Episode: 2911
Title: HPR2911: my internet connection
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr2911/hpr2911.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-24 13:07:44

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This in HPR episode 2911 entitled, My Internet Connection, It is hosted by Genre and in about
11 minutes long and carrying an explicit flag.
The summary is, I love you, I did the wrong with a smattering on tube-expetive, while describing
available lists.
This episode of HPR is brought to you by archive.org.
Support universal access to all knowledge by heading over to archive.org forward slash
hpr listeners timezone appropriate greeting to you.
My name is Jezrup and I have been having trouble uploading audio to the HPR servers.
The work around is quite simple.
I upload my audio recording to a separate server and when I am putting my recording into
a time slot and they say where's your audio, I say it's over here on this other server.
The reason I have to use this work around is, in my opinion, because of my internet service
provider.
So I'm going to tell you now how I connect to the internet.
There are three primary ways in which I connect to the internet.
Through my ISP at home, through my mobile provider at home, and through my mobile provider
not at home.
And let me explain.
My home internet service is satellite and I get that through the despicable company called
Hughesnet.
On top of my roof is a satellite dish pointed to the south, specifically pointed at a satellite
in Geosynchronous orbit parked above the equator about 25,000 miles.
When I make a web request from my browser, it goes from my computer to my router to my
Hughesnet terminal modem, which goes through the satellite dish 25,000 miles up to the satellite,
which then goes 25,000 miles down to a ground station in Amarillo, Texas.
The signal then travels over normal internet wires to a server somewhere and picks up the
data that is requested, goes back to the ground station, up to the satellite, then back
down to my terminal, through my router back to my laptop or whatever device I am using.
In total, looking somewhere around 100,000 miles for the round trip.
And that leads to at a minimum 600 milliseconds of latency.
Just to test that out, I'm going to fire up terminal.
I'm going to run a ping.
I'm now pinging Google server 10 times just to see what's going on.
Do, do, do, do, ping, ping's happening, ping's happening, almost done, almost done, almost
done.
Boom, 10 packets transmitted, 10 received, 0% packet loss, awesome, time, 1, 706 milliseconds.
So there you go, ooh, the maximum was 1,224.014 milliseconds.
That is the round trip for using contemporary satellite service.
That sort of latency, mixed with jitter and other network interference, makes using a satellite
system for two-way communication extremely problematic.
And I cannot use that for work if I need to have a video conference with anyone.
The service I get from HughesNet is advertised as being 25 megabit per second down, 3 megabit
per second up.
However, that only counts towards 10 gigabytes worth of data.
Once I've used that 10 gigabytes of data, my speed is throttled to 1 megabit per second.
Then it advertises a throttled speed of between 1 and 3 megabits per second, but I've
never received anything faster than 1.
I have called and asked if I will ever see above 1 and they have told me that 1 is within
the range of 1 to 3.
They might as well say between 1 and 5, 1 and 5,000, 1 and 5 million, because that would
also be true that I am within that range.
Somehow, fuck HughesNet, let's get on with the story.
When do I need to make a low latency connection with the internet?
This would be used for either video communication or when I am remotely accessing a computer
through SSH and I don't want a 800 millisecond delay between when I press a key and when
I see it show up on the screen.
In this instance, I will hotspot through my Verizon connection.
And there's a difference between connecting to Verizon at home and connecting to Verizon
when I am not at home.
The difference is, when I am at home, I need to use a $500 signal booster that is mounted
on a 25 foot pole in order to get reception good enough to actually connect to the internet.
With this setup, I can get speeds of 6 megabit per second down, maybe 1 megabit per second
up.
Rarely do I get 1 megabit per second up on my Verizon system running through the signal
booster.
Typical speeds will be between 200 and 800 kilobit per second.
When I have a meeting where audio quality and video quality is the highest priority, I
get in my van.
I drive a quarter mile down the road, which also elevates me 200 vertical feet at which
point I almost have line of sight with a nearby communication tower.
I sit in my van, connect my laptop to my phone, and I can get 40 megabit per second
down, 30 megabit per second up.
And that is excellent.
That's perfect.
Nice and comfy.
The only problem is that I have to park in the sunshine and a van in the sunshine is
pretty much a greenhouse.
It gets hot and sweltering rather quick.
It is what it is.
It is my connection.
The big downside to connecting to the internet through Verizon is that I'm spending a lot
of money for 15 gigabytes of hotspot data.
That's what I need to do and so it is what I do.
But if I'm paying $100 a month, I would like to have a bit more than 15 gigabytes of
data.
Oh well.
So what does the future hold?
What are the other options for internet?
Well, currently there are no other fucking options.
That's why I have the shit service that I do.
Due to geography, I do not have line of sight from anywhere on my property to a communication
tower within the general area.
The closest tower is 1.8 miles north of me.
Technically it is 9 degrees east of true north, but that knowledge is only useful when pointing
the directional antenna on a signal booster.
There are two whips, wireless internet service providers that cover the general area
from the local communication towers, if there is line of sight, which I don't have.
AT&T has received hundreds of millions of dollars from the FCC in order to provide internet
service to areas like mine and they do provide service, apparently, because I received tons
of marketing material saying that it's available and I had the installers come out twice
and both times the installer said it will never work because there is not line of sight
with the tower.
So even though AT&T is fully aware that their signal will never reach this area, they
still got free money from the FCC to attempt to provide internet service to this area.
Should also be noted that AT&T has informed the FCC that they have hooked me up to the
internet five times, as well as hooking up all of my neighbors.
Pretty much straight up lies, the FCC doesn't care, obviously AT&T doesn't care.
What a fucking bummer man.
Pretty much the only way I will ever get decent internet service is either through SpaceX's
Starlink Endeavor, which is the constellation of low earth orbiting satellites, or possibly
another company providing internet through low earth orbit satellites.
Unfortunately, the other company that appears to be going on the right path is one web.
One of the companies that is helping them is Hughesnet.
So even if I switch from Hughesnet to one web, Hughesnet will still be involved.
So I know exactly how bad their support is going to be.
The other option is municipal broadband, which is never going to fucking happen where
I live, because that would involve a investment by the local government, or the state government,
or the federal government, none of which have any interest in providing internet service
to the customers, but they sure love to create policy that maximizes the profits of corporations
that refuse to invest in their own infrastructure.
Wow, this could just be a rant about how much I hate ISPs and the government.
To hell with it, I'm going to go outside and plan a tree.
Alright, take off.
I'm glad that it did.
Nothing gets me heated quite like discussing my internet service and wasteful government
spending that is supposed to be improving my internet service.
I have not yet planted the tree.
I will go and do that soon.
But I wanted everyone to know that my focus on negativity should not ruin your day.
You should go out and have an amazing day.
And I'm going to go try and have an amazing day as well.
Looked on the bright side.
Be amazing.
Thank you.
Have a wonderful day.
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