Please forgive the length, in advance! I felt I needed to be as detailed as possible...
Our house is located on the edge of a small town, across a creek, a couple of hundred feet from our neighbors, who, of course, have access to cable, and we do not. We've been living (limping) on DSL for the last 15 years or so, and I can't take it anymore (hubby is sort of confused about my claims of agonizing torture on this subject). Last May our local Mediacom tech op contact quoted us a rough price of $4K to get a cable run about 500-600 feet from the nearest amplifier. While we're about 300 feet from the closest street corner that has visible cable, it apparently won't be a strong enough signal once it gets down to our house. So we've saved up all this past year, and I contacted him again this past week and the final, strangely specific, price of $3648.50 was quoted. At least we're not into 5 or 6 digits, right? :huh:
We're in uncharted territory, and it's very difficult to get guidance/find info for this endeavor on the web as it appears to be relatively uncommon (despite the occasional horribly riveting articles on ArsTech, etc.), so we're going with common sense and you helpful folks! I asked the tech op guy what exactly would happen once we decided to proceed and he says that all I'd have to do is 1.) give him the go ahead on the phone, 2.) the contractor would do the work, and 3.) then they'd come to our house for a check. Really? Uh, NO. We're going to 1.) have something in writing before anything happens, and 2.) we're going to see the route the cable is to be run. We're pretty sure it's going to be trenched, and the area we suspect they're going to do it in also has power poles/lines overhead, so we're not entirely certain.
I've also discussed our upcoming hookup with Mediacom's helpful customer service people and they've given me the option to pick the lowest 3 internet deals once we're ready to go (60, 100 and 200MB). I neglected to ask about caps when on the phone with them so I went to their website to see if it was there, and discovered that there's 5 internet speeds available (additionally, 500MB & 1GB; you guys probably know about these already). Not that we really need either of the highest speeds, but it'd be nice to know why those weren't offered. Are we, maybe, on Mediacom's secret probationary period, and that's why they only gave us the option of the first 3 speeds? Or is it, maybe, those speeds somehow aren't available in our bustling metropolis of 100 people...?
Aside from that one just above, there, my questions for you good people: It's been a few days and we're still waiting on the quote on paper, and I'm kind of concerned that they're just going to blow us off completely on the whole thing. Mediacom is sadly our only option for cable, and wireless is out of the question here. No visible lines of sight to any tower. 1.) Are we asking too much to get this written quote and see the route the cable will be run? My husband is a trustee for our village, and we very much want to take our own pictures and documentation on this process. 2.) As the extended family tech person, I'm also more than a little paranoid that I've overlooked something else we should be asking/doing/preparing/watching out for at this time. Please, please point those out; nothing feels worse than flailing around cluelessly.
On a lighter note, as a current subscriber of AT&T's blazing DSL speeds of 6MB/sec (really, it's never more than barely over 5; thanks Ookla!), I nearly peed my pants, and simultaneously felt like crying with joy, when the Mediacom lady quoted the SLOWEST speed available to me. Not counting the initial outlay, we'll actually be paying LESS per month for more than 10 TIMES the speed. :o
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