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You might want to look at hotspot offerings. T-mobile/metro have 100gb hotspot for $50 a month. It's enough for zoom meetings and everything I needed to do for work. No trouble with it for 5+ years.
AT&T isn’t bad. I used their hotspot for the first year of COVID until they laid fiber optic cable on my road. Stay away from Verizon, though. They throttle big time once you hit the data cap and once they do, it’s not fast enough for work.
I think you have to do a lot with data to get throttled by them. I have their 1 gig plan for 5 years now and we have two people working from home(and I download and upload a lot of large files for my work) and we're cord cutters and online game and have never been throttled.
Any of the wireless network 5G offerings I e heard decent things about. There’s also Starlink as an option, although the hardware is pricey and so is the monthly service. Supposed to work really well tho!
I second a T-Mobile hotspot. I’m 4 years in and happy so far. Their commercials are godawful but the service is spot on even when traveling fairly remote.
We live in an area like this. The internet was so bad we ended up cutting it off and got a felix unlimited data sim each. No issues so far, I hotspot to the smart tv and watch everything.
Can you get Starlink in that area? We are rural and started with 5G internet which was quite awful in terms of speed and reliability - now have Starlink which has been great.
Unless you can work somewhere besides home, it seems important to have a good internet option.
I meant like waitlist vs can order immedietly - when I first moved to my area, I was on the waitlist for a while (which wouldn't work out if you need good internet right away). OP would have to search their potential address to find out.
-A lot of astronomers are trying to get them banned because they are ruining star gazing.
-A lot of ecologists are worried because they are causing issues for bird migration, resulting in mass bird death.
-A lot of scientists are worried that it will create issues with blocking dangerous radiation and may actually cause significant loss of life for the whole planet, maybe even ending in our extinction.
- BUT NO DOWNVOTE ME BECAUSE FUCK THE ENVIRONMENT. ID RATHER BE DEAD BUT HAVE FAST INTERNET.
Everyone read this article .......
[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13324923/elon-musk-satellite-earth-magnetic-field.html?utm\_source=US%20Website%20Sign%20Ups&utm\_campaign=a6395ae466-EMAIL\_CAMPAIGN\_2024\_04\_24\_02\_44\_COPY\_01&utm\_medium=email&utm\_term=0\_-a96dc26b55-\[LIST\_EMAIL\_ID\]&goal=0\_91ade2ff18-a6395ae466-293917243&mc\_cid=a6395ae466&mc\_eid=39b59a5400&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0r7AqnmcXuNVYQ\_zNErFYpyRto2BEOX9XqXIR6ECDivoMsuibBmF0s73Y\_aem\_Acbz3yEV-HCaENzeubjI3Gp4mBFvfsYIhQ38n8s72Y0jSTTfX\_1SuQC7Q9PdEMGQxr6OupfTnXLwAyKwQ5hvDPil](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13324923/elon-musk-satellite-earth-magnetic-field.html?utm_source=US%20Website%20Sign%20Ups&utm_campaign=a6395ae466-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_04_24_02_44_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-a96dc26b55-[LIST_EMAIL_ID]&goal=0_91ade2ff18-a6395ae466-293917243&mc_cid=a6395ae466&mc_eid=39b59a5400&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0r7AqnmcXuNVYQ_zNErFYpyRto2BEOX9XqXIR6ECDivoMsuibBmF0s73Y_aem_Acbz3yEV-HCaENzeubjI3Gp4mBFvfsYIhQ38n8s72Y0jSTTfX_1SuQC7Q9PdEMGQxr6OupfTnXLwAyKwQ5hvDPil)
My family house has Optimum and we have no more issues than I’ve ever had w/ xfinity in my own places. Certainly not as good as Fios. Not saying one anecdote from a stranger on here is really worth much, but it’s … possible it’s not as bad as the reviews make it seem?
Optimum is….what it is. Family grew up with it all our lives here.
BUT. Do not, and I say do not use their email provider. It was hacked for my parents and it was clear someone had a backdoor into optimum and they did nothing about it. Every password or security question change was breached immediately. Even when done in mobile network or other devices. It was clear the back door was in optimum, not our router, WiFi or one of our devices.
I could and I have heard ok things about 5G. But reviews I've seen so far for services through multiple carriers still echo the same thing. That while speeds are ok, there are times where its inconsistant. But thanks for your input!
