Finding the Web in Alpine

Here on the east side of Alpine County the one subject of discussion that rivals the state of the economy and the continuing saga of the Obama phenomenon is Internet access. Now, if you don't have a computer, or don't care to expose yourself to the dangers of being connected to the Internet and are just satisfied with using your computer as a very expensive typewriter or a game device, you may not benefit from what I have to say. Nevertheless, I continue.

People here in Alpine County with dialup communicate to and from the Internet over the phone lines through a company that provides Internet service. That's considered a very slow system these days. These people have been lamenting the long, long waits to download messages from inconsiderate friends with high speed internet service who keep sending groups of photos or videos via email, sometimes several a day. Holy cow, some people have prepared, cooked, and eaten dinner while waiting for a message to download! Many others have been quietly obtaining high speed internet service through one system or another for themselves. So you will know about these things, I, who am barely computer literate, am about to tell you what your options are for connecting to the Internet, assuming you have a fairly recent computer.

First, anyone with a telephone line can get dialup service. Here in the (530) 694- exchange, you can arrange for service from Great Basin Internet Services that you can connect to by dialing a local telephone number. Their business phone number is (702) 348-7299. That service costs about $22 a month, or less if you pay for a year in advance or if you are a senior. If you don't mind paying long distance charges or have a phone plan that charges a flat rate with no extra charges for long distance, then you have a large number of internet service providers you can hook up to with costs as low as $10 a month. Those are still dialup, however, and slow. Some of those offer programs with an "accelerator" that they claim can boost the speed of download as much as seven times faster than basic dialup. Now here's where I'll get a bit technical.

Speed of connections is expressed in bytes per second, a byte being one of those digital thingies that contains parts of information. A basic dialup would download information at a max rate of 56,000 bytes per second or 56 kbps. Over a long distance from the server you'd be happy to get 45 kbps. A video has lots of bytes. Good luck on getting the latest video of Britney Spears in less than a half hour.

There are other options for most of us, however. There is high speed satellite service for anyone with a good view of the southern sky. Wild Blue offers three plans with download speeds ranging from near 512 kbps up to 1.5 mbps, that's 1.5 million bytes per second. The cost ranges from $50 a month to $80 a month, with an initial connection fee under a two year contract of $150. You may also have to pay for the hardware.

HughesNet offers six plans with download speeds by satellite ranging from up to 1 mbps to up to 5 mbps. The cost ranges from $60 a month to $350 a month plus installation charges of about $400 (sometimes less with a promotional rebate). There is an option to pay only $100 for installation by adding $10 per month to the base cost. Download speeds are not usually possible at the maximum advertised rates and upload speeds for messages you send are significantly lower. GBIS can arrange for you to get HughesNet satellite service or you can contact HughesNet directly over the Internet.

Verizon broadband wireless is another option that is available to those with a good line of sight to Gardnerville. If you can get three bars of signal strength on your Verizon cell phone, you can probably get that broadband service. The speed of download can exceed 2 mbps depending on your distance and your sightline to the base facility.

Marginal signal reception can be improved with a small portable antenna and a router. One advantage of this service is that you can carry the plug-in device that communicates with the server and plug it into any computer in the Verizon broadband coverage area, if those computers have the necessary software. The software is provided with the setup. The cost is $60 a month, with a two contract, and, if an antennae and router is required, could cost around $650 for the hardware and connection fee. Verizon is being pressed to improve its signal strength which could expand the area of coverage. To find out if you could obtain the Verizon broadband service, call Jack Merrill, Broadband Specialist, at (530) 694-2221.

There are other systems in use on this side of the county. The county administrative offices, sheriff's office, and library use a dedicated phone line called a T-1 line which is available to government offices and some businesses. That service can provide speeds up to 1.5 mbps. The general public can access that system by going to the library, which has several computers available on the T-1 line. A person with a laptop can go to the library and connect also. No charge.

Some people in the valley have DSL or know about it. That service allows use of the telephone for high speed transmissions without interfering with the use of the phone line for regular phone use. It's very inexpensive, but, alas is not available to those of us on the (530) 694- phone exchanges. We don't have cable internet service either, which is an option in much of Carson Valley.

Another wireless system available in the valley is Clearwire. Though the company Web site doesn't indicate it can serve anything in Alpine County, it's been reported that some in the River Ranch area have been able to receive service.

If you want more information, don't call me. Call an expert.