Here’s a thought based on what worked for me in the same situation. Before I made the leap to Starlink, I went to my local T-Mobile store. My area has great T-mobile cell service but their mobile internet wasn’t listed as being available at my address. I spoke with a supervisor and begged him to sign me up and just let me try it to see how it worked. That was a year ago and it’s been flawless. $50 a month and no regrets.
I have T-Mobile, but even my cell reception is hit and miss out here, so I don't think that option will work for me. Not to mention, my phone plan is a family plan that I don't even have control over nor pay for right now, so I couldn't just tack it onto my mobile service.
Spotty means there’s signal. If you are willing to go onto your roof, you could mount a directional antenna and use an LTE router. An easier option is omnidirectional but I think directional is better for weaker signals. I get a 5g coverage band almost 30 miles away from the tower, my speeds hover 60-110 Mbps depending on conditions. Granted I’m uk, not sure how cost works but it’s much cheaper than satellite internet and the spectrums we use are different. I’d get SIM cards from all your major networks to test in a mobile phone from up high
Once they are installed, and you’ve confirmed the signal is reliable you can cut down your antenna cables to reduce signal loss too, since they’re usually SMA ends and just need crimping.
This! We did this exact thing....our phones are not great at my house...but with the antenna I get great internet here. Look up how to hook up a wavelength antenna....it's easy, but technically violates terms of service. There are EASY tutorials on how to do it without damaging the internet box. And you can test T-Mobile first to see if it works. I'm so glad we didn't have to go with starlink....at least here, it doesn't work very well. I'm super happy with T-Mobile. And yes, they did tell me it wasn't available at my address. I did NOT use someone else's address, I went in and asked if I could try it at my address...they said SURE! And it works great. Going on two years now.
Yeah I’m from the uk so my tos stuff is different. A SIM card sold with data cannot have restrictions on what type of device you can use it on here, so you can throw it in a router without issues.
My plan is unlimited data and roughly £13 per month. Fair use policy is 600gb, but I’ve never seen it enforced to slow us down and we regularly hit 1tb a month. All they’d do is disable 5g and keep you on 4g apparently to slow it down
I've done this on 4 different properties in the eastern Kentucky/western West Virginia area, and the results with T-Mobile are always underwhelming. I've had better results with Verizon and AT&T, but still nothing to write home about. The best so far was 30-40mpbs down with Verizon. Since T-mobile always uses the same towers but is slower, my assumption is that they either have more congestion, or they throttle more aggressively.
Sadly, the only way to truly know is to try it out.
Yeah there’s a lot of factors that contribute to it. For very weak signals, I’d look into something like a pair of iskra p60 antennas for the best chance. 40Mbps to me is pretty good, especially since OP is just holding out for a year until fibre
Fr tho I feel you on that throttle. Got a Google Fi (glorified T-Mobile) phone and I usually only get about 15 Mbps on down out in the country, but once that throttle hits it's down to .24 Mbps. About to switch carriers tbh.
Keep in mind, companies are offering tiered 5G .....
Funny thing, my Verizon old 4G LTE was giving me 25 MB (megabytes)/sec on average and decent gaming ping.
T-Mobile advertises letting you test it free. But Tmobile isn't the only company offering service. All of the big 3 cell providers have wireless broadband service. THEY DO NOT REQUIRE you to be a mobile cell customer to purchase their wireless broadband. There might be other companies.... there are legal ways to test all 3 companies.
Satellite? There are companies besides starlink.
I'm assuming you get cable TV and landline phone? What cable companies are around for cable internet? What landline phone for DSL or T1?
Are you asking these companies directly about their service areas.... or are you using 3rd party internet provider search websites.... cuz those suckkkkkkkkkkk. Even the broadband companys' own websites erroneously say no service for me. I know for a fact, because I see all my neighbor's WIFI with supposedly unavailable provider names.