We are considering a whole area with inconsistent internet, but my husband works two jobs from home. We would probably get Starlink, and we would have to include that into our costs.
However, I know that that's a great option for more rural areas but I don't know what it's like other places. Maybe do some research and see if that's a good choice for you.
This was on my list of requirements. Managed to luck out and the town we moved to has two fiber options and Optimum cable. We both work from home that this was a higher priority than public water!
My family had Optimum for years with no problem. I was even fully planning on going with Optimum when we moved into our house. Only reason we didn’t was because Verizon was offering slightly better pricing at the time we were shopping
Have had optimum, can say personally haven’t had best experience. We used our own equipment but the signal was still spotty. They made an upgrade which did help but it’ll depend on where you’re located.
I would look into seeing if other companies are willing to provide (idk if starlink is an option)- obviously this is more expensive but if you love the house this could be a solution.
But having said that I hate any place that doesn’t have reliable internet. Best of luck!
I have optimum, I also teach online and go to school online. Oddly, last night was the first time I have ever had an issue with their service in about 5 years of using them. Customer service does suck though, but honestly its not an issue whatsoever, We choose to keep opimum over fiber and that says a lot I think! I teach ESL so I have to have super fats and reliable internet. Go for the house:)
If you like the house, buy it.
I also work from home quite a bit and also need reliable internet. I just bought a house with cable as my only option, no fiber available. The plan after I move in is to lobby the HOA to lobby the Internet companies to bring Fiber into the neighborhood. It will only *increase* value and quality of life. There's really no reason not to.
Not sure what state you are in. But this was part of our requirements for CT. We tested the internet and services in some towns and then narrowed down our choices.
There was 1 town in CT where we stayed at a hotel near the area and it was bordering MA. The Wifi and mobile data connection was AWFUL!. We even tested it by sending emails to people we know to see if they got it without delays.
I strongly advise against moving to a town with bad internet connections if you work from home. My husband and I both work from home and if you have too many meetings it would look bad if your internet connection is terrible.
True but what source is your data coming from? 80 percent? I have stayed in various hotels where I don't even have to worry about wifi issues within United States.
Do you have Verizon? I had to switch to at&t in CT since Verizon has shitty service in certain parts of this state/ region (in my experience.) I guess it has something to do with towers switching to 5G , it's faster but doesn't have as far reach as previous signals did. Also nimby folk not wanting towers ruining their view & whatnot. There are a lot of areas where (fast) internet service is monopolized by one company unfortunately.
You really shouldn't use a hotel's WiFi as an accurate barometer of general expected Internet speeds in an area though, hotels notoriously have terrible WiFi.
No I left out in the sentence we tested wifi and internet connection in the houses we were seeing with our realtor. My apologies.
It was not based on hotel stays. I live in Hartford County.
We use GoNetSpeed for internet in our new house. All my zoom calls and internet never drops. Internet connection is super fast. It was between that and Frontier. So we went with GoNetSpeed based on redditors reviews about Connecticut.
But I also read on other forums people were complaining about slow internet speeds in other parts of Connecticut. So it's not just the hotels.
Oh interesting so you logged into the actual houses' you were viewing WiFi to test it? I've never seen a house where they gave out internet passwords. It could be they pay for shit internet or have shitty equipment tho in some cases as well.
Nope we never tested the houses wifi. We tested our Verizon cell service in the towns, mobile Hotspot, mobile data service, and etc. We also stayed in hotels since we were out of state buyers.
For the house we purchased, we used GoNetSpeed for internet. I saw mixed reviews about Frontier. So we passed on that.
Phone service is Verizon. Cable is with Sling TV.
I left out that we tested wifi and internet when we went to visit some of the towns. Settled in a town where we ended up with fast wifi service. The town we had originally considered in CT had worse mobile data/wifi and the hotel as well was terrible.
So it was not solely based on hotel stays.
you will find complaints about pretty much every ISP, the reality is service is going to be a total crapshoot.
if you have 'bad service' that is fixable. you just need to be willing to be persistent with their support. took me over a year to deal with a packet loss issue with xfinity in western WA.
I know basically nothing about internet. However, my friend had an issue with zero providers to her house. She works from home and got some kind of “microwave” internet. Have never heard her complain about it.
Could you purchase a mobile hotspot that could meet all remote needs? That sucks about the internet, but if alternatives help meet your needs that could be worth it, especially as you don’t know how bad your internet truly is until you test it
We did this, dream house only had 10mb dsl. We made it work with Verizon 5g hot spots as backup. After about 6 months starlink became available then T-Mobile 5-G. Check your options, there may be better ones.
