And speaking of First world problems -

[scooperhsd]

Google Fiber (my ISP) has uped the minimum speed for paid subscriptions from 100 mbps to 500 mbps for an additional cost of $5 / month (total is $55 / month + taxes / fees etc.). The "problem" - the router I've been using (that handled 100mbps) for 4-5 years and my laptop (also about 5 years or maybe a little more - AMD A8 CPU) (even on  gigabit ethernet) can't go that fast 

[Robert]

You maybe surprised, I changed my router and I use the Orbi for the whole house wifi with Comcast they bumped up my speed used to get around 500 now almost 1 Gig.

[f6john]

All I can say is, huh? I get what your saying but all that stuff is Greek to me.  In my case it either works or it doesn’t, have no idea what my speed is

[Robert]

All I can say is, huh? I get what your saying but all that stuff is Greek to me.  In my case it either works or it doesn’t, have no idea what my speed is

I think I can explain this, its the difference between a Valk and a scooter 

[scooperhsd]

All I can say is, huh? I get what your saying but all that stuff is Greek to me.  In my case it either works or it doesn’t, have no idea what my speed is

I think I can explain this, its the difference between a Valk and a scooter 

Good analogy ! (Valkyrie vs. scooter).

When I connected directly to the Google Fiber router, then tried speedtest with a browser - it noticed I had over 100mbps.THen it suggested the Speedtest app - installed and using that - show right at 500 Mbps upload and download.

[cookiedough]

is not this overkill megs?   would you really notice any difference at all from 100 to 500 megs?

I am only allowed 15 megs service and about .50 upload is all where I live and is good enough for me, just barely though.  I never see 15 megs but anywhere from 5-13 megs.  Just a few years ago I was in the stone age with dial up speed from my ONLY provider of DSL modem/router thru my phone line.

It is coming, fiber optics, but will be a few more months until offered in this one horse town.  I suspect the price will be very similar to what I am paying now 60 per month for such crappy service.

[DIGGER]

All I can say is, huh? I get what your saying but all that stuff is Greek to me.  In my case it either works or it doesn’t, have no idea what my speed is

I think I can explain this, its the difference between a Valk and a scooter 

Sounds like my financial state......want a second Valk but got a scooter budget to work with

[carolinarider09]

Long Story;

I live in a fairly rural area, not off the beaten path just rural in a small town.  When I built the house, the only internet service was AT&T and that was over twisted pair.  this required installing a filter so I could also have land line service.  Internet speed was max of 12 Mbps download and 1 to 30 Mbps upload.  This made saving things to the cloud a very long process.  And, at times download was 3 Mbps or less. 

Sometime last year I noticed the some work on the COOPs power lines across the street (they don't provide my power since I am within the city limits of my small town).  But I inquired as to what the were doing.  The guy said "running fiber optic cable".  I asked about contact information and consulted their website.  Since I am not a customer, getting fiber optic internet service was highly unlikely, except, they have a pole, just at the edge of my propriety that provides support to the main power pole across the road. 

I contacted them again and, based on having their pole in my yard, I was allowed to get fiber optic internet service (starting speed is 100 Mbps) at a $10 surcharge and a three year commitment.  All my upload and download problems are now basically gone. 

So, why was the local electric COOP suppling fiber to its customers?  Well it turns out, they were connecting fiber to all of their substations for control and interface with circuits and monitoring.  Someone said, why not run a couple of 100 extra fibers and get into the internet service business for your rural customers.  A win win.  The main win is the extra income they get.  Their customers win because rural areas now have high speed internet.  Speeds up to 1Gbps are available.  Minimum is what I got. 100 Mbps. 

[scooperhsd]

Now that's a forward thinking power company. Pulling it anyway - let's see if we can get a win-win by adding our customers with access to high speed interent.

[hubcapsc]

My coop is probably going to offer service. I live in the middle of 20 acres and
my power is buried... so even after they do it, I guess I'll still be too far away
from the fiber. My twisted-pair DSL is 1.3 down and .5 or so up... even so I
can stream movies and stuff without much (if any) buffering.

-Mike

[The emperor has no clothes]

My coop is probably going to offer service. I live in the middle of 20 acres and
my power is buried... so even after they do it, I guess I'll still be too far away
from the fiber. My twisted-pair DSL is 1.3 down and .5 or so up... even so I
can stream movies and stuff without much (if any) buffering.

-Mike

I can’t imagine their services would be all that quick  (sorry)

[carolinarider09]

Hubcapsc:

You might want to rethink that its too far away.  Just did a search that sort of confirms what I thought (not exact distances but relative).

Single-Mode Fiber Optics: 20 Miles

Multi-Mode Fiber Optics: 3000 Feet

When I built the house I ran conduit out to the place the temp power came and and back to the house.

After construction was finished, used the conduit to get power to some driveway lights and run more conduit out to the road, where the last light was located.  Had a nylon cord in the pipe for pulling whatever.  

The conduit ended right at the COOP's pole on my property.  When they came, all they had to do was attach the fiber to the cord and pull.  It was about 150 feet.  

The only problem I had was getting the fiber to the room where I wanted the Internet modem.  But I solved that and it was a conduit with a rope, so it was fairly straight forward.  That fiber is small.

So, if you have a mind to, you could just run some conduit and let them decide.  I don't know it that is possible or not, but its worth a try.

When my COOP ran the fiber, they ran it under the power lines (about 3 or so feet down from the power line) pole to pole.  To attach a customer, they had to back track to the last "hub" (or whatever you call it) and pull the fiber to the house. It was a continuous pull from the "hub".  That would be the only limitation I suspect.  How far you would be from the hub.