Tag Archives: broadband

Fair Access Policy and Tabasco Fencing

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I did something unprecedented yesterday: I took a VoIP call over the satellite connection and it actually worked. There was a substantial delay which made a multi-person conference…interesting, to say the least. But it worked.

Well, it worked until the Fair Access Policy kicked in (about 20 minutes). The FAP limits all users to 300Mb per day. Yes, that’s Mb, not Gb. When it comes to the cutting edge technologies that most geeks love to do online, this is a rediculous limit. I can answer email, use my IM, surf the web, download a few mp3s, and watch a YouTube video or two. Other activities, such as online gaming, downloading video of any serious length, backing up my system online, using VoIP for any length of time, or any of the other things that require serious bandwidth, are completely out of the question.

When I reach the FAP limit, the connection slows to a crawl, about 20K, for the rest of the day. For those who work at home like me, this almost guarantees that the work day is over. (It takes 5 minutes to open an email at those speeds.) This means that I have to be quite careful about what I do to ensure that I can get through the day.

I have two options, neither of which is particularly appetizing. I can save the higher bandwidth items for late night downloading, between midnight and 4 am, or pay $100 for 500Mb per day. I’m not wild about either. Who wants to do work at 3 in the morning?

And now, for something completely different…

Earlier today, the draft horses decided that the main posts holding the majority of the fence in place needed to be trimmed. They took it upon themselves to chew the heck out of them. So, the Sister and I decided that we needed to dissuade such behaviour. At first, we tried a corn oil/black pepper concoction. Sunny hated it but Meme (aptly named since everything is about her) thought that the pepper gave the post a lovely marinade and licked the whole thing before continuing her woody feast. We had to try something more persuasive: Tobasco! We broke into (okay, we have a key) the Neighbor’s house and stole some of the pungent stuff. (Yeah, we’ll be replacing it.) It took Meme quite a bit of pole tasting before discovering that it was no longer quite right. There was then hesitation, followed by some lip curling, and then a lot of lip licking. If looks could insult, we would both have been soundly belittled. As of tonight, the post still stands, whole and complete, and the Belgians are out in the far shelter, pouting.

Through all this, the quarter horse watched in boredom, saying, “Really? A fence post for dinner? You’ve got to be kidding.”

Census of Agriculture – 2007

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The USDA conducts a census of agriculture every five years, detailing the current state of food production at a national level. The latest is from 2007. Some of the statistics are surprising, even eye-opening. I find some of the charts especially intriguing.

The chart of Average Age of Pricipal Farm Operators shows that there are few farmers under the age of 55. This means that within the next 10 to 15 years, a large majority of farmers will reach retirement age or will get to the point in their lives where they’ll not be able to farm full time. What happens to their farms when that happens?

Young farmers (or farmer wannabees) can’t afford to buy or even lease enough land to make a living. They end up working at a job they don’t want to do in order to eventually have enough money to do what they want, namely, farming. Then they must continue working in order to maintain their health insurance and other benefits, while farming. Their best, most productive years, the 20s, 30s and 40s, are spent not farming. It’s unfortunate.

Two of the charts: Percent of Farms Operated by Family or Individual and Percent of Farms with High-Speed Internet Access, have almost an exact inverse correlation. It’s uncanny. If the land is primarily dedicated to small farms, there is no access to VoIP, online video training, or a whole host of tools that can really promote farms and make them more successful. This correlation does not hold true for large, corporate-held farms, however.

If you want to see more charts, go here.

Can’d write wit a code…

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Really, I take a few days off and get a cold. Swell. The unfortunate part of that is the writer’s block that a cold causes. Seriously, why can’t my brain function when the sinuses go into overdrive? It’s sad but true.

The one thing I will say is that no one, even those who promised it would be here by the end of the year, has been able to provide broadband to my section of the county. No one. Lots of promises; no reality.

Lord, I hate having a cold…

It’s a Race!

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A number of communications companies are working to provide true broadband service to more rural places. Here’s what I’m hearing:

Wild Blue, using a ViaSat satellite, is currently available. However, it doesn’t support VoIP, according to their website, and it has a 17,000 Mb limit per month, which is still better than Hughesnet’s 300 Mb per day limit. Both companies are now touting their new satellites to be launched by the end of the year, saying that they will have VoIP. Both are priced around $70 per month.

There is some cellphone, and wireless aircard, service that actually reaches here, but again, there are speed and download limits. None provide VoIP capabilities, which are crucial to my job. Their prices run between $60 to $120 per month.

Frontier Communications just bought all of Verizon’s rural communications land lines, hoping to provide DSL service to the countryside. They are saying that DSL should be here by Christmas. Their price is around $20 and there is no daily or monthly limit.

So, we’re still waiting to see what will happen. I’m tired of holding my breath.