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What is the best way to get internet in rural areas?

My organization is allowing me to work 100% remotely and I just bought a house in a rural area.  Unfortunately, I didn't check into my internet options beforehand and now I've learned that broadband internet is not available at my address.  Can someone walk me through my options - I'm getting confused between download speeds and mobile v. satellite?  I need to be able to video conference via GoogleMeets and Zoom for several hours each workday and I'd also like to be able to stream Netflicks and make VOIP calls over WhatsApp.  What are the minimum download/upload speeds I need to be able to video conference without lag?  Approximately how many GBs of data should I expect to use a month?  Which mobile providers are the best in terms of cost and reliability?    

 

Update: Thank you Peter and Jess for your responses!  Unfortunately, I don't have 5G or Cable availability in my area, so I've ended up going with a 4g hotspot (Verizon Jetpack).  It is capped at 150GB of data a month and promised download speeds of 20-30Mbps so hopefully it will be enough for work.

  Topic Internet Connectivity Subtopic 5G WiFi (Fixed Wireless) Tags internet
2 Years 2 Answers 1.1k views

Chris Barfield

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Answers ( 2 )

 
  1. Peter Yeargin 1298 Accepted Answer Community Answer

    Hi Chris,

     

    Your best bets are going to be some combination of mobile, microwave (not the food heating device), or satellite.

     

    Download Requirements

     

    • First thing's first, to stream Netflix at decent HD quality, you'll want at least 1.5Mbps download speeds. Upload is inconsequential here.
    • Using Google Meet and Zoom requires good upload and download speeds. If you don't "have" to send video, you can get away with poor upload speeds. But ideally, you want 1.5Mbps Down, 1.5Mbps Up. The Up is the important part. You'll need at least 500Kbps to get a decent video image sent to others.

     

    Internet Options (In order of recommendation)

     

    • For mobile, you may find that Verizon or another provider has a service called "Fixed Wireless" or "Fixed 5G Wireless". This would by far be your best bet if you can get it. You will get both good upload and download speeds.
    • DSL could also potentially be an option. This is a telephone-based high-speed internet connection. It is normally slowish, but still better than Satellite IMHO. AT&T or Verizon might offer this but AT&T is the biggest player here. So start there. You can probably get around 2Mbps down/768 Kbps up.
    • Microwave Internet services are your next bet. In many rural areas, you'll find these small mom and pop operations that offer microwave high-speed internet. Just google "microwave internet service <your local area>" to check for it. You can sometimes get 50Mbps Down/50Mbps Up and it's much less delay
    • Satellite is your last resort out of all of these, primarily because of the long delays to reach the current geostationary internet satellites orbiting the earth. You can get solid download speeds but data caps are a real thing here and quite annoying. Check what those are for any satellite providers and make your best decision there. They will probably offer 10-50Mbps Download speeds, but upload speeds are typically slow and delayed. Viasat for example offers 3Mbps upload speed but it's competing with download bandwidth also. It's going to be rough to do Zoom calls over satellite, but you can try.

     

    Hope that helps!

    Peter

     

     

    UTC 2021-10-18 01:46 PM 0 Comments
  2. Jess H. Brewer 1718

    If you get cable TV at your residence, you can probably just add Internet to your package.  The cable modem usually comes with a WiFi hub as well as Ethernet cables.  That's what I use.  

    UTC 2021-10-19 11:31 PM 0 Comments

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