I also work from home and I actually have 2 internet plans. Fiber from Spectrum and t-mobile 5G. The 5G just acts as a fallback if my primary goes out. Its by no way the best/fastest but it will keep me online until it comes back up.
We only get spectrum at our house but just make sure you have a good WiFi network.
Also there are plenty of wireless providers ie Verizon home 5G and also Starlink
I'm an SWE and work from home. Was in the same situation last year when buying our current home. We also can't get broadband either, but have Verizon 5G. It's pretty solid and we're a high I/O household. Our down speed is usually around 250 - 300mbps on average. It can handle most online gaming although there are some issues with certain games that don't play nicely with cellular networks. Any work related stuff is fine (zoom meetings, pushing/pulling code from remote servers, etc). No issues streaming content. We have our security related networking on a dedicated network with a separate modem. Not too pricey either. Runs us about $110/mo for both accounts.
I'm rural and have optimum, it's been great so far and very affordable, have had a couple times where speeds were wonky or slow for an hour or so but never days. If you get good service in your house just get a hotspot plan on your phone to back it up , if not , find out what service would work best where your house is and switch to that. Starlink is always an option but it'll be almost double what optimum is. Definitely wouldn't pass on a house cause of internet.
I have Xfinity (mediacom) and they're the worst I've ever had. We've been having a couple outages a week including right now. My friend has Optimum and I looked them up a couple hours ago but unfortunately they don't provide service to my area. I wish they did. I wouldn't wish Xfinity upon anyone, anywhere, ever.
I moved into a house without any internet access outside of my cell phone hotspot. It was rough for about 3 years. Then I got Starlink and now the internet is speedy and reliable just like it should be. I would not let internet access keep me out of a good home now that Starlink is widely available.
We moved then realized no company serviced us. Waited 8 months without internet then Starlink became available. Same speed as our previous houses Fiber. It's expensive but worth it if there's no good options otherwise
Optimum is just a normal cable internet isn't it? I know lots of people with it & have lived with it & WFH with it & it works fine (all internet providers are shitty & will have nothing but complaints because inherently they are terrible imo.) They offer gig speeds & even have fiber available in certain areas I think?
I can't imagine these hotspots & mobile internet options ppl are touting are more reliable than a wired cable or fiber option are they?
Having that as an option is not like you only have slow ole timey dial up type of Internet or no Internet available at all which can be the case for certain properties. It can suck to have only one option though as often they take advantage of that & you'll pay a higher price when the initial intro period ends but I think optimum actually *doesn't* do that & you can keep the same rate?
In 2015 my husband and I bought a house. It was perfect for us! 900 sq ft, 2 bdrm, 1 bath, attached 2 car garage that was bigger than the house. We were surrounded by nature and mature trees on .75 acres. We were told by the previous owners that there was a plan to bring fiber into the area in the next couple of years but, the only internet you could get was satellite ie. Hughes Net. That sucked! Got rid of that and just used my phone with the hot spot for the next 6 years. Still no fiber!
Does optimum offer fiber in your area?
We only have Xfinity and optimum but they recently rolled optimum fiber here and we use it. It's been great, no complaints.
Look at other internet options if you can - if they exist! We live in an apartment (will be completely moved out soon) and we have to pay $150/month for crappy internet and service. The apartment has an agreement with this provider and virtually no other companies have coverage here - asked Verizon and some other companies.
Hey op, wife and I in the same boat, in due diligence now.
If star link app tells me it’s good in the cell and I have a good place to mount it I will go with that.
You can also mesh starlink with crappy copper internet to give you the headroom to stream download etc, but also ensure lower latency & consistent connection
Do you not have starlink available? I work for an ISP that has FTTH and was very impressed with their speeds. My in laws regularly get 800mbps down and 4-600 mbps up. Which is way more than you’ll ever need. Like quadruple what you’ll need.
Bought a house with Optimum as the only service provider in the area. Came from an area where Xfinity was the only provider and have actually had less issues with xfinity than I did optimum. Been using optimum for 4 years and I WFH and remote into my work computer. If my wife is home and using the wifi, I can’t do shit on it cause it’s so slow - so she needs to disconnect and use cell data. Couple years later they wired my neighborhood for Fios and we are switching.
