25, guy wants to move to Alaska alone. But..where to go... (Anchorage: employment, living in)

[dvdjrkns]

I run a business online (Web design/development/SEO/etc), so employment isn't an issue. However, I don't really know where to go. I absolutely love winter, I love cold, I love snow, I love skiing. I'm tired of living in the hot, humid south. Yes, I understand how cold it gets. I love it. Yes, I know I'm crazy. I prefer to be called eccentric. Or crazy, whatever floats your boat.

Anyway, any suggestions? I've read about the largest towns/cities, but I'd rather hear (read) it from a real, live resident (or a fake, dead one. I don't discriminate).

I'll reiterate. If you were 25, a single guy, able to move anywhere in Alaska (Well, as long as I have internet access. Gotta have my fix, you know, or I'll get the shakes.) where would you go?

[blueflames50]

hahahah...getting high speed internet that your use to might be a bit of a challenge anywhere in AK!!!!

[Metlakatla]

Think about Girdwood.

[dvdjrkns]

Originally Posted by blueflames50

hahahah...getting high speed internet that your use to might be a bit of a challenge anywhere in AK!!!!

As long as it's possible, I don't mind if it's a challenge, or costs more.

Now reading up on Girdwood, thanks.

Edit: Girdwood seems more like a wonderful playground than a place to live. Although it does lean me a bit toward Anchorage.

[Metlakatla]

You might have to go with your own satellite to get what you want. It can be iffy but usually works all right.

[dvdjrkns]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

You might have to go with your own satellite to get what you want. It can be iffy but usually works all right.

That bad? For my work, I need reliable internet. Does Alaska have t1? What about urban areas such as Anchorage? Hmmm, must check into this...

[tigre79]

Can you take a vacation for a couple weeks or more to check it out? Might give you some ideas about what things are like, how far apart things are (sure you can look at maps, but actually driving the roads is a lot better), what different areas look like, the different attitudes in different towns, etc.

Also, what do you like to do for fun? Do you need an urban area nearby or would you rather live several hours away?

[Metlakatla]

Yeah, check into it, it can be a problem in some areas. Don't know what they've got up around Anchorage these days. So called high speed internet through the usual carriers here in SE is pretty much a joke though.

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by dvdjrkns

I'll reiterate. If you were 25, a single guy, able to move anywhere in Alaska (Well, as long as I have internet access. Gotta have my fix, you know, or I'll get the shakes.) where would you go?

If your Internet use includes games, the latency anywhere in Alaska will kill you. There is some possibility that Juneau could have an ISP that connects directly to Seattle via fiber, but every other location goes through Anchorage and even via fiber you're at a disadvantage.

Otherwise, the urban areas of Alaska that are connected via fiber have sufficient bandwidth available for streaming audio or video. That is as opposed to locations connected via satellite, where that is possible but expensive in the larger towns (Barrow, Bethel, Nome etc.) and simply impossible in the small villages.

if video is not important to your business, almost any place you are likely to want to live will have sufficient Internet bandwidth. The normal residential network feed does not allow operation of a server, but you probably would not want to anyway.

Now, in the relatively near future some of this is likely to change. One company is supposedly (lots of great noise early last winter, but no action this summer) working on three submarine fiber cables. One would ring Alaska, then they would connect to Europe across the Arctic Ocean and the third would go to Asia.

If that ever does happen, the North Slope will become the most ideal place in the entire world for a massive data center. In addition to having the lowest latency to just about anywhere, the massive cost of cooling and powering such an operation are very low here (electricity in Barrow is generated with natural gas from local wells, and we have the lowest average ambient temperature of any location in the US).

[blueflames50]

can honestly tell you that the internet (supposed high speed) in Kenai area blows! slooowwww!!! I edit photo's and post to a storage site and it took foreverrrrrrrr....