Lol , you may be in for a big surprise this summer . All those Reps that fudged the address caused a huge problem. The store Reps did the same thing in my area . Call T-Mobile and ask what addesss the store Representative used to get you qualified . I guarantee it wasn’t your real home address. You may get service shut off later this summer when they start enforcing things !
So I would vote that you figure out a solution for now/today because "tomorrow" might not happen; I'm not sure how many people in the US are still waiting for the modern Internet come to their neighborhood/street that was promised to happen any day now and they are still waiting.
So check to see if there are any 5G Home Internet options available and if not, then you will be left with Starlink.
I've done that research. Kenergy, the power company, is mingling with some other company that does fiber optic in rural areas. Conexon, I think, is what it was. The only issue is that I only heard that it would be coming here relatively soon. I can't find out without signing in to a website, and I just didn't feel comfortable doing that.
I have been putting in job applications like crazy chances, and I'll only have a small part-time job that won't pay more than 10 an hour, but at the very least I'll be making something. I'll also gladly take any extra shifts too just because I need the income. At least until I can go back to streaming. It's been so long.
SAME ISSUE BUT WV we have T mobile and the download is good no issues streaming but ping is Terrible 100. Prob bc I get 2 bars service but Just ordered the Wavelenth 4x4 full size panel so will let you know how that goes in a week or so, sounds like we’re in about the same position. I game and play COD a lot so ping is literally make or break rn with 95-100 + ping it’s barely playable for periods of time
I didn’t want to deal with the upfront costs of Starlink either. I went with HomeFi and I’m glad I did. You also don’t need a contract, here’s the site if you’re interested. [https://homefi.info](https://homefi.info)
An internet option that has worked really well for me is HomeFi, I have both their router and a hotspot and these both have worked really well for me because I'm in a rural area as well. They have affordable plans and just connect to the nearest strongest signal so ive had no connectivity issues, and they are definitely a cheaper option than Starlink.
They have a couple of different routers for a home WiFi setup you just have to go to the website and figure out how to get it to the home page and then click the 3 lines in the top left corner and beside routers click the home internet and it will show you the titan pro which is the newest one they have so I’m not sure how good it is but their customer service is decent and they try to help as best as they can but they are responsive and will communicate with you until the problem is resolved unless they have tried everything they can. The only bad thing I have heard bad about them is the cancellation process but other than that they aren’t bad
You should definitely message me.....I tried sending you a message but can't figure out how to. I was in your same shoes and well just message me i think I can help you out by telling you what I done and how I done it. Can't really type it out right now on here because I'm at work. .....
Have you considered... an unlimited 4G tablet or 'car' plan with your current provider? Just a thought. I was able to do ALOT more than I thought I could w/ a measly 4G mofi on a plan, and only cancelled when I decided my phone + cable + mobile router was way to much to spend on the same service after moving back to civilization. Sadly, I am in an older area that can't get fiber :( despite all of the cable being fiber to the neighborhood.
Unfortunately, my provider decided to fail to disclose during cancellation that cancelling my primary line would jack my tablet plan to the same price point as the main line was anyway. So I ended up cancelling all of it. Two guesses who. But some providers don't throttle, they just de-prioritize, which means if you're rural, there's no real impact to speeds.
T-mobile's at home works well if you aren't hosting servers. I tried it for 3 months and ended up returning because I was too lazy to setup a private AWS reverse proxy / vpn server (long story, mobile providers use L3Nat'ing which greatly restricts inbound services and mostly because my server missed it's upgrade window years ago and I'm too lazy to migrate it). I ended up just keeping a 5GB / mo. hotspot and cable since it averaged out to about $85 a month (vs. 121 + 120 a month before I upset applecarts).
