If you've ever done any 3D design, you'll know that feeling you get the first time you see your objects with their skin on. They're no longer wire-framed sketches, they're solid.
Drywall!
The electrician hasn't put in the wires for cable or ethernet, like I asked. So I assume he's going to have to fish them through the drywall. Why not start the cabling in the months before the drywall went up? Beats me! I asked the builder about it three (now four) times. But that's just not how they do it.
Turns out we can't even get cable on that street. The cable co. won't run a line without knowing they'll have a certain number of customers, and the people there apparently don't want it. Which is fucking crazy because that means the only options for internet are satellite or DSL. And the DSL carrier's website says we'll be able to get 3Mbs (three!) at our new house. Currently, we have cable and while we're paying for 30Mbs, we're actually pulling down 100Mbs (according to on-line speed tests).
We were planning to drop cable anyway, but we thought we'd be replacing it with Hulu, Netflix & Amazon. 3Mbs is slow enough that those might not actually be options - at least not in HD.
Honestly, if I had known about this before we bought the lot, I would have disqualified the lot. I just couldn't believe that we'd have trouble getting a decent connection. It's only a mile (literally, as the crow flies) from our current house, so I assumed we'd have the same options. Nope! Fail!
Update:
The DSL provider's website says we'd get 3Mbs. But their sales rep says we'll get 8Mbps. 8 would be fine. Crisis averted?
I have Vz DSL and I’m at about the extreme distance possible at the time of my install; 3.5-4 miles (about 2010). Don’t know about subsequent improvements or different systems under the DSL rubric. If I get 750kb/s I’m having a very good day. About 50% of the time I can’t even do a speed test; it times out.
wow.
that would be hard for me to take :)
You’ll need about 5Mbps for an HD Netflix stream I think. I could not live without a high speed Internet connection. We often have multiple video streams on the go at once.
It is surprising how different the same area is wired up. In my town, all the residential estates have fttc which delivers around 50Mbps, but properties in the town centre – some right next to the exchange – still have DSL as slow as 2Mbps. As in the US, they will only bother with fibre if enough people ask for it.
I’m still amazed at the speeds you can get over that tiny little copper wire though. Fibre-to-the-cabinet means the last leg (cabinet to the house) is still over the copper wires, but even hundreds of metres away can mean a 50Mbps connection. Amazing really.
I know some people in rural areas that use a 3G or 4G mobile connection for all things Internet. If you’re near a mast you can easily get 20Mbps or faster on modern 3G, depending on contention. Not sure about latency though.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/faq/id-1888183/alternative-home-internet-services.html
our wireless carrier does provide a 4G LTE wireless internet service (5-12Mbs down) . but it’s capped at 10GB/mo for $60, and it’s not available in my area.
we used our 3G phones as wireless hotspots when we first moved into this house. that worked OK for checking email and whatever. but we were capped at 2GB/mo. IIRC. that’s pretty easy to hit.
Google is starting to install 1,000Mb/s fiber in Raleigh (20 miles east) and Chapel Hill (10 miles north) but not to our little town.
oh well, DSL it is.
or satellite? they promise 10-15Mbs, but i fear the latency and slow upload speeds.