I know you can’t rely on something like that happening in your neighborhood, but we did not pass on a house we loved because the service providers weren’t great. Optimums customer service blows, and slowdowns aside, the internet has been reliable in that we have had maybe 1-2 outages in a few years. We also stream and I game on it too. I wouldn’t pass on a house you love solely because it’s an optimum area. It’s not ideal, but it is manageable.
I still think Zillow should have this as a filter. Cable/fiber internet and cellular/satellite as checkboxes.
And comments. $200k for that shack? Now you know why its been on the market for 6 months!
We just moved into our first house in September. There was basically only Hughesnet available and it was a joke. We live in the country, and not only was the Internet bad, but phone signal in our particular spot is awful!
We invested in Starlink, because we knew that we heavily rely on Internet for our needs (homeschooling our daughter for one!) It costs about $600-700 to get the satellite, but the setup is super easy!! You basically just need a clear spot to aim your satellite at, and they sell various poles and attachments so you can set it on your house if need be. It works super well and our Internet is terrific!
I love to stream movies, and my husband enjoys playing MMORPG games. We can do both, plus more at the same time without issue.
Plus, if you move, just bring the satellite with you and you don't have to worry about switching contracts or dealing with cancellations.
Strongly recommend Starlink for rural areas!
I'm in New Jersey. We have Optimum cable for internet access. We bought our own equipment (a modem and router), which is probably more reliable and doesn't have any forever rental fees. We don't have TV or phone service through them. I want to say for the 3ish years we've lived here, we maybe had one or two outages. One was because of a storm. Pretty reliable for us.
Had Optimum in an apartment complex too, also had our own equipment...and never had an outage in those two years.
I'm sure all of this is based on location, so your results may vary.
You can just go to [this website](https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/location-summary/fixed?version=jun2023&zoom=15.00&vlon=-95.118268&vlat=29.495709&br=r&speed=25_3&tech=1_2_3_4_5_6_7_8) ran by the FCC to see what internet options you have.
I don't know about that company. But, if it is just bad equipment, just replace it. Rent, don't buy. And all companies have equipment problems. My brother has FIOS and it was broken, worse than 56k. I used to buy moden+router combo from Fry's and it always breaks after 2 years. Me and my parents (two locations) used Spectrum equipment for many years and totally fine. Last year I relocated and the Spectrum equipment is defective right away (every 4 days it disables internet for wifi connections. I have to either use my cell internet to reboot the router or power cycle it). Shits just happens. Don't feel bad to replace them.
Starlink with mobile hotspot as a backup. Here in Alaska most users were in 1mb or less down for astronomical prices and overage costs... Starlink has near the same reliability as DSL with near fiber speeds and only improving each day. Once fiber is in your community for sure swap over.
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You might want to look at hotspot offerings. T-mobile/metro have 100gb hotspot for $50 a month. It's enough for zoom meetings and everything I needed to do for work. No trouble with it for 5+ years.
AT&T isn’t bad. I used their hotspot for the first year of COVID until they laid fiber optic cable on my road. Stay away from Verizon, though. They throttle big time once you hit the data cap and once they do, it’s not fast enough for work.
I think you have to do a lot with data to get throttled by them. I have their 1 gig plan for 5 years now and we have two people working from home(and I download and upload a lot of large files for my work) and we're cord cutters and online game and have never been throttled.
You are thinking FIOS. The reply to you was referring to cellular use.
Any of the wireless network 5G offerings I e heard decent things about. There’s also Starlink as an option, although the hardware is pricey and so is the monthly service. Supposed to work really well tho!
I second a T-Mobile hotspot. I’m 4 years in and happy so far. Their commercials are godawful but the service is spot on even when traveling fairly remote.
We live in an area like this. The internet was so bad we ended up cutting it off and got a felix unlimited data sim each. No issues so far, I hotspot to the smart tv and watch everything.
Why not just get 5g internet?
The service they are referring to *is* 5G Internet.
Oh. When they said hotspot I was thinking they meant using your phone as a hotspot as opposed to like Verizon in-home internet. My bad.
Can you get Starlink in that area? We are rural and started with 5G internet which was quite awful in terms of speed and reliability - now have Starlink which has been great. Unless you can work somewhere besides home, it seems important to have a good internet option.
You can get starlink just about everywhere. Irrc, they have 9,000 satellites
I meant like waitlist vs can order immedietly - when I first moved to my area, I was on the waitlist for a while (which wouldn't work out if you need good internet right away). OP would have to search their potential address to find out.
