Source
r/Iowa•
NotMyTypesType

Rural internet Iowa

Hi all,

I'll be relocating to Iowa soon. My work is remote (work-from-home) and requires a high-speed internet connection. I'll be living in a rural area outside Iowa City.

How do I find out about my options for internet? My building currently has Mediacom for internet/cable and although I'll look into upgrading to the fastest package available I want to make sure I'm not missing a higher speed option with a different carrier - even if it's more expensive.

Thanks all. I know a lot of areas only have one option for internet.

Posted Dec 1, 2017, 5:53 PM UTC

711
malapropic•

If you are living in a rural area, you most likely aren’t going to be able to get high speed internet that would be acceptable for a work at home job. You can look at dish network, winsdtream, century link as possibilities.

3
NotMyTypesTypeOP•

I recognize that this may be a challenge but I'd rather stay where I am and pay more, than to move (or drive to an office with decent internet.) Thanks for those options! I'll check them out.

1
Pokaris•

If you're looking Southeast, there's some other options. Local telephone Co-Ops. I know Kalona and Wellman are running fiber to home, but I also know cost wise they tend to be a lot more per month than Mediacom. http://wp.kctc.net/ http://www.wellmantelephone.com/internet/

1
ruraliowa123•

Used to live in Kalona. The service is crazy expensive. I got mediacom instead, and despite what people say it doesnt have horrible service. For actual outages they only occured when Cedar Rapids didnt call in for utility marking and cut the main line twice. Down time for maintaince was at midnight though.

You could say I'm biased as I worked as a tech for 6 months. However ive never had any issues. The two other down times I had were because my personal modems died.

1
Pokaris•

I agree, but the telephone co-ops go out to rural areas. Mediacom tends not to leave town. Not sure which OP was talking about.

1
superturbotowel•

As someone currently living in rural Iowa paying Mediacom for internet and who has been without said internet all week, I would strongly suggest that should you choose to go with Mediacom, you have a backup plan in case they drop the ball. Based on conversations with coworkers, Mediacom has greasy hands and a polished metal ball.

Depending on the specific requirements of your work-from-home job, a phone plan with a decent amount of data may suffice in a pinch, but may still not be enough. After talking to a Mediacom rep today, they have no information about how long the current "overnight maintenance" (that has been going on for the last several days) to "upgrade your service" (in a way that they are unable to explain beyond "our engineers and technicians are working very hard") will last. Based on what they said, this "no working internet" situation is expected to last for at least another 10 days!

2
NotMyTypesTypeOP•

Jeez. Thanks for the insight. Turning my phone into a hotspot with an unlimited data plan should suffice for most things - most of my work is via email and web browsing, only occasionally is it phone or video consults.

I'll do some exploring.

1
superturbotowel•

Also be sure to check out wireless provider coverage where you plan to live and in the surrounding area before committing to one.

As an example, the only two networks with decent coverage in my area are Verizon and US Cellular. While neither is perfect (there are areas of spotty coverage and dropped connections), the US Cellular network is spottier. I had never had Verizon or heard of US Cellular before moving here. iWiress is also around, but their network is terrible here and limited in other states.

1
NotMyTypesTypeOP•

Thanks for the tip! My partner was using iWireless (and yes it was terrible) so switched to US Cellular. It's been much better since.

1
superturbotowel•

Any time!

1
PreciousPuritans•

Depending on where you are near IC, I’ve always been super impressed with Southslope

1
NotMyTypesTypeOP•

Southslope

Cool, I will check them out. Thanks!

1
SwenKa•

Seconding Southslope. Not sure what packages they offer nowadays, but as a Coop, you can always attend meetings and they've always been super responsive for support.

1
zen_sunshine•

Natel is an option in some Iowa communities. $40/month fiber. Great speed. It's not always available to each home though.

1
tcpip4lyfe•

If you can get 4G signal, cellular hotspots are an option. Going to be pricey though. That's "high speedish."

1
n0thingelsematterz•

I used to have ImOn in Cedar Rapids and were always pretty fast. Not sure if they reach down to IC but worth checking. I’ve also heard SouthSlope was good too. Enjoy the area and go Hawks.

1