North GA High Speed Internet (Atlanta, Hartwell: house, bankrupt, construction)

[pej7445]

We're looking at moving to the N. GA region next year. At the moment we're wide open to where we land.



We're looking for a 2+ BR, 1500+sf and a property with a deck and view. Price range up to $400k.


A deal-breaker would be bad internet. I work from home and need strong internet to do my work.


Anyone have any feedback/input on which places can provide high speed internet, and which locales to avoid, would be appreciated.


TIA!

[markjames68]

You're casting an extremely wide net.

I'm north of Atlanta in Milton, and I have gigabit fiber up/down through AT&T. But I'm suburban, not rural.

If you're looking into say a cabin in Ellijay in the mountains you will still likely broadband options, but you didn't specify "how fast" is fast enough.

Can you narrow it down somewhat?

[sedimenjerry]

We have a place off lake Hartwell. I think we still have Windstream. It's doable to get online and do work, but it's slowwww especially with more than 1 person on the network at once.

Complete difference compared to any decent sized metro. I'm in N Fulton and it's much, much faster.

[pej7445]

Originally Posted by markjames68

You're casting an extremely wide net.

I'm north of Atlanta in Milton, and I have gigabit fiber up/down through AT&T. But I'm suburban, not rural.

If you're looking into say a cabin in Ellijay in the mountains you will still likely broadband options, but you didn't specify "how fast" is fast enough.

Can you narrow it down somewhat?

Good point on the speed, today I've got AT&T, speedtest shows my download between 50mb - 75mb/sec. Upload is about the same. This is sufficient.



We're looking for someplace quasi-rural, within 10-15 min drive into town. Ellijay, Blairsville, Blue Ridge, Dahlonega and Helen are on the short-list.


Thank you.

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by pej7445

Good point on the speed, today I've got AT&T, speedtest shows my download between 50mb - 75mb/sec. Upload is about the same. This is sufficient.



We're looking for someplace quasi-rural, within 10-15 min drive into town. Ellijay, Blairsville, Blue Ridge, Dahlonega and Helen are on the short-list.


Thank you.

I'd say you have a good chance of getting close to what you have now, certainly on download. Like anything, the closer you are to a town the more likely you'll have what you want, or multiple choices.

You might want to start looking at properties online that fit your price point and then check the ISPs and what speed they offer.

[aus10]

Blairsville, Union County is going to be difficult. There are two high speed providers the BREMC and Windstream. But.... and this is the BIG but.......both of these are companies have limited coverage. And I do mean limited. We had DSL up until six months ago. A 10 to 15 minute drive outside Blairsville would most likely require satellite internet and as someone who had DirecWay for several years in our RV it is doubtful that would work for a stable working environment. Best bet in Union County is one of the newer gated subdivisions closer to town.....

[bellhead]

I've been in telecom almost 30 years, Windstream is bankrupt & is not putting any money into facilities. If the lot doesn't have fiber to it already, dsl will be the only option & it's going to be 1.5 meg to 6.0 meg.

Other option is cable, you will have to call to see if they have service in your area & then you may be on the hook for a construction build-out to the tune of a couple of thousand dollars. When you look at the land, see there is cable on the telephone polls, this will give you an idea of whether it is available.

BREMC no idea of their build out.
https://www.brmemc.com/Fiber

[Patriotic Dissent]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

We have a place off lake Hartwell. I think we still have Windstream. It's doable to get online and do work, but it's slowwww especially with more than 1 person on the network at once.

Complete difference compared to any decent sized metro. I'm in N Fulton and it's much, much faster.

Top sentence is us. We are not far from Hartwell maybe an hour or 2 but we have windstream and it SUCKS. We lived in NW Georgia and we had better internet but still wasn't grand but compared to windstream it was awesome.

[aus10]

Originally Posted by Patriotic Dissent

Top sentence is us. We are not far from Hartwell maybe an hour or 2 but we have windstream and it SUCKS. We lived in NW Georgia and we had better internet but still wasn't grand but compared to windstream it was awesome.

We are Windstream too. The DSL was pathetic. We went with their high speed (is it cable or fiber?) but have had much better luck. They were the only option as the BREMC wanted 5K to bring it into our place. The nearest BREMC line is less than a 1/4 mile and couldn't justify that cost......

[bellhead]

Originally Posted by aus10

We are Windstream too. The DSL was pathetic. We went with their high speed (is it cable or fiber?) but have had much better luck. They were the only option as the BREMC wanted 5K to bring it into our place. The nearest BREMC line is less than a 1/4 mile and couldn't justify that cost......

OP might want to factor this in when he does his house construction, his builder is going to be bringing in electric, & with EMC also doing the fiber, there might be a combined deal saving him money.