<p>Chase, have you looked into wireless ISPs like Michwave or Azulstar? My parents use Michwave and it has been a very solid service.<br>
On Mar 30, 2011 11:08 PM, "Chase Bolen" <<a href="mailto:chase.bolen@gmail.com">chase.bolen@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
> I'm one of those people who live in the boonies. We're maybe twenty<br>
> minutes from downtown GR. When we moved here, we were under the<br>
> impression that there WERE faster wires here, but it turned out that<br>
> "here" according to the ISPs was "in our zipcode".<br>
><br>
> We have satellite internet, and it's NOT a broadband replacement. Three<br>
> to six second round-trip packet times make anything media related either<br>
> unusable or nearly so (youtube, pandora, hulu). Sites using ajax barely<br>
> work, and often time out. Anything real time is pretty much out of the<br>
> question (Skype, online gaming). Even if those DID work, though, the<br>
> bandwidth caps would get hit pretty quickly. On top of this, the<br>
> service is way more expensive than most other "broadband" choices, and<br>
> wouldn't be an option for a lot of people.<br>
><br>
> I just heard a story about local governments posting notices on the web<br>
> instead of in newspapers, and I don't think this trend is going to slow<br>
> down in the near future. Commercial ISPs aren't going to willingly lose<br>
> money to wire sparsely populated rural areas. Just like electrification<br>
> in the 20th century, real broadband isn't going to reach the rest of us<br>
> without government intervention.<br>
><br>
> On Wed, 2011-03-30 at 21:54 -0400, Bob Kline wrote:<br>
> > That's basically it. More performance,<br>
> > in the most general sense, will cost more,<br>
> > but it's up to the individual to decide what<br>
> > they want to spend their money on. It's<br>
> > no different than how people decide what<br>
> > kind of car to drive, or how big a TV they<br>
> > have to have.<br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> > For those in the boonies, some chose to<br>
> > live where it's not economic to run the<br>
> > faster wires. But there's still HughesNet.<br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> > -- Bob<br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> > On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 9:32 PM, Joseph McLaughlin <<a href="mailto:jwm8351@yahoo.com">jwm8351@yahoo.com</a>><br>
> > wrote:<br>
> > Are you advocating Government involvement?<br>
> > Should the market place relegate this fair city to the bottom<br>
> > of the heap?<br>
> > And why do cows need high speed Internet?<br>
> ><br>
> > There is still a bug in the program must use RAID!<br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> > ______________________________________________________________<br>
> > From: Michael Mol <<a href="mailto:mikemol@gmail.com">mikemol@gmail.com</a>><br>
> > To: "Mailing List for LUG in greater Grand Rapids, MI area."<br>
> > <<a href="mailto:grlug@grlug.org">grlug@grlug.org</a>><br>
> > Sent: Wed, March 30, 2011 9:10:56 PM<br>
> > Subject: Re: [GRLUG] Google and Kansas City<br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> > I have a real, genuine fear that we're going about this with a<br>
> > *severe* case of myopia.<br>
> ><br>
> > I had difficulty navigating the web in 2007 on dial-up, with<br>
> > image<br>
> > bugs, large banner ads, huge JavaScript loads, large CSS<br>
> > loads,<br>
> > fifteen 5k or so avatar images whenever you visit a forum<br>
> > thread--even<br>
> > auto-play video video advertisements...Imagine how bad it is<br>
> > now.<br>
> > There are places within twenty miles of here which can't get<br>
> > cable,<br>
> > DSL, or even a reliable cell signal.<br>
> ><br>
> > Those involved in designing web services purchase very<br>
> > high-end<br>
> > network connections, get accustomed to those connections, and<br>
> > then<br>
> > *design* for those connections. It's a really bad<br>
> > self-reinforcing<br>
> > loop. Much like how software got slower as computers got<br>
> > faster, but<br>
> > it's much harder to raise the median Internet connection speed<br>
> > than it<br>
> > is to raise the median computer speed.<br>
> ><br>
> > There is a not-insignificant fraction of the population in<br>
> > America<br>
> > itself which is still going to be completely out of reach of<br>
> > even<br>
> > 10Mb/s Internet commercial services in ten years, and people<br>
> > gripe<br>
> > that our municipality isn't acting like those which take out a<br>
> > 25-year<br>
> > mortgage on their own essential services infrastructure to<br>
> > "give" us<br>
> > access to gigabit broadband connections below cost.<br>
> ><br>
> > I can't be the only one who's noticing this. In order for a<br>
> > bound-to-the-Internet economy to be sustainable, Internet<br>
> > services<br>
> > need to be virtually ubiquitous, and essential activities need<br>
> > to be<br>
> > manageable on lower-end Internet connections.<br>
> ><br>
> > On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 9:46 PM, Bob Kline<br>
> > <<a href="mailto:bob.kline@gmail.com">bob.kline@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> > ><br>
> > ><br>
> > <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/google-bestows-1gbps-fiber-network-on-kansas-city-kansas.ars">http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/google-bestows-1gbps-fiber-network-on-kansas-city-kansas.ars</a><br>
> > > This gives a good summary about<br>
> > > why Google is doing this. It thinks<br>
> > > it needs higher speeds to support<br>
> > > future projects. And it clearly sees<br>
> > > that the existing big providers are<br>
> > > digging in, not providing higher speeds,<br>
> > > and not above not letting others do<br>
> > > it either.<br>
> > > It will be interesting to see how this<br>
> > > plays out. Chattanooga, TN, already<br>
> > > has a 1Gbps system.<br>
> > > -- Bob<br>
> > > --<br>
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> ><br>
> ><br>
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