We use Hughesnet, and unfortunately, they have a monopoly in our area. We live halfway down a hill, and there’s broadband at the top of the hill, but nope, not for us! So Hughesnet it is.
We attempt to conserve our 50G of data (no online gaming, no downloading, it’s just two phones and one smart tv for Netflix/Amazon). With Amazon it’s frustrating because the smart tv automatically defaults to the highest quality it can play, blasting through our Data in a couple of days. Netflix is better, but still gets really gummy at the end of the month.
If I understand correctly, a VPN might not help, because it can’t do anything about the data usage itself, is that correct? Or is there any kind of hope for us other than simply not watching any Amazon, and knuckling under to this aggravating monopoly?
How far are you from top of the hill, and do you have a line of sight? I ask because I helped someone out of almost the same situation. Where they lived (in the sticks, but riverfront property) there was no broadband, and they were forced to use Hugesnet.
Time Warner serviced the area about two miles down the river, so they struck a deal with one of their neighbors. I think it was something along the lines of they got a triple-play package, the neighbors got to use the TV & phone service, and they got the internet access. What I did was setup two of these devices, which are basically long range point-to-point Wifi antennas. Once that was done, they cancelled their Hughesnet account and have been happily surfing at 200 mbps ever since.
You can get as much as a 10% increase in bandwidth and throughput by using a VPN with a very high MTU and in-tunnel compression, but it would cost at least $25/month. And it’d only be a 10% boost at MOST. Usually you still end up losing some.
The guy who mentioned a possible deal with a neighbor down the road has a good idea. That’s probably your best bet for a real internet connection.
You don’t even need to look in to your routers settings. There are programs (NetLimiter) specifically designed so you can throttle the amount of data from a program.
Are there any options for cell tower internet? When I was in Australia in 2016/2017, we had an Optus 4G portable hotspot that had 50GB of data per month (it looks like the same plan is now 100GB). Since they also do not have net-neutrality, services like Spotify, Google Play Music, Netflix, and some local streaming services didn’t count towards the cap which was nice (even though I think net-neutrality is better).
I know people in rural Canada that have done the same. They used something like these Outdoor Range extenders (you need one at the sending side and one at the receiving end) with pretty good luck:
Technical caveat: You’ll likely want to segment off your side of the network to a different subnet so that your equipment isn’t seen on their network and vice versa. You might also want to implement some sort of security so they couldn’t change their IP and get a DHCP address and connect over. However, if you’re on good enough terms with them, you likely wouldn’t need to go that in depth.
Disclaimer: I used to work for Startech.com, there might be better products out there. When I was in IT support there, we hated supporting these extenders because the web interface isn’t that great for set-up. On the positive side, they provide free IT support (chat, email, phone) to their customers, so you’re guaranteed to get it working with them helping!
We’re about 3/4 of a mile, as the crow flies, but the road winds a bit. It’s also the PNW, so trees are thick all over. Would that hinder this setup?
Nice job on the workaround, in any case. I love seeing people “win” and not have to take a monopoly’s bully tactics, just because it’s the seemingly only option.
I’ve looked, but only summarily. The skimming I’ve done indicates it would cost about the same, with similar limits, but I think I’ll dig further now, especially since other comments have pointed in that direction as well. I worry it wouldn’t be enough to stream, which would land us in the same boat we’re in now!
Those devices are rated for 15 kilometers (9.3 miles), so if you’re only 3/4 miles away you might be able to get a good signal. Not sure how much the trees will impact the signal strength, but I know that things like buildings or hills in between can have a large impact. Mounting these things high up on poles helps a lot with obstacles.
Even with the trees in the way, you’ll probably get way better speeds, and no data cap (depending on the ISP up the hill). If you’re friends with anyone up the hill I’d seriously consider giving this a shot. The instructions that Ubiquity provides is fairly thorough, and the devices are pretty user friendly. The gen 2 devices even have a management radio you can use to set them up with an app on your phone.
Yeah, and our tv defaults to UHD when it can, with no ability to lower the quality (I guess most people don’t ask for that…) so yeah, one or two movies will take the entire allotted amount!
I’ve had good luck with the nanostations, but their zip ties are suspectable to sun rot. Once the ties break and the radio flips upside down, they make very efficient moisture collectors.
