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Thread summary:

Family with 5 children seeking to move to Wyoming or Montana, self-employed, work from home, Wal-Mart, Costco unimportant amenities, seeking conservative area, family friendly

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Old 12-31-2008, 06:11 AM
 
Location: LEAVING CD
22,974 posts, read 27,001,123 times
Reputation: 15645

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How about bresnan 6300 down and 400 up. Not totally happy with the up speed, need to give 'em a call and see if we can't do better... That particular speedtest was from here to Liberty lake WA servers.
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Old 12-31-2008, 07:35 AM
 
Location: Montana
16 posts, read 50,812 times
Reputation: 19
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimj View Post
How about bresnan 6300 down and 400 up. Not totally happy with the up speed, need to give 'em a call and see if we can't do better... That particular speedtest was from here to Liberty lake WA servers.
Is that in Bits or Bytes?
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Old 12-31-2008, 08:31 AM
 
Location: Montana
16 posts, read 50,812 times
Reputation: 19
Default Flamingo

If you plan on moving to Billings be prepared for CULTURE SHOCK!!

We moved here from South Dakota via Grand Junction CO
and even by my minimal exposure to "culture". It's shocking!

They seem at first to have good shopping, but the only grocery stores are
Albertsons, IGA and Walmart. Some Albs are better than others, and of course walmart is walmart. IGA tries to save you money, but still seems to end up costing more in the long run for me anyway.

There are a lot of MOM and POP type restaurants, haven't really been impressed with any of the mexican foods, haven't dared the chinese yet, or any of the casinos since there is smoking allowed, although I just read they have to be smoke free in about 9 months!! A couple "impressive" steak houses, weren't so great, the Rex is okay occassionally and that rib and chop house should be avoided all together. The windmill is way over priced there, but they try.

Missing several great "Chain" restaurants that we enjoy, Chilis, TGIFridays, PeiWei, QDOBA, Chipolte, Chickfi etc. to name a few.

There is this place called the METRA anyone out there know why?
They have concerts and "shows" there, nothing I couldn't live without yet.
And a theater downtown that does seem to have some great acts that come into town.

No Light parade after thanksgiving, a dark "holiday" parade that was really boring in the evening.

A stroll, at christmas time AT NIGHT again, which seems to promote shopping downtown and a pretty good farmers market in the summer time.

Although PARTS of the downtown area is pretty impressive compared to other cities I have visited, they have really tried to keep it active and clean. Other parts not so much.

Vehicles are expensive to register, $150 per year? Someone else may be able to tell you about that. But our vehicle insurance went down quite a bit. Homeowners was about the same.

Make sure you buy a 4 wheel drive to have in Billings as after 10 days of snow they finally cleaned the streets!! They were apparently in no hurry to do them, even though it was the height of the shopping season. Businesses don't clean their parking lots here either, and apparently no one does their sidewalks? I asked the city council why and got tons of nasty replies, including one telling me to go back to my "precious" South Dakota.

I guess the city will pickup your leaves in the Fall if you put them all over the STREET, and after a snow storm in September the City was EXPECTED to clean up broken trees off peoples property. We on the other hand took 6 loads of "tree" and leaves to the dump to recycle, only to be told to put them in the regular trash "bins" for most of it.

So apparently Billings doesn't recycle either, although there is a business over by the "shopping" near King Avenue that will take your recyclables for free if you haul them over there. EWWW.

This is not a dog friendly town, we have two small dogs and enjoy taking them to the park and walk around, NOT ALLOWED here, no dogs in ANY park, and no DOG PARK for owners to take their dogs to either. One very tiny Petsmart in town for your fur kids.

The mall is okay it's a Maesrich (SP?) definintely could use some updates though, typical stores.

No sales tax which is good, but sometimes I think the prices are higher on items here.

NO LEFT turn signals on many of the major intersection, you can sit through a couple lights before you get to turn if it's busy, at rush hour, it could be several. Not sure why this great invention is missing from the streets here, but it is. And the streets signs are so TINY you can barely read them, makes for difficulty when trying to get around.

Many Many one way streets, can get confusing at first. And terrible drivers here, always running red lights, etc.

And two great hospitals so they do seem to have good health care when needed in Billings. And they seem to always be adding to what is available, so definitely what I would call cutting edge of technology in that department.

Good Luck on your move, hope you make a better decision than we did, only 4 more years here, only 4 more years here....
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Old 12-31-2008, 11:02 AM
 
406 posts, read 1,359,810 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jimj View Post
How about bresnan 6300 down and 400 up. Not totally happy with the up speed, need to give 'em a call and see if we can't do better... That particular speedtest was from here to Liberty lake WA servers.
i pretty much rely on the internet for most of what i do, and when i call them for help, they want to "send out a technician" by "next week." good luck. i just press all the buttons and unplug it and plug it in until it works.
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Old 12-31-2008, 09:16 PM
 
Location: Long Beach Peninsula, WA
205 posts, read 729,241 times
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RoxAnnaF: Where did you live in South Dakota that was so much better than Billings? We are researching several areas.
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Old 12-31-2008, 10:59 PM
 
Location: LEAVING CD
22,974 posts, read 27,001,123 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RoxAnnaF View Post
Is that in Bits or Bytes?
KB/s
RoxAnn, it's a pity you're not happy here but then not surprised either. In order to be comfortable here you pretty much have to not care that most of the big city amenities/attitudes are NOT here and be content to drive to what you want on occasion.
Most people we know don't want all the stores,concerts,shows,restaurants,stores,malls etc because along with that comes the crap from the city as well. We left big cities for a reason and didn't/don't see the need to inflict those things on the people who've lived here for ages. We're about 20 years behind the times so yes, there may not be all the recycling, green technology etc and change is not fast coming here and that's the way people like it. You may be surprised though, alot can happen in 4 years and in that time this place may just grow on you. I can guarenty you one thing though, if you move away they'll always be a part of you that wants to come back! We've left 3 times and like a bad check have always returned...

Last edited by jimj; 12-31-2008 at 11:12 PM..
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Old 01-01-2009, 04:56 AM
 
Location: NW Montana
6,259 posts, read 14,673,018 times
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Boy do I agree with you jimj, and to RoxAnn, just consume less then you will not have a recycle issue. It is easier to go to an area where there are entertainment establishments and leave the bad stuff behind when you return home. I sure love Montana, would not change a thing.
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Old 04-08-2009, 09:39 AM
 
2 posts, read 2,526 times
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How do you get out of your current contact with Direct Tv which ends in 2010 July. So we can get Bresnan Cable tv.
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Old 04-08-2009, 09:41 AM
 
2 posts, read 2,526 times
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how do you get out of your contact or can you for Direct TV which end in July 2010 to go to Bresnan Cable???
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Old 04-08-2009, 01:59 PM
 
1,688 posts, read 8,145,302 times
Reputation: 2005
Default Life with pets in Montana?

As the OP mentioned he would like a dog, and as another poster on here seems to indicate that dogs are a problem - at least in the Billings area - is there someone who could clear that up?

It does seem rather peculiar that dogs are barred from all the city parks. I am not referring to the presence or absence of dog parks (don't like them and would never use one) - but just being able to go somewhere and walk for a few miles with one's canine companions (in our case three of them).

Is dog-walking also a problem outside city limits in more rural areas? Would one be limited to public lands and that sort of thing?

Input would be greatly appreciated.
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