vacationing in upstate NY town that has no service from *any* cell phone company
#31
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,231
Last bit, in Maine, fibre is surprisingly available in rural areas. There was an initiative a few years ago called 3 ring binder, which brought three rings of fibre optic to the various communities. Local ISPs have access to this, and are able to deploy it to their customers at fairly inexpensive prices.
3 Ring Binder is run/managed by Maine Fiber Co. Most towns of appreciable size in Maine are either on its path or nearish. I believe a significant chunk of the Maine School & Library Network uses 3RB for transport. MFC publishes its dark fiber lease rates on its website.
But 3RB is a middle mile network. In general it's not possible to connect it to your house directly and get service. As mentioned above, you need an ISP.
#32
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 380
I wouldn't include WI in that. The southern half of the state has very strong US Cellular LTE coverage (places where there are no service are the exception, not the rule.) AT&T and Verizon have the northern half fairly well covered. If you're finding areas in WI where coverage is lacking, it is 95% of the time due to local restrictions on building out a cell site. If USCC and Verizon are the primary carriers, coverage is generally not an issue. If it is AT&T and Verizon, you'll run into more dead spots. If you're in Maine (which would be NNE), and have no Verizon and no US Cellular, you're either in a forestry area, or a potato field.
Last bit, in Maine, fibre is surprisingly available in rural areas. There was an initiative a few years ago called 3 ring binder, which brought three rings of fibre optic to the various communities. Local ISPs have access to this, and are able to deploy it to their customers at fairly inexpensive prices.
Last bit, in Maine, fibre is surprisingly available in rural areas. There was an initiative a few years ago called 3 ring binder, which brought three rings of fibre optic to the various communities. Local ISPs have access to this, and are able to deploy it to their customers at fairly inexpensive prices.
Anyway, DirecPC(now HughesNet) did provide pretty fast broadband for downloads, but the upload link was still vial dial-up. (yes, I know how ridiculous that sounded) On top of that, they had a fair-usage policy. Exceed a certain amount of usage and the connection is kicked off. It gets reset every billing period.
I'm so glad that I now have 300mbps cable internet at my home. (unfortunately, the upload is still an unacceptable 5mbps)
#33
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Join Date: May 2006
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Actually, I believe several states got NTIA grants for broadband infrastructure. 3 Ring Binder was one such project. Another is the MassBroadband 123 network. Kentucky is currently building one, KentuckyWired, that is financed and owned by Macquarie, a large Australian bank that has a private equity arm with an appetite for infrastructure investments.
3 Ring Binder is run/managed by Maine Fiber Co. Most towns of appreciable size in Maine are either on its path or nearish. I believe a significant chunk of the Maine School & Library Network uses 3RB for transport. MFC publishes its dark fiber lease rates on its website.
But 3RB is a middle mile network. In general it's not possible to connect it to your house directly and get service. As mentioned above, you need an ISP.
3 Ring Binder is run/managed by Maine Fiber Co. Most towns of appreciable size in Maine are either on its path or nearish. I believe a significant chunk of the Maine School & Library Network uses 3RB for transport. MFC publishes its dark fiber lease rates on its website.
But 3RB is a middle mile network. In general it's not possible to connect it to your house directly and get service. As mentioned above, you need an ISP.
#34
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: DEN
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And I bet that the OP's reference to "Upstate NY" might really be "Northern NY"...perhaps somewhere in the Adirondacks. Most of upstate NY is pretty civilized.
Oh, and don't forget that if you live in Manhattan, upstate NY starts at Yonkers.
Oh, and don't forget that if you live in Manhattan, upstate NY starts at Yonkers.
#35
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 380
Undisclosed location several miles north of I-90, to be precise.