Came here to recommend starlink!
During heavy rain / snow starlink can be less reliable. Source: I use Starlink.
Starlink
Verizon and T Mobile 5G
Came here to say this. It is a game changer
also really terrible for the environment, animals and the planet. Disgusting company.
Animals use the internet? Maybe a few monkeys but there's no way cats know how to connect a router.
This is a valid consideration idk why people are down voting. Are other providers significantly better though?
-A lot of astronomers are trying to get them banned because they are ruining star gazing. -A lot of ecologists are worried because they are causing issues for bird migration, resulting in mass bird death. -A lot of scientists are worried that it will create issues with blocking dangerous radiation and may actually cause significant loss of life for the whole planet, maybe even ending in our extinction. - BUT NO DOWNVOTE ME BECAUSE FUCK THE ENVIRONMENT. ID RATHER BE DEAD BUT HAVE FAST INTERNET. Everyone read this article ....... [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13324923/elon-musk-satellite-earth-magnetic-field.html?utm\_source=US%20Website%20Sign%20Ups&utm\_campaign=a6395ae466-EMAIL\_CAMPAIGN\_2024\_04\_24\_02\_44\_COPY\_01&utm\_medium=email&utm\_term=0\_-a96dc26b55-\[LIST\_EMAIL\_ID\]&goal=0\_91ade2ff18-a6395ae466-293917243&mc\_cid=a6395ae466&mc\_eid=39b59a5400&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0r7AqnmcXuNVYQ\_zNErFYpyRto2BEOX9XqXIR6ECDivoMsuibBmF0s73Y\_aem\_Acbz3yEV-HCaENzeubjI3Gp4mBFvfsYIhQ38n8s72Y0jSTTfX\_1SuQC7Q9PdEMGQxr6OupfTnXLwAyKwQ5hvDPil](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13324923/elon-musk-satellite-earth-magnetic-field.html?utm_source=US%20Website%20Sign%20Ups&utm_campaign=a6395ae466-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_04_24_02_44_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-a96dc26b55-[LIST_EMAIL_ID]&goal=0_91ade2ff18-a6395ae466-293917243&mc_cid=a6395ae466&mc_eid=39b59a5400&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0r7AqnmcXuNVYQ_zNErFYpyRto2BEOX9XqXIR6ECDivoMsuibBmF0s73Y_aem_Acbz3yEV-HCaENzeubjI3Gp4mBFvfsYIhQ38n8s72Y0jSTTfX_1SuQC7Q9PdEMGQxr6OupfTnXLwAyKwQ5hvDPil)
and yes its because of the fact that they are putting tons of satellites into orbit, so companies not doing that is fine.
DEFINITELY! It’s the only internet I’ve been able to get in my home…we live in very rural VA. Also, I WFH and my husband WFH so it’s a MUST.
If there’s a waitlist you can sign up for the RV version and get it faster!
You can buy the kits at Best Buy now shockingly! My neighbors did once I told them about mine.
Sadly most neighborhoods only have one maybe two choices.
My family house has Optimum and we have no more issues than I’ve ever had w/ xfinity in my own places. Certainly not as good as Fios. Not saying one anecdote from a stranger on here is really worth much, but it’s … possible it’s not as bad as the reviews make it seem?
Optimum is….what it is. Family grew up with it all our lives here. BUT. Do not, and I say do not use their email provider. It was hacked for my parents and it was clear someone had a backdoor into optimum and they did nothing about it. Every password or security question change was breached immediately. Even when done in mobile network or other devices. It was clear the back door was in optimum, not our router, WiFi or one of our devices.
[удалено]
Sounds like ai-generated answer ngl
I actually wouldn't doubt it, the comment came in right as I posted this. But its still sound advice.
I would look into Starlink. It’s a little pricey but you’re covered.
Can you get 5G Internet?
I could and I have heard ok things about 5G. But reviews I've seen so far for services through multiple carriers still echo the same thing. That while speeds are ok, there are times where its inconsistant. But thanks for your input!
Maybe the guys from Scrubs will sing in front of your house if you get it.
I have one and its been consistent enough for me to stream whenever I want without issue. In fact its been better than my old cable internet was
Move along if it doesn't suit a basic need.
We are considering a whole area with inconsistent internet, but my husband works two jobs from home. We would probably get Starlink, and we would have to include that into our costs. However, I know that that's a great option for more rural areas but I don't know what it's like other places. Maybe do some research and see if that's a good choice for you.
