiquiti NanoBridge M5's. a pair is less than $250.

They claim they go 15 miles, and the forums have people going over 10 through trees.

I just set a pair going about 3/4 of a mile through a double tree-line and I still get ~80mbps even on windy days.



You might give the suppliers a call,
maybe they have a solution for you which won't cost you a arm and a leg

[PZ]

Thanks nex, I'll check it out 

I'm hoping technology increases with the passage of time so some kind of solution will arise. Maybe these are examples of that. It is cool that is available for $91 at Amazon right now. I'll see if my provider can make it w0#k. I do not know how my current antenna works, or if it is better/worse.

[LowPolyOWG]

Well, after a decade with our home being connected to a 40/40 line, the family are replacing the old router/home central/TV tuner. That means either a 80/80 or 500/500 Mbps connection I did discussed with my family and we agreed on a wait-and-see approach. Can always just ask our provider to turn up the speed or go back. Honestly, it's just about 10.5 euros/12 USD per month for 420 Mbps extra. Considering how AAA games need like 60-100 GBs of downloading stuff and with mandatory 1-20 GB patching now and then, I'd go for 500.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah I can get a ~400mb connection I think, or even a gigabit connection (well, 900mb) though I don't know offhand how much extra it would be. Seeing that the 100mb connection I have now does really well for the most part, I don't have a great urge to spend more money on it. Real world speed I get about 1GB per minute or so, so a big download as long as the server can keep up might take half an hour. A really big one 45 minutes to an hour or so. The few times I need to pull down that amount of data doesn't justify the extra cost really.

[LowPolyOWG]

Yeah, I can agree on that Althought for the price, it's quite a step up. Then again, I can always just plug my PC with a cable and wait a few hours, 10 megabytes is still better than 5 megabytes. 500 Mbps is like 62.5 Mbyte/s and that means 3.6 GB/minute. As you said, no reason to waste money on something you don't really need.

With the upgrade, I will decrease download time with 50%, going from 300Mb/minute to 600 Mb/minute. Better than no upgrade