I'm in a similar situation. I live in a very remote area, and my ISP is a susidiary of the same company that owns the phone company. Both are monoplies, with no alternatives possible. While the phone co. is regulated, the ISP is not, and he takes MAJOR advantage of that fact in both price and service.
I checked into the satellite option to try to get something better, and found that it would cost quite a bit more (I'm on the net for about 60 hrs/wk, for business and enjoyment) and would still be dependent on my ISP (or long distance phyone charges to another ISP). So, satellite would more than triple my cost, and still not assure me of uninterrupted service. Also, I use a satellite receiver for TV (no cable or broadcast signal here), and have found that thunder storms cause outages very frequently, and until I did some extra work on the dish antenna, lightening blew out the LNB about twice a year.
Being out of commission like that while waiting on UPS to bring me a new LNB so I can get back to trading just didn't seem like a very good idea. So, I am still using my crummy ISP's service, paying too much, and getting lousy service.
The bottom line is that I can pay more, but my service will still be less than I want.
jim |