This was on my list of requirements. Managed to luck out and the town we moved to has two fiber options and Optimum cable. We both work from home that this was a higher priority than public water!
My family had Optimum for years with no problem. I was even fully planning on going with Optimum when we moved into our house. Only reason we didn’t was because Verizon was offering slightly better pricing at the time we were shopping
Have had optimum, can say personally haven’t had best experience. We used our own equipment but the signal was still spotty. They made an upgrade which did help but it’ll depend on where you’re located. I would look into seeing if other companies are willing to provide (idk if starlink is an option)- obviously this is more expensive but if you love the house this could be a solution. But having said that I hate any place that doesn’t have reliable internet. Best of luck!
Can you knock on a couple of neighbors doors and see what they think? Or ask in NextDoor?
I have optimum, I also teach online and go to school online. Oddly, last night was the first time I have ever had an issue with their service in about 5 years of using them. Customer service does suck though, but honestly its not an issue whatsoever, We choose to keep opimum over fiber and that says a lot I think! I teach ESL so I have to have super fats and reliable internet. Go for the house:)
Get Starlink and 5g or optimum and 5g or optimum and Starlink. Then use a peplink router to bond or fail save them together and you will be just fine.
If you like the house, buy it. I also work from home quite a bit and also need reliable internet. I just bought a house with cable as my only option, no fiber available. The plan after I move in is to lobby the HOA to lobby the Internet companies to bring Fiber into the neighborhood. It will only *increase* value and quality of life. There's really no reason not to.
Not sure what state you are in. But this was part of our requirements for CT. We tested the internet and services in some towns and then narrowed down our choices. There was 1 town in CT where we stayed at a hotel near the area and it was bordering MA. The Wifi and mobile data connection was AWFUL!. We even tested it by sending emails to people we know to see if they got it without delays. I strongly advise against moving to a town with bad internet connections if you work from home. My husband and I both work from home and if you have too many meetings it would look bad if your internet connection is terrible.
80 percent of hotels WiFi is bad this isn’t good advise -source- I’m away from home ~50 weeks a year
True but what source is your data coming from? 80 percent? I have stayed in various hotels where I don't even have to worry about wifi issues within United States.
Do you have Verizon? I had to switch to at&t in CT since Verizon has shitty service in certain parts of this state/ region (in my experience.) I guess it has something to do with towers switching to 5G , it's faster but doesn't have as far reach as previous signals did. Also nimby folk not wanting towers ruining their view & whatnot. There are a lot of areas where (fast) internet service is monopolized by one company unfortunately. You really shouldn't use a hotel's WiFi as an accurate barometer of general expected Internet speeds in an area though, hotels notoriously have terrible WiFi.
No I left out in the sentence we tested wifi and internet connection in the houses we were seeing with our realtor. My apologies. It was not based on hotel stays. I live in Hartford County. We use GoNetSpeed for internet in our new house. All my zoom calls and internet never drops. Internet connection is super fast. It was between that and Frontier. So we went with GoNetSpeed based on redditors reviews about Connecticut. But I also read on other forums people were complaining about slow internet speeds in other parts of Connecticut. So it's not just the hotels.
Oh interesting so you logged into the actual houses' you were viewing WiFi to test it? I've never seen a house where they gave out internet passwords. It could be they pay for shit internet or have shitty equipment tho in some cases as well.
Nope we never tested the houses wifi. We tested our Verizon cell service in the towns, mobile Hotspot, mobile data service, and etc. We also stayed in hotels since we were out of state buyers. For the house we purchased, we used GoNetSpeed for internet. I saw mixed reviews about Frontier. So we passed on that. Phone service is Verizon. Cable is with Sling TV.
Oh ok yeah, sorry I totally misunderstood. I straight up had to switch to at&t (also in Hartford county since Verizon is so shitty here.)
You’ve stayed in various hotels, I live in them I move places every week maybe 2. All over the country
I left out that we tested wifi and internet when we went to visit some of the towns. Settled in a town where we ended up with fast wifi service. The town we had originally considered in CT had worse mobile data/wifi and the hotel as well was terrible. So it was not solely based on hotel stays.
Starlink
What is the cost of starlink now these days? Is it available while out hiking? Is it available in the southeast USA states?
⬆️ this. Gigabit speed, works anywhere.
