Way out in the Texas sticks, the options for Internet connection are very limited. Starlink is available, of course, if I wanted to invest in some expensive tech run by a chaotic individual that might turn it into a karakoe service on a whim. Hughesnet (and even back to DirectPC days) I have used and if I had to go back to that, I would start using dialup again. Fortunately, as I was getting desperate, AT@T came in with their cellular service called Fixed Land Wireless or something like that. Worked well, especially since I am only a mile from a tower.
Then they changed to a new system called Internet Air with an inside router rather than a box with outside antenna. It worked good for a few weeks then got slower and slower. My assumption was that the local service area was oversold and as more people got on naturally the bandwidth went down. Finally, it became almost unusable, my iphone giving me that I had poor internet service and the tv streaming stopping with the wait rotating circle all the time. Downloading patches to anything was impossible.
Calls to the service center got a real person (surprise! and speaking good English!) but after running tests they gave that I showed good strength at the router and a fast connection.
Before I started looking for another service, I finally got down to troubleshooting. The oddity was that if I went to speedtest.net, the webpage might take 10 to 30 seconds to load, but the test gave back 200mb down or more. Went to other testing sites and got the same strange results. Horrible access to the website, but very fast report on download speeds.
Long story short (too late), I stripped my home network down to the ATT router and a Mac and things went back to normal. Turns out that it was the Asus Wifi mesh Router. Looking at it with various tools, I can't see that it is hacked, but that is always a possiblity even though I always kept it up to date. Rebooting the Asus fixes the problem for a short while, but soon it starts slowing down again.
So, the gist of this tale is that I need a new mesh router x 3. But, starting that search I find that every one that is recommended requires a phone app to setup. No browser app, no just connect to 10.0.0.1 and start configuring. Use our app, give us your data, or forget it. They give no apology for the future when they get tired of supporting it and the router becomes effectively bricked.
So. Anybody have suggestions for a router, or have bought a good mesh setup that does not require a subscription, email address, or the attitude that yes, you paid for it but that doesn't mean you really own it. I don't need WIFI 7 necessarily, or any super speed stuff. Just ordinary Internet access.
Then they changed to a new system called Internet Air with an inside router rather than a box with outside antenna. It worked good for a few weeks then got slower and slower. My assumption was that the local service area was oversold and as more people got on naturally the bandwidth went down. Finally, it became almost unusable, my iphone giving me that I had poor internet service and the tv streaming stopping with the wait rotating circle all the time. Downloading patches to anything was impossible.
Calls to the service center got a real person (surprise! and speaking good English!) but after running tests they gave that I showed good strength at the router and a fast connection.
Before I started looking for another service, I finally got down to troubleshooting. The oddity was that if I went to speedtest.net, the webpage might take 10 to 30 seconds to load, but the test gave back 200mb down or more. Went to other testing sites and got the same strange results. Horrible access to the website, but very fast report on download speeds.
Long story short (too late), I stripped my home network down to the ATT router and a Mac and things went back to normal. Turns out that it was the Asus Wifi mesh Router. Looking at it with various tools, I can't see that it is hacked, but that is always a possiblity even though I always kept it up to date. Rebooting the Asus fixes the problem for a short while, but soon it starts slowing down again.
So, the gist of this tale is that I need a new mesh router x 3. But, starting that search I find that every one that is recommended requires a phone app to setup. No browser app, no just connect to 10.0.0.1 and start configuring. Use our app, give us your data, or forget it. They give no apology for the future when they get tired of supporting it and the router becomes effectively bricked.
So. Anybody have suggestions for a router, or have bought a good mesh setup that does not require a subscription, email address, or the attitude that yes, you paid for it but that doesn't mean you really own it. I don't need WIFI 7 necessarily, or any super speed stuff. Just ordinary Internet access.
