High Speed Internet and Cell Phone Service
City dwellers take high speed internet connectivity and universal cell coverage for granted. But that's not necessarily the case in rural areas like Sullivan County. Here's the scoop on what you need to consider.
High Speed Internet
Cable: Time Warner is the cable company serving Sullivan County, but cable service is not universally available throughout the county. Cable is generally available in villages and hamlets and along main roads. Cable is hit or miss on secondary roads, and depends on the density of houses along those roads. The rule of thumb is that the more remote or dense an area, the less likely there will be cable. If there isn't cable at a house, you can pay Time Warner to run it from the nearest cable-served location, but it isn't cheap — about $4 per foot (or $20,000 per mile.) So if you're looking at a house in the country, don't just assume there will be cable. Check out whether the location is cable-served.
DSL: DSL (Digital Subsriber Line) high speed internet from the phone company has limited availability in Sullivan County. Verizon, the main phone company in the county, only offers it in the more "urban" parts of Sullivan (Liberty, Monticello and south towwards Wurtsboro.) It is generally not available in the Verizon-served areas in the northern, western and northeast parts of Sullivan (i.e. Neversink township.)
Parts of Sullivan County are served by Frontier Communications, which does offer DSL service throughout most of its service area. Frontier-served parts of the county include areas around Roscoe in the 607 area code, as well as areas in the southwestern part of Sullivan County south from Narrowsburg. Many parts of the southwest around Eldred, Barryville and Glen Spey are Frontier-served, but you need to check because Verizon and Frontier dovetail each other down there in a patchwork. While Frontier offers much more DSL coverage in its service areas than Verizon does in theirs, its not universal — so be sure to check.
Cellular Wireless: Verizon Wireless has upgraded its cellular data service throughout the county to EVDO Rev A. EVDO Rev A provides download speeds in the range of 800K, and upload speeds of around 300K ro 400K. Not cable speeds, but not bad. If you get good Verizon cell reception, and don't have cable or DSL available, this can be a good option. (Note: while Sprint roams voice on the Verizon network here, if you have Sprint EVDO data service in the city, it will NOT roam on the Verizon EVDO network here. Sprint's data will throttle back to 1X dial-up speeds on the Verizon network.) You can either purchase an AirCard for Verizon data service, or depending on your Verizon wireless phone and plan, may be able to tether your phone to your computer to act as a modem. (However, you can't be on a phone call and be internet-connected at the same time with this option.)
If you don't get Verizon cell reception inside your home, but find you can make a call out on your deck, standing by an upstairs window or walking up your driveway, you may benefit from a cell booster that can pump the cell signal into your home using an external antenna connected to an inside signal booster. I use one at my house, and it works great. Check out my Feb. 2009 blog post on my cell booster.
The big negative with cellular wireless is that you are limited to 5 gigabytes (5GB) data transfer per month. That's plenty if you're just surfing and emailing, but not enough if you stream music and download movies, videos and tv shows. Most people with download-limited wireless (or satellite, see below) connections here and regular high speed connections in the city adjust, doing their heavy downloading in the city and bringing it up with them.
Satellite. Satellite internet (Hughesnet or Wildblue) are the most widely available high speed internet options in rural areas not served by cable or DSL. I live in an area not served by any of the other options, and have used Hughesnet for years. Satellite internet, however, does have its limitations. The biggest negative over other options is the time lag. When you send a page request, it travels from your dish to a satellite about 60,000 miles above the earth and then down to a receiving station. The page that gets returned makes the same trip in reverse. This takes anywhere from 800 to 1600 milliseconds. (A page requested through a cable connection might take 60 to 150 milliseconds by comparison.) For regular websurfing and email, it's really not all that noticeable. But if you need to use a VPN (virtual private network) or connect remotely to your desktop from work (a remote desktop), it is very noticeable. Also, because of the time lag, some applications like Voice Over IP phones (Vonage or Skype) or video chat and meeting applications, do not work well if they work at all.
Where satellite shines, particularly over cellular wireless, is downloading large files. File download speeds over satellite can approach 1.5MB to even 2MB. But if you're a heavy downloaded (e.g. movies and music), satellite services also have download caps simialr to cellular wireless. I have the Pro Plan with Hughesnet, and my transfer is limited to 425 Mb per day. (Daily transfer amounts vary by plan.) Hughesnet also has a no-cap download window between 2AM and 7AM. Wildblue doesn't have a daily limit, but does have a monthly cap.
The last concern with satellite is that it can be affected by weather, although much less often than you'd think. Satellite connections are affected by "rain fade". It doesn't happen every time it rains, but with particularly heavy thick rain. In my experience, there has been very little impact from snow (except when heavy, wet snow accumulates on the disk and I have to go out with a long handled broom and brush it off.)
Finally, the only requirement for satellite internet is that you have a clear view of the southern sky. So if you're on a north facing slope or deep valley location, it may not be an option for you.
If you're thinking of installing satellite internet (or satellite TV for that matter), I'd recommend you contact Cronk's Electronics in Liberty. Phone: 845-292-0324. Price are the same as if you ordered the service direct from Hughesnet or Wildblue, and they're great folks with great service. If you ever need your dish repositioned or have some other problem, their service is really responsive.
Cell Phone Service
Verizon Wireless tends to have the best coverage in Sullivan County. AT&T coverage is more hit or miss, but there are a few areas where AT&T coverage is somewhat better. Sprint will roam for voice in most of the Verizon Wireless service areas. Nextel and T-Mobile users have much more limited coverage here; you'll generally find service along the Route 17 corridor but much spottier when you get away from Route 17.
Sullivan County has a lot of hilly terrain, and that can greatly affect cell reception. Moving as little as a hundred yards can greatly affect your ability to get reception. If you checked out cell reception at a house you saw on one side of a lake, and then look at a house on the other side of the lake, don't assume you'll get cell reception there, too. Check it out. Don't rely on the coverage maps on the cellular company sites. They're VERY approximate here because of the terrain. I've seen folks pick up a Nextel signal in an area that shouldn't have one based on the maps, and I've gotten no Verizon service in an area smack in the middle of their coverage area.
If cell service is important to you, be prepared to change carriers. Sure, you like your iPhone on ATT's network, but you may have to decide what's more important — a house you love or a phone you love.
If you don't get cell service at your house, all is not lost. I always recommend that everyone have a land line here. (It's a requirement for a security system, and I recommend that every part-timer have a security system. Not because of the possibility of burglary, which is pretty low, but to get a heat sensor as part of the system that will notify the alarm company if your heat goes out.) If you have a land line, you can just forward your cell to your landline when you get close to your house, and turn off forwarding when you leave to go back to the city. It works surprisingly well, and even the most 24/7 connected people can adapt pretty well.