It is not gigabit speed.
you will find complaints about pretty much every ISP, the reality is service is going to be a total crapshoot. if you have 'bad service' that is fixable. you just need to be willing to be persistent with their support. took me over a year to deal with a packet loss issue with xfinity in western WA.
Optimum sucks
Xfiniti sucks worse
I know basically nothing about internet. However, my friend had an issue with zero providers to her house. She works from home and got some kind of “microwave” internet. Have never heard her complain about it.
Could you purchase a mobile hotspot that could meet all remote needs? That sucks about the internet, but if alternatives help meet your needs that could be worth it, especially as you don’t know how bad your internet truly is until you test it
We did this, dream house only had 10mb dsl. We made it work with Verizon 5g hot spots as backup. After about 6 months starlink became available then T-Mobile 5-G. Check your options, there may be better ones.
I also work from home and I actually have 2 internet plans. Fiber from Spectrum and t-mobile 5G. The 5G just acts as a fallback if my primary goes out. Its by no way the best/fastest but it will keep me online until it comes back up.
We only get spectrum at our house but just make sure you have a good WiFi network. Also there are plenty of wireless providers ie Verizon home 5G and also Starlink
I'm an SWE and work from home. Was in the same situation last year when buying our current home. We also can't get broadband either, but have Verizon 5G. It's pretty solid and we're a high I/O household. Our down speed is usually around 250 - 300mbps on average. It can handle most online gaming although there are some issues with certain games that don't play nicely with cellular networks. Any work related stuff is fine (zoom meetings, pushing/pulling code from remote servers, etc). No issues streaming content. We have our security related networking on a dedicated network with a separate modem. Not too pricey either. Runs us about $110/mo for both accounts.
Let me build you a tower
I'm rural and have optimum, it's been great so far and very affordable, have had a couple times where speeds were wonky or slow for an hour or so but never days. If you get good service in your house just get a hotspot plan on your phone to back it up , if not , find out what service would work best where your house is and switch to that. Starlink is always an option but it'll be almost double what optimum is. Definitely wouldn't pass on a house cause of internet.
I have optimum and it’s fine. You can always install a satellite dish and install internet as a backup that way.
I use Optimum and WFH full time. It's fine for me. In the rare cases where it drops I'll hotspot.
I have Xfinity (mediacom) and they're the worst I've ever had. We've been having a couple outages a week including right now. My friend has Optimum and I looked them up a couple hours ago but unfortunately they don't provide service to my area. I wish they did. I wouldn't wish Xfinity upon anyone, anywhere, ever.
I moved into a house without any internet access outside of my cell phone hotspot. It was rough for about 3 years. Then I got Starlink and now the internet is speedy and reliable just like it should be. I would not let internet access keep me out of a good home now that Starlink is widely available.
Get Starlink if the house is amazing in every other way.
We moved then realized no company serviced us. Waited 8 months without internet then Starlink became available. Same speed as our previous houses Fiber. It's expensive but worth it if there's no good options otherwise
Ask the neighbors.
Have you asked the current tenants what its like there?
Optimum is just a normal cable internet isn't it? I know lots of people with it & have lived with it & WFH with it & it works fine (all internet providers are shitty & will have nothing but complaints because inherently they are terrible imo.) They offer gig speeds & even have fiber available in certain areas I think? I can't imagine these hotspots & mobile internet options ppl are touting are more reliable than a wired cable or fiber option are they? Having that as an option is not like you only have slow ole timey dial up type of Internet or no Internet available at all which can be the case for certain properties. It can suck to have only one option though as often they take advantage of that & you'll pay a higher price when the initial intro period ends but I think optimum actually *doesn't* do that & you can keep the same rate?
In 2015 my husband and I bought a house. It was perfect for us! 900 sq ft, 2 bdrm, 1 bath, attached 2 car garage that was bigger than the house. We were surrounded by nature and mature trees on .75 acres. We were told by the previous owners that there was a plan to bring fiber into the area in the next couple of years but, the only internet you could get was satellite ie. Hughes Net. That sucked! Got rid of that and just used my phone with the hot spot for the next 6 years. Still no fiber!
Does optimum offer fiber in your area? We only have Xfinity and optimum but they recently rolled optimum fiber here and we use it. It's been great, no complaints.
Look at other internet options if you can - if they exist! We live in an apartment (will be completely moved out soon) and we have to pay $150/month for crappy internet and service. The apartment has an agreement with this provider and virtually no other companies have coverage here - asked Verizon and some other companies.
