AT&T Fixed Wireless Internet service

[wiredgeorge]

I know some of you folk may live in rural areas where there is no high speed internet save satellite or a mobile hot spot. Both of these means of internet service have serious drawbacks; I know from personal experience. Got a post card from my good friends at AT&T a couple months ago telling me they were rolling out FIXED WIRELESS INTERNET service. They hang radios and dishes on cell towers and transmit high speed internet; it is pretty much line of sight and in the microwave frequency range. I was excited and found it wasn't actually on a tower I could see from my home. I checked their site back using my address (after a couple months) and found it now was available.

First year is $60 with a 12 month contract. You can also elect to pay full price ($70 a month) for no contract. Equipment is paid in three installments (equipment is about $100 installed). They set a dish on your roof or building side (looks like a smaller version of a digital tv dish) and run a cable to a box they put in your house. The box is a combo modem and router. Works pretty much like any other router. I changed my ssid and password and have it connected to a range extender where I can access internet in my shop about 150' away. Speeds in the house or shop approach 30 m/bits download and 10 m/bits upload. Streaming videos is no longer and issue and we get 150 gigs of un throttled data a month. I doubt we use a third of that as we are not gamers and only look at Netflix now and again.

The service is intended for rural customers without access to high speed internet (other than sat or hotspot). It has worked flawlessly since installed. You can "bundle" this service with telephone if you want to save a couple bucks; we didn't as this means contract. Of course, this has no application to an RV unless you are full timing and fixed and then might be an option.

[JEBar]

good to hear of a new alternative .... I know that when we are at Media Lake, over the air TV reception is all but nonexistent .... our Verizon MIFI does work well for internet and when we get a clear view of the southern sky our Direct TV satellite reception is good

[avvidclif]

Hmmmm, have to check into that. I haven't heard anything about it around here.

[wiredgeorge]

The Fixed Wireless Internet service is aimed at locations with no broadband options (other than satellite / hot spot). Not available in metro areas or areas served by other broadband as I understand it.

[avvidclif]

All we have available is Shitlink @ 1-2 MB down. Maybe.

[wiredgeorge]

Not familiar with the service you mentioned. Doesn't sound like a very good one. Hughesnet is far better than that for downloads and you can stream videos if you can put up with a bit of buffering during peak hours when everyone is bopping on the satellite at the same time.

[avvidclif]

Actually it's called centurylink DSL. It's junk. I signed up for 25MB download speed and paid extra for it. When the guy showed up to install it he said I would be lucky to get 1-2MB because of the distance to the box. I told him to cancel the service and he did. It took 3 months for them to stop billing me and numerous phone calls. Look it up, pages of complaints. I use Viasat, Wildblue, or Exede depending on what they are calling themselves this month. I also have 2 phones and a hotspot with 25gb/month/each that I also use. Sometimes it's faster than Wildblue sometimes not. When we have bad weather and Sat goes down I just turn on the hotspot and keep surfing.

The problem with the Sat is the monthly limit, 25GB and $10/G after that.

[wiredgeorge]

Down here in sunny Medina County, Viasat ads say UNLIMITED data with no throttle at various speeds. The speed tiers are what cost different amounts. Interesting. And DSL at 1 m/bit OUCH! Doesn't DSL come in on a cable or something? What box are you talking about?

[avvidclif]

An Internet primer. Most common is cable, Suddenlink, Etc, next is DSL (over phone lines), and satellite. Centurylink is DSL. AT&T offer cable as do most providers. It's the most common, IN TOWN. Out in the sticks you may have DSL or a local company that sets up a WiFi (sorta) link to your house which requires a tower and dish pointed to the feed. The other option is satellite. DSL is limited by the condition of the copper phone lines and the distance to the box which is max of abt 3 miles. In town it's over fiberoptic and super fast. Good luck on fiber in the country.

My choices are centurylink, satellite, or mobile phone (hotspot or phone) Cable probably won't be out here in my lifetime, not enough housing density. I have satellite and mobile phones both are about the same download speed, usually sat is slightly faster. Both are limited to 25GB/Mon and additional charges after that or slowdown.

Viasat in my area is based on your downloads and speed. I get 25GB at up to 12MB download speed /month. I can increase the speed and capacity but it gets pricey. The new satellite they put up can handle up to 200MB IIRC. and you can get unlimited data but it's pricey, over $200/month IIRC. I don't need it that bad.

[avvidclif]

I looked up where you are and the plan I have would be the bottom one 12MB speed but I am limited to 25GB/month. Each GB after that is $10. Your plan would have 40GB/month and then they can throttle back, if needed, once you pass 40GB

[wiredgeorge]

There is a lot of line of site internet in our area. Various companies put small dishes up on the roof on a mast of a house sitting at a higher elevation and you put a dish up on a mast at your place and can pick up the signal. Unfortunately, in the Hill Country, we are amid lots of hills and canyons. At one time, I was able to pick up the signal shot from about a mile away (Castroville Computers install) then the owner of the building where the mast/dish were got mad and made the provider move the dish. It was moved about 100 feet and the mast isn't as high and I lost service. I was cheap ($25 for unlimited) but not real fast as speed is limited to signal quality issues.

As far as Viasat, looked up "plans" for 78056 (my zip) and they have a 25 mbps speed with unlimited data for $100 a month and a 12.5 mbps plan with unlimited data for $70 a month. Not sure how your data amount is limited when these plans say unlimited. Interesting. The prices noted are only for a very limited time; I noted the price after a couple months.

https://www.exede.com/plan-results/plat100/

[avvidclif]

Look closer. It's 40GB and then they CAN throttle it back. You're also looking as a new subscriber. I had them for 12 years and it's different. I'm limited to 25GB but from 3-6AM it doesn't count, it's free.

[wiredgeorge]

BTW! I have signed up for Bandera Electric Coop fiber optic internet. Went with the cheapest package of 25 mbps download speed (unlimited data) as a start. Should be fine for our needs and $40 a month. The AT&T Fixed Wireless Internet has served us well at $65 a month for 215 gigs of data with download speeds averaging about 35 mbps (little competition for the resource) but want to shed AT&T entirely. I can always shift my BEC fiber service to the next tier (75 mbps) for $60 a month.

[JEBar]

looking forward to hearing how it works .... not much available for fiber optic in our area

[JEBar]

The service is intended for rural customers without access to high speed internet (other than sat or hotspot). ... . Of course, this has no application to an RV unless you are full timing and fixed and then might be an option.

too bad .... there is a huge market among RV'ers who would like to have such a service while at home and on the road