No real internet options outside of satellite internet out here for now, but the guys in the know have said to sit and wait. The large providers are working on rural solutions for smaller communities but I’m on a farm/ranch 8 miles from the closest town, 10 miles to the other two small ones. Closest major town is 50km/30 miles away.
The one provider out here has oversold their network to the point many customers complain about slow speeds and connections dropping. If Elon musks starlink ends up being good I’d happily use it, but I’m still having to wait and see right now. My cell phone personal hotspot tethering is all I have as an option. ADSL was good to me back in the 2000’s living at home with the parents but doesn’t have the range from the phone offices to reach me out here. My options are pretty limited and it sucks but the benefits of peace and quiet, large gardens, room for all my vehicles, my forge, shooting practice whenever I want, keeping whatever animal I want, and more. I’ve gone from a building my own watercooled computers and ranking in world guilds on WOW to working on vehicles, doing my own chainmail and scale mail, making my own knives and swords, and spending time with my dog. Most here would agree that it’s a positive change but I still have the techie itch and love having my computers performing exactly as I planned, the overclocking rush, and sailing those seven seas with broadband.
Taking a step back from being online all the time has been better, in many ways, but when I can get high speed again I so am lol.
Find a closest point with uplink and talk with owner about connection at this point. Since owner don't need to do anything for getting additional income, highly probably he will agree. Also ask about path of uplink, may be it have spare fibers and pass you much closer than that point. It is possible to cut a fiber, separate one fiber and connect it with your fiber. Or even install a divider on working fiber. In any case there is a possibility that you will be able to cut in closer to your home. Than assembly is enclosed in a waterproof muff and could be buried or hang on pole, whatever, If it is within 10-15km, it could be affordable for you to drop a link by yourself. Then you have following options:
buy a fiber and drop it just on the ground, say along a road to your farm. Even cheapest outdoor fibers is very rigid things, so it will be OK to just leave it on ground. You will have to hire somebody to weld a connectors on the ends of fiber, fiber welder is expensive thing to buy it for one-time job.
buy a pair of directed WiFi stations if you have a direct sight from your home to the point. AFAIK Ubiquity have a lot of long-range devices.
use a combination of both options
I don't know about specific regulations that could apply for that kind of activity, but if you are deep in rural area, I think you could just ignore them.
I would have to look into it and see if there’s any dark fibre I can get access to close by to keep costs downC but burying it would probably be the safer option. Fibre is expensive to fix if a farmer clipped my line with an implement, that kinda thing does happen out here.
Yes, it will be a problem if somebody will damage it with some heavy machine.
Try to plan a safe path, or bury it only in places where it could be damaged. If you have a river or brook, you could just drown fiber in it.
Really there is some cheap repair kits on market, and it could even work if you just align and fix two fibers ends in the way they will light into each other (did it once with toothpick and isolation tape :) ), but it is much better to weld it.
If you have electric poles to your farm and know electrician who is responsible for your area, try to talk with him. Pole mounts is cheap and you don't need them on every pole since fiber is lightweight and strong, if you make an agreement with electrician on putting fibre on his poles, it could be a good variant.
Having it strung on poles seems dangerous during winter though. Ice build up is enough to snap the electric lines, how could I be sure the glass fibre line would be up to the task? Besides running it in an expensive metal sheath or tying it to a steel wire of its own? Plus the poles are owned by the provincial government owned Manitoba Hydro so not as easy to get permission to piggy back on their poles...
We build too long thread here, site engine does not allow me to answer in the correct place so I answer here.
how could I be sure the glass fibre line would be up to the task?
There are mainly two versions of reinforcement type in fiber - it will be steel rope or fiberglass strings. Fibers itself runs in the center of enforcement in a small plastic tube filled with gluey goo. On the outside fiber have thick polyethylene insulation. There is a small list of substances that could stick to polyethylene and ice is not a one of them. Diameter of 4 fiber cable is 4-6mm. Hardly a lot of ice could build up on such cable. I don't know cases when the fiber was broken with ice, it was always fallen tree or a humans driving some construction machines.
