DSL In Hulett?

[FDNYLiberty]

I was wondering what type of internet access is available in Hulett/Devils Tower area - not directly in the town of Hulett. Is satellite internet available? What company provides it?

Thanks.

[rhodges]

As far as I know, DSL is available in the town of Hulett and a short way down the road.  I am about a half mile too far.

Satellite Internet is probably doable anywhere there is a decent visibility to the South.  I have looked into it many times over the last 13 to 14 years, and every time I read reviews and opinions, everyone agrees that it sucks.  Direcway had a "fair usage policy" that worked out to be equivalent to a dial-up modem connected 24/7 at about 41kb/s.  Sure, you might get short bursts of quick bitrates (or maybe not!) but the average allowance is (or was) comparable to a dial-up modem.  Note that Direcway changed their name to Hughes.

Wildblue is the newer satellite Internet service.  I think they have been going for maybe six to eight years??  At first, they had good reports.  Of course they did.  Everyone gets good service when they don't have many customers -- yet.  Obviously things have changed since then.  A couple years ago, I asked our good friend "manfromnevada" what he thought about his Wildblue service, and he would not recommend it to others.

I am currently using AT&T (formerly Alltel) wireless Internet through their cell network.  My "unlimited" plan costs $60 a month and whenever I check the bitrate, I usually get anywhere from 80kB/s to 160kB/s and a couple times up to 250kB/s (roughly 600kb/s to 1200kb/s).  I am about three miles from the cell tower and almost have line of sight.

[FDNYLiberty]

Thanks rhodges.

I spotted this little bit from Wildblue website of info that may be worth investigating further. Seems like a better deal than Verizon.

http://www.wildblue.com/usa/index.jsp

I would be interested to hear why manfromnevada did not like the service.

[clemmac]

Our place is 10 miles WSW of Devils Tower, we have a Hulett telephone number.  There's no chance here for any sort of landline Internet service except dial-up.  We get a satellite service called WBACCESS, we pay for the service through our telephone provider, it's $80.00 a month and works pretty well.  We do lose signal when there's a lot of moisture in the clouds and that means thunderstorms and WET snow also. 

I don't know how to measure download speed in any sort of meaningful manner.  We're reasonably happy with what we have, but remember, we have no options other than dial-up. 

If we take a laptop when we travel and compare speed with a Holiday Inn, the Holiday Inn download speed is probably twice our normal download speed ........... maybe 

[manfromnevada]

OK, here's the report from the source. Been there, done that.

I've had WB for 4 years here.
Negatives:
Took 2 weeks for the install, and once it took FIVE weeks to get a tech out here to repoint the dish. He came from Denver. There are no tools available for doing it yourself.
Long latency times. A typical newspaper web page has 100 "objects", each of which has to be requested and transmitted. Very slow. I even disabled Flash Player and could view no video.
Satellites are 27K miles up so even at the speed of light it adds up going up and down to their nearest "hub". They have an "optimizer", but it's still terribly slow.
My dish may have shifted (mounted in a pole in the ground), but no way for the user to align.
It does indeed go out if there's a very heavy thunderstorm going over, in fact, that's kind of our "oh oh" indicator of severe weather in the area!

My plan is $50 a month

So Monday I'm cancelling my service. I've gone with AT&T's "mifi" device. Pretty neat. The size of a cell phone but with no display and no keyboard. It receives the cell signal and generates a WiFi signal so that up to 5 PCs in the house can connect via WiFi. It's my own "hotspot". Very simple to use. The standard security like any other wireless device.

Two plans:
1. $35/mo for 3GB
2. $50/mo for 5GB

We also have AT&T cell phones here.
But . . .
The problem is that we only get one bar of signal both on the phones and the new mifi device. The phone service is pretty solid, but the mifi is pretty slow. A lot better than the WB, but watching videos is still start and stop at times. Next week I'm buying a cell phone "amplifier" from Radio Shack. My neighbor has done basically the same thing. He had NO signal at his house for his phones or "air card", so he installed the booster. No good, so he had to put up an external antennae, still no good. So he installed a directional outdoor antennae. Works great now, but he's down in a "hole" unlike me.

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-details/?\&q_sku=sku5030275#fbid=VFUAEbDv24x

It costs $150 at time of purchase (2yr contract), but you get one of those stupid $100 rebates by mail. So, considering that it's $35 vs $50 per month for greater speed I'm pretty happy.

Mac

[FDNYLiberty]

Thanks Manfromnevada.

[Crappiewy]

You dont move to Hulett for the Internet service.

Bu the way. Someone is installing  some sort of fiber up 14 right now. Dont know if it is going to Hulett but I cant think  of anything else up that way.

[B-LINE]

You dont move to Hulett for the Internet service.

Bu the way. Someone is installing  some sort of fiber up 14 right now. Dont know if it is going to Hulett but I cant think  of anything else up that way.

You hit the nail on the Head!!

[FDNYLiberty]

Well CrappieWY and B-Line, some people need the internet for their jobs or business.

In any case, can anyone give me any feedback about service in Newcastle?

Thanks.

[Crappiewy]

People move to hulett to get away from things like Internet.

You can give Both verizon and Collins Comminications a call.
Collins has a wireless service thru out the area. Verizon wireless also works but it depends on where you are.

[FDNYLiberty]

Crappiewy,

Thanks for that tidbit of info. 

[Rich]

Lot's of Fiber, as well as numerous Wireless Options In Newcastle.
Speeds up to 10 MBS if you are willing to pay for that level of Serv.

Richard

[FDNYLiberty]

Thanks Rich