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Post by Stumpy on Oct 3, 2005 13:52:27 GMT -5
Doing a little research here. How do you communicate while in the bush? With the recent connectivity issues how do most connect to the internet?
Thanks, Sean
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Post by Jenny on Oct 3, 2005 15:26:58 GMT -5
Hi Sean,
Most folks in the bush can't get cable, so most of the folks we know rely on a dial-up connection. When we first moved out to our homestead, the only kind of phone system was an old "push-to-talk" radio phone. Not really sure what kind of signal, but it was different from the cell towers. Was even on a different mountain. Then they switched most people to a system that worked off their cell tower. Some people are able to get a good enough signal for a mobile cell phone, but we've never had a strong signal for that. I don't know if you can connect to the internet with that. Our phone company said they don't offer it yet. Our phone system is called "fixed wireless". The signal comes from the same cell tower. We have a box the phone co. gave us to plug in the phone. It is connected to a large antenna on a 50' pole. When we had the system before we moved away for awhile, it was an analog system for the phone, and we could just plug the computer into a phone plug and use dial-up to connect to the internet. It was very slow. Usually had to turn off the graphics. We could also send/receive faxes. When we moved back home recently, they wouldn't give us the old phone system back. Said they had to change, per federal mandate, so that all wireless phones, even fixed wireless have a GPS system. Supposedly to improve 911 response time. But, we're so far out that they're not going to come anyway, even if we called. Problem is that the new system is digital, which they say will not allow it to work with internet unless you're almost sitting on the tower. Faxes don't work either. We've also found that if it's foggy or low cloud cover or raining or even humid, the phone doesn't even work. When people call us they get a message that says we're out of the area. I've been hearing that many people in the bush have been going to a satellite system. We've spoken with several companies who sell and install them, but they all say that in our area it's only a possible maybe for it to work. Out of our budget for a long shot.
So, that's what some of us are doing. I'm sure there are other's out there with different experiences and ideas.
Jenny
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Post by Stumpy on Oct 4, 2005 14:20:23 GMT -5
Thanks Jenny. That helps a lot!!!!
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Post by ugashikrobert on Oct 8, 2005 15:46:55 GMT -5
spgrauer: This is the reply I gave the other day on another forum when asked about the reliability of our phone system. Thought it might intrest you.
We have been on a radiophone out here for about 12 years and its been more reliable than the phone system we had when we lived in the land of taxes, traffic and brown air. We have a transciever located in our home that communicates with the other end which is located in a remote village about 24 air miles from us. That is about the limit of range on these and it requires good antenna's to bridge that distance. It was about 3K for the initial hardware investment and I installed it myself. At the other end it transparently connects to a almost normal phone system. Our monthly charge is $23 and our long distance both intrastate and down to America is done with a 2.99 cent a minute calling card. The only reliability issues we have had is the power for the remote village we connect to. Both transciever boxes can run from 12 volts DC with very little draw and most people out here run them that way when there generator is off but have maintenance issues because they are switching power all the time and the AC supplied by bush generators is not usually the cleanest power because it is dependent on who has tuned it. The charge level of your 12 volt battery can also be a problem. We never run ours on anything but full sine wave inverter fed AC and have yet to have a problem. I know of no one who switchs there units from generator to battery that hasn't had reoccurring problems. We started with a cell phone but the service was shakey to nonexistent and the air time could put you in the poor house. I should be looking into a SAT phone for SOS type conditons if I could find an affordable plan for that. I should also add that we get our internet connection through a sattelite connection provided by Starband. It requires a one mete dish that is seperate from our TV dish. If I remember correctly is was about 7-8hundred dollars for equipment and I installed it myself and I believe the monthly charge is around $60. I switch back and forth between Direct TV and Dish Network depending on who offends me the least.
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Post by frostbite on Nov 25, 2005 20:33:23 GMT -5
Greetings: Frostbite here on the SatPhone, great idea, not that expensive, around $2200.00 for the kit, and the plans are extremely comparative to todays cell phone offerings. I use an Iridium Sat Phone. Check out Iridium.com
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