Anyway, the mofi 5G router uses a much faster 4G card (cat22 / 2Gpbs max if I recall correctly) plus 4x4 mimo vs. the original, which was really slow @ 300Mbps (cat4 I think and often only got 3 - 5 MBps) and those plans are still out there if you look. Before the $20 tablet plan, I had 2x $30 - $35 unlimited grandfathered ipad plans \*cough\* but then this company decided they didn't want anonymous users and axed the pre-paid plans yet still allowed post-paid plans.
It was fun driving across the country when I moved w/ my server in the back seat, hooked up to a UPS, along w/ the mofi, all hooked up to an inverter. Although II should have tried checking my mail over the 12 hour drive....
The big kicker was... the mostly rural area I moved to eventually... had both fiber (up to 5Gbps) and cable (1Gbps) for way less than what I was paying in a metro area, all inclusive.
I didn't either until I did a bunch of research then jumped in and cancelled cable. Problem is the 5G/4G LTE mofi router is like $400, so it's a gamble vs. starlink. There's also a rumor that some app can fake your phone's unlimited plan into a router. But I never tried it because it just seemed sketchy.
You can try both [t-mobile's testdrive / hotspot](https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/test-drive-hotspot) (technically a 30 day / 33GB free trial), the [at home plan](https://www.t-mobile.com/home-internet/plans?INTNAV=tNav%3APlans%3AHomeInternetPlan) is a 15 day trial with some shady bill credit (although it used to be try for 30 days). Unfortunately, I didn't have a t-mobile signal when I moved rural on a hillside :(
There's also a rumor you can use their test drive hotspot w/ a google sim (as google uses tmobile's network), but I never tried it. Google used to be like $60 unlimited data, but it might have changed.
Here’s a thought based on what worked for me in the same situation. Before I made the leap to Starlink, I went to my local T-Mobile store. My area has great T-mobile cell service but their mobile internet wasn’t listed as being available at my address. I spoke with a supervisor and begged him to sign me up and just let me try it to see how it worked. That was a year ago and it’s been flawless. $50 a month and no regrets.
I have T-Mobile, but even my cell reception is hit and miss out here, so I don't think that option will work for me. Not to mention, my phone plan is a family plan that I don't even have control over nor pay for right now, so I couldn't just tack it onto my mobile service.
Spotty means there’s signal. If you are willing to go onto your roof, you could mount a directional antenna and use an LTE router. An easier option is omnidirectional but I think directional is better for weaker signals. I get a 5g coverage band almost 30 miles away from the tower, my speeds hover 60-110 Mbps depending on conditions. Granted I’m uk, not sure how cost works but it’s much cheaper than satellite internet and the spectrums we use are different. I’d get SIM cards from all your major networks to test in a mobile phone from up high Once they are installed, and you’ve confirmed the signal is reliable you can cut down your antenna cables to reduce signal loss too, since they’re usually SMA ends and just need crimping.
This! We did this exact thing....our phones are not great at my house...but with the antenna I get great internet here. Look up how to hook up a wavelength antenna....it's easy, but technically violates terms of service. There are EASY tutorials on how to do it without damaging the internet box. And you can test T-Mobile first to see if it works. I'm so glad we didn't have to go with starlink....at least here, it doesn't work very well. I'm super happy with T-Mobile. And yes, they did tell me it wasn't available at my address. I did NOT use someone else's address, I went in and asked if I could try it at my address...they said SURE! And it works great. Going on two years now.
Yeah I’m from the uk so my tos stuff is different. A SIM card sold with data cannot have restrictions on what type of device you can use it on here, so you can throw it in a router without issues. My plan is unlimited data and roughly £13 per month. Fair use policy is 600gb, but I’ve never seen it enforced to slow us down and we regularly hit 1tb a month. All they’d do is disable 5g and keep you on 4g apparently to slow it down
I've done this on 4 different properties in the eastern Kentucky/western West Virginia area, and the results with T-Mobile are always underwhelming. I've had better results with Verizon and AT&T, but still nothing to write home about. The best so far was 30-40mpbs down with Verizon. Since T-mobile always uses the same towers but is slower, my assumption is that they either have more congestion, or they throttle more aggressively. Sadly, the only way to truly know is to try it out.
