Best high speed internet provider in N. Idaho (Sandpoint/Bonners Ferry area)? (power lines, buying)

[chevpu1967]

Originally Posted by mistyriver

Our only other option has been satellite and after 11 years of problems, we're happy to pay. My husband works from home so the internet problem has been a real issue, the T1 is the best and most cost effective way to go for us. It definitely beats acquiring office space in town.
I believe Sage also has a business he runs from a home office?

Besides, Hayden is a city...you shouldn't have any issues getting decent internet service there.

I'm certain that if you use it for business, it may be tax deductible.

[Cnynrat]

Originally Posted by Sage of Sagle

We got sick of the horrible latency with satellite and got T1 about 2 years ago. Including taxes ours runs $470/month. They rate it by install cost over 3 years x service cost IIRC. Speed is 1.5Mbps up and down, but with packet priority, and it's considerably faster than when we had 1.5meg DSL at a previous residence in SoCal. Running speedtests, the true speed averages around 1.48 with 35-55ms ping.

Does that mean the price per month drops after the first three years once the installation is paid for, or does it continue at that price forever?

Thx.

Dave

[Sage of Sagle]

My price dropped to $350/month after the first 3 years. Since I was paying over $210 for two satellite systems (two different buildings on my property, home and business, too far apart to link), the difference in price to get T1 was not a bad tradeoff at all.

[Cnynrat]

Thanks. Sounds like a sensible solution in your case, but still quite pricey for ordinary residential use.

I guess we can hope that coverage for the non-satellite options will increase over time.

[Sage of Sagle]

Yes. Keep in mind that it was for a business, which justified (and required) the broadband connection.

For home use only, I couldn't justify the money for T1, as nice as it is.

[Plainswalker]

Is there anything above 24mbps for a non-business in these areas? I can't pay $300 for internet... haha.... so that rules for T1

[Sage of Sagle]

Northland Communications Sandpoint, ID | Home

But as soon as you get outside the city, you're relying on Intermax (line of sight from their towers). For people like us who are out of line-of-sight, then T1 is the only broadband that's truly reliable with fast ping ms and little packet loss.

[Sobefobik]

Hey, so if you're in town Sandpoint the internet is pretty reliable? I'm considering a move up there, but as usual it always depends on internet reliability because I work from home. There's no way I could afford a T1 connection though.

Is Northland Comm. pretty good as far as reliability and speed? Have you heard good things about them? I grew up in Seattle but moved to Albuquerque...very ready to get back to the Northwest!

[Sage of Sagle]

Even if you're right near Highway 95 in Sagle it's fine. Frontier DSL hits 20Mbps speeds along that area. So yeah, Sandpoint (city) is no problem.

While I provided the link for Northland, I don't have any other info on them. But Frontier DSL has been reliable.

[Sandpointian]

Northland in town: 24mb for $79/mo or so.

Not great, but until we tap into that fiber north of town along 200, we will remain 1-2 decades behind!