The Internet Connection
We live on a country road surrounded by fields and woods, with a few neighboring houses. Few people, lots of birds, some foxes, boars, and rabbits. Let's say it's not a major population center. Cell phone companies also know this. That is why, when we first got a cell phone we had to go outside or hang out an upstairs window to get a signal. (We never got a land line because it's too expensive to install and monthly payments are through the roof.) Cell phone companies tend to extend good coverage to cities, towns, and large villages, where there are plenty of people to pay for their services. The little hamlets get served after everyone else is.
Our phone coverage improved, however, to the point of being able to stay inside during the winter rain whenever we talked on the phone. But when our daughter started high school, some of the teachers expected their students to have internet at home to submit reports and check supplementary information. So we got a wifi stick for our computer. It's a good thing she wasn't expected to upload or download any videos or many pictures. Whenever I wanted to go into a web page I would call it up and then go do something while I waited. Depending on the page, it would download completely in maybe ten minutes. I complained to the cell phone company. They basically told me to go live in a town. Apparently the tower that serviced this area was too far away to give us any better service. The thing was, we were paying for three gigabytes a month, after which service slowed to a snail crawl. Not that it was a galloping cheetah to begin with, more like a lumbering elephant.
One day this year I looked at my phone and saw it had 4G coverage. ?!?!?! That is the fastest coverage and only happening in the larger towns and cities. I called up my company and was told that, yes, they were treating us just like city dwellers. I changed my wifi stick to a router and now have thirty gigabytes a month before it crawls down to insignificance. Which I have almost used up. Before the month ends. Because being 4G means more data packages. They always think of everything.
Our phone coverage improved, however, to the point of being able to stay inside during the winter rain whenever we talked on the phone. But when our daughter started high school, some of the teachers expected their students to have internet at home to submit reports and check supplementary information. So we got a wifi stick for our computer. It's a good thing she wasn't expected to upload or download any videos or many pictures. Whenever I wanted to go into a web page I would call it up and then go do something while I waited. Depending on the page, it would download completely in maybe ten minutes. I complained to the cell phone company. They basically told me to go live in a town. Apparently the tower that serviced this area was too far away to give us any better service. The thing was, we were paying for three gigabytes a month, after which service slowed to a snail crawl. Not that it was a galloping cheetah to begin with, more like a lumbering elephant.
One day this year I looked at my phone and saw it had 4G coverage. ?!?!?! That is the fastest coverage and only happening in the larger towns and cities. I called up my company and was told that, yes, they were treating us just like city dwellers. I changed my wifi stick to a router and now have thirty gigabytes a month before it crawls down to insignificance. Which I have almost used up. Before the month ends. Because being 4G means more data packages. They always think of everything.
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