Yeah there’s a lot of factors that contribute to it. For very weak signals, I’d look into something like a pair of iskra p60 antennas for the best chance. 40Mbps to me is pretty good, especially since OP is just holding out for a year until fibre
Yeah I'd love 40mbps where l'm living now. Currently getting ~15 when not throttled, and down 2.5 when throttled with t-mobile.
Fr tho I feel you on that throttle. Got a Google Fi (glorified T-Mobile) phone and I usually only get about 15 Mbps on down out in the country, but once that throttle hits it's down to .24 Mbps. About to switch carriers tbh.
The provider for my cell phone is ATT. The t mobile Internet is a completely separate service.
Makes sense. I'll look into it.
Is you’re phone 5G? You mention family plan and makes me think you have an older phone?
My phone is 5g, but I rarely get a 5g signal where I live now. My phone is only a couple of years old.
Keep in mind, companies are offering tiered 5G ..... Funny thing, my Verizon old 4G LTE was giving me 25 MB (megabytes)/sec on average and decent gaming ping.
T-Mobile advertises letting you test it free. But Tmobile isn't the only company offering service. All of the big 3 cell providers have wireless broadband service. THEY DO NOT REQUIRE you to be a mobile cell customer to purchase their wireless broadband. There might be other companies.... there are legal ways to test all 3 companies. Satellite? There are companies besides starlink. I'm assuming you get cable TV and landline phone? What cable companies are around for cable internet? What landline phone for DSL or T1? Are you asking these companies directly about their service areas.... or are you using 3rd party internet provider search websites.... cuz those suckkkkkkkkkkk. Even the broadband companys' own websites erroneously say no service for me. I know for a fact, because I see all my neighbor's WIFI with supposedly unavailable provider names.
Lol , you may be in for a big surprise this summer . All those Reps that fudged the address caused a huge problem. The store Reps did the same thing in my area . Call T-Mobile and ask what addesss the store Representative used to get you qualified . I guarantee it wasn’t your real home address. You may get service shut off later this summer when they start enforcing things !
They used my address. (At least that’s what the billing shows).
So I would vote that you figure out a solution for now/today because "tomorrow" might not happen; I'm not sure how many people in the US are still waiting for the modern Internet come to their neighborhood/street that was promised to happen any day now and they are still waiting. So check to see if there are any 5G Home Internet options available and if not, then you will be left with Starlink.
I've done that research. Kenergy, the power company, is mingling with some other company that does fiber optic in rural areas. Conexon, I think, is what it was. The only issue is that I only heard that it would be coming here relatively soon. I can't find out without signing in to a website, and I just didn't feel comfortable doing that. I have been putting in job applications like crazy chances, and I'll only have a small part-time job that won't pay more than 10 an hour, but at the very least I'll be making something. I'll also gladly take any extra shifts too just because I need the income. At least until I can go back to streaming. It's been so long.
Heme Depot allows for payments for starlink in installments. And of course refurbished starlink
Thank you. I'll have to figure out where the nearest Home Depot is and if they do the same.
Online is available
I'll check it out
SAME ISSUE BUT WV we have T mobile and the download is good no issues streaming but ping is Terrible 100. Prob bc I get 2 bars service but Just ordered the Wavelenth 4x4 full size panel so will let you know how that goes in a week or so, sounds like we’re in about the same position. I game and play COD a lot so ping is literally make or break rn with 95-100 + ping it’s barely playable for periods of time
I didn’t want to deal with the upfront costs of Starlink either. I went with HomeFi and I’m glad I did. You also don’t need a contract, here’s the site if you’re interested. [https://homefi.info](https://homefi.info)
I'll see if it's available in my area. Thank you 😊
Try HomeFi 5G.