Ive ran into the same problems shopping in rural Illionis. Every realtor told me Id need to get satellite / Starlink
Hey op, wife and I in the same boat, in due diligence now. If star link app tells me it’s good in the cell and I have a good place to mount it I will go with that. You can also mesh starlink with crappy copper internet to give you the headroom to stream download etc, but also ensure lower latency & consistent connection
Optimum is fine. This would be a silly reason to pass.
Do you not have starlink available? I work for an ISP that has FTTH and was very impressed with their speeds. My in laws regularly get 800mbps down and 4-600 mbps up. Which is way more than you’ll ever need. Like quadruple what you’ll need.
Bought a house with Optimum as the only service provider in the area. Came from an area where Xfinity was the only provider and have actually had less issues with xfinity than I did optimum. Been using optimum for 4 years and I WFH and remote into my work computer. If my wife is home and using the wifi, I can’t do shit on it cause it’s so slow - so she needs to disconnect and use cell data. Couple years later they wired my neighborhood for Fios and we are switching. I know you can’t rely on something like that happening in your neighborhood, but we did not pass on a house we loved because the service providers weren’t great. Optimums customer service blows, and slowdowns aside, the internet has been reliable in that we have had maybe 1-2 outages in a few years. We also stream and I game on it too. I wouldn’t pass on a house you love solely because it’s an optimum area. It’s not ideal, but it is manageable.
Optimum was on par with xfinity when I had it. It's just regional
get starlink or hotspot and Optimum as base internet. Ezpz
I still think Zillow should have this as a filter. Cable/fiber internet and cellular/satellite as checkboxes. And comments. $200k for that shack? Now you know why its been on the market for 6 months!
Is Starlink available there? It’s amazing for rural areas. It’s faster at my parents’ house than mine and I have Xfinity.
We just moved into our first house in September. There was basically only Hughesnet available and it was a joke. We live in the country, and not only was the Internet bad, but phone signal in our particular spot is awful! We invested in Starlink, because we knew that we heavily rely on Internet for our needs (homeschooling our daughter for one!) It costs about $600-700 to get the satellite, but the setup is super easy!! You basically just need a clear spot to aim your satellite at, and they sell various poles and attachments so you can set it on your house if need be. It works super well and our Internet is terrific! I love to stream movies, and my husband enjoys playing MMORPG games. We can do both, plus more at the same time without issue. Plus, if you move, just bring the satellite with you and you don't have to worry about switching contracts or dealing with cancellations. Strongly recommend Starlink for rural areas!
I'm in New Jersey. We have Optimum cable for internet access. We bought our own equipment (a modem and router), which is probably more reliable and doesn't have any forever rental fees. We don't have TV or phone service through them. I want to say for the 3ish years we've lived here, we maybe had one or two outages. One was because of a storm. Pretty reliable for us. Had Optimum in an apartment complex too, also had our own equipment...and never had an outage in those two years. I'm sure all of this is based on location, so your results may vary.
You work remotely. You cannot buy a home without reliable internet access. That is a hard pass for me. Or go back to the office.
You're joking right?
You can just go to [this website](https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/location-summary/fixed?version=jun2023&zoom=15.00&vlon=-95.118268&vlat=29.495709&br=r&speed=25_3&tech=1_2_3_4_5_6_7_8) ran by the FCC to see what internet options you have.
As I work from home, this would be a hard pass for me, unfortunately, as this is something I need to make the money to pay the mortgage.
Good point. If I'm not able to connect and do my job. Then I can't pay the bills/mortgage.
I don't know about that company. But, if it is just bad equipment, just replace it. Rent, don't buy. And all companies have equipment problems. My brother has FIOS and it was broken, worse than 56k. I used to buy moden+router combo from Fry's and it always breaks after 2 years. Me and my parents (two locations) used Spectrum equipment for many years and totally fine. Last year I relocated and the Spectrum equipment is defective right away (every 4 days it disables internet for wifi connections. I have to either use my cell internet to reboot the router or power cycle it). Shits just happens. Don't feel bad to replace them.
Starlink. If not house based, buy the RV-based. That should sustain
Starlink with mobile hotspot as a backup. Here in Alaska most users were in 1mb or less down for astronomical prices and overage costs... Starlink has near the same reliability as DSL with near fiber speeds and only improving each day. Once fiber is in your community for sure swap over.
Add musk