Plus the poles are owned by the provincial government owned Manitoba Hydro so not as easy to get permission to piggy back on their poles...
Talk with the people who really handle your line. May be your line is too far from province goverment. :)
In any case, more information you collect, more sensible solution you will get.
No real internet options outside of satellite internet out here for now, but the guys in the know have said to sit and wait. The large providers are working on rural solutions for smaller communities but I’m on a farm/ranch 8 miles from the closest town, 10 miles to the other two small ones. Closest major town is 50km/30 miles away.
The one provider out here has oversold their network to the point many customers complain about slow speeds and connections dropping. If Elon musks starlink ends up being good I’d happily use it, but I’m still having to wait and see right now. My cell phone personal hotspot tethering is all I have as an option. ADSL was good to me back in the 2000’s living at home with the parents but doesn’t have the range from the phone offices to reach me out here. My options are pretty limited and it sucks but the benefits of peace and quiet, large gardens, room for all my vehicles, my forge, shooting practice whenever I want, keeping whatever animal I want, and more. I’ve gone from a building my own watercooled computers and ranking in world guilds on WOW to working on vehicles, doing my own chainmail and scale mail, making my own knives and swords, and spending time with my dog. Most here would agree that it’s a positive change but I still have the techie itch and love having my computers performing exactly as I planned, the overclocking rush, and sailing those seven seas with broadband.
Taking a step back from being online all the time has been better, in many ways, but when I can get high speed again I so am lol.
Find a closest point with uplink and talk with owner about connection at this point. Since owner don't need to do anything for getting additional income, highly probably he will agree. Also ask about path of uplink, may be it have spare fibers and pass you much closer than that point. It is possible to cut a fiber, separate one fiber and connect it with your fiber. Or even install a divider on working fiber. In any case there is a possibility that you will be able to cut in closer to your home. Than assembly is enclosed in a waterproof muff and could be buried or hang on pole, whatever, If it is within 10-15km, it could be affordable for you to drop a link by yourself. Then you have following options:
I don't know about specific regulations that could apply for that kind of activity, but if you are deep in rural area, I think you could just ignore them.
I would have to look into it and see if there’s any dark fibre I can get access to close by to keep costs downC but burying it would probably be the safer option. Fibre is expensive to fix if a farmer clipped my line with an implement, that kinda thing does happen out here.
Yes, it will be a problem if somebody will damage it with some heavy machine.
Try to plan a safe path, or bury it only in places where it could be damaged. If you have a river or brook, you could just drown fiber in it.
Really there is some cheap repair kits on market, and it could even work if you just align and fix two fibers ends in the way they will light into each other (did it once with toothpick and isolation tape :) ), but it is much better to weld it.
If you have electric poles to your farm and know electrician who is responsible for your area, try to talk with him. Pole mounts is cheap and you don't need them on every pole since fiber is lightweight and strong, if you make an agreement with electrician on putting fibre on his poles, it could be a good variant.
Having it strung on poles seems dangerous during winter though. Ice build up is enough to snap the electric lines, how could I be sure the glass fibre line would be up to the task? Besides running it in an expensive metal sheath or tying it to a steel wire of its own? Plus the poles are owned by the provincial government owned Manitoba Hydro so not as easy to get permission to piggy back on their poles...
We build too long thread here, site engine does not allow me to answer in the correct place so I answer here.
There are mainly two versions of reinforcement type in fiber - it will be steel rope or fiberglass strings. Fibers itself runs in the center of enforcement in a small plastic tube filled with gluey goo. On the outside fiber have thick polyethylene insulation. There is a small list of substances that could stick to polyethylene and ice is not a one of them. Diameter of 4 fiber cable is 4-6mm. Hardly a lot of ice could build up on such cable. I don't know cases when the fiber was broken with ice, it was always fallen tree or a humans driving some construction machines.
Talk with the people who really handle your line. May be your line is too far from province goverment. :)
In any case, more information you collect, more sensible solution you will get.
Very true, thanks for all the great info!