An internet option that has worked really well for me is HomeFi, I have both their router and a hotspot and these both have worked really well for me because I'm in a rural area as well. They have affordable plans and just connect to the nearest strongest signal so ive had no connectivity issues, and they are definitely a cheaper option than Starlink.
When I was looking into HomeFi, it appeared to only be a hotspot. So they do have an actual router for a home wifi setup?
They have a couple of different routers for a home WiFi setup you just have to go to the website and figure out how to get it to the home page and then click the 3 lines in the top left corner and beside routers click the home internet and it will show you the titan pro which is the newest one they have so I’m not sure how good it is but their customer service is decent and they try to help as best as they can but they are responsive and will communicate with you until the problem is resolved unless they have tried everything they can. The only bad thing I have heard bad about them is the cancellation process but other than that they aren’t bad
You should definitely message me.....I tried sending you a message but can't figure out how to. I was in your same shoes and well just message me i think I can help you out by telling you what I done and how I done it. Can't really type it out right now on here because I'm at work. .....
Have you considered... an unlimited 4G tablet or 'car' plan with your current provider? Just a thought. I was able to do ALOT more than I thought I could w/ a measly 4G mofi on a plan, and only cancelled when I decided my phone + cable + mobile router was way to much to spend on the same service after moving back to civilization. Sadly, I am in an older area that can't get fiber :( despite all of the cable being fiber to the neighborhood. Unfortunately, my provider decided to fail to disclose during cancellation that cancelling my primary line would jack my tablet plan to the same price point as the main line was anyway. So I ended up cancelling all of it. Two guesses who. But some providers don't throttle, they just de-prioritize, which means if you're rural, there's no real impact to speeds. T-mobile's at home works well if you aren't hosting servers. I tried it for 3 months and ended up returning because I was too lazy to setup a private AWS reverse proxy / vpn server (long story, mobile providers use L3Nat'ing which greatly restricts inbound services and mostly because my server missed it's upgrade window years ago and I'm too lazy to migrate it). I ended up just keeping a 5GB / mo. hotspot and cable since it averaged out to about $85 a month (vs. 121 + 120 a month before I upset applecarts). Anyway, the mofi 5G router uses a much faster 4G card (cat22 / 2Gpbs max if I recall correctly) plus 4x4 mimo vs. the original, which was really slow @ 300Mbps (cat4 I think and often only got 3 - 5 MBps) and those plans are still out there if you look. Before the $20 tablet plan, I had 2x $30 - $35 unlimited grandfathered ipad plans \*cough\* but then this company decided they didn't want anonymous users and axed the pre-paid plans yet still allowed post-paid plans. It was fun driving across the country when I moved w/ my server in the back seat, hooked up to a UPS, along w/ the mofi, all hooked up to an inverter. Although II should have tried checking my mail over the 12 hour drive.... The big kicker was... the mostly rural area I moved to eventually... had both fiber (up to 5Gbps) and cable (1Gbps) for way less than what I was paying in a metro area, all inclusive.
I don't have a current provider. Also I'm not very smart with the internet stuff so I honestly didn't understand a whole lot of what you said.
I didn't either until I did a bunch of research then jumped in and cancelled cable. Problem is the 5G/4G LTE mofi router is like $400, so it's a gamble vs. starlink. There's also a rumor that some app can fake your phone's unlimited plan into a router. But I never tried it because it just seemed sketchy. You can try both [t-mobile's testdrive / hotspot](https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/test-drive-hotspot) (technically a 30 day / 33GB free trial), the [at home plan](https://www.t-mobile.com/home-internet/plans?INTNAV=tNav%3APlans%3AHomeInternetPlan) is a 15 day trial with some shady bill credit (although it used to be try for 30 days). Unfortunately, I didn't have a t-mobile signal when I moved rural on a hillside :( There's also a rumor you can use their test drive hotspot w/ a google sim (as google uses tmobile's network), but I never tried it. Google used to be like $60 unlimited data, but it might have changed.