What should I do about my internet?

[DarknessMatt]

The ISP my family gets our internet connection from is horrible. The ISP uses radios between a set of towers that create a wireless network, basically long-range wi-fi but on a tiny 900 MHz First of all, at a maximum we will receive 300 KB/s on the download and 100 KB/s on the upload with unlimited usage for $99 a month. To be honest, I am ok with this fact, but the reality is this is highly inconsistent. For the past few months our connection will range 9 KB/s to 200 on average but never stays at a certain range for more than maybe 5 minutes. ping rates range from 30-2000+ ping, yes 2000 ms of ping to a single server. Packet loss ranges from around .5% all the way up to 80% on an average day and rarely lower than .3% and even more rarely it will hit 0%. This instablity causes online games to be unplayable and general tasks are so inconsistent because we never know if we will be able to watch youtube or load up basic images without waiting literally minutes sometimes for an image to load. This problem I have addressed to the ISP MULTIPLE times through email and phone calls but they always give the same vague answer that there is "nothing they can do about it". These complaints I have sent have went on for months with either no reply or some vague answer to avoid the issue. My question is, what should I do (If there is any solution anyone has in mind.) Keep in mind that this is the only ISP that is available in my area except for satellite-based, which is out of the question because of the tiny usage allotments. Before anyone asks, the problem has been identified and it has nothing to do with our equipment or software. The problem is that there towers are overloaded by the mass of people running off of one tower at the same time, combined with interference coupled with running wireless signals through trees. Also, are there any ideas that I could suggest to them to fix the issue that they have?

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Either they build more towers and/or get more spectrum, or you move to a different provider.

Rural internet tends to be a lot more expensive per customer, unfortunately.

If you can see multiple towers of theirs, you may be able to get pointed to a different tower.

There might also be cellular internet available.

 

[DarknessMatt]

Either they build more towers and/or get more spectrum, or you move to a different provider.

Rural internet tends to be a lot more expensive per customer, unfortunately.

If you can see multiple towers of theirs, you may be able to get pointed to a different tower.

There might also be cellular internet available.

The tower we currently run off of is the only viable one. All others are way too far away to receive any signal. Also, we don't receive a strong enough or stable enough cellular connection to have that kind of service. Would having two radios on one tower cause interference between signals, or could this be a potential suggested solution for the oversaturation of the single radio? That aside, thank you for your reply to my initial question! I am very desperate to find a solution at this point.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Unless they're on different channels, that wouldn't work.

 

[DarknessMatt]

Unless they're on different channels, that wouldn't work.

Ok, I understand, thank you for replying!

I'll keep emailing them and bugging them to add another tower then. Someone needs to remind them that this type of service should not be considered acceptable.

 

[Sanders22]

Well, you can keep bugging them to build a new tower, but that's not going to do much. You can contact the better business bureau if you feel your not getting the service you should be getting. However, internet companies honestly don't care too much about your opinions. If there is another provider in your area, I would consider them. If not, then the isp you have, has a monopoly and that kind of just sucks. Not much you can do in that case.