Internet usage/access in smaller cities (Cheyenne, Casper: fit in, rent, school district)

[Bill7719]

Hello, I was wondering what high speed Internet access/usage is like in cities and towns outside of Casper and Cheyenne? Is cable/dsl available or is it mostly satellite?

I'm looking to relocate to Wyoming. I live in Upstate NY and let's say I don't fit in with the kind of big government thinking that exists here in the Northeast. I've had the opportunity to travel to WY, MT, UT, and NV, plus several other states. I love the West. While I think I could do okay in either Cheyenne or Casper, I prefer smaller areas. (In fact, where I live in Upstate NY was a very small area......until suburbia started encroaching on it.)

With all of that said, I will admit I do like and need high speed Internet access. I can do without anything else from a suburban area.

Thanks,
Bill

[sunsprit]

For the most part, the smaller towns in the region are served with land lines from RTCommunications, a local company that bought the service rights from the major companies when they wanted to cut back on trying to serve this very sparse marketplace a few years ago.

Depending upon how the geographic territory got carved up, this may be your only land line option for service. We see competitive ads for service in Cheyenne, but we're just one zone away from that service; RT has the exclusive service rights on our area. We've called in to see about service from some of the ads, and they always come back with "we cannot provide service to your address".

RT, however, has been modernizing and adding services in the last two years. Right now, it costs about $135 per month for a land line, residential unlimited USA long distance (capped at a few thousand minutes per month), and tower-based "hi speed internet" claimed at 500kbs service which seems to run about half that speed at our location.

Other options would be to use a satellite provider. Skybeam has been aggressively marketing in our area, but that must have a clear antenna path to their service ... which isn't possible from our location. But 1 mile away, folks are using that service here in the county. It's half the price of RTConnect for similar services.

[Bill7719]

Thanks very much for the info, Sunsprit. Would it be safe to say that Internet usage is not very common in the smaller cities based on that price? Or, is the Internet "packaged" when people get phone lines?

Basically, my plan would be to try and rent a room for a while wherever I went. I see in the ads for Cheyenne or Casper that most include Internet access (either as part of the rent or splitting the cost). But I haven't seen that many ads in smaller areas.

Bill

[sunsprit]

In my experience, internet useage is very common in the smaller cities. Either by telephone company "package" or satellite service.

Every school district has internet access, and computer literate education is a very strong part of the curriculum today ....

All the libraries have high-speed connections available for public use, and free terminals and some have wi-fi zones so you can use your own laptop. The only limitation on your internet access is their user policies which block certain sites considered to be unacceptable in the family environment. When I travel around the state, I know that I can head to the local library branch and get on-line, usually just for the small inconvenience of signing in as a "guest user" ... with no charge.

[NVDave]

Look for Wireless ISP's. Fiberpipe is our ISP here in Sheridan, and we have 3GB/sec service via a 5.8GHz wireless radio up to a mountaintop. We had a similar service in central NV when we lived there.

Wireless ISP's are the way to go if you have them as an option. No cable to lay, no loads to clean off the line for DSL, you likely won't be near a cable TV system, so that's out. Frame Relay or other fractional T1's are very expensive, and satellite ISP's are always limiting your bandwidth by quota. If you download too much in a given period, they cut your bandwidth WAY back.

[StealthRabbit]

you can check 3g (wireless) coverage maps here
http://3GStore.com || EVDO Coverage Made EASY!

Mine works great most places I travel, but not good at home...

[mandK]

I'm using a Sprint wireless broadband card here in Cheyenne. Speeds vary, but I'm getting almost 1MB download here at the house. To the best of my knowledge, the data and cell phone towers are separate with Sprint. So despite any horror stories we've all may have heard about Sprint, they do have the best broadband coverage and speeds. Check out their coverage map in your area.

My bill after taxes and fees is $61. Yes, it's kind of pricey, but I have internet access most everywhere I travel throughout the country.


MandK

PS: I have the USB device that can easily move from my desktop to laptop.

[Bill7719]

Thanks everyone for all of the wonderful advice! This definitely gives me a lot of options in terms of being able to choose a location. No problem on those library filters....no interest in looking at the things that would be filtered out.

Thanks again. And, if there are any additional ideas, I'm definitely interested.

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by Bill7719

Thanks everyone for all of the wonderful advice! This definitely gives me a lot of options in terms of being able to choose a location. No problem on those library filters....no interest in looking at the things that would be filtered out.

Thanks again. And, if there are any additional ideas, I'm definitely interested.

The problem with the "library filters" is that the software and keyword blocking is less than perfect.

While I wouldn't head to an obviously bad site, I do a lot of searches for my business ... industrial products manufacturer's rep ... and come up with sites that are blocked, usually from following up on a Dodge Plans Room, iSqFT, or MountainPlains Plans Room lead. The library software shuts down my session at that point.

I then have to get the librarian to 'phone the library internet administrator, who gets on line to check out the site and verify that it's suitable for their system and not going to offend their access policies and the possible youngsters who might get a glimpse of my screen ... who then issues a one-time exception to access the site from the specific terminal I'm using. The process can take anywhere from a couple of minutes to several hours, depending upon the administrator's schedule. With project addendums, revisions, updates and changes ... I may need to visit that GC's or project owner's site numerous times over the space of several months. For example, a blocked site might be the project specs for "joe's body shop" ... a new automotive repair facility, or a restaurant with a similar type of keyword combination that could be leading to offensive material.

They apparently will not or can not issue an exception to the site that I'm heading to for more than the one session. Some of the sites I'm heading to will only give you access to the project information by downloading the entire project manual instead of the Div I'm interested in bidding ... which is why I'm headed to the library for their fast trunk line connection on the very large files.

You may never have this problem for your searches, but it is annoying and a waste of everybody's time ....

[Bill7719]

Sunsprit, that's a good point. I'm mostly operating from my own laptop with no filters. What you describe sounds like a major pain. And of course, a site could get on the banned list even for a one-time issue like a bad advertisement (that they have little control